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From TV Screens to Boardrooms 📺 💼
Lindsey Gamble
February 23, 2024
YouTube
TODAY’S EDITION
Newly crowned top streamer: YouTube updates creator Channel pages on television
Pinterest enters streaming with shoppable, Deliciously Entertaining show
YouTuber Marques Brownlee (MKBHD) joins Ridge as a board member & Chief Creative Partner
Instagram expands its Creator Marketplace to new regions and tests machine learning-based creator recommendations
Claire’s taps Gen Z Alphas to guide creative direction
NEWS, TRENDS, AND INSIGHTS
Newly Crowned Top Streamer: YouTube Updates Creator Channel Pages on Television
YouTube
YouTube made updates for Channel pages on the YouTube TV app, featuring larger Channel art and more prominent buttons like Subscribe.
It also has been named the top streaming platform in the US by watch time for the past 12 months, with 8.6% of viewing on television screens compared to Netflix's 7.9%, according to Nielsen.
Why It Matters: As YouTube CEO Neal Mohan shared in the company’s priorities for the year, “YouTube’s next frontier is the living room.” With over 1 billion hours of YouTube content consumed daily on television, creators are not only contributing to this growth but also reaping its benefits, as supported by data such as:
A 400% increase in the number of top creators receiving a majority of their watch time on television.
A more than 90% growth in views of Shorts on connected TVs from January to July 2023.
Given the prevalence of television as a platform for YouTube consumption, the Channel Page experience on the big screen becomes a significant touchpoint, making these upgrades notable. The enhanced, immersive experience better showcases creators’ content and increases the likelihood of viewers becoming subscribers. To fully leverage these updates, creators should ensure they update their Channel Page art with a high-quality 16x9 image.
Looking forward, while optimizing content for television remains an immediate focus, creators may soon need to consider how their content will appear on emerging technologies like Apple Pro Vision. Spatial content appears to be the next frontier for engagement with audiences. TikTok's recent introduction of a native app for the Apple Pro Vision serves as an indicator of this.
Pinterest Enters Streaming with Shoppable, Deliciously Entertaining Show
Pinterest is set to debut a new streaming show, Deliciously Entertaining, developed in collaboration with Tastemade. The cooking and lifestyle series, hosted by cookbook author Danni Rose, will premiere on the Tastemade streaming channel on February 23rd.
Featuring 10 episodes, the show will showcase a lineup of guests, including Lance Bass, Trixie Mattel, Terrell Grice, Maurice Harris, and Joy Cho, who will explore cooking and DIY projects inspired by content found on Pinterest.
Viewers will also be able to shop products to recreate meals and projects by scanning an on-screen QR code that links to a shoppable Pinterest board. The season finale will include a special 'Shop the Show' companion episode debuting on Amazon Live.
Why It Matters: Deliciously Entertaining marks Pinterest's foray into streaming, aligning with the trend of social media platforms expanding onto larger screens, as seen with YouTube and TikTok. Taking a different route, Pinterest is leveraging its platform's unique trends and content to create a show that extends the Pinterest experience while also contributing to its social commerce initiatives through off-platform, streaming content.
The collaboration with Tastemade highlights the growing importance of publisher partnerships for social media platforms alongside creators. Creators are core to driving engagement, yet platforms have recognized the instrumental role of publishers in producing certain types of content, resulting in a blurring of the lines between creators and publishers.
YouTuber Marques Brownlee (MKBHD) Joins Ridge as a Board Member & Chief Creative Partner
Ridge
Marques Brownlee, better known as MKBHD, is joining Ridge, a wallet and accessories company, as an Exclusive Board Member, Equity Investor, and Chief Creative Partner. As one of the top YouTubers (with over 18 million subscribers), especially in tech reviews, MKBHD’s day-to-day responsibilities are still to be determined. However, he’ll help with brand strategy and design limited edition wallets and accessories.
MKBHD, ho has been collaborating with the brand on sponsored content since 2020, is joining the company six months after CEO Sean Frank shared on X that he wanted to hire a creator in-house, stating the need for Ridge to be a ‘content-first brand’ to be build the “next Yeti.” Ironically, he even offered MKBHD the role back then.
Why It Matters: With MKBHD serving as a Chief Creative Partner, he’ll be able to assist Ridge in achieving its ‘content-first’ company ambitions by leveraging his skills and experience in creating and distributing content and building a community. As one of the most prolific reviewers, he can also use that knowledge to help Ridge develop new products and add more credibility to the company.
Reasons like these have accelerated the trend of creators taking on in-house roles, including traditional creative and marketing roles or roles developed specifically for them.
Shares of equity and spots on boards have been rare occurrences, but they provide creators like MKBHD with more incentive to surpass traditional creator-brand relationships, as the long-term success of the company also benefits them. This also demonstrates how creators can evolve their careers, especially in the long term; expect to see more of this down the road.
Instagram Expands Its Creator Marketplace to New Regions with Machine Learning-Based Creator Recommendations
Instagram is expanding its Creator Marketplace to more regions, such as Canada, the United Kingdom, Japan, India, and Brazil. Additionally, Chinese export brands will now be able to join and connect with creators outside of China.
It’s also testing custom creator recommendations powered by machine learning for each brand, adding to existing search functionality like filters and audience attributes.
Why It Matters: Instagram has gradually expanded the Creator Marketplace, including opening up an API for influencer marketing platforms and agencies, mirroring initiatives by TikTok.
Expanding the marketplace to more creators and brands should help drive greater adoption. However, introducing machine learning-powered creator recommendations represents a unique selling point for Instagram compared to other solutions. Finding suitable creators can be a barrier in influencer marketing, so providing data-driven recommendations could make it easier for brands to identify the right partners, especially those new to the space and constrained by time and resources.
Claire’s Taps Gen Z Alphas To Guide Creative Direction
Claire’s
Claire's introduced The Collab, a new group of Gen Z and Gen Alpha talents ranging from 7 to 17 years old, consisting of fashion designers, musicians, filmmakers, chefs, and more. They will help guide the brand with creative direction across content, communications, and activations throughout 2024.
Coinciding with this initiative, the brand also launched a new spring collection that showed how it will work with this group. For example, they were featured in ads for the collection while member Maggie Sophie Brown, a documentary producer, captured behind-the-scenes moments.
Why It Matters: With The Collab, Claire’s engages creators in a manner that maximizes their value while providing value to them. By directly engaging with its primary audience, Claire’s can create and market products that resonate with this demographic based on direct insight and feedback rather than relying solely on its internal teams. Working with creators in this capacity brings added benefits because they can offer insights not only from a talent standpoint but also from a consumer perspective.
This initiative exemplifies how brands can integrate creators throughout the marketing funnel, from research to ideation and concept testing to content creation and distribution.
For more creator economy news, trends, and insights, head to my website.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Many of you recently joined the newsletter (welcome and thank you!), so for this week’s reading section, I’m surfacing some of the past editions that featured deep dives on topics that are still relevant, which you might find valuable.
Long videos aren’t TikTok’s only focus. It has recently encouraged creators to upload photos. Get insight into the benefits of doing so for creators, the opportunities for brands, and why TikTok is expanding beyond its native short-form video format.
LinkedIn might be pivoting away from ‘creators’, but don’t let that stop you from investing in the platform. I outline ways that creators from traditional social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube can expand their presence to LinkedIn, along with examples and insights from creators currently experiencing success.
Influencer marketing spend is on pace to outgrow ad revenue for social media platforms over the next few years. I dive into some reasons why this may be the case, from creators driving ROI to the impact of Apple’s privacy changes and more.
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