Good morning. To celebrate two years of writing about the business of creators here in The Publish Press, we’re giving away a Creator Starter Kit—all the gear, resources, and merch Colin and Samir wish they had when they were starting out.

If you’re a subscriber, you’re already entered. We’ll announce the winner right here next Friday, June 16.

— Hannah Doyle & Nate Graber-Lipperman

Twitch Trojan Horses New Streaming Guidelines

Earlier this week, Twitch rolled out an update to its branded content guidelines that tightened up rules over the way streamers could advertise sponsorships.

Some details of the new rules:

• Logos must not take up more than 3% of screen size.

• Creators can’t promote financial products and services or political content.

How did creators react? Much like they have to several of Twitch’s other recent announcements—with swift backlash. Creators were upset that new rules could 1) severely impact charity and esports streams and 2) hamstring individual streamers who make most of their money on sponsorships.

• Gaming creator Asmongold called for a boycott while OTK Network, the content studio he started, threatened to leave the platform altogether.

• Pokimane suggested creators switch to a platform with a direct-to-consumer payment model like OnlyFans or Patreon.

Twitch took note, reversing the changes the next day. But…

As Ludwig pointed out in a recent stream, what remains of Twitch’s updated branded content guidelines include terms of service changes that prohibit creators from livestreaming on multiple platforms at once (aka simulcasting) without advance permission from Twitch.

• This impacts streamers of all sizes who optimize for reach by streaming across platforms like Twitch, Facebook, and YouTube at once.

• Ninja, who often simulcasts from multiple platforms, said in a stream this week that he will stop streaming on Twitch because of the new rule.

And for Twitch Partners like KSI, the platform is not auto-renewing their agreements. The creators will either have to 1) sign a new Monetized Streamer Agreement that includes the updated terms of service or 2) be demoted to Affiliate status (which means a smaller share of Twitch revenue).

Twitch CEO Dan Clancy has since issued an apology for the sponsorship changes, but he didn’t address criticism of Twitch’s move to bar simulcasts and end Partner agreements.

Flavrs Launches Creator Equity Fund

This week, a shoppable video platform for food creators called flavrs announced a new “Creator Equity Fund.” The program will provide creator partners with an ownership stake in flavrs, a move the company sees as mutually beneficial.

“Historically, [tech] businesses have been unfair to people who create the content that actually drives the eyeballs,” flavrs CEO Alejandro Oropeza told us. “We want to make sure that our creators are incentivized and excited to help us build the platform.”

Context: flavrs is a mobile app that combines vertical cooking videos, built-in recipe data, and custom shopping integrations that allow users to purchase ingredients and cookware from within the app.

Some of their creator partners include Binging with Babish’s Andrew Rea, Susanna “Smellylunchbox” Yu, and Davon “Royale Eats” Moseley.

Big picture: Oropeza, who previously led YouTube’s global marketing team, believes creators are essential to building ecommerce platforms like flavrs—and shoppable video will play a major role moving forward, particularly in the food space.

“Shoppable video…is less of an industry trend [for food] and more of a real human underlying desire where if you actually see something delicious, there’s a physiological response that triggers you to get hungry,” Oropeza told us.

Sponsored by YouTube Shopping

Join the 100,000+ creators using YouTube Shopping to grow their business

If you’ve watched any of Colin and Samir’s latest videos, you may have noticed a little button that lets you shop some of their Press Publish merch from their channel. 🧢

That’s made possible thanks to YouTube Shopping, a new resource that lets you transform your channel into its own digital storefront and meet your audience exactly where they are.

There were over 150 billion views on YouTube Shorts, videos, and live streams with tagged products in 2022, and the feature is now available to every creator in the YouTube Partner Program.

To get started:

1. Go to YouTube Studio.

2. Click on “Earn,” then “Shopping.”

3. Finally, connect your store.

From there, you can start tagging specific products in your videos. You’ll also notice a store tab added to your channel page.

For tips to help you get started, check out the YouTube Shopping Creator Starter Pack. And, when you use #ShopwithYouTube, you can help your content get discovered in more places where fans seek out shopping content.

Technoblade’s Dad Starts New Charitable Foundation

About a year after popular 23-year-old Minecraft creator Technoblade died following a battle with cancer, his father (known as “Mr. Technodad” online) announced the new “One of Us Global Foundation.”

The organization will provide grants and mentorship programs to help young people break down “social and economic barriers” and build “a global community.”

FYI: On June 3, Technodad hosted the inaugural “Festival of Voices,” a charity Minecraft event that featured creators like Dream and Tommyinnit and has raised over $78,000 so far for the foundation.

🔥 Press Worthy

• Emma Chamberlain and Alex Cooper are speaking at Spotify panels at Cannes Lions later this month.

• Comedy creator Evelyn from the Internets is launching her own Patreon-funded variety show.

• Casey Neistat shares a look into the current air quality in NYC.

• KSI’s rise to fame is now being taught in British media studies classes.

• Nas Daily launches a five-month long online creator accelerator program.

• Cre8tor Hub is helping creators grow their brands with creator news, tips, and brand deals. Sign up with one click, literally.

• Our friends at .Store are helping us throw an intimate creator event this weekend. 👀 Stay tuned for our recap and in the meantime, check out what the brand is up to here.*

*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: "[He’s] creating a novel path toward college-sports riches. Influencer first and foremost, athlete second, with each job gilding the other." Time recently profiled University of Texas high jumper Sam Hurley to explore how he’s using his popular TikTok account to cash in on NIL.

• Watch: Vox interviewed four TV writers and showrunners to explain how streaming caused the current writers’ strike and how the industry’s changed for those looking to start a career.

• Listen: In an otherwise down week for the world of podcasting, This American Life shares refreshing stories of delight that remind us how to hold onto joy when life throws you for a loop.

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