Good morning. Bob’s Burgers’ Eugene Mirman released his first comedy special in a decade for free on YouTube—a move increasingly common among creators like Gianmarco Soresi and Hank Green.
So if you see us workshopping material at a few open mics around town, mind your business.
Today’s lineup:
Twitch cracks down on viewbotting
Dhar Mann Studios’ CEO shares deal-making tips for creators
Druski spends six figures on a sketch
Inside IShowSpeed’s Viewbotted Stream
Twitch CEO Dan Clancy announces a temporary concurrent viewer cap to select streams / Photography by Xuthoria/CC BY-SA 4.0
Last week, IShowSpeed revealed that his record-breaking YouTube stream in the Dominican Republic (which reported 1.9M peak concurrent viewers) actually peaked at 300K. The additional 1.6M viewers came from viewbots—automated accounts made to artificially inflate the viewership of a livestream.
How viewbotting works: Creators (or in some cases, a third party) pay viewbotting services to add views to a stream—charging between $0.28 and $10 for 10 views, depending on the platform and service provider.
Representatives from YouTube confirmed that Speed did not pay for viewbots on his own stream, noting that creators who repeatedly violate the policy risk channel termination.
A growing issue: Last year, 10% of all Twitch channels that average 50 viewers or more were flagged for “suspicious viewing activity,” according to a study conducted by Stream Charts. Kick was worse, at 16%. Stream Charts stated that viewbotting has the potential to erode relationships between creators, brands, and audiences—since brands can’t determine campaign efficacy with falsified numbers.
One potential solution: Twitch CEO Dan Clancy announced that Twitch will temporarily cap concurrent viewers for channels using viewbots.
Some creators are unconvinced:
“The entire culture of [Twitch] is ‘more viewers = better.’ So of course everyone will do anything possible to get more viewers. This not only encourages viewbotting but also toxic streamer culture (IRL nuisance streamers, etc) because, again, it’s all about the views,” media education creator Devin Nash said on X.
“This is going to encourage people to purposely viewbot streamers they don’t like to mess with their stream,” gaming creator Brittany Storm said on X.
Do you think viewbotting is an inevitable part of livestreaming?
How Dhar Mann Studios CEO Makes Deals with Legacy Brands
CEO Sean Atkins (left) shares how he supports Dhar Mann Studios (right) ink brand partnerships and content deals / Sean Atkins, Dhar Mann
In the last year, Dhar Mann Studios (DMS) has inked a brand partnership with the NFL and original content deals with blue-chip brands like Fox and Samsung.
What that’s unlocked for DMS: increased brand recognition and audience that recognizes DMS beyond a creator to a full-service entertainment brand. We called up CEO Sean Atkins to get his playbook on partnerships, and where he sees the future of creator-led media.
Atkins’ deal-making playbook →
Leverage access. The Fox deal, which includes narrative-driven microdramas, came together in a small room—Atkins, Dhar Mann, and Fox CEO Rob Wade. "Great things happen when you get to the top of the pyramid," Atkins said. "There weren't a million people in the room." Layers of gatekeepers can complicate a deal—going direct to the source, when possible, opens more doors.
Lead with community. When Samsung came calling to make a FAST channel (a free ad-supported streaming channel syndicating content), Dhar Mann Studios negotiated to include original programming to provide new content that’s additive for fans. "What are we trying to do for our community? How do we get to them in a new and interesting way?” Atkins said. It was good for DMS too because they were building distribution and an owned asset.
Come in with what Atkins calls an ‘and, not or’ mindset. Atkins said most creators walk into deals thinking they are competing against traditional media. Successful deals allow both parties to bring their strengths. “Fox Studios can’t become Dhar Mann tomorrow, and Dhar Mann can’t become Fox Studios. And neither one really wants to,” Atkins said. “As long as we can have an ‘and conversation [...] we can find a way to go forward.”
Atkins left us with his creator-media prediction: The gap between “YouTube video” and “prestige production” is about to close. "Markiplier can put a mid-range film in a theater. You could have a creator make a network-quality TV show without the old infrastructure," Atkins said. As production costs drop, the middle tier of media that disappeared—too expensive for creators, too small for studios—will come back.
This is part of our Creator CEO series. Know a creator business CEO we should talk to? Hit reply.
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By the Numbers: Creator Aims to Buy Spirit Airlines
(Left to right) Druski shares how much he reinvests into his stunts, OnlyFans reaches a new valuation peak, and Hunter Peterson fundraises to buy Spirit Airlines / Druski, Illustration by Moy Zhong, Hunter Peterson
Spirit Airlines might not be dead after all. Here are the big numbers powering the creator economy this week:
$100K → How much comedy creator Druski spent on his megachurch sketch, saying that he made no money back from the short video despite racking up over 150M views across socials.
“It means a lot to see other [creators], not just me, reinvesting in [their content],” Druski said in an interview with NYT, referring to Kai Cenat and MrBeast.
$3.15B → OnlyFans’ valuation after selling 16% stake to VC firm Architect Capital for $535M. In 2021, the platform was valued at $1B, tripling in worth over the past 5 years.
$337M → How much fans have pledged in support of comedy creator Hunter Peterson, who is looking to buy Spirit Airlines and turn it into a co-op. Note: none of it is real money; they are non-binding pledges. His Instagram account Spirit Airlines 2.0 has grown over 300K followers in one week, and over 371K people have pledged at least $45 to the fundraiser.
“You’re committing to this bit, so I’m committing to this bit,” Pederson told his followers.
👀 Creator Jobs
Sam Eckholm’s aviation show, Access Granted, is hiring a senior video editor.
Smosh is hiring a director of talent to manage full-time cast members and on-screen talent.
Challenge creator Andrew Video is looking for a right hand/producer to manage production and location scouting.
🔥 Press Worthy
Maya Higa’s Alveus Sanctuary is expanding to include repopulation and endangered species medication.
Meta and YouTube push back against California social media addiction lawsuit.
Hollywood union IATSE goes on strike against CoComelon.
Family vloggers The Anazala Family announce an arena show in New York.
Alix Earle will be a part of Netflix’s Upfronts this week.
