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TOGETHER WITH |
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It's Wednesday and if you're not feeling camera-ready, Zoom has a solution: a "photorealistic" AI avatar that can dress up as a pro while you stay in PJs. |
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Today's News |
📈 SNL beats out MrBeast 🕴️ Congress puts tech CEOs on the stand 🐭 Disney faces a $10M fine 💅 Creator storefronts hit Sephora 🔮 Colin and Samir talk YouTube
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LIVE FROM NEW YORK! |
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When it comes to reach, SNL is YouTube's top U.S. attraction—not MrBeast |
The "reach" ranking: Despite the creator economy's rising cultural import, social media stars like MrBeast and Ms. Rachel aren't at the top of Digital i's latest ranking of top YouTube hubs—Saturday Night Live is. |
According to research shared by the software company, the official SNL hub had the highest reach among all U.S.-based YouTube channels in the first half of 2025, during which time it connected with 38.6 million unique "active YouTube users in the U.S". |
To be clear, the totals powering Digital i's ranking aren't based on raw view counts; instead, they're meant to omit repeat viewership and automated traffic. That "reach" metric might not pull from an agreed-upon measuring system, but in the age of generative AI and viewbotting, it could be a crucial stat for analysts looking to get a full picture of the social media ecosystem. |
The context: The reach-focused formula behind Digital i's ranking explains why hubs owned by traditional media and news networks (including ABC News and NBC News) claimed six spots in its top ten. They're channels designed for one-off visits rather than repeated viewing of specific videos. They also upload a lot of content. |
SNL was already one of the most-watched YouTube channels before the advent of Shorts. Now, thanks to the popularity of comedy clips within short-form feeds, the NBC show has been able to further repackage classic bits as one-and-done vertical videos while also taking advantage of YouTube's growing TV presence. |
SNL's 50th anniversary special, for instance, was tailor-made for viewership on TV screens, where much YouTube traffic now flows. Digital i confirmed other recent reports by also noting the living room outpaced other YouTube viewership locales during the first half of 2025. |
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YouTube will celebrate its 20th anniversary at the world's #1 content market: MIPCOM CANNES |
Every fall, MIPCOM CANNES becomes the epicentre of the global content industry. |
From October 13-15, media execs and creators from 100+ countries will gather at MIPCOM 2025 to launch, screen, distribute, co-produce, acquire, and commission programming across every genre. |
Attendees will hear directly from experts at Google, BBC Studios, Mattel, ESHAP, Banijay Entertainment, and more. |
MIPCOM CANNES is the #1 global content market for top brands, creators, and platforms—including YouTube. |
At MIPCOM 2025, YouTube will host the YouTube Space in the Palais des Festivals, lead mainstage sessions, run daily workshops, and celebrate its 20th anniversary across both MIPCOM and MIPJUNIOR. |
Passes for the world's largest television and streaming content market are available now. Visit the website to secure your spot: |
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HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰 |
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MONEY MOVES |
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Disney will pay a $10M fine for failing to label kid-targeted YouTube videos |
The context: Back in 2019, YouTube enacted sweeping new restrictions on kids' content as part of a $170 million child privacy and safety settlement with the Federal Trade Commission. As a result, videos aimed at kids were no longer allowed to serve personalized/targeted ads, non-targeted ads couldn't collect viewers' personal data, and public comments were turned off. |
For the most part, however, YouTube needs creators to actually use the child safety tools it provides in order to enforce those rules. So, what happens If a creator fails to do so? Are they liable for violating COPPA? |
The complaint: According to the FTC, the answer is yes. In response to a complaint from the commission, Disney has agreed to pay a $10 million fine for failing to label its YouTube videos as made for kids. |
The FTC's complaint alleged that Disney had a corporate policy to designate individual channels—not individual videos—as either 'made for kids' or 'not made for kids.' But, the FTC says, sometimes Disney did upload kids content to supposedly adult-focused channels. And, when it did that, it didn't change the videos' individual labels—it just went with the default channel label. YouTube apparently warned Disney in 2020 that it had reclassified over 300 of its uploads to 'made for kids'—but the company still didn't change its channel-wide policy. |
As a result, the FTC alleges that YouTube was "able to collect persistent identifiers from the children watching them and use that data to serve targeted advertising," which Disney then earned revenue from (per attorney Franklin Graves). |
All of that means comes with a hefty penalty. In addition to making a multimillion-dollar payment, Disney is required to form an Audience Designation Program that will manually review each video it publishes to YouTube and apply a 'made for kids' or 'not made for kids' label. |
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SHOPPING SPREE |
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Sephora and Condé Nast are making creator-curated storefronts mainstream |
The storefront strategy: As more and more fans seek product recs from their favorite influencers, brands are turning to creator-curated storefronts to capture consumer attention. In recent days, two separate companies—one in the retail sector and another in the world of media—have announced new products that will foster the development of brand-operated creator storefronts. |
Sephora is expanding its ecommerce operation through a venture called My Sephora, while Condé Nast aims to combine the structure of an affiliate marketing campaign with the flexibility of creator-curated hubs through an app called Vette. |
When Vette launches in early 2026, it will equip editors and influencers with the tools they need to set up boutique ecommerce destinations. My Sephora brings a similar setup to the realm of beauty products. Its users (described as "creators and influencers") will be able to curate storefronts on the Sephora website: |
"Whether it's the app, desktop or mobile, they can just go on, they create it and it's shoppable and right, and it's a very seamless experience, and it's very, very authentic for both the creator and the consumer." | | | | - Artemis Patrick, Sephora President & CEO |
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The context: With the debut of My Sephora and Vette, Condé Nast and Sephora will join a growing array of brands that have launched creator programs to beget digital storefronts. Two notable adopters of that strategy are Best Buy and Dick's Sporting Goods, both of which are following a trend predicated on research that shows the power of the creator-fan relationship. |
Among younger generations, many consumers trust creators more than brand voices. With influencer marketing campaigns increasingly prioritizing cost efficiency, brands are embracing digital storefronts as a way to leverage the relationships between creators and their followers. |
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WATCH THIS 📺 |
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Colin and Samir are looking into "the future of YouTube" |
The "latest scoop": Two weeks after giving viewers an inside look at Michelle Khare's "most dangerous YouTube videos," creator economy experts Colin and Samir are delving into YouTube's latest slate of announcements. The duo's latest rundown touches on everything from A/B testing to "live practice mode"—but it's hard not to focus in on a segment in which Samir's lips are "reanimated" to make it look like he's speaking Portuguese. |
Is that AI-powered mouth remolding a little creepy? Absolutely. But YouTube's new "auto-dubbing with lip sync" feature could nevertheless be a game changer for creators looking to go global. |
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Today's newsletter is from: Emily Burton, Drew Baldwin, Sam Gutelle, and Josh Cohen. |
