Good morning. Today is Juneteenth, a holiday that celebrates the freeing of all enslaved Black people in the U.S. in 1865.
To learn more about Juneteenth’s historical significance, head to the National Museum of African American History and Culture’s official page. We also loved newsletter creator Hunter Harris’s curated list of 50+ movies and TV shows about the Black experience for Apple TV.
— Hannah Doyle & Nate Graber-Lipperman
Félix "xQc" Lengyel / Tubefilter
Top Twitch streamer Félix “xQc” Lengyel signed a two-year contract with upstart streaming platform Kick, The New York Times reported on Friday.
The deal is non-exclusive and comes with a base salary of $70 million plus roughly $30 million in performance-based incentives, xQc’s agent told The Times. Lengyel also seemed to suggest that the deal included equity in Kick.
Context: A former professional esports player, 27-year-old Lengyel began streaming himself playing video games on Twitch in 2015 and has since become known to his 11.8 million followers for a variety of content, such as hosting reality shows and chatting with fans.
Lengyel has been Twitch’s No. 1 streamer by total hours watched for three years running.
He’s currently the most-watched channel in 2023 so far, according to streaming analytics database StreamsCharts.
Lengyel’s new deal with Kick is roughly the same size as the $97.1 million contract extension that NBA superstar LeBron James signed last year, something that fellow streamer Ludwig Ahgren noted.
Looking ahead: While Twitch has stumbled in recent months (see: Twitch banning simulcasting and retracting its unpopular new branded content guidelines), Kick has been aggressively courting new creators by promising higher payouts and better revenue splits.
Kick also signed Twitch’s 2022 top female streamer, cosplayer Kaitlyn “Amouranth” Siragusa, on Sunday and teased more announcements to come.
FYI: Kick, which is owned by the Australian founders of online crypto casino Stake.com (which itself has promoted gambling to minors), has faced several controversies since it launched last October. It’s been accused of turning a blind eye to issues like copyright infringement and p*rn and paying Amazon to use the same video system as Twitch at “8-10x cost.”
Kelly Wakasa / YouTube
Nearly a year after the creator group Ur Mom’s House disbanded, the four creators who made up the NYC-based content house have continued to carve their own paths—and the latest is former member Kelly Wakasa’s renewed investment in his “Do What Excites” brand.
Quick background: Ur Mom’s House separated last fall due to costs, chores, and prioritizing content over their friendship. Now they’re creating on their own:
Annemarie Allen moved home to Alaska and started the Unemployed Millennial podcast.
Ashley Alexander makes vlogs about life in NYC and started the merch brand Extra Dynamic.
Elliot Choy vlogs about travel and NYC life.
And Wakasa is doubling down on his vlog and challenge videos. Last week, Wakasa published a video about his experience renovating a bus he’ll use to bring his “Do What Excites” brand and videos cross-country.
“As much as I wanna make this bus look nice, I'm really more excited about the journey it’s gonna take myself, friends, and you guys,” Wakasa said in the video.
Zoom out: Content houses have largely lost steam in the years following their initial popularity. Hype House is pivoting away from being a physical space for creators, and 100 Thieves recently closed up shop on its content house as well.
This week, we’ve seen updates from Twitch and Twitter that claim to be putting creators first—but some creators are voicingskepticism and feel they are in a holding pattern.
On Twitter: Elon Musk tweeted earlier this month that Twitter creators will be able to access the email addresses of their paid subscribers, much like creators on Substack or Patreon can.
Why that matters: It’ll make it easier for creators to leave Twitter without losing their distribution.
The fine print: Twitter hasn’t said when the feature will launch.
On Twitch: The platform introduced a Partner Plus program, which offers a 70/30 revenue split on subscription revenue up to $100,000 for one year.
The fine print: Streamer Amber Paladin pointed out that creators will now have to re-qualify yearly for the Partner Plus program instead of qualifying once and getting benefits indefinitely.
It’s going to be a big week for The Publish Press. We’re rolling out several projects that we’re really excited about—starting with a special drop ahead of VidCon.
To our Press readers in the LA area, keep your eyes peeled for this yellow newspaper box at VidCon. We’ll give you more details here in the newsletter and on Colin & Samir’s Instagram and Twitter.
And to all of our Press readers, no matter where you’re reading from, keep an eye on your inbox for a special project that’s been in the works for months dropping later this week. 👀
👀Creator Moves
Dodford is hiring a Shorts editor on a per-project basis.
Complexly is looking for an associate producer, preferably with three years of production experience, to work on SciShow.
Nebula is hiring a full-time thumbnail designer.
🔥 Press Worthy
Fragrance creator Professor Perfume launches a fragrance with Snif.
TikTok creator Carmen in the Garden starts a wine company.
PewDiePie revamps his branding and releases new merch.
Meta lowers the minimum age for its VR headset to 10 years old.
Travel creator Luke Korns looks to reconnect with his audience.
ICYMI: We hosted our first 'Coffee with Creators' event in partnership with .Store—read the full recap here.*
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