On Saturday, more than 250 creators descended on the 125,000 square foot lot operated by mega YouTuber Dhar Mann.
Mann, who has nearly 27 million subscribers on YouTube, invited the group of mostly-aspiring creators for a full-day training camp, hosted in partnership with Adobe. Of course, the event also served as a way for Mann to showcase his facilities and business, which only recently started including brand deals.
Located just down the road from Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, Calif., Dhar Mann Studios was buzzing with creators eager to learn, mingle and film content with some of social media’s biggest stars. As part of the partnership with Adobe, creators were also trained on its tools, such as Photoshop, Firefly and Premiere Mobile. The event included 24 creators with more than 1 billion followers combined.
“It’s very difficult to make [being a creator] a full-time career, especially now when this space is more crowded than ever,” Mann told Jasmine in an interview conducted on a set designed for his new podcast, which debuts in March.
It was the first time Mann opened the doors of his studios for an event like this. But he doesn’t intend for it to be the last.
“If we partnered with a fashion brand, there’s no reason that we couldn’t bring 24 of the biggest fashion creators together and help aspiring fashion creators learn the trade,” Mann said. “Beauty, lifestyle, food, DIY, any category, I think could become its own event.”
Inside two of the three studios on the lot, film sets served as content stations manned by creators like magician Justin Flom and family and kids content creators Rebecca Zamolo and Matt Slays. More creators including Adam W and partner managers from Meta and YouTube hit the stage for panels throughout the day.
But Mann was naturally the star of the show. He delivered a keynote speech before hopping on a golf cart with his wife to lunch, which later turned into an impromptu outdoor dance party.
YouTuber Dhar Mann poses with other creators at his event on Saturday. Photo courtesy of Dhar Mann Studios
While sponsorship deals with brands tend to be the most common way creators earn money, those with Mann’s scale can often rely purely on ad-revenue sharing programs from YouTube and other platforms to make a living.
Still, programs like AdSense can only get creators so far. Brand deals are highly lucrative and hard to resist forever. Now Mann is starting to dabble in them, announcing high-profile deals with the NFL and Old Navy in recent weeks.
Mann said he’s also open to brand takeovers of his many sets, which range from a courtroom and movie theater to a part of a real airplane and a Target-style supermarket stocked with fake fruit and other items.
One thing Mann says he isn’t planning on doing is charging creators to use the space.
Mann credited his recent deals to three things: his CEO Sean Atkins, who helped build a brand partnerships division after joining in September 2024, brands’ willingness to do longer-term deals and his own desire to do “more ambitious projects.”
That includes a new deal with Fox Entertainment to develop 40 vertical microdramas, which Mann described as “90 minute feature films broken down into 1 minute chapters.” He expects each project to take about 30 to 45 days to go from “script to screen.”
Mann didn’t share names, but said he’s already been approached by some of the “biggest companies in the world,” including fashion brands, to sponsor these shows. That may seem surprising given that microdramas are often written off as cringey or low brow.
But the interest in Mann’s microdramas also makes sense given the recent buzz around the format and branded entertainment in general. Companies from Crocs to Procter & Gamble have developed their own vertical short-form shows, while Gap has brought on its first “chief entertainment officer.” Creators are often part of these projects and strategies.
We share more from Jasmine’s conversation with Mann, as well as what to make of the branded microdrama trend on this week’s podcast, publishing on Thursday.
In other news…
Introducing the Scalable Summit
In case you missed our announcement last week, we are so excited to be hosting our first conference on May 6 in Los Angeles!
The inaugural Scalable Summit will gather founders, creators, marketers, investors and other industry leaders who are shaping the creator economy for a full day of fireside chats, panels and networking. Our goal is to connect different people working in this industry, especially groups who often don’t get to talk to each other (think investors and marketers).
We’ll dive into some of the most pressing topics happening in the industry today from the future of Hollywood to the rise of AI and the intersection of sports and creators, and so much more. We’ll also have tactical conversations about what it takes to build a sustainable business in the creator economy.
Plus, we’ll have plenty of time for networking—and cocktails!
Our speaker line up so far includes Twitch CEO Dan Clancy; long-time Instagram product executive Tessa Lyons; Khartoon Weiss, general manager of global business solutions at TikTok; and David Duxin, a partnerships and strategy lead at OpenAI, who’s been at the core of some of Sora’s biggest deals. We’ll also have executives from Adobe, Pinterest, Tubi, Teachable, and Issa Rae’s branded entertainment studio Ensemble.
We’ll be announcing more speakers—including creators—soon!
Tickets are live now and selling fast! Snag your early-bird ticket for $299 here, or visit our website for more information.
You can also nominate a speaker using this form—we still have limited speaking slots available. If you’re a brand interested in partnering with us, please reach out to [email protected]. We hope to see you soon!
The Round Up
Facebook worked on developing an app for teens called Bell in 2018, but never launched it, according to court filings tied to a landmark social media addiction lawsuit involving parent company Meta Platforms. The internal plans demonstrate how young users have long been important to the company, in part as gaining teens early could keep them on Meta apps in the future.
A Meta spokesperson told NBC the Bell app was developed as an early exploratory idea and it would have relied heavily on the company’s content moderators.
Lightricks, the company behind editing apps including Facetune, is separating its consumer app business from its generative AI video platform LTX, creating two different units, Reuters reported.
Wishlink, an Indian creator commerce startup, raised $17.5 million in Series B funding led by Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia & India.
GameSquare Holdings, the parent company of FazeClan’s esports and gaming brand, is acquiring TubeBuddy, an AI software tool providing SEO, keyword, and thumbnail products for YouTubers from influencer marketing firm BENlabs.
🎿The Winter Olympics (TikTok) Winners
Alysa Liu, the figure skater who won the first US women’s figure skating gold in 24 years, was also arguably the gold medalist of the Winter Olympics on social media.
Liu brought in 57.3 million total views and 19.1 million average views on her Olympic-related posts on TikTok during the Games, according to new data from Dash Social. Her following on Instagram also skyrocketed to more than 5 million.
In second place in Dash Social’s ranking was Jutta Leerdam, a speed skater from the Netherlands, who averaged 12 million views on TikTok. After setting an Olympic record, Leerdam sparked debate by flashing her Nike sports bra despite strict advertising rules. “The mix of record-breaking performance, controversy and an established audience made her one of the most-watched creator athletes of the Games,” Dash Social noted. Leerdam, who is engaged to YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul, already had a large following going into the Olympics.
The third spot went to Eileen Gu, the American-born freestyle skier representing China, who notched about 2.4 million average TikTok views. Gu has been sharing a mix of get-ready-with-me videos and competition footage. It’s also notable that seven of the 10 most-watched Olympic creator-athletes measured by Dash Social were women.
The Olympic Village also took on a dual purpose as a content studio, where athletes taped food reviews, moments with their roommates and other behind-the-scenes content. Major brands like Procter & Gamble also set up studios in Milan where creators and athletes shot interviews, while also discussing how they used various P&G products during the Games, including Secret deodorant and Tampax tampons.
Creator Moves
Vivian Tu’s personal finance book “Rich AF” is being developed into a series for Amazon MGM Studios. Tu, a former trader turned social media creator, will be an executive producer on the show.
David Begnaud, a long-time CBS News correspondent, announced his own independent media company called Do Good Crew. It will include a weekly newsletter on Beehiiv, a podcast and live events. Begnaud will also remain a contributor to CBS. The structure is part of a rise in hybrid business models and other arrangements we’ve been tracking in the creator economy that hedge some of the risks of going solo.
Peter Attia, a popular wellness influencer, resigned from his new contributor role at CBS after appearing in the Epstein files. Earlier, he also resigned his position as chief science officer of protein bar company David.
Talent Tracker
Rahul Titus joined Publicis Groupe as global influencer lead. Previously, he spent 12 years at WPP, most recently as global head of influence for Ogilvy.
Rollo Goldstaub was promoted to TikTok’s global head of sport. Goldstaub, who is based in London, previously led the app’s sports partnerships.
Aaron Morrissey is now the head of social media for Synthesia, a UK-based AI avatar and voiceover startup for businesses. He’s previously created content for other brands, including sales software provider Clay and Hootsuite.
