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TOGETHER WITH |
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It's Tuesday, and a music superfan has agreed to let the Internet Archive digitize his collection of 10,000+ concert recordings, preserving the contents of rare cassettes from the 1980s onward. |
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Today’s News |
➕ Roblox announces the Plus program 💪 MrBeast (still) dominates YouTube 📈 This week on the branded charts… 💸 TikTok viewers hunt for scholarships 🐶 It’s raining creator cats and dogs
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GET WITH THE PROGRAM |
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Roblox Plus offers perks for players and (some) creators. |
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Roblox’s new Plus program will pay creators for signups and eat discount costs |
The program: On April 30, players worldwide will gain access to Roblox Plus, a $4.99/month subscription that will replace the platform’s previous three-tier Roblox Premium offering. |
The revamped program offers a steep 20% discount on in-game purchases (after three consecutive months of subscribing), free access to private servers, and the ability to transfer Robux to other players with no fee. |
The creator perks: In addition to those player perks, Plus introduces new creator-specific benefits to ensure developers still get their full payouts. Unlike how things were under Premium, asset developers/creators won’t see a dip in earnings with Plus, even if a user buys their items from Roblox’s Catalog under a Plus discount. |
Creators willing to hawk Plus within their games by implementing a little popup that asks players to subscribe can also earn a commission of up to 750 Robux/month for each new signup. |
Another perk will reward some developers for how much time Plus subscribers spend playing their games. According to Roblox, “creators can earn up to 100 Robux for every Roblox Plus subscriber who spends 60 or more cumulative minutes in a game’s paid private server over the course of 30 days.” |
The fine print: That particular benefit comes with some fine print. For one, not all games on Roblox are free, and it costs money for players to make a private instance (aka a paid private server). With Plus, Roblox is removing paywalls for subscribers—meaning if someone subscribes to Plus, developers can’t charge them for access to private games/worlds. |
This could result in lost revenue, which is why Roblox is offering to reward paid server owners with that 100 Robux/60 mins of gameplay. The catch is that those bonuses won’t go to every paid private server—just the five per month that have the most playtime. |
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Cannes Lions just announced the first LIONS Creators speakers for 2026 |
LIONS Creators is back and the creator economy is taking center stage at Cannes Lions 2026. |
Set to move to a brand new location on the Palais Beach, LIONS Creators is scaling up in a big way, reflecting how creators are reshaping media, marketing, and culture at speed. |
The initial speaker line-up blends internet-native talent and industry power players, with creator economy leaders like Max Klymenko, Mel Robbins, Kareem Rahma, Dhar Mann, and Hannah Stocking, and Twitch CEO Dan Clancy offering insight into the future of live streaming and creator communities. |
With Adobe as Headline Partner, LIONS Creators 2026 is built for where influence meets business—spotlighting how creators are driving real commercial impact at scale. |
Running June 22-26 in Cannes, France, LIONS Creators is the hub for the creator economy at Cannes Lions, providing the industry with a dedicated beach space for programming, networking, and deal-making. |
The full programme drops April 21. |
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HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰 |
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With 300K weekly subs, Daniela Arredondo is another creator climbing the YouTube charts. |
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MrBeast added two million YouTube subscribers during the week preceding April 12, securing his place at #1 in our ranking of most-subscribed YouTube channels for the second week running. (Tubefilter)
Over 70 different human and civil rights organizations have penned an open letter urging Mark Zuckerberg not to integrate facial recognition technology into Meta smart glasses. (Engadget)
This year’s Coachella content craze has triggered a flood of videos and images depicting AI influencers at the festival, many of which don’t include AI disclaimers. (The Verge)
Ben Stiller, Bryan Cranston, JJ Abrams, Kristen Stewart, and over 1,000 other Hollywood pros have signed an open letter raising concerns about Paramount Skydance’s acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. (Gizmodo)
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GOSPEL STATS 📈 |
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Mo’ MrBeast, mo’ money. |
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Top Branded Videos: MrBeast, MrBeast, and Dolly Parton’s chicken dumplings |
It’s not unusual for MrBeast to claim multiple top spots in Gospel Stats’ ranking of most-viewed branded YouTube videos—but there is usually some variation in the content of those videos. This week, however, MrBeast’s #1 and #2 clips feature similar titles, the same sponsor, and (unsurprisingly) cash-fueled challenges. |
🥇 #1. MrBeast Gaming x Moose Toys: Press This Button To Win $250,000 (16.2M views)
In this 20-minute upload sponsored by Moose Toys (aka the producer behind his MrBeast Lab toys), streamers Pokimane, ExtraEmily, and ElAbrahaham compete in Minecraft challenges for the chance to win $250K for their fans—and give it away live on a special stream.
🥈 #2. MrBeast x MrBeast Lab (aka Moose Toys): Bring Me A Glass Of Water = Win $10,000 (15M views)
MrBeast’s #2 clip follows one man’s heart-pounding journey to win $10,000 by finding enough water to fill a single glass in just 120 seconds. Of course, the point of the challenge is to show off the latest MrBeast Labs toys, which shed a coating of “rust” to reveal underlying colors when dunked in water. |
🎰 #1,755. Peebs x Azuna: Ranking Celebrity Frozen Meals (111.6K views)
MrBeast’s Feastables brand often appears in Gospel’s rankings, but the creator’s candy products didn’t quite make the cut for this particular celebrity food review. Instead, Peebs’ Azuna-sponsored video explores several frozen star-powered food items, including Dolly Parton’s chicken and dumplings, Drew Barrymore’s lemon caper chicken, and Guy Fieri’s mac ‘n cheese.
Peeb’s deep dive into celebrities’ microwave meals is sponsored by New York-based air freshener co Azuna, so if anything stinks up the house, he’s got it covered. |
Check out the full branded ranking here and head over to Gospel Stats for more YouTube sponsorship insights. |
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BACK TO SCHOOL |
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College is a great place to be a TikTok creator. (Photo via Getty Images.) |
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Gen Z students are chasing scholarships on TikTok |
The survey: Where do Gen Z students look for scholarships? According to a new study from Sallie, TikTok has become an important resource for Zoomers hoping to secure support for their academic future. |
The educational services company/student loan provider surveyed 274 U.S. college students and recent graduates to gauge their scholarship search habits. The resulting data showed that the most-used resources for scholarship hunters were school websites (44%), scholarship-specific discovery hubs (42%), and traditional search engines like Google (38%)—but TikTok wasn’t too far behind. |
The TikTok hunt: 22% of respondents told Sallie that they searched on TikTok to find applicable scholarships, making the app a more common resource than school guidance counselors (19%). |
Students’ decision to consult TikTok makes sense given the broader viewership preferences of Gen Z (many of whom, for instance, choose to get their news from creators rather than traditional reporters). According to Sallie, about 60% of TikTok scholarship searchers put their trust in current college students, valuing personal success stories over generalized info dumps. |
In many cases, Gen Z’s TikTok scholarship searchers are striking paydirt. Sallie reported that 62% of that group discovered new opportunities on the app, while about 9% successfully earned at least one of the scholarships they discovered through TikTok. |
Even so, scholarship hunters will want to make sure to read the fine print. Sallie found that only 27% of students always verify TikTok scholarship info before applying, while 34% of students who searched for scholarships on TikTok encountered misinformation, with hidden fees, fake programs, and misleading eligibility info among the most commonly encountered issues. |
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WATCH THIS 👀 |
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Never underestimate the power of a cute pet. |
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Furry friends are helping family hubs stay ahead of the curve |
The furry friend formula: If you want to crack our weekly ranking of YouTube’s top 50 most-viewed YouTube channels, hailing from India and producing family content are both good places to start. |
This week, nearly 60% of all chart entrants represent India. A significant number of those channels, including regulars like BabyBillion, Anaya Kandhal, and KL Bro Biju Rithvik, create family-friendly content. |
In fact, Indian family hubs have become so numerous that some are adding a new type of household member into the mix to stay relevant. Pets are still a dependable source of viewership for many YouTube channels, and if your videos feature both cute kids and cute animals, viewership goes even higher. That’s why the hero image for The Shine Family features a friendly pup. |
This week, the Shine Family cracked the Global Top 50 after picking up 293.9 million weekly views—a 70% week-over-week increase. Check out one of the fam’s latest videos here. |
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Today's newsletter is from: Emily Burton, Drew Baldwin, Sam Gutelle, James Hale, and Josh Cohen. |
