| | | It's Sunday and here's a handpicked selection of stories to give you a snapshot of trends, updates, business moves, and more from around the creator industry. | But first, miniature Ikea stores are opening up inside of Best Buy locations. We're calling this team-up the "blue-and-yellow logo alliance." | | CREATOR COMMOTION | | Creators are hitting the stage, opening barber schools, and heading to Hollywood | The live tour: Super Simple Songs is turning its IRL tour into a "surprise party." With a six-city swing through Southern Ontario, the kid-friendly hub—which claims more than 57 billion views through its main YouTube channel—will host a live stage performance featuring the musical stylings of primary star Caitie Classens. That tour is set to kick off in September. | The barber school: Barber-turned-influencer VicBlends is battling recidivism with prison hairstyling. After getting millions of social media followers, the creator is providing a way forward for incarcerated inmates by opening a barber school at the Valley State Prison in California. | The movie star: It's not Wishful Thinking to believe Jake Shane deserves a role in a feature film. The TikToker known for silly reenactments of historical events has been cast in a romantic comedy that is currently in production. Like his new castmates Randall Park, Amita Rao, and Kate Berlant, Shane is repped by UTA. | | PLATFORM HEADLINES | | This week in platform headlines… | The YouTube news: YouTube is going all-in on its exclusive NFL broadcast. Colombian pop star Karol G has been announced as the halftime entertainment for the Brazil-set, season-opening tilt between the Los Angeles Chargers and the Kansas City Chiefs. Here's hoping this broadcast has fewer technical glitches than Travis Kelce's previous big moment on YouTube. | The TikTok effect: Grocery store tourism is surging thanks to TikTok. If you're the kind of person who likes to live vicariously through the konbini snack hunters of TikTok, good news—you're contributing to a significant trend in the realm of food and drink. | The media collective: Members of the beehiiv Media Collective are reaching thousands of subscribers. Newsletter platform beehiiv has provided an update on its effort to support independent journalists. Ryan Broderick's creator-focused periodical Garbage Day is one of the biggest winners, with more than 100,000 subscribers on board. | | THE BIZ | | Companies are confusing creators and putting them in gas stations | The creator fund: Slow Ventures has kicked off its $60 million creator fund by backing Jonathan Katz-Moses. Earlier this year, the early-stage firm announced its plan to target "high-value verticals" through strategic investments in enterprising creators. Katz-Moses, a woodworker who publishes sharp, polished videos, is definitely the type of creator Slow is looking for—and he's getting $2 million toward his holding company as a result. | The new hire: Viewture is onboarding a Jellysmack vet to deepen creator partnerships. The firm known for investing in top YouTube talent has brought in Jason Kingston-Brown as its Head of Sales and Creative Strategy. In a LinkedIn post, Kingston-Brown said his new role "will focus on accelerating commercial partnerships, growing our creator pipeline, and supporting more talent to scale on their own terms." | The gas station strategy: GSTV is bringing creators to a gas station near you. A campaign themed around road trips will turn social media notables like Tank Sinatra and Paul Virzi into pump-side entertainment. Can you fill it up with premium content, please? | The VC firm: Once upon a time, JeromeASF (aka Jerome Aceti) was one of the biggest names in the Minecraft world. His YouTube channel isn't as active as it used to be, but he's making big moves in the investing world by joining HotStart, a VC firm whose partner roster also includes top creators Sasha Pieterse and Marina Mogilko. Members of the HotStart team have already previously helped to start notable entities like Feastables and is looking to invest in more creator-led companies. | The chicken confusion: Not all creator fast food promos are created equal. That's what Popeye's found out when it invited streamers to use its foodstuffs to design their ideal plates. Cinna and FaZe Lacy both endured confusing moments after learning that these combos aren't being listed as actual menu options. Lacy was even spurned when he went to Popeye's and tried to order his meal for himself. Can I get a side of omegalul with that? | | WATCH THIS 📺 | | Crunchyroll is hyping up Demon Slayer on YouTube | The streaming strategy: Crunchyroll's Demon Slayer marathon will make a popular anime free on YouTube. By streaming one episode of the shonen series at a time, Crunchyroll aims to prepare viewers for the upcoming Demon Slayer movie while taking advantage of YouTube's promotional potency. | If you miss the initial marathon, you can catch VOD versions of the episodes on YouTube for a week. Why not start here? | | 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, and Josh Cohen. |
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