Good morning. Just when we thought the Minecraft community had run out of ideas, gaming creator GuyBordo proved us biblically wrong. 

In a new series, he is attempting to beat the game while following the laws of different religions. For example, adhering to the halal and kosher practices of Islam and Judaism (much to the delight of the in-game pigs).

— Hannah Doyle & Syd Cohen

“So what’s your take?” has become synonymous with comedian Kareem Rhama's popular short-form series SubwayTakes, where he asks guests for their hot takes while riding the NYC subway.

All aboard: Over the past two years, Rhama has built a following of 3.7 million, gained over 1 billion views, and solidified himself as a mainstay of the creator-celebrity press cycle. 

Notable guests include Spike Lee, Zoë Kravitz, and our very own Colin—who recently asserted that there are far too many ways for men to shake hands. Samir also filmed an episode (coming out soon). Here’s what Samir has to say about the experience:

“To me, SubwayTakes is the perfect show. The ask is fun, the recording is natural, and when you’re done, they just keep going. We filmed our episodes in about 25 minutes, alongside 12 other people. 

[Rhama] can shoot upwards of 24 episodes in one day, which is how the show can upload daily—a huge advantage in a content ecosystem drowning in bespoke, one-off videos. People want routine. Something to latch onto and look forward to (cc: TBPN, Emily Sundberg).

It’s also built for Instagram, built for conversation, which allows the show to spread through DMs like wildfire every morning when it drops. On top of the daily clips, Kareem runs SubwayTakes Uncut, posting the full versions on YouTube and podcast platforms. That strategy got him to No. 3 on the Spotify podcast charts last month. 

We were talking to Zack Kornfeld from the Try Guys about this, who said the format is so good it infuriates him. As creators who are always searching for formats like this… 100% agree.”

So, what’s your take? Hit reply and give us your SubwayTake, and Syd will respond with a “100% agree” or “100% disagree” (like, actually).

Creator advertising platform Agentio, which uses AI to partner brands with creators for YouTube ad reads, recently raised $40 million in funding.

Behind the deal: Agentio was founded by Spotify and Cameo alums Arthur Leopold and Jonathan Meyers. The fundraise was led by VC firm Forerunner, with additional investments from firms like Benchmark and Antler, bringing the total capital raised to $56 million. Creators Rhett and Link recently joined Agentio as advisors. 

How it works: Agentio uses AI to match creators with brands and automate creator campaigns, which includes management and performance tracking. While it currently specializes in YouTube ad reads, Agentio is using the funding to expand to other platforms. That includes a Meta partnership, which is currently in beta.

Creators using the platform include Nick DiGiovanni, Phil DeFranco, and Gabi Belle. 

We spoke to commentary creator Andy King, who told us he filled out his entire Q4 brand deals using the platform, and has made nearly $80K from Agentio this year.

“My offers don’t always come through Agentio, but when they do I always know it’s going to be with a solid and reputable company,” King told us.

Brands using Agentio include Olipop, Uber, and DoorDash. With the funding, Agentio will invest more in its AI infrastructure and grow staff.

Big picture: Brands are committing more of their ad spend to creators. Unilever’s CEO recently said it will commit 50% of its total ad spend (which was $10 billion in 2024) to social media and will work with 20x more creators.

“We built an ad network that automates the buying process for brands and makes it as easy for brands to partner with creators as buying on Google,” Leopold told us. “In doing so we can finally shift this $800 billion pool of digital ad spend to creators.”

Sponsored by Shopify

The holidays are coming, and we wanted to offer a discount for the Press Publish store. Instead of guessing what works, we asked Shopify Sidekick, Shopify’s built-in AI business partner, to design a holiday promo strategy that will help us drive sales.

Sidekick turns data from your store into real, actionable recommendations. It suggested a tiered approach for our discount strategy: 15% off for early shoppers, 20% during peak season, and 25% right before Christmas to drive urgency. We’re starting with HOLIDAY15 for 15% off.

If you run a Shopify store, Sidekick can help you plan, analyze, and execute campaigns just like this. You can chat with Sidekick, get insights into what's working with your store, and collaborate on strategies. Check out Sidekick.

Comedy creator Grace Reiter is channeling early 2000s YouTube with The Hunger Games (but better), a parody recreation of the original 2012 film. 

Context: Reiter has amassed over 4 million followers across social sharing short-form comedy sketches. Reiter has starred in American High Digital shorts, an off-Broadway play Ginger Twinsies, and appeared in TV series like HBO Max’s The Chair Company.

The Hunger Games (but better) is a passion project for Reiter. She spent $20K to produce the film (which she saved up from brand deals) and rallied together a 14-person crew. In true indie film fashion, Reiter has even created promos and rented out an AMC theater for the premiere.

Reiter cites fan films on YouTube and parody movies like The Starving Games as inspiration for the project.

The odds were in her favor: “It was kind of perfect timing, because The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping is coming out next year,” Reiter told us. “I feel like The Hunger Games is always relevant and popular and it has a huge fan base.”

On Monday, we asked whether you thought creator media companies should unionize. The answers were pretty split—49% said yes, 48% said no, and 3% had another take. Staffers from MrBeast, Complexly, and more weighed in. Here are some of the comments we received →

“I think it's inevitable that Hollywood unions will try to insert themselves into ‘new media,’ but it will completely destroy the current model of production and result in a hybrid of old and new, for better and for worse. Just like in Hollywood, the biggest companies will survive, the middle will be gutted, and there will always be a passionate low-end that is granted immunity from Union rules.” — Anonymous, full-time producer at a creator media company

“Greed is currently ruining society, and unions are a real saving grace. I'm a full time freelance editor and I barely do any editing for creators because I'm sick of people thinking $150 for a 20 minute video is a good rate.” — Mike C., freelance video producer

“Union requirements (healthcare, reporting, payment requirements, etc.) should apply to larger creator channels above a certain revenue, subscriber-count, presence across platforms, etc. Creators just starting out shouldn't be subjected. Alternatively, there should be tiers depending on scope of creators' businesses.” — Porschia A., creator startup founder