Good morning. Netflix just released its most-watched titles from the back half of 2024. Squid Game season two was the most-watched show with 87 million views in the half-year period. The Paul vs. Tyson fight came in at No. 7 with 49 million on-demand views (and 65 million live viewers at its peak). 

But the title that swept 2024? Cocomelon, which was the platform’s most-viewed show of the year with 231 million views.

P.S. We had some technical difficulties with Friday’s newsletter—catch up on MrBeast’s major fundraise, Noah Beck’s latest résumé addition, and some major platform changes right here.

— Hannah Doyle 

Inside PrestonGoes’ Explosive Mini Truck Series

Preston Summerrow, aka PrestonGoes, makes content somewhere at the intersection of Bo Burnham and Ryan Trahan—his videos document his zany engineering projects, featuring his own original songs.

His latest video, uploaded Friday, skyrocketed to over 1 million views in 24 hours. Here’s how he did it →

The details: The video, I Built a Mini Truck for Abandoned Railroads, is the first episode in a three-part series of Summerrow modifying a mini truck to drive over a historic railroad. Worth noting: He built the truck and filmed, produced, and edited the series himself.

• The idea was inspired by two of Summerrow’s top-performing videos about fixing up a go-kart for a railroad.

• “It felt like a worthy bet to do a series on because so many first-time viewers came to the channel because of that concept,” Summerrow told us.

The bet seems to be paying off:

• Six months → how long it took to film and edit the series

• $15K → how much Summerrow spent on the build and video production

• 1.8 million → how many views the first episode has received so far

• 47K → how many YouTube subscribers Summerrow gained since the episode went live

Zoom out: When Summerrow started making videos, he didn’t know how to cut into metal and had never made an original song. Two years into regular uploads, he’s building trucks and navigating music editing software like a pro. 

• “It’s my favorite part about YouTube. It’s so fun to find those limits within yourself and document myself as a rookie,” Summerrow said.

• “There’s entertainment value in that because months down the road I get these new skills that allow me to take on building bigger projects.” 

The next episode in the Mini Truck Railroad series drops Friday, with the finale airing on March 14.

LTK Pivots from Ecommerce to Social Platform

Ecommerce platform LTK has built a reputation as the go-to affiliate link resource for creators to earn commission from fashion and beauty products they promote in their content. 

Now, LTK is making a pivot: It’s launching a consumer-focused LTK app, rolling out new features to position itself as a social platform rivaling Instagram and TikTok.

How the features work →

• LTK’s new feed lets users discover videos by geography and topic—like beauty, parenting, and travel. 

• Creators can still tag items in videos, but it’s not required. LTK is encouraging creators to post content about their lives without necessarily pushing products.

• The app also plans to launch more social features, like the ability to add friends.

Big picture: While TikTok and YouTube strengthen their ecommerce operations, LTK and other ecommerce platforms like Flip are getting more social.

Sponsored by Kajabi

Creators, Don’t Miss This.

Creators have earned over $9 billion on Kajabi through courses, communities, coaching, newsletters, podcasts, and memberships.

Thousands of creators choose Kajabi because it puts them in control—no algorithms & no middlemen taking a cut. Kajabi helps creators own their audience, scale their income, and build businesses that last.

At SXSW on March 8, Kajabi is bringing together top creators and industry experts for a one-day event designed to help you turn content into a real business.

Here’s what’s happening:

🎤 Colin & Samir break down the economics of monetizing off platform through courses

🧘 Breathwork Session with Fish Fischer to reset and recharge

🎶 DJ Matt Steffanina closing the night with a live DJ set

If you’re serious about growing as a creator, you’ll want to be in the room.

March 8 | 12 - 10PM | Austin, TX

Spots are limited—RSVP now.

Creators Take the Oscars

These days, it wouldn’t be the Oscars without creators. Here’s how the creator industry spent entertainment’s biggest night → 

Amelia Dimoldenberg was the Oscars’ official red carpet correspondent for the second time. She hosted three mini Chicken Shop Dates on the Oscars YouTube channel, tallying over 1.4 million views total. 

Film creator Karsten Runquist hosted a livestream sharing his Oscars predictions while raising funds for his short film, Douglas, Nevada.

Joel Haver hosted his annual “Movies Shot During The Oscars” contest, during which creators filmed, edited, and submitted movies over the course of the awards show’s three-hour runtime.

Hasan Piker interviewed the filmmakers of the documentary No Other Land, which won Best Documentary Feature.

Sean Evans and Reece Feldman also hosted videos for the Oscars’ YouTube.

👀 Creator Moves

• Jesse James West is hiring a part-time Shorts writer and editor to concept, outline, and edit short-form video.

• Comedian Josiah Schneider is looking for a video editor for his sketch comedy channel. 

• Business and culture creator Gen Kimura is hiring a long-form editor proficient in Premiere Pro and After Effects.

Looking to bring on new team members? You can post opportunities on our (free) job board here.

🔥 Press Worthy

• Twitch is rolling out policy changes that will allow more creators to monetize on the platform.

• Creator taxes done right—save a minimum of $10,000 on your creator taxes with DeCypher.*

• Ludwig debuts a VTuber avatar.

• Ryan Trahan’s brother, Matthew Trahan, starts a YouTube channel.

• The winner of Beast Games is walking 365 miles across California to raise awareness for his son’s illness, Creatine Transporter Deficiency.

*This is sponsored advertising content.