Good morning. And Happy (almost) July 4th to our readers in the States. On this long weekend, we’re featuring a video series that’s come to signal summer almost as much as fireworks and a backyard BBQ: Ryan Trahan’s Penny Series.

We’ll be back with a standard edition on Wednesday, but for now, let’s dive in.

— Hannah Doyle & Nate Graber-Lipperman

Ryan Trahan Kicks off New Penny Series

Vlogger and lifestyle creator Ryan Trahan is back for another summer penny challenge series—this time, with a few twists.

Quick context: Last year, Trahan’s penny series was a massive success that catapulted him into household name territory among his challenge creator peers. Starting with just one penny, Trahan traveled across the U.S. with his team filming and editing behind him, embarking on a 30-day vlog series in an effort to deliver a single penny to MrBeast (and raise $100,000 for Feeding America in the process).

The outcome? Trahan exceeded his fundraising goal by over $1 million, gained over 214 million views, and garnered acclaim from fellow creators including Hayden Hillier-Smith and Doctor Mike for his fresh take on the format—blending MrBeast-style challenge videos, Casey Neistat-style vlogs, and Emma Chamberlain-style vulnerability.

Now, Trahan is back with new ground rules:

• He began in Paris, France, with one euro and has to return to the U.S. in seven days.

• Because he’s not a citizen of the European Union, he can’t get an official job delivering food or walking dogs like he did last year. Instead, he’ll have to make money more informally—like washing windows and drawing caricatures.

• Last year, Trahan uploaded exclusively to YouTube. This year, he’s posting updates on Instagram Stories as well.

And re: the money…

• Trahan’s starting goal was to raise $100,000 towards helping people access safe water with Water.org (a figure supporters surpassed the day before the series started). His new goal is now $250,000.

• A $50,000 donation will still activate “The Great Reset,” which means Trahan will have to give up any cash he’s accumulated and restart with one penny. However, a $50,001 donation gives Trahan “invincibility,” or protection from being reset for 24 hours.

• A $100,000 donation and Trahan will “plug” any brand or person in an ad read.

Top donors so far: Three days in, donations from fellow creators like Blake Olson, Danny Gonzalez, and Tom Grossi plus Reed Duchscher’s Night Media (which manages Trahan) have put the fundraising total at $174,000. His first two videos both spent time at #1 on YouTube’s trending page as of publication.

Looking ahead: Before Trahan started his last penny series, he told Colin and Samir, “Creators have a responsibility to innovate and try something new because if not, we’re going to be doing the same old, same old—the audience is going to suffer, the platform is going to suffer.”

Trahan’s made his own evolution from challenge-based content to more personality-based videos. But will these new stakes feel as novel as Trahan’s inaugural version of the challenge? That’s the question viewers will answer as they tune into the Penny Series 2.0.

👀 Creator Moves

• Complexly is looking for a creative director to oversee branding and visual identity for all internal and branded projects.

• The Meat Mafia is hiring a Twitter ghostwriter to write tweets for their eight health brands.

• Mike Shake is looking to hire a thumbnail designer.

🔥 Press Worthy

• Former HQ Trivia host Scott Rogowsky launches a game show at his brick and mortar vintage shop.

• Dylan Mulvaney speaks about the hate they’ve received after their partnership with Bud Light led to a boycott against the company.

• Political science creator Nicholas Powers highlights the importance of fact-checking online content.

• Golf creator Nate Edwardson is now sponsored by Good Good Golf.

• Spanish streamer Ibai Llanos breaks Twitch streaming record with 3.4 million concurrent viewers watching his boxing event.

• The Sidemen’s charity soccer match tickets went live—and 52,000 people were already waiting in the queue.

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