Good morning. At what point does a side quest turn into a main quest? Salt fork creator Ben Walker just wrapped his two-year journey making and selling over 4,000 forks made of salt.

If he’s taking pitches for his next big thing, may we suggest Tajin straws for spicy margs? Or maybe wasabi chopsticks for sushi?

— Hannah Doyle & Syd Cohen

Yesterday, ad-supported streaming service Tubi announced it’s adding 5,000 new episodes from creators like Jomboy, Alan Chikin Chow, and MrBeast to its streaming library.

Behind the move: Earlier this summer, Tubi launched Tubi for Creators, a program designed to make the platform more creator-forward. Tubi secured 500 episodes from six creators and creator-led media companies—including Mythical, Jubilee, and Watcher—and hired a former Vimeo executive to oversee the program.

Now, that program is expanding. Tubi is bringing on TikTok’s former global head of creator marketing Kudzi Chikumbu as its new VP of creator partnerships. The goal? More creator-led original series on Tubi. 

Here’s a snippet of Tubi’s new library:

So what’s the draw? With 100 million monthly active users, Tubi—and similar ad-supported OTT platforms like Roku—offers exposure to new audiences, new revenue streams, and the potential to develop original series.

“It’s a very jarring experience to come back to my home and have it not exist anymore,” Samir said.

Last night, Colin & Samir hosted a YouTube Creator Collective event in Pacific Palisades, just feet away from where the January wildfires devastated Los Angeles. 

The event brought together creators, nonprofit organizations, and first responders to learn more about how YouTube is committing to the rebuild.

Creators and LA residents like Rebecca Zamolo and Kayemi Studios were in attendance to support and help bring business back after the news cycle moves on.

Here are the highlights:

Quick thought experiment: If you had a thrift store, how would you promote it on social? Try-ons? Flat-lays? What about…kicking a rock until it turns into a sphere?

Resale creator Owen Gail opted for option three to promote his store, Shirtzenpantz, in Portland, OR.

The nitty gritty: For the last 120 days, Gail has released an Instagram Reel weighing the same rock (now nicknamed “Christosphere”) in his store, then kicking it (literally) around his neighborhood, sometimes with special guests or adventures.

200K followers and 100M+ views later, the rock is nearly spherical, and the store has received visitors from around the world—even fellow creators like Hank Green.

“It draws people in and widens the audience that sees any of the other videos I make,” Gail told us. “Whether that’s tasty treat Tuesday, or restocking the bins. Maybe they come in because of the rock, but then they like the store, and we’ve definitely gained a lot of customers through the videos in person.”

Big picture: Short-form video is the new canvas of choice for original shows, and businesses like Gail’s are making content fit for episodic series. As coffee creator Cody Larson told Rachel Karten in her newsletter, Link in Bio, “Social media is replacing television [...] Stop making commercials. Be the show.”

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