Good morning. It may be Friday the 13th, but we’re feeling lucky anyways because Emma Chamberlain is opening her second brick-and-mortar coffee shop a few blocks away from our office.

Our wallets, on the other hand, might as well have stepped under a ladder.

— Hannah Doyle & Syd Cohen

In today’s issue…

1) A YouTube channel and talent company partner to build the next MTV
2) The creators to look for at the Oscars
3) YouTube rolls out a new ad feature

Music video channel Lyrical Lemonade is expanding its media company, Lyrical Lemonade TV (LLTV), to a twice-daily YouTube network in partnership with Lighthouse Studios, the new production arm of talent management company Whalar Group.

The squeeze: Lyrical, founded by creator and director Cole Bennett, has amassed a following of 24 million subscribers in 13 years from its music videos featuring rappers from Drake to Lil Yachty. 

Lyrical is headquartered in Chicago, where it films LLTV’s popular series Lunch Break Freestyle featuring rappers and their lunch.

With Lighthouse Studios, LLTV will film in NYC and LA, expanding its original programming to include travel, food, and a late night show. Lighthouse Studios will provide capital, production support, and strategy.

Why upload twice a day? To create a routine among viewers. Lyrical Lemonade TV CEO Joseph Rocha told us the brand’s TV viewership has increased over 200% in the last year.

“We know what our audience is looking for. We’ll test and learn too—even for the [late night show]. That show will be a 15-20 minute show which is what we see works really well for us on YouTube,” Rocha told us.

Zoom out: Lyrical is Lighthouse Studios’ first creative partner in building a network slate across creator’s channels. The goal is to deliver unscripted videos across channels seven days a week, ranging from five minutes to an hour long.

CEO of Lighthouse Studios Akshay Mehta told us creators with a loyal audience is what makes this era of TV viewing different from the linear broadcast era.

“We thought about it as a meaningful commitment to content with creators at the top, middle, and bottom of it,” Mehta said. “It’s also a recognizable content structure. We want to take the space that network TV is fleeing from and build audiences with true engagement with these creators.”

Creators from all corners of the internet are joining in on the 98th Academy Awards—some for the first time.

Here’s what you should look out for on Sunday →

Before the show, Amelia Dimoldenberg will be the Academy Awards’ official social media host and red carpet correspondent for the third year in a row. She also hosted a special edition of Chicken Shop Date with nominated actors at the pre-Oscars luncheon. 

During the ceremony, film commentary creators including Karsten Runquist and What Went Wrong podcast hosts Lizzie Bassett and Chris Winterbauer will livestream reactions to the Academy Awards.

After the main program, Quen Blackwell, Brittany Broski, and Jake Shane will report from the Vanity Fair Oscar party red carpet. 

Big (motion) picture: The Oscars are on a five-year viewing high, with 19.5 million people tuning in last year. Creators may help keep momentum as the program moves to YouTube in 2029.

Got an Oscars hot take? Hit reply and The Publish Press’ cinephile Syd will let you know if she agrees or disagrees.

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Yesterday, YouTube launched Top Podcast pages for advertisers—allowing brands to buy spots across a selection of top performing shows in genres such as sports, true crime, and comedy.

Why it matters: YouTube says that video podcast ad campaigns yield better results than audio only campaigns. By bundling podcast shows like YouTube does its top channels, advertisers gain insight into which podcasts perform well in their genre.

Worth noting: On the creator side, YouTube promised dynamic ads would be coming this year, but is not yet available to all creators.

The content we’re looking forward to reading, watching, and listening to this weekend.