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It’s Thursday and if the laundry is piling up, have no fear. This robotic lamp can light up a room and fold your clothes (as long as you’re willing to cough up $1,500). |
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Today’s News |
👀 iShowSpeed drops into an anime 👩🏻⚖️ Top YouTubers go to court 💸 Patreon podcast revenue hits $629M 🖥️ YouTube plans interactive broadcasts 🔪 A Twitch stream becomes a horror flick
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CREATOR COMMOTION |
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iShowSpeed is evolving into a new form. (Photo by Wed Al Shehri/Getty Images for GEA) |
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iShowSpeed is becoming an anime character |
The anime: iShowSpeed has already been a game show host, a soccer pundit, and a pro wrestler. Now, the record-setting streamer is becoming an animated character. |
Speed (aka Darren Watkins, Jr.) will star as the leading voice actor in a newly announced series from Brian Robbins‘ Big Shot Pictures. The show’s plot details haven’t yet been revealed, but Speed will reportedly lend both his likeness and his voice to the animated protagonist (per Variety). |
The series will be written by showrunner Matt Owens—who is best known for helming Netflix‘s live-action adaptation of the popular anime One Piece—while noted filmmaker Harmony Korine will serve as one of the producers. |
The team: In a 2024 interview, Korine described Speed and fellow streamer Kai Cenat as the auteurs of the future. He called Speed “the next Tarkovsky,” a reference to the groundbreaking Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky. |
Robbins has expressed similar sentiments. In a statement, the former Paramount Co-CEO and AwesomenessTV Co-Founder called Speed “a one-of-a-kind creative force whose ability to connect with audiences transcends borders and platforms.” Now, Robbins will lend his expertise to one of the streamer’s most ambitious narrative projects to date. |
With Big Shot, which he launched earlier this year, Robbins is looking to develop multi-platform animated and live-action franchises that will be centered around YouTube and its creator community. Speed, who is still only 21 years old, is exactly the sort of youth culture icon Robbins is eager to work with. |
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HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰 |
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Creators want some justice from AI companies. |
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POD PEOPLE |
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Rapper Joe Budden hosts one of Patreon's most successful podcasts. |
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Patreon’s podcast revenue jumped 33% year-over-year to reach $629M |
The numbers: Podcasters are flourishing on Patreon. The monetization platform has announced that revenue generated by its podcast library reached $629 million in 2025—a year-over-year increase of 33%. |
Patreon’s creator-friendly setup—which allows users to host, distribute, and monetize their audiovisual shows—has attracted an eclectic array of high-profile users, ranging from filmmaker Quentin Tarantino to hip-hop pundit Joe Budden and creator duo Dan and Phil. |
Those stars form the top end of Patreon’s annual podcast revenue tally. (Budden alone, for example, rakes in $1 million per month from his patrons, making him one of the platform’s highest earners.) But niche creators have also contributed to Patreon’s eye-popping numbers. Over 47,000 podcasters now earn income from their patrons, and Patreon’s podcasting category counts 7.6 million paid memberships in all. |
To better serve those podcasters, Patreon has made moves to expand its creator offerings. A Spotify integration, for example, has helped Patreon creators reach more listeners and convert them into paying customers. Patreon Chief Operating Officer Paige Fitzgerald told Variety that 15% of Spotify users who visit a creator’s Patreon page end up buying paid memberships. |
The competition: Despite those wins, Patreon is facing steep competition as other platforms seek to court the rising class of independent podcasters and their growing audiences. Newsletter hub beehiiv recently announced a move into the podcast distribution space, with plans to charge partners a flat fee instead of taking a cut of their podcast revenue. Patreon typically takes 10% of the podcast earnings generated through its platform. |
Corporate media is also challenging Patreon. Tech giants like OpenAI are buying out top podcasts, while deep-pocketed venture capital firms are making big investments in the industry. George Soros‘ Soros Fund Management, for instance, recently announced that it is investing in MeidasTouch, a left-leaning podcast network with a significant YouTube presence. |
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INDUSTRY BUZZ |
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YouTube’s job board gives some clues as to where the platform is headed. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images) |
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YouTube job postings reveal plans for interactive broadcasts on TV screens |
The job listings: YouTube already commands a dominant share of U.S. TV viewership, but it’s still eager to make its presence on that screen even stickier. TechCrunch highlighted several active job listings that contain varied allusions to the development of interactive experiences intended for consumption on TV screens. |
A call for a UX Designer references “the power of real-time interaction,” while a Shorts-oriented Product Manager opening mentions a “one-of-a-kind, immersive media experience.” Another Product Manager role mentions “shared live experiences” that “can only happen between creators and fans live, in real time.” Meanwhile, in India, the expansion of a YouTube Live hub in Bengaluru will “drive the Live streaming offerings in living room surfaces.” |
The increasing interactivity within YouTube’s TV app has been one of the company’s top priorities this year. A recent product update introduced a TV-specific chatbot feature called Ask, as well as a TV Companion that “automatically recognizes what’s playing on your TV, allowing you to interact with comments, control playback, or dive deeper into content without missing a beat.” In addition, new Stations enhance YouTube’s capabilities as an always-on TV distributor. |
The context: YouTube’s embrace of immersive, TV-based experiences is likely tied to its live shopping ambitions. Platforms like Whatnot have attracted millions of users to live shopping experiences, and YouTube’s recent presentation at the NewFronts signaled its intention to bring its own ecommerce experiences to more TV screens. |
There is a key difference between Whatnot and YouTube, however, that could make that pivot tricky. The former platform gets most of its traffic from mobile devices, while YouTube is targeting TV viewers who might prefer to lean back rather than actively engaging. |
Solving that problem will be a challenge for YouTube’s expanding Live teams, but the platform’s dominant market share certainly gives it a leg up. |
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WATCH THIS 👀 |
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It’s like if “The Shining“ hallway scenes were their own movie. |
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This horror flick looks like a next-level Let’s Play |
The video game adaptation: As Gizmodo puts it, Exit 8 has the vibe of a “satisfying, scary Twitch stream brought to life.” Based on the eponymous video game developed by KOTAKE CREATE, a teaser for the upcoming film follows “the Lost Man” as he stumbles through an infinite corridor, desperately searching for a way out. |
The movie, which hits theaters April 10, seems like a perfect fit for fans of the horror Let’s Plays that have exploded across YouTube and Twitch thanks to creators like Markiplier. Check out the final trailer here. |
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Today's newsletter is from: Emily Burton, Drew Baldwin, Sam Gutelle, and Josh Cohen. |
