A YouTube favorite hits the toy aisle

Are gendered recs reshaping your feed?  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

May 22, 2026   |   Read online It's Friday and, as it turns out, those OnlyFans-streaming smart glasses might appeal to wearers for a slightly less eyebrow-raising reason: an escape from cloud processing. Today’s News 🎙️ Spotify launches AI podcasts 🎟️ Welcome to Tribeca Festival 🧸 Genevieve hits the toy aisle 👀 Is gender bias affecting your feed? 🗽 Zohran Mamdani heads to Twitch PLATFORM UPDATES Spotify is getting into the memberships game. Spotify is launching creator memberships and AI-generated podcasts The Memberships: The global podcast industry raked in $9.2 billion last year, up 27% from 2024. That’s a neat chunk of change—and, unsurprisingly, Spotify aims to scoop up as much of it as possible. At its third annual Investor Day, VP and Global Head of Podcasts Roman Wasenmüller said Spotify’s podcast ambitions are in their second year of profitability. The platform wants to continue that streak, so it’s wooing creators with a new feature called Memberships. Like YouTube’s take on the product (aka Channel Memberships), Spotify’s goal with Memberships is to give creators more direct access to their fans. That’s a smart move if the platform is hoping to keep up with competitors like YouTube—which allows creators to offer paywalled VIP access and content—and Patreon, which is the #1 driver of consumer revenue for podcasts. To court creators who are already settled into membership programs on other platforms, Spotify will allow users to mirror-distribute any paywalled membership content through its Spotify Open Access portal. It’s unclear yet if Spotify will take a cut of the subscription revenue creators make through Memberships. The AI podcasts: Memberships wasn’t Spotify’s only big reveal from Investor Day. The platform also announced the launch of “Personal Podcasts,” an AI tool that will “generate short, private, personalized audio directly inside Spotify.” According to TheWrap, Personal Podcasts will let users write prompts, add outside text, PDFs, or links for context, and choose a voice. The LLM will then crunch up all that info and spit out something to listen to. Spotify said it added the generator “after seeing strong demand from users creating custom audio with their own agents and saving it to Spotify.” Personal Podcasts will soon be available in beta for Premium U.S. subscribers. HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰 Tribeca Festival will return to New York from June 3-14, 2026. Tribeca Festival returns next month with 118 feature films, a spotlight on podcasts, iconic retrospectives, expert discussions, and much more. Check out Tubefilter’s official guide to the big event here. (Tubefilter - Sponsored Article) Roblox, Meta, and Snap have responded to child safety concerns presented in a report from U.K. regulator Ofcom by promising to increase protections for underage users. (Engadget) Following job cuts affecting roughly 8,000 staff members, Mark Zuckerberg has reportedly assured employees that Meta does “not expect ​other company-wide layoffs this year.” (TechRadar) In other Meta news, the tech giant followed Snap, YouTube, and TikTok’s lead this week by settling a lawsuit from a Kentucky school district that claimed social media has created a mental health crisis in schools. (Gizmodo) PLAY TIME Another piece of children’s programming IP that’s coming to life in the physical world. After 10 years and 50M subs, Genevieve’s Playhouse is hitting the toy aisle The brand: Growing a YouTube channel to 50 million subscribers and over 41 billion lifetime views is no small feat, but Genevieve’s Playhouse has pulled it off—all while remaining a family business. While Robert Mann has gotten help from agencies while scaling his content enterprise, he’s nevertheless retained creative control over the brand inspired by his daughter’s toy-toting adventures, and has been choosy about bringing in outside partners. The creator told Tubefilter that “it’s only recently that we’ve entertained doing stuff like the toy line and the cartoon.” The toy line in question was built out of a partnership with Bonkers Toys, a company that has already inked retail pacts with creator partners ranging from Addison Rae to Skibidi Toilet. Now, Bonkers is stocking big-box shelves with Genevieve-inspired playthings. YouTube is a key promotional tool for that toy line. Brightly colored episodes of a new Genevieve’s Playhouse cartoon series, for instance, show off the figurines kids can buy at stores like Walmart. The support system: An undertaking of this size is a major transition for Mann, but the creator made sure to break into retail his way. “We won’t tell people to go buy our toys,” he told Tubefilter. “I never made anything I wouldn’t be comfortable with my own daughter watching.” That level of precaution defined Genevieve’s Playhouse long before the Bonkers deal, but the brand has nevertheless encountered its share of moderation-related issues over the years. To gain access to an “intermediary” who could “interface with YouTube,” Mann ultimately linked up with creator agency Underscore Talent. That brings us to the setup that underpins Genevieve’s Playhouse to this day. The brand remains more independent than many of its contemporaries, but Mann has assembled a small group of trusted partners—including Bonkers Toys and Underscore Talent—to help Genevieve’s Playhouse go beyond its YouTube roots. BY THE NUMBERS The algorithm serves up slightly different results to male and female-coded accounts. (Photo via Getty Images) Are male and female social media accounts floating in gendered political bubbles? The report: On the heels of a study examining political polarization on social media feeds, a fresh batch of research is shedding light on gender-based disparities. A report published in Cornell University‘s arXiv database shows that recommendation algorithms treat male and female accounts differently—especially in the realm of political content. The researchers behind that report created 160 virtual accounts. Half of those were seeded with “male-coded” categories (like cars, sports, and gaming) and the other half with “female-coded” categories (like how-to and style). Each account also received a baseline seed of political content regardless of gender coding. Then, the researchers turned on the recommendation pipeline. In total, the accounts were exposed to more than 500,000 algorithmic recs. That sample revealed some modest—but significant—gender differences. The results: Since all accounts were seeded with political content, they all received political recommendations, but 56% of that content was served to female-coded accounts. The topics of those recs also varied based on gender, with male-coded accounts more likely to see content based around issues like crime and military defense, and female-coded accounts more likely to get posts related to international affairs and cultural concerns. The report also indicated that “male-coded users were steered toward a narrower set of confrontational domestic-order issues, whereas female-coded users were exposed to a broader informational environment populated by more multidimensional, moderate, and establishment-oriented macro and public-policy issues.” In other words, the spread of political issues served to female-coded accounts was more varied, while male-coded accounts had more siloed experiences that honed in on certain issues. That means gender differences on social media don’t just relate to the content of algorithmic recommendations, but to the diversity of those recs as well. WATCH THIS 👀 It’s like President Roosevelt’s radio address for the streaming era. Zohran Mamdani brings NYC’s government to Twitch The Twitch series: Zohran Mamdani‘s social media presence played a crucial role in his campaign to become New York City’s Mayor. Now, he’s taking that digital-first approach with him to Gracie Mansion. In a new Twitch show titled Talk With The People, Mamdani answers questions from his constituents while confronting the issues that matter most to New Yorkers. The first episode of that series went live on a Twitch account tied to Mamdani’s mayoral status yesterday afternoon, and was simulcast across his accounts on platforms like YouTube and TikTok. According to the episode’s description on YouTube, the launch of Talk With The People makes Mamdani “the first elected official to launch a regularly occurring, multi-platform interactive streaming series.” Want to introduce your brand to Tubefilter’s audience? Sponsor the newsletter. Was this email forwarded to you? Subscribe here.​ Today's newsletter is from: Emily Burton, Drew Baldwin, Sam Gutelle, James Hale, and Josh Cohen.   Update your email preferences or unsubscribe here © 2026 Tubefilter 1450 2nd Street, Ste 275 Santa Monica, CA 90401, United States Powered by beehiiv Terms of Service

YouTube's AI can insert you in videos

But what actually *is* a podcast?  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

May 21, 2026   |   Read online TOGETHER WITH It's Thursday and the standalone Hulu app has survived to see another day. Despite subscribers’ fears, the Mouse House says “there are no current plans to sunset the Hulu app.” Whew. Today’s News 👀 YouTube gets a new AI tool 🤖 TikTok microinfluencers earn big 💸 Podcasts scored $9.2B in 2025 🏈 Tom Brady brings trivia to YouTube 🐦 Duolingo forces users to focus AI WAVE YouTube wants to make it easier to use AI - and also protect you from it. YouTube’s new AI tool can add your likeness to other creators’ Shorts The AI announcements: YouTube offered up some big reveals at this year’s Google I/O tech conference, including the announcement of several new and upcoming genAI-powered products. A Gemini-powered tool for YouTube Shorts is one of the most intriguing new additions. That feature—called Gemini Omni—is located in the Shorts Remix menu and employs Google’s proprietary AI model to reimagine videos. Creators can use it to turn their live-action content into animated clips or change the identity of the individuals depicted in those uploads. In other words, Gemini Omni can put you anywhere—even in someone else’s Shorts. Videos changed with Gemini Omni will receive digital watermarks and will link back to the original clips. Creators can opt out of Shorts Remix features at any time. In addition to Gemini Omni, Google I/O attendees got a first look at Ask YouTube, a conversational chatbot that will surface video recommendations based on conversational prompts. The context: For YouTube, enabling AI features and protecting creators against them is a balancing act. The platform made its Google I/O announcements just one day after expanding its likeness detection tool to all creators. Now that those users can (in theory) regulate unlicensed deepfaked versions of themselves across YouTube, the platform can roll out products like Gemini Omni while keeping the use of those creative aids under control. 🌟 SPONSORED 🌟 First time at Cannes Lions? LIONS Creators ambassador Bia Granja shares her advice.  To help first-time creators navigate Cannes Lions, we asked LIONS Creators ambassador and Creator Economy Rocks founder Bia Granja for her best advice on making the most of the week. Here’s what she had to say:  What tips do you have for first-timers? Don’t try to do everything and plan ahead. Create a list of the sessions you CAN’T miss, book a few meetings before arriving, wear comfy shoes and leave room for serendipity. Amazing things happen when you go with the flow. What LIONS Creators sessions do you think are a must for any first-timer? "The Official LIONS Creators Festival Tour with Rob Mayhew,” for sure! It’s fun and gives you a really good overview of the Palais and the Festival. There’s a lot happening at the Festival. How do you cut through the noise and plan your time effectively? My secret is being a nerd and curating the most important sessions into a very cool spreadsheet with date/time/location, important info and a FAV mark for the things I really can’t miss. Best part? It’s open for everyone to make a copy. Grab it here. LIONS Creators | 22-26 June 2026 | Cannes, France Be part of it → HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰 Small accounts on TikTok are apparently making some more dough. Data presented by Upfluence shows that “the average rates” TikTok microinfluencers charged for brand deals “rose dramatically” in Q1 2026, as compared to Q1 2025. (Business Insider) LinkedIn is cracking down on generic and repetitive AI content through a company-wide mission “to identify certain patterns and build technology to detect and flag AI slop.” (TechRadar) Clouted—an AI-driven video clipping startup with a network of over 100,000 clip editors—has announced a $7 million seed round led by Slow Ventures. (TechCrunch) A new report from U.K. regulator Ofcom criticizes YouTube and TikTok over video feeds that it says are "not safe enough" for children. (BBC) MONEY MOVES Video podcasts are making more dough, too. Podcasts raked in $9.2B last year. But what makes a podcast a podcast? The data: Podcast revenue is rising fast—and according to a new report, video shows are “changing the picture” for the entire industry. For its 2025 Global Podcast Economy Report, management consulting firm Owl & Co. compiled 300,000 data points from 1,600+ publishers. It also personally spoke to ~100 of those publishers, 74% of which reported growth in their podcast business in 2025 vs 2024. On a macro level, Owl & Co.’s report chronicled an impressive jump in global podcast revenue from $7.5 billion in 2024 to $9.2 billion in 2025. $6B of that $9.2B came from the United States, where podcast revenue for 2025 accounted for a full 2% of all digital ad earnings. Video podcasts alone accounted for $2.3B of the U.S.’s 2025 podcast earnings, a 13% YoY increase. Direct advertising drove the lion’s share of podcasting’s global revenue ($5.3 billion, up 28% YoY), followed by consumer purchases ($2.2B, up 22% YoY). Programmatic advertising, meanwhile, “remained stable,” accounting for $1.3B of revenue in 2024 and $1.4B in 2025. The question: That data leads us to a central question posed by Owl & Co.’s report. What, exactly, counts as a podcast? And at what point does a “video podcast” just become…a video? To start, Owl & Co. followed YouTube’s lead. The platform launched its first podcast charts last year, and (according to Lopez), decided not to judge podcasts based on any internal standards. Instead, it deemed shows podcasts if their creators said they were podcasts. Owl & Co.’s report added a few other identifying characteristics, noting that self-publishing is “a key distinction between TV and video podcasts,” and that podcasts “often, but not always” have an RSS feed. Ultimately, the report concluded that “what it means to be a podcast is changing, and that has implications for creation, monetization, and discovery.” GAME ON The athlete ➜ trajectory is real. Tom Brady is the football GOAT. On YouTube, he wants to be the trivia GOAT. The show: As it turns out, Tom Brady’s football knowledge base is almost as big as his trophy collection. The legendary QB put his sports acumen to the test in the first episode of a new YouTube trivia show titled Chasers, which can be found on a YouTube channel of the same name. “Cards and collectables are on fire, but often times people don’t know where to start. Chasers, an original home-grown Shadow Lion social show, will be an open door that starts with great conversation and invites people of all ages into the space.”   - Kevin Bonner, Chasers host In addition to serving as the inaugural celebrity guest for host Kevin Bonner, Brady is working behind the scenes on Chasers. The show comes from his production company Shadow Lion, and uses a format based around trading cards to make connections between its questions and its guests. In that sense, Chasers shares some commonalities with the chicken wing interview series Hot Ones, which similarly turns basic questions into explorations of guests’ personal histories. The context: In fact, Chasers draws from the same playbook as a growing number of sports trivia shows on YouTube. That’s no surprise given that quizzing is a category tailor-made for short-form consumption; after all, what better way to keep viewers watching than by making them wait until the end of a video to learn the answer to a stumper?  Brady’s trivia show also brings him closer to a community of sports eggheads who frequently collaborate on quiz competitions. The biggest names in the sports world are eager to team up with creators—just look at Steph Curry—and YouTube’s Brandcast presentation made it clear that the platform is more than willing to facilitate partnerships between legendary athletes and rising creators. WATCH THIS 👀 The Duolingo Owl is coming for your distractions. Duolingo is taking screen time limits to the next level The lock-in tool: Duolingo may be dialing back its “unhinged” marketing strategy, but the language-learning platform is still developing eclectic features to set itself apart from other apps. Focus Mode is a particularly clever example of that approach. By preventing users from accessing other apps until they’ve finished their studies, the optional feature keeps learners on task while also grabbing more screen time for Duolingo. As a recent review described it, “instead of begging for your attention, it’s taking your distractions hostage until you pay the language-learning ransom.” Check out one user’s video of Focus Mode here for a closer look at the feature. Want to introduce your brand to Tubefilter’s audience? Sponsor the newsletter. Was this email forwarded to you? Subscribe here.​ Today's newsletter is from: Emily Burton, Drew Baldwin, Sam Gutelle, James Hale, and Josh Cohen.   Update your email preferences or unsubscribe here © 2026 Tubefilter 1450 2nd Street, Ste 275 Santa Monica, CA 90401, United States Powered by beehiiv Terms of Service