Good morning. This weekend, we’ll be putting on our red and yellow and wading through the LA traffic to root for Spain in the World Cup final. Syd’s study abroad is finally paying off, viva la roja!

Hit reply and let us know who you’ll be rooting for.

— Hannah Doyle & Syd Cohen

Today’s lineup:

Creators are already content pros. So why would Smosh—a brand with 21 years on YouTube, six channels, 57M subscribers, and 23B views—need a Chief Content Officer?

Because making great content and building a content business are two different jobs. Smosh’s creative team is focused on the next video. Cory Midgarden, the company’s first Chief Content Officer, is focused on the next two years—keeping YouTube as Smosh’s #1 priority, while expanding into film, TV, live events, and music.

We spoke with Midgarden to understand what a CCO unlocks for Smosh →

After building content strategies and digital series at Viacom, Paramount, and NBCU, Midgarden brings a traditional studio perspective to the more fast-paced creator world.

One tactic already in motion: Don’t be precious about the ideation process. Last quarter, Smosh employees across all non-creative departments pitched show ideas—with bonuses awarded to any employees whose formats get produced.

This extends to the cast too. Courtney Miller recently branched out into directing, Shayne Topp is developing a new show, and Tommy Bowe is helping with the team’s music strategy.

How we see it: Thinking like a CCO doesn’t require hiring one. Creators should ask themselves:

“I don’t think there’s some magic follower count where you suddenly need a Chief Content Officer,” Midgarden said. “Smosh’s got 15 cast members, multiple channels, live events, partnerships, a growing team—there’s just a lot going on. Someone has to be thinking beyond next week’s upload.”

This summer, tech education creator Natalie Fratto shared a hand-drawn explainer of AI cloud platform Databricks—and the video blew past five million views.

“I didn’t know Databricks was that interesting to that many people,” Fratto told us.

Context: Fratto, the creator behind Charts & Crafts, spent her career in tech and finance—including as a managing director at Silicon Valley Bank—before quitting this year to make explainers of complex tech companies full time. She now has 214K followers (155K of which were in the last 30 days).

Why did the video take off? Fratto has two theories: 

1) Databricks is popular but confusing. “My videos are based on how much hype there is around a company crossed with how little people understand it,” Fratto said.

2) The visuals are hand-drawn. "Everyone is excited about not slop," Fratto said. "It's a visual marker that I am a human doing it.” She films every video in front of a green screen in one take, drawing with markers on dotted paper.

Frattos’ inbox is now filled with companies who want the Databricks treatment. 

Her read on why B2B brands are paying attention: Enterprise tech companies have saturated LinkedIn and tech YouTube, but no one has cracked Instagram. 

"If I know I need to learn about Databricks, I'm most excited to consume it on Instagram, in the way that I want to," Fratto said. 

Looking ahead: Fratto is only a few months into treating Charts & Crafts as a full-time business—and says she’s on track to “far surpass” her banking salary this year. 

"It's become really sexy to get sucked into tech doomerism, and I really want to be a voice against that [...] in a way that makes us all feel empowered to engage in more nuance together," Fratto said.

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Yesterday, YouTube released its 2025 US Impact Report, sharing findings across job creation, content consumption, and creator earnings from last year.

Here’s the breakdown, by the numbers:

Why it matters: YouTube is making the case that creators on the platform don't just contribute views and culture—they remain a meaningful part of the US economy, with growing influence in areas like policy and media.

Read the full report here.

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