Good morning. Did you get fooled by that AI video of a kangaroo holding a plane ticket? Same here…does that mean we’re getting our Gen Z card revoked?

— Hannah Doyle & Syd Cohen

RDCWorld’s Anime Con Sells Over 29,000 Tickets

Sketch comedy creators RDCWorld kicked off their anime and sports convention, Dream Con, today in Houston. They sold over 29,000 tickets (badges start at $60) to the three-day event. 

The run of show → Fans and creators will gather for gaming tournaments, exhibitions, panels, and a charity basketball game featuring creators including Duke Dennis and Hasan Piker. 

Context: RDCWorld, founded in 2012 by Mark Phillips and Affiong Harris, has amassed over 7 million followers and 1 billion views making anime and sketch comedy videos.  

The group previously requested to host meet and greets at several anime and comic conventions but were ignored or rejected because they didn’t “fit in,” they said. That inspired them to launch Dream Con in 2018.

Now? The convention is the largest and fastest-growing Black-owned anime and gaming convention in the US.

This year, Dream Con is bigger than ever—it’s being hosted at the 1.9 million square-foot George R. Brown Convention Center, over 75% of attendees are from out of state, and Megan Thee Stallion is hosting a conversation on storytelling and entrepreneurship. Megan’s tequila brand, Chicas Divertidas, joins Coca-Cola, YouTube, Under Armour, and Red Bull as event sponsors.

“The energy at Dream Con is electric. We played a big role in cultivating that culture and you don’t have to worry about trying to look cool—to me that’s the best part about the con,” Harris said in a video.

Subway Surfers Hit 4.5 Billion Downloads—Here’s How

At some point in the last 13 years, you’ve probably been entranced by the endless runner mobile game, Subway Surfers. It’s been downloaded over 4.5 billion times, still pulls in 150 million players every month, and has over 25 million followers across social.

So how has the game stayed relevant all these years? Creators. 

• Musician Ricky Montgomery shows Subway Surfers gameplay in the background of his videos to hold viewers' attention—part of the “sludge content” trend.

• Video essayist Choopo is part of the creator cohort making deep-dive video essays unpacking the lore of the Subway Surfers universe.

• TikTokers started the “IRL Challenge,” acting out Subway Surfers in real life.

The game’s key to keeping momentum? Staying flexible with the IP, according to Celia Zimmermann, the head of player experience at Subway Surfers developer SYBO. The company embraces creators’ game interpretations, fine tuning the Subway Surfers experience to match the larger conversation around the game. For example…

• Creator Club: The SYBO team works with over a dozen content creators to promote sneak peeks of content and ask for feedback. In its first year, SYBO’s Creator Club has generated over 430 million views cross-platform. One member, Tmdperkslive, streams daily to an audience of almost 500K on TikTok.

• Fan contests: SYBO has recently held Craft-a-Character competitions for fans to submit art for new game characters—and the winner gets free PR services. “Most of [the winners] are [in their] early 20s at university,” Zimmermann told us. “That’s our way of giving them a head start in a career path that they’re looking to pursue within game or character design.”

• Social media presence: “Our strategy is entertainment first,” Zimmermann said. SYBO has collaborated with artists and creators like bbno$ and published a free animated series on YouTube.

Big picture: SYBO is part of a growing group of brands operating as entertainment—echoing some of the success of Ulta’s in-store associate creator program or Little Caesars’ YouTube reality show, Pretzel Crust Island.

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Technoblade Posthumously Reaches 20 Million Subscribers

Three years after gaming creator Technoblade passed away following a battle with cancer, his channel (now run by his dad) reached 20 million subscribers this week. 

The backstory: With an 11-year-long career and over $1 million raised for sarcoma research, Technoblade was one of the most influential Minecraft YouTubers on the platform—even receiving a cameo in A Minecraft Movie. His catch phrase “Technoblade never dies” has been adopted by his community as a way to memorialize him and his work.

What gaming creators are saying:

• “Technoblade was cracking the YouTube algorithm before we had [...] any knowledgeable data,” Skeppy said in a trailer for Technoblade’s 20 million subscriber video.

• “You’re a bloody legend, Techno,” TommyInnit said.

• “I don’t know where I would be without having ever met Techno,” Dream said.

🔥 Press Worthy

• Spotify unveils an improved discovery feed for users to find new podcasts.

• Inventions creator Jake Carlini releases a trailer for his upcoming comic book, Socksus.

• YouTube is integrating Google Lens with Shorts so viewers can search what they see in videos.

• Join us next Saturday in LA for Coffee With Creators featuring a Q+A with Colin and Samir.

• Karat Financial launches a banking platform for creators.

📚️ Thank You For Pressing Publish

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

• Read: For Vulture, writer Nicholas Quah explores the fun and frustration celebrities and PR teams are facing through the creator-first new media circuit.

• Watch: The original cast of American High Shorts reunites for Hulu’s new comedy, Summer of ‘69, starring Chloe Fineman and produced by American High.

• Listen: Addison Rae appears on the New York Times’ Popcast, discussing her childhood, her rise on TikTok, and her upcoming album Addison.