Own Up

Hey There Publish Press readers. Super Follows are finally live on Twitter. After teasing paywalled content earlier this year, we can finally tip and pay our favorite creators to see exclusive content on our timelines. The news feels rather timely since those same features are the most popular way to spend on OnlyFans...👀 

 - Max Lowenthal

In Today’s Issue 💬

→ The details behind the $1 billion dollar month for NFTs

→ Why two of Twitch’s top creators signed exclusive deals with YouTube

→ A look at Thatch, the company building a new way to monetize travel content

NFT Sales Break $1 Billion in the Month of August

NFTs are back. Following a boom in March of this year, the digital assets are seeing a huge revival thanks to involvement from major creators and celebrities. In the last few weeks, KSI has gotten in on the hype, Steph Curry has spent hundreds of thousands, and Logan Paul announced his own crypto game that’s scheduled to go live later this month. 

Just like the biggest creators, the most popular NFTs are backed by communities of invested fans. Projects like the Bored Ape Yacht Club boast Discord servers with tens of thousands of users and turn fans into evangelists by having them share their NFTs via their Twitter profile pictures. CryptoPunks, arguably one of the most influential NFT projects with a cumulative value of $3 billion, even signed to United Talent Agency earlier this week to help distribute the hype to the masses. 

By The Numbers:

• 11,000 → The number of people who have bought into Logan Paul’s NFT game before it even launches

• 57,000 → The number of NFTs sold in the last 24 hours

• $1 billion → The amount of money that OpenSea, the most popular NFT marketplace, made in the month of August alone

Our Take

NFT projects have the opportunity to become more than just digital images. It won’t be long until we see an image of a Bored Ape Yacht Club or CryptoPunks NFT printed on a hoodie or hat, and with stakeholders like Steph Curry, Gary Vee, Logan Paul and KSI, the top NFTs can quickly be accelerated into the zeitgeist while growing in value. The future of NFTs is beyond the blockchain, it’s gaining access to spaces and networks, and driving forward popular culture.

Twitch Superstars Sign Exclusive Streaming Deals with YouTube 

YouTube Gaming made a splash this week by signing creators Dr. Lupo and TimTheTatman to stream exclusively on the platform. With careers that span 10+ years and a combined 11.5 million followers on Twitch, both streamers saw their rise to prominence on the back of gaming’s Fornite craze in 2018. It's also quite the coincidence that two of Twitch’s most-viewed channels happen to leave in the same week as streamers are boycotting the platform, which resulted in a drop of nearly 1 million viewers.  

In interviews with The Washington Post and Business Insider, both Lupo and Tim mentioned that the move was driven largely by the financial stability that YouTube offered. Many streamers spend 70+ hours a week playing games live, and even a single day off can lose them thousands of paying followers. While YouTube only owns a fraction of the streaming market compared to Twitch, the combination of consistent pay and a chance at lessening the harassment they face will likely outweigh any losses from switching platforms. 

Our Take

Gaming is a hits-driven business. To stay on top of the industry you need to keep up with what’s popular. By signing exclusive agreements, streamers trade-off relevancy and reach in favor of creating content for games they actually like.

Thatch Raises $3 Million to Help Travel Influencers Plan Your Vacations

Earlier this week, start-up Thatch announced it had raised $3 million in venture capital to help travel vloggers monetize their recommendations. The company lets creators curate, share, and sell custom travel itineraries and has multiple creators with 1 million+ followers already using their platform. Co-Founder Abby West told TechCrunch that the product comes at the perfect time in the travel world, as fans are turning more and more to influencers, not travel agencies, to inform their trips and vacations.

Our Take

Creators are tastemakers. Fans often look to their favorite TikToker, YouTuber, or streamer to inform them on which content to consume and what products to buy. As the creator economy continues to develop and creators find new ways to make a living, expect to see more creators monetizing their preferences and recommendations.

✨ Staff Picks

Keep up to date with the trends, content, and creators that our staff are tracking 

Alice: If you follow me on Twitter, you already know I love to wax lyrical about DIY TikTok artist, PinkPantheress. After blowing up in April with debut track “Break It Off”, the bedroom artist has released 6 songs with more than 166 million combined streams on Spotify alone. Oh, and a very casual 10 million monthly listeners, just 5 months into her career. One to watch.

Max: Who doesn’t like a good book? With the news that Amazon is launching a fiction platform, I’ve been reading up on the world of fiction authors in the context of the creator economy. My favorite piece so far has been by Elle Griffin, a fiction author who wrote about using platforms like Substack and Patreon to make a living as an author.

Colin & Samir: Johnny Harris can make us interested in almost anything, we both love his storytelling style and his ability to tell you a story you didn’t even know you wanted to hear. If you’ve never watched Johnny, check out The REAL Reason McDonalds Ice Cream Machines are Always Broken, and block off a few hours, you might go down a rabbit hole. 

🔥 In Other News

• TikTok has replaced every other app

• Flip, the social commerce app, raised $28 million in venture funding

• Instagram premiered a Live Shopping series

• Twitch viewership took a noticeable dip on #ADayOffTwitch 

• Dave Portnoy and Big Cat hosted a contract negotiation live on YouTube