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Creator-economy startup Jellysmack is reorganizing and cutting some staff, Business Insider is exclusively reporting. "Jellysmack is making organizational adjustments to better align resources with key areas of growth," a representative told BI in an email. While we are scaling back certain operations in our Creator Program on Meta due to the opacity of their new monetization model, we remain dedicated to supporting our key creator partners and ensuring they continue to benefit from our platform." The company said in early 2022 that it would set aside $500 million for a program called JellyFi to license creator catalogs . Despite Jellysmack's expansion into new areas of the creator economy, its business had been increasingly troubled, insiders told BI earlier this year.

Persons: SoftBank, —, Jellysmack, Michael Philippe, Jelly Organizations: Business, Service, YouTube, Meta, Facebook, Copyright Capital Locations: France

☆ Why aren't there breakout YouTube stars like there used to be? A chat with 2 YouTube execs
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-23 | by ( Amanda Perelli | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Read previewIf you consider yourself very online, you'd likely be able to name the early wave of top YouTube creators, from Lilly Singh and PewDiePie to Zoella and Tyler Oakley. AdvertisementDuring the early days of YouTube, there were only a handful of channels to watch with creators consistently making quality content. But now, the number of YouTube creators uploading content and making money from the platform has grown tremendously. Still, Allocca said he's noticed there are more successful creators than there used to be but fewer huge stars. AdvertisementSo, while there may be more opportunities for YouTube creators now, it may be a while before we see another rising star who can amass the broad appeal of someone like MrBeast.

Persons: —, Lilly Singh, PewDiePie, Tyler Oakley, it's, YouTube execs Amjad Hanif, Kevin Allocca, Hanif, Anthony Baroud, Aphmau, Krew, Alpha, Allocca, he's, There's, Gen, Ally Sheehan, Taylor Swift Organizations: Service, YouTube, Business, Brands Locations: Zoella, VidCon, Anaheim , California, North Carolina

☆ The rise of STEM influencers: 3 top takeaways from a conference that serves as an annual science fair for YouTubers
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-17 | by ( Amanda Perelli | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

All of this, and more, took place last week at Open Sauce, the annual STEM conference for makers and content creators. It also featured three large exhibit halls filled with unique inventions created by students, engineers, makers, and content creators. The conference offered sessions from dozens of YouTube's top STEM creators, including Osman, Adam Savage, Mark Rober, Astro Alexandra, and Nile Red. Related storiesHere are three key takeaways from this year's Open Sauce:YouTuber and engineer Mark Rober on stage at Open Sauce. Some industry attendees said Open Sauce felt similar to the early days of VidCon, the largest annual creator industry conference, because of its smaller, community feel.

Persons: —, William Osman, Osman, Amjad Hanif, YouTube's, Paul Bakaus, Alessandra Catanese, Adam Savage, Mark Rober, Astro Alexandra, Rober, Bakaus, Amanda Perelli, Derek Muller Organizations: Service, YouTube, Business, Smosh, Creators, Investment, Partners Locations: Cow, San Francisco, VidCon

☆ MrBeast becomes YouTube's most subscribed channel
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-03 | by ( Tom Carter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Read previewMr Beast has finally taken the crown of YouTube's most subscribed channel. Jimmy Donaldson, who runs the channel famous for its elaborate challenges and extravagant giveaways, posted on X that MrBeast had reached over 266 million subscribers, passing the popular Indian music channel T-Series. This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Business Insider contacted YouTube for comment but didn't immediately hear back. Donaldson later sued the company behind the MrBeast Burger chain, claiming that their "terrible quality" burgers were damaging his brand.

Persons: —, Jimmy Donaldson, MrBeast, didn't, Pewdiepie, YouTuber Felix Kjellberg, Donaldson, Burger Organizations: Service, Business, YouTube, Amazon, Amazon Prime, Time Magazine

☆ MrBeast warns fans not to be racist in his battle to win the subscriber war against T-Series
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-29 | by ( Lindsay Dodgson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

download the appSign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. Read previewThings have come full circle for MrBeast, who is on his way to being crowned the owner of the biggest YouTube channel in the world. In 2019, he was buying up billboards in support of his friend and fellow YouTuber Felix Kjellberg, better known as PewDiePie. In a recent interview with journalist and YouTuber Jon Youshaei, MrBeast, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, asked if he had a message for T-Series. AdvertisementDonaldson said he wanted to make it "very clear" that his fans shouldn't see this as "this country versus that country."

Persons: —, YouTuber Felix Kjellberg, he's, YouTuber Jon Youshaei, Jimmy Donaldson, Donaldson, Felix Kjellberg, Kjellberg, PewDiePie, I've, India, Jimmy Organizations: Service, YouTube, Business Locations: India

download the appSign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. Read previewCreator-economy startup Jellysmack has sold its catalog-licensing business, JellyFi, a company spokesperson told Business Insider. "Jellysmack's team has been extremely professional, and we hope to continue collaborating with them on many other opportunities," Copyright Capital's CEO Jack Ojalvo told BI in a statement. AdvertisementThe company entered the catalog-licensing business in early 2022, saying it would set aside $500 million for the effort. The company chose to deprioritize JellyFi in favor of more profitable core initiatives.

Persons: —, Frederic Porcherot, Jack Ojalvo, Jellysmack, Sean Atkins, deprioritize, X, it's Organizations: Service, Copyright, BI, Business, Keli Network, YouTube, Facebook, Creative, Jellysmack, Productions, Network Media LLC, Crime Network Locations: SoftBank

But while the company's profile in the industry has stayed constant and swaggering, behind the curtain, its business has been increasingly troubled, 10 insiders told Business Insider. Creator economy professionals mingled beneath glowing jellyfish and coral light fixtures inside Jellysmack's creator lounge during VidCon 2023. "As a startup in the ever-evolving creator economy, we are constantly testing and adapting our business model," the Jellysmack spokesperson told BI in a statement. Advertisement"The world was falling apart with the pandemic, but early Jellysmack felt like a dream," the second former staffer told BI. BI viewed two Jellysmack contracts and an email exchange between Jellysmack and one of its creator clients to verify the practice.

Persons: —, SoftBank, lanyards, Jellymack, Jellysmack, YouTubers, Brad Mondo, Meta, Michael Philippe, Jellysmack cofounders Swann Maizil, Robin Sabban, Nathan Guetta, Condé Nast, Youri Hazanov, Sean Atkins, hasn't, Snapchat —, Amanda Perelli, JellyFi, deprioritize, that's, it's, Ollie Forsyth, They've Organizations: Service, Business, Facebook, influencers, BI, YouTube, Disney, Comcast, Keli, Big Tech, cryptocurrency, MTV, HBO, Copyright Capital, SoftBank, Productions, OKA Media, Network Media LLC, Crime, Star, Spotify, Crime Network Locations: VidCon, SoftBank

☆ History is repeating itself as MrBeast and T-series battle for YouTube's top spot
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-24 | by ( Lindsay Dodgson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

MrBeast is set to surpass T-Series as YouTube's top channel. Kjellberg was in the midst of a battle for YouTube's number one spot because another channel — the Indian music label T-Series — was closing in. Now, for MrBeast, history is repeating itself, except this time, he is the one closing in on YouTube's biggest channel, T-Series, And it looks like he's soon going to win the top spot. Amid an expected mass exodus from the platform, a win for independent creators could have a positive ripple effect. "This breakthrough will show independent creators that they can be more successful than large corporations," she said.

Persons: —, MrBeast, YouTuber Felix Kjellberg, Kjellberg, he's, Donaldson, Jimmy Donaldson, He's, Gabe Gordon, Donaldson wasn't, Gordon, Donaldson hasn't, Moon, Katya Varbanova, Varbanova Organizations: Service, YouTube, YouTube's, Kjellberg, Reach Agency Locations: Burger

casey newtonAnd this caused a big sort of emotional reaction that said, wow, that feels like really, really icky. It’s just really, really awful. How do I get really, really good at this? But we have that explosion at the beginning, which is really, really exciting. I’m still interested in smartphones because I think they’re really, really advanced pieces of tech.

Persons: kevin roose, Kevin Roose, ” casey newton, Casey Newton, ” kevin roose, casey newton Oh, casey newton, ” kevin roose You’re, kevin roose That’s, kevin roose I’m Kevin Russo, Marques Brownlee, a.k.a, We’ve, don’t, casey newton Well, Meta, It’s, casey newton Right, casey newton It’s, kevin roose Totally, I’ve, you’re, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, They’re, that’s, kevin roose Casey, Hansel, Gretel, let’s, they’re, casey newton Jewel, ”, Juul, Meta didn’t, we’ve, “ We’re, There’s, Al Capone, They’ve, —, Kevin, casey newton I’ve, casey newton That’s, Marquez Brownlee, Casey, He’s, Marquez, he’s, Elon Musk, Sundar Pichai, you’ll, marquez brownlee, casey newton I’m, You’ve, casey newton Let’s, you’ve, it’s, I’m, he’ll, kevin roose Marquez, PewDiePie, marquez brownlee I’ll, they’ve, Ralph, That’s, kevin roose It’s, you’d, we’re, I’d, casey newton Libraries ! marquez brownlee, everyone’s, Samantha, Davis, Fancy, Bard, DALL, Midjourney, ChatGPT, Bing, who’s, it’ll, OpenAI, Pope, kevin roose Pope, — casey newton, casey newton Ah, Mickey Mouse, Eli Lilly, barbecuing, bro, Fabio, Getty, Greg Rutkowski, kevin roose Really, Greg, there’s, Ben Zhao, casey newton We’re, Bob Ross Organizations: The New York Times, YouTube, Meta, pharma, AGs, Netflix, COPPA, Facebook, Congress, Digital Services, Federal Communications Commission, ABC, CBS, FCC, Samsung, casey newton Libraries, VR, Apple, ChatGPT, Enterprise, DALL, Disney, Twitter, Getty, “ MIT Tech, University of Chicago, Adobe Locations: California, Colorado, what’s, you’re, Europe, United States, China, earbuds

Then, a deep dive into MrBeast and what his YouTube empire says about the future of the internet. Reddit came along and said, oh, we need to protect Reddit from the rise of these large language models. So I don’t think they’re totally out of the woods. But I don’t think people would say it was a golden age for how safe the platforms fell to use. But I want to challenge you on this, because I don’t necessarily think that it’s a bad thing if we have past peak trust and safety.

Persons: kevin roose, you’ve, casey newton, casey newton Yes, I’ve, there’s, kevin roose I’m, Kevin Roose, ” casey newton, Casey Newton, Casey, Reddit, casey newton Right, roose, Steve Huffman, you’re, Kevin, It’s, They’re, casey newton Well, they’ve, we’re, Huffman, “, Redditors, We’ve, Everyone’s, we’ve, I’m, let’s, Sam Walton, Max, kevin roose Hey, kevin roose Oh, kevin roose Max Read, MrBeast, it’s, Jimmy Donaldson, He’s, Willy Wonka, he’s, somethings, haven’t, kevin roose We’ll, We’ll, kevin roose She’s, she’s, kevin roose MrBeast, Jeremiah, jeremiah howard, Jeremiah Howard who’s, Jimmy, Burger, You’re, Stefan Molyneux, PewDiePie, Paul, Let’s, Raman, kevin roose It’s, MrBeast financials, doesn’t, Logan Paul, they’re, Vincent Miller, Jon Hamm’s, Matthew Weiner’s, kevin roose Max, Will, Max Read, ” kevin roose, casey newton Max, Robert F Kennedy, COVID, Kennedy, Instagram, Connor Roy, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Robert F Kennedy Jr, Elon, Donald Trump, We’re, Jim Jordan, kevin roose Totally, Alex Jones, casey newton Totally, Kate Kalanick, Trump, Tucker Carlson, aren’t, — casey newton, hasn’t, Rachel Cohn, Jen Poyante, Caitlin Love, Alyssa Moxley, Dan Powell, Elisheba Ittoop, Marion Lozano, Sofia Lanman, Rowan Niemisto, Paula Szuchman, Tam, Nell Gallogly, Kate LoPresi, Jeffrey Miranda Organizations: The New York Times, Twitter, YouTube, Lamborghini, Netflix, Walmart, News, Producers, Meta, Instagram, COVID, Democratic, Washington Post, Apple, Republicans, Facebook, 4chan, Republican Party, Trump, Fox News, Stanford, Davis Locations: Hawaii, Reddit, Greenville , North Carolina, hysterics, New Jersey, New York, Greenville, North Carolina, Central, United States, Bay, San Francisco, Stanford

☆ How MrBeast Became the Willy Wonka of YouTube
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( Max Read | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +4 min

Compared with the strange and compelling creatures on display elsewhere on YouTube, it can be hard to understand precisely what’s appealing about MrBeast. Eligible creators on the platform earn around half of the revenue from advertising that YouTube sells against their videos. Even within this context, Donaldson stands out for his dedication to understanding how YouTube works. For most of his teenage years, “I woke up, I studied YouTube, I studied videos, I studied filmmaking, I went to bed and that was my life,” Donaldson once told Bloomberg. “I hardly had any friends because I was so obsessed with YouTube,” he said on “The Joe Rogan Experience” last year.

Persons: Donaldson, MrBeast, ”, —, “, ” Donaldson, Joe Rogan, Rogan, Warren Buffett Organizations: YouTube, Bloomberg, Berkshire Hathaway, Forbes

In an email to staff, its president said the "rise of short-form video" has sparked new challenges. A new round of layoffs at creator startup Jellysmack shows how much short-form video apps like TikTok have disrupted the creator-advertising ecosystem in just a few years. Jellysmack initially grew its business by helping creators repurpose YouTube videos on other ad-supported platforms like Facebook and Snapchat. Last January, it announced it had set aside $500 million to buy rights to older YouTube videos with the goal of making a profit from future ad earnings. It separately runs a creator-finance division called JellyFi, a program to help celebrities become digital content creators, and a division called JellySmash Productions that helps creators make and distribute content speedily.

☆ A Lego Crime, a YouTube Rivalry, and the End of a Star Wars Friendship
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-21 | by ( David Kushner | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +30 min

Those who are into Lego Star Wars are among the most popular. It was at an informal contest where Louis met Victor, a fellow Lego Star Wars fanatic. Soon they ranked among the most popular Lego Star Wars YouTubers in France, known for the size and scope of their MOCs. The two friends no longer fit with that satisfying click that comes from snapping together two Lego bricks. Though it must have taken a truck to haul away all of Louis' Lego, no neighbor reported seeing anything suspicious.

☆ Jellysmack is hiring a new M&A leader as it eyes acquisitions in the 'near future'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Dan Whateley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Creator company Jellysmack is hiring a new M&A lead to help integrate companies that it buys. Jellysmack said it's interested in M&A and could be "acquisitive in the near future." Creator startup Jellysmack is hiring a new executive to lead its M&A integration practice as the company looks to diversify its business and grow its content portfolio, a company spokesperson confirmed to Insider. "Jellysmack remains interested in the M&A market and could be acquisitive in the near future," the spokesperson said. "The VP, PMI role we are hiring for will ensure the integration of any acquisitions are successful."

☆ F.B.I. asking about videos and racist website in connection with Colorado shooting
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( Jo Yurcaba | Jo Yurcaba Is A Reporter For Nbc Out. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +7 min

The former neighbor, Xavier Kraus, said an FBI agent asked him about the two websites at an FBI field office in Colorado Springs last Thursday afternoon after an agent called him earlier that day. The website allegedly created by Aldrich is a forum-type “free speech” site where people have anonymously posted racist and antisemitic memes, language and videos. The videos appear to have gone up from 9:28 p.m. to 11:43 p.m. local time on the night of the shooting. Kraus said the agents asked whether Aldrich posted the “Wrong Targets” video on the homepage. After listening to the voice in the videos, Kraus said it “sounds very, very similar” to Aldrich, but he could not confirm this with certainty.

Jimmy Donaldson, better known online as MrBeast, has surpassed Felix Kjellberg, also known as PewDiePie, to become the most-followed individual YouTuber in the world. Donaldson, who is known for doing expensive stunts and viral charity projects, officially reached 112 million subscribers as of Wednesday, according to his YouTube page. @MrBeast is about to become the biggest YouTuber in the world, I remember subbing because he counted to 100,000. I’m so proud to see the YouTuber he’s become, an insane journey!” gaming creator Reversal tweeted Friday. After Donaldson hit 100 million subscribers in August, fans asked Kjellberg if he thought the creator would pass his subscriber count.

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