Let's Be Friends

NFTs and short-form video bring audiences and creators closer together

May 14, 2021

Welcome back to all 4,995 of our amazing Publish Press subscribers. TikTok is selling products, YouTube is giving away millions, and Elon Musk dropped the price of Bitcoin with a single tweet. It’s never been easier for creators to build and connect with their audiences.Big shout-out to Publish Press reader Aaron Smet for recommending this issue’s first story. Got stories you want us to cover, or just have some feedback? Hit Reply and let us know!

In Today’s Issue 💬

→ The deets on Gary Vaynerchuk’s new NFT collection, VeeFriends

→ The reason YouTube is dropping $100 million on vertical, short-form content

→ Why TikTok is turning into the best place to sell products online

GaryVee Launches NFTs

Why the media-entrepreneur is turning to crypto to connect with fans

Source: C&S Creative / VeeFriends.com

Last week, serial-entrepreneur-turned-creator Gary Vaynerchuk announced VeeFriends, a collection of NFTs modeled after drawings made by Gary himself. The project focuses on access and utility, with perks for buyers including 1:1 FaceTimes and courtside sporting events with Gary. The collection totals over 10,000 tokens and is already projected to make over $100 million in sales.

But why exactly are some of the internet's biggest creators and fanbases clambering to buy and sell yet another set of digital-only assets?  

  • Why Fans Care → At their core, NFTs are good at building two things - scarcity and community. Gary is immediately creating both by giving every NFT holder access to a special conference + Discord server. Every NFT holder also becomes part of a community of like-minded individuals who value Gary and his brand. And now that NFTs can be sold on sites like Ebay, it's easier than ever to get in on the action.

  • Do I See Ten (Thousand) Dollars? → The benefit of NFT’s auction style of selling is that it allows the fans who value a creator the most to set the price. Case in point, one fan purchased an NFT that comes with two 1:1 mentoring sessions with Gary for $188,000.  That price is more than triple the cost of a box suite ticket at the Super Bowl. 💰

Our Take 

NFTs give fans a seat at the table with the creators they love for whatever price they are willing to pay. As Gary himself put it on Twitter “the market is the market.” We are in the early innings of digital assets, but Gary Vee’s NFTs are a great window into the future of e-commerce: interactive, persistent, and resellable. While the world’s NFT craze might shrink in the coming months, expect the real long-term value of the product to be in helping creators create with their audiences, not just for them.

YouTube Goes Long On Short-Form Content

What creators need to know about YouTube’s $100 million investment in vertical video

Source: YouTube

On Tuesday, YouTube announced a $100 million fund for creators using Shorts, its new TikTok competitor. Shorts, which recently replaced the Trending Tab on YouTube’s homescreen, is already pulling in a reported 6.5 billion views a day despite only being live in North America & India. With this new investment, it’s clear the company is hoping to incentivize more creators to publish on YouTube over competitors like Instagram or TikTok. 

On a platform that rewards horizontal long-form videos, why is YouTube dropping so much on cash on vertical short-form content? 

  • Gotta Spend Some to Win Some → Snap hands out $1 million a day, TikTok has a $200 million creator fund, and Instagram reportedly offers creators hundreds of thousands to make content on its own short-form competitor, Reels. Despite spending the least, it's clear that YouTube understands there’s value in short-form content, even if it's not immediately clear how they can turn that content into $$$. It’s a create now, monetize later, approach to business.

  • Owning The Content Pipeline → Besides Shorts, YouTube has also made huge investments in live streaming, long-form, and original content. This new fund is a play to get access to yet another part of the video market. As it stands, you would need an exclusive show with Snap, a massive TikTok account, and a Twitch partnership to match all the formats that YouTube offers all-in-one.

Our Take 

Short-form’s value is in its the ability to quickly grow an audience. While not the best for traditional monetization like ads or sponsorships, short-form content lets creators get their channels in front of new fans easier and faster. By incentivizing creators to use Shorts, YouTube is doubling down on the format as the new way to discover creators without investing 10+ minutes to watch a video. Shorts makes YouTube more accessible to creators from platforms like TikTok. And with yet another way to build an audience, YouTube is quickly becoming the internet’s centralized content hub, giving creators the tools to develop a short-form to long-form content pipeline.

TikTok is Launching Shopping

Get in creators, we’re going shopping 

Source: Later.com

The mall is dead, long live TikTok. It was reported earlier this week that TikTok is testing features that allow fans to buy products directly within the app itself. While top creators can already link out to sites like Shopify and Walmart.com, the new feature allows users to buy products without ever opening a browser. The company is currently exploring partnerships with brands like European streetwear company Hype.

But why would fans want to buy stuff from their favorite social media platform?

  • Audience See, Audience Do → After watching countless hours of content from your favorite YouTuber or TikToker, it’s inevitable you’ll start liking their favorite brands and products. It’s why major retail brands like Pacsun and Morphe are turning to creators like Emma Chamberlain and the D’Amelio sisters over regular ads.

  • From QVC to FYP → The two main ways creators monetize is advertising and merchandise. TikTok already launched a marketplace for advertisers, and knows that its biggest creators are using the platform to market their own products. Imagine if creators could sell directly from the app and earn commissions in the process. Add in the fact that the company’s Chinese counterpart, Douyin, already does tens of billions in app-driven merch sales a year, and buying products in-app starts to make a lot of sense.  

Our Take 

Audiences will always value their favorite creator’s opinion more than ads they see elsewhere. It’s why it's possible to make a living as a creator with just 1,000 true fans. Just like with Gary Vee and NFTs, giving creators the power to sell products inside their favorite platform makes it easier for them to monetize fan affinity and brand trust. Combine in-app purchasing with live content, and we might not be too far away from a world where fans can buy tickets to concerts or even bid on merch directly from their favorite creators. 

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