Good morning. Here’s a sentence that’s just about as 2024 as it gets: Haliey “Hawk Tuah Girl” Welch has started an AI company. Her new venture, Pookie Tools, is a chatbot-based “dating advice” app now available on iOS and Android. If Welch’s tech entrepreneurship chops are as strong as her ability to turn a viral moment into a full-fledged career, Bumble and Tinder might need to watch their backs.

— Hannah Doyle & Nate Graber-Lipperman

New Tour, New App: UpDating Levels Up

Comedians Brandon Berman and Harrison Forman have built a following of three million across social platforms, sharing videos of their blindfolded live dating show, UpDating, which they film in small NYC nightclubs. 

Now, Berman and Forman are planning their largest nationwide tour yet, at venues that can seat upwards of 1,000. Here’s how the duo is building a fanbase both online and off →

Prioritizing IRL shows. Berman and Forman started UpDating in 2018 as a ticketed event in NYC.

• It grew a following via word-of-mouth, and local fans became the foundation of their email list, which now sits at over 70,000 subscribers.

• UpDating’s revenue is primarily made up of ticket sales (40% of which come from their email list), online syndication, and brand partnerships. 

Releasing episodic content. UpDating began filming and posting footage of the show online in 2021. These days, they release one long-form video a week, along with 5-7 short-form clips.

“Unlike most comedians that perform the same act when they go on tour, every show is different—so for 30 shows, we get 30 episodes of content to feed our flywheel,” Forman told us. 

Making it interactive. Berman and Forman are exploring more ways to involve fans in their live show, like testing a dating app that matches individual audience members with another person in the crowd.

“We want to grow the live experience in every capacity,” Berman said. “The funniest thing we’ve learned is that the more our show is about comedy and less about dating, the more people actually meet.”

Spotify Unveils Rev-Share Program for Creators

On Wednesday, Spotify opened its doors in Los Angeles and revealed an ambitious new offering: Spotify for Creators. Our very own Colin and Samir were in attendance—here are the biggest takeaways, in Samir’s words.

In January, Spotify is rolling out a new revenue-sharing partner program and analytics dashboard for video creators. This makes it impossible to not compare with YouTube, as the two biggest podcast platforms in the world are approaching video podcasting from opposite directions.

YouTube runs on ad-supported discovery, where the goal is to grab and hold attention with each video.

• As a creator, the primary question is, “Can I get you to click?”

• Your videos have to hold attention and be good…but click-through rate is king.

Spotify, however, has a different focus. With 87% of its revenue coming from premium subscribers, it’s a membership club.

• For creators, the question shifts to, “Will you keep coming back?”

• It’s not about the quick win. Rather, it’s a long game of retention—building a steady relationship with the audience, episode by episode.

Big picture: Spotify’s move is ambitious. If it works, it could mean more stable revenue for creators who prioritize depth over reach. The real question is whether Spotify will support discovery or leave it up to creators to bring their own audience—like Jake Shane, who built a following on TikTok first before launching a successful podcast.

As a creator who publishes to both, my hope is that the Spotify premium rev-share model works, as I think it’ll inspire a different kind of creative work.

Sponsored by Central Talent Booking

How a Podcast Booked Its Biggest Guest Yet

With nearly 5-million monthly listens, The Viall Files is one of the internet’s top relationship and pop culture podcasts. Hosted by The Bachelor alum Nick Viall, it also features one-on-ones with celebrities and experts.

To book guests, the show relies on Central Talent Booking and its 25+ years of industry experience.

In January, CTB helped The Viall Files land Gypsy Rose Blanchard, who (at the time) was the 7th-most-Googled person in the world. Her interview generated 1.3-million views and remains the podcast’s most-watched YouTube episode.

Want to elevate your show’s credibility with high-profile guests? Learn how CTB can help today.

Creator Boxing Takes Center Stage this Weekend

There’s been a lack of major creator boxing events this year after a busy 2023. That changes tonight, as Jake Paul is set to take on veteran boxer Mike Tyson—which one JP Morgan analyst predicted will be the most-watched fight of all time (creators or otherwise).

Why? The event, which is being held at the 80,000-seat AT&T Stadium (home to the Dallas Cowboys), is the first fight to air live on Netflix—the most subscribed to video streaming service in the world.

While boxing is typically sold behind a pay-per-view firewall, Netflix is making Paul vs. Tyson available to all 280 million of the platform’s paying members.

Zoom out: Paul vs. Tyson isn’t the only creator boxing match we’re tracking this weekend. This Saturday, comedy creator Anthony Po will be donning his “Cheeseball Man” alter ego once again as he takes on his anonymous archnemesis, Cornhead Killer, at a boxing gym in New York City.

🔥 Press Worthy

• Why are we all obsessed with celebrity lookalike contests? Passionfruit explored this question in their latest creator newsletter—subscribe for free here.*

• Emma Chamberlain releases an eyewear line with Warby Parker.

• Patreon introduces holiday-themed gifting for creators.

• Benoftheweek is hosting a fortune reading in LA tomorrow.

• Bluesky gained 700,000 users in the last week.

• Coffeezilla investigates MrBeast’s crypto history.

_{*This is sponsored advertising content.}

📚️ Thank You For Pressing Publish

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

• Read: Getting ready for Thanksgiving? Zoe Barrie Soderstrom of food newsletter Restaurant Dropout writes a beginner’s guide to cooking turkey.

• Watch: Colt Kirwan documents the process of building a go kart in his garage—and takes it for a test drive.

• Listen: On the latest episode of The Press Box, hosts Bryan Curtis and Joel Anderson evaluate whether the latest X/Twitter exodus is real or not.