Good morning. Earlier this week, actor Kristin Stewart said that she wants to make an independent movie and put it on YouTube by the end of the year. Could this be an Easter Egg for an appearance in comedy creator Grace Reiter’s YouTube movie Twilight, But Better?

P.S. We’ll be taking Monday off for Memorial Day. Enjoy the long weekend, and we’ll see you Wednesday.

— Hannah Doyle & Syd Cohen

Today’s lineup:

Short-form creator Jenny Hoyos recently rebranded her 11M-subscriber challenge YouTube channel—with a new look (no glasses, hair down) and more personal content.

With the rebrand, Hoyos increased her posting from once a day to 20–100 videos per day, publishing on the hour, every hour. The result: nearly 1 billion views in a single month and deeper audience engagement.

Here’s how she did it → Hoyos works with a team of five (two ideators, two editors, and a strategist). She films during the day, sends footage to her editors and strategist, reviews at night, and schedules videos to publish hourly from midnight.

“My goal is at least 20 new pieces of content, but if I run out, then I'll repurpose,” Hoyos told us. “I also have a server with all my videos and existing footage that my team goes through and picks out BTS.”

Why post so much? To build audience connection. In building up to 9M subscribers, Hoyos went viral multiple times but felt disconnected from her audience.

 "I was getting views and gaining subscribers and making money, but there was something that just felt missing," Hoyos said.

So she started including more of her personal life: getting ready for the day, letting viewers into her friend group, and a will-they-won't-they storyline with her best friend.

What she found: Weaving personal storylines into her content created a curiosity gap that spanned her entire channel, not just a single video. 

"People wouldn't just watch one video—they would watch several because they wanted to follow along with a storyline," Hoyos said. 

And with hourly posting, the total time her audience spent with her content shot up.  “At that point, they're probably logging more time than they are with some long-form creators,” Hoyos said.

Playing the long game with Shorts: When Hoyos first shifted her content style in November, views fell from 1 million to 50K per video. She kept going, likening her new content to a home renovation: "For the house to get prettier, it has to get uglier first." 

Yesterday, ByteDance (TikTok’s parent company) announced that its free editing software CapCut would soon be integrated into the Google Gemini app—giving users the ability to edit videos and images directly in the LLM.

This move follows a partnership between CapCut and Google last summer, where Google Photos installed an “Edit in CapCut” button.

Why it matters: CapCut is one of the most popular free mobile video editing tools, with over 730 million monthly active users. By inking one of its largest distribution deals with Google Gemini, CapCut can potentially rival other editing services from companies like Adobe and Apple. 

Worth noting: Google rolled out a beta version of its own free video software, YouTube Create, last December—but it has significantly fewer users than CapCut. 

Sponsored by Cannes Lions

The biggest brand deals in the creator economy will be made at Cannes Lions. And this year, the LIONS Creators programme takes center stage at Palais Beach.

Learn from creators like Max Klymenko, Tejas Hullur, and more. Be in the room with brand teams building partnerships with creators including Dove, Gap, and DoorDash.

Beyond keynotes and panels, there will also be dedicated networking opportunities. Events like The Creator-Marketer Mixer are planned specifically to get you in front of key decision makers.

In partnership with Adobe, LIONS Creators is the place to connect, create, and co-curate future opportunities. It takes place June 22-26 in Cannes, France.

Learn how to get your Creator Pass to Cannes Lions by clicking here.

Joe Posner, the co-founder of Vox Video, just launched Dream On, a monthly YouTube series highlighting the people fighting poverty across America. In search of the new “American Dream,” Posner is also looking for something else: the future of public broadcasting on YouTube.

Behind the dream:

Posner is not the first ex-Vox journalist to go indie (see: Cleo Abram, Johnny and Iz Harris, Adam Cole, and Joss Fong). While the series has just 10K views in the first 2 weeks, Posner said potential funding contributors and organizations have already reached out about additional episodes.

Trend watch: We’re seeing fewer creators chase mass audiences—instead going deeper with the right ones. For Posner and the Dream On team, that means finding viewers (and donors) that broadcast programs like 60 Minutes and PBS might not reach.

“I really want this to be the new public television,” Posner said.

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