Welcome back. And Merry Christmas Eve Eve 🎄 The only YouTube I’ll be watching from now ’til Sunday is the 24/7 fireplace video from Fobos Planet—who has an impressive 11 versions of the festive livestream.

Have a restful holiday and we’ll see you next week!

–Hannah Doyle

Nostalgia is back in full force—from fashion (hi, ballet flats) to music (what’s up, The 1975) and now—social platforms.

Welcome to the Tumblr Renaissance. The microblogging platform has pulled off a comeback in a way its fellow 2000s era platforms like MySpace or Livejournal have failed to—and it’s no coincidence that Tumblr’s resurgence into pop culture is happening in lockstep with a rediscovery of the vibes that made the platform the toast of 2012: indie sleaze, emo sensibilities, and the return to twee.

So how is Tumblr capitalizing on this new-found popularity?

This week, the platform launched Tumblr Live, a native live streaming feature for U.S. app users. FYI, Tumblr has supported livestreams in the past by letting people share streams from other platforms like YouTube. But this new feature is embedded within the platform and lets viewers pay creators.

Pull back: Tumblr’s playing more than just the nostalgia card. In light of recent chaos, Tumblr has emerged as a potential alternative to Elon Musk’s Twitter.

And the numbers suggest it’s working: Of the 135 million monthly users visiting Tumblr, 48% are Gen Z. That number might be even larger now, since Tumblr had a 96% adoption surge between October 27, 2022, and November 17, 2022—coincidentally, the weeks immediately following Musk’s Twitter takeover.

But it wasn’t always roses. After Tumblr removed porn in 2018, web traffic dropped by around 30% and remained stagnant—save for Taylor Swift’s persistent use. It sold for $3 million in 2019, a significant dip from its $1 billion sale six years prior.

Tumblr was a vibe machine before “vibe” was in our lexicon—and in the midst of our cultural obsession with all things nostalgia, Tumblr is in pole position to make good on its tastemaker status. For creators, the Tumblr renaissance is a chance to experiment on the platform—if it aligns with their audience, that is. Emma Rogue starting a Tumblr? Absolutely. MrBeast? Maybe not.

The education creator has never shied away from sharing the challenges of running his business. In fact, it’s part of his business to do that.

With Abdaal’s recent “How I Failed in 2022” video, creators are in for a masterclass in accountability and transparency. The highlights from Abdaal’s lowlights:

Be wary of growth for its own sake: Abdaal and his team fell short of their £5 million revenue target, coming in slightly over £3 million. But Abdaal realized he didn’t need to hit that target to be happy. “It’s important to ask ‘when is enough enough?’ If we’re at the place of enough, let’s really embrace being a lifestyle business, instead of trying to grow,” he said.

Identify where you thrive: Depending on where you land on the Maker–Manager spectrum, you may function better as a creator who makes videos or a manager who develops businesses. Maybe it’s somewhere in between, but make sure you identify your strong suit so you can do what you need to—hiring, outsourcing, consulting, etc.—in order to meet your goals.

Most end-of-year content is a highlight reel—look no further than TikTok’s 2022 Eras trend. But, as Abdaal proves, looking back at the tougher lessons learned is more fruitful. By sharing his struggles, Abdaal shows the realities, challenges, and possibilities of our industry in a world where so many view being a creator as something that anyone could do.

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Colin and Samir here. 👋🏻👋🏽 Sincere apologies if this disappoints anyone.

But in all seriousness, we know what makes a great creator product. It’s not that any one product category that’s superior to others—hats aren’t definitively better than makeup, and digital goods aren’t definitively worse than socks.

What actually matters: building a product that aligns with your value prop. Take our latest merch drop for example (👀). Our mission is to empower others to press publish and our apparel embodies that mantra in clothing you can wear.

When you’re ready to launch your products, set up your store on Shopify—the leading all-in-one-commerce platform powering millions of entrepreneurs and creators.

Earlier this week, longtime YouTubers MatPat and Stephanie Patrick sold their company, Theorist Media, to media startup Lunar X.

Backstory: Theorist Media (est. 2009) is the parent company for their three channels: The Game Theorist, The Film Theorist, and GTLive, which together have over 33 million subscribers.

The financial details of the acquisition are being kept under wraps, but according to the announcement video, MatPat will remain CEO and star of Theorist’s channels, Patrick will remain COO, and the rest of their team will stay intact.

This is proof that YouTube channels are more than just side hustles or hobbies—they’re full-fledged businesses. Deals of this size suggest the possibility for channel M&A to bolster creator ventures and expand traditional businesses’ branding to new and eager audiences.

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