Rated-R

Welcome back. Did anyone see that Facebook—I mean, Meta—won’t be taking a cut of creator’s paid subscriptions, and will let creators download their subscriber list? Seems like a deal sweeter than a bottle of Sweet Baby Ray’s. Would you use their Subscriptions product over others like Patreon? Hit reply and let us know.

-Hannah Doyle

In Today’s Issue 💬

→ The benefits of hosting an exclusive, ad-free livestream

→ Why one Substacker moved their newsletter to a media company

→ How Pinterest plans to revamp the live-TV model

Rhett and Link Host Their First Explicit Livestream

Last week, Rhett and Link fans got what they f*king wanted. The YouTube duo hosted Good Mythical Evening (GME), three exclusive livestream events with expletive-laced content that was not safe for work, YouTube, or advertisers.

How did it work? 

• Since the nature of the shows didn’t allow for free viewing on their YouTube channel, GME offered a variety of admission options through livestream platform Looped. 

• The public could purchase ticketing and merch bundles that gained admission to the main show and post-show, as well as tickets for on-demand viewing. 

• Mythical Society members got their own pre-show, while the main and post show were also available to general ticket holders.

We talked to the Mythical team about the riotous event, and whether they’ll do more ticketed livestreams in the future. Check out our exclusive Q&A at the end of this newsletter. 👇

Our Take

While memberships can deepen engagement and be rewarding for a subset of fans, offering a PPV live event allows in more viewers who can only commit for a one-time purchase. Platforms like Looped and Moment House are allowing creators to experiment with live PPV and serve segments of their audiences with limited risk.

Substack Journalist Moves to The Atlantic

Less than a year after leaving the New York Times to start the culture and politics Substack, “Galaxy Brain”, journalist Charlie Warzel has sold his newsletter to The Atlantic. 

In a post published earlier this week, Warzel shared that he was making considerably less through the newsletter than he was at the New York Times. His reasons were that his content was too general, he was too reliant on Twitter for growth, and his work was better in the context of a media brand than on its own. 

Many journalists have made the exodus from traditional media to Substack, including Anne Helen Petersen, Casey Newton, and Matthew Yglesias. Warzel is one of the first to do the reverse, and joins a growing trend of media outlets publishing a stable of journalist-first newsletters.

Our Take

As a truly independent creator, your job is not only to create the content but to find an audience, and figure out how to monetize it. Some creators thrive under a large entity with all the associated resources, while others find success on their own. Media brands can provide reliable support, while being independent allows for more control and ownership—both are viable options.

Pinterest Launches Creator Shopping Series

Starting Tuesday, Pinterest TV, a series of live shopping episodes hosted by creators, will air on the Pinterest app and website. Hosts will include Beauty YouTuber Manny Mua and Olympian and knitting enthusiast Tom Daley. Creators can tag products during their shows, which viewers can select to purchase on their respective websites. Pinterest hasn’t disclosed creator revenue shares, as they told Variety that each creator has their own deal structure. 

Pinterest TV marks the latest development in the trend of livestream shopping, among apps like Instagram and Tiktok. The category overall is expected to grow to $25 billion in industry-wide sales in the U.S. by 2023, according to Coresight Research.

Our Take

Pinterest specializes in discovery, and this new format could provide another avenue for merch sales where creators can expand from their core audience. It will be interesting to see how the QVC-style shows resonate with a digital-first crowd.

🔥 In Other News

• Clubhouse is now available in 13 new languages.

• Tiktok Creator Larray to star in Facebook docuseries.

• Apple dropped its first original podcast.

• Netflix launches mobile gaming on android.

• Instagram adds sticker to create public threads on stories

Creator Q&A: Rhett and Link

We spoke with the team behind Mythical Entertainment to get the details behind the Good Mythical Evening livestream (The following interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity).

Over 2,000 members tuned into the exclusive pre-show​​—were you surprised by the livestream turnout? 

We had a feeling that this event would draw a huge crowd, but didn’t anticipate the surge of demand on the last day and even last hour before showtime. The Looped platform performed beautifully even under the stress of massive last-minute demand and one of the most active live chats we’ve ever seen.

How were you able to make a private event accessible to the public?

We curated ticket packages to serve the needs of multiple viewers, from the curious outsider to the most enthusiastic member—each with its own terms and merch. [During the event] it was interesting to see the fans talk about GME off the Looped platform, with our event hashtag trending on Twitter.

Do you think you’ll do another R-rated livestream again?

Very likely—it deepend our direct-to-fan relationship among viewers old and new, and it provided a perfect outlet for Rhett, Link, and the whole team to exercise creative chops that just work better after hours and off YouTube.