Good morning. Interested in working for a creator? Every once in a while we post a job opportunity in the Pressworthy section at the bottom of this newsletter. Today we have three.

–Hannah Doyle

Colin and Samir’s Thoughts from VidCon

Last week, the creator convention was held in person for the first time in two years and it was clear that short-form video was the new cool kid at the party. YouTube had been the primary event sponsor since 2013 but this year it was TikTok. 

VidCon was started in 2010 by Hank and John Green of the Vlog Brothers as a way for creators in online video to connect and learn new things about the industry. The event has since grown to include fans, creators, and industry professionals.

Colin and Samir came away from the four-day event with notable takeaways—

Short-form is creating more creators, and that’s commodifying creators.

In 2016, we remember Logan Paul, David Dobrik and Casey Neistat being bombarded with swarms of young fans. This year, there were so many large creators that the fandom was much more dispersed. 

Dave Chappelle told Letterman that fame evaporates with regularity. Perhaps that’s what short-form video is doing to creators—the low barrier to entry and randomized autoplay of video feeds have produced so many creators that it’s no longer rare to be one.

This surplus of creators is good and may push creators to find ways to stand out from the pack in order to grow their audience and earn monetization opportunities.

Creators are fans, fans are creators. 

The gap between creators and fans has shrunk. From our conversations at VidCon, it seems the line between creator and fan is gone—so many are both.

If you’re a fan of creators, you likely create yourself. Instead of creators posting for fans, and fans posting for friends and family, now everyone’s creating for an audience.

The Dream SMP is massive.

The only event we attended that reminded us of the fame and fanfare of 2016 was the panel with the members of Dream SMP. 

Dream SMP, which stands for survival multiplayer, is a story-driven Minecraft server and is among the most-followed communities in the gaming world. 

Minecraft is played by 140 million monthly active users and is the best-selling video game of all time. Dream SMP is invite only and consists of popular creators like TommyInnit, Dream, and GeorgeNotFound. Streamers have replaced daily vloggers in terms of having the most die-hard connection to their audiences.

Our Take

For an industry that spends most of its time connecting and conducting business digitally, VidCon and in-person events remain an invaluable place to feel the pulse of the creator economy and build new relationships. Yes to more in-person creator events.

YouTube Animator Lands a Netflix Show

Last week, James Rallison, the creator of the animated TheOdd1sOut YouTube channel, announced that he’s partnered with Netflix to make one season of Oddballs, a spinoff show of his YouTube channel.

“This is why it’s been longer between uploads,” he said in the announcement video.

Rallison started TheOdd1sOut eight years ago when he was 18, and has amassed 17.9 million subscribers and over 3 billion views with his comedic videos featuring a group of round, marshmallow-like characters. Most videos center around stories of his life, like his experience reading YouTube comments and living with roommates.

At the start of the channel, Rallison illustrated and voiced all the characters. Now he has a team of over 15 people, which includes writers, script coordinators, voice actors, and artists—some focused on YouTube and others on the Netflix show.

He pitched the series to Netflix in early 2020 and got the green light that August. Ranville co-created the show with Ethan Banville, whose past work includes Drake and Josh and iCarly. The entire production was done in lockdown, including the writing, voice acting, and designing. Oddballs is set to release later this year.

Our Take

The roadmap to working in animation has changed. In the past, an aspiring animator might go to school, work their way up at Disney or Pixar to land their own show with a platform. Today, Rallison proves you can build your own fandom on social and that can lead to work with seasoned creators or platforms.

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Khaby Lame Becomes TikTok’s Most-Followed Creator

The Senagalese-Italian creator known for his silent and clever react videos took the top spot on the short-form video app, surpassing Charli D’Amelio, who’s been the most-followed TikToker for over two years.

At time of publication, Lame has 144.4 million followers. He’s been creating since 2020, and has become the face of Hugo Boss and represented TikTok at the Cannes Film Festival.

D’Amelio started in TikTok in 2019 and rose to fame through her dance and lip sync videos.

Our Take

Lame’s rise in followers signals the increasing rate of TikTok’s global audience and appeal of content that surpasses language barriers. It shows that an app that was mostly known for music and dance is expanding beyond that to other genres and to greater recognition.

🔥 Press Worthy

• YouTube releases its 2022 Culture and Trends Report.

• Corridor is hiring.

• Spreadshop takes the hassle out of creating your own merch brand.*

• Josh Richards will create and produce TV shows for Amazon.

• Nas Daily starts a Facebook Subscriber Group.

• Good Mythical Morning is hiring a head writer.

• Cleo Abram is hiring an editor for Huge if True.

*This is sponsored advertising content.