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Jack Goldburg has long had ambitions to be more than a food content creator.
“I was never just interested in having a show,” Goldburg, who is the face of social media food and travel series Jack’s Dining Room, told us on the latest episode of Scalable. Instead, his goal was to build the distribution, while also owning the process and the studio.
Goldburg may now be getting what he wants. On Wednesday, 101 Studios and Yes Chef Group, which was founded by Goldburg and his business partner Liam Henning, announced Yes Chef Studios, a 50-50 joint venture that will develop long-form content about food, travel, culture and hospitality.
101 Studios—which is home to Taylor Sheridan’s TV portfolio, including “Yellowstone,” and projects from George Clooney—will invest up to $25 million in the new venture.
Yes Chef Studios’ flagship series will be fronted by Goldburg, but the goal is to bring on other creators to make shows that don’t necessarily feature him. With the backing of 101 Studios, “we have this arm that we can flex to say, ‘Hey, what’s your dream? What do you want to do? We can bring it to life with you,’” Goldburg said of attracting top food creators to produce content for the studio.
Zooming out, the deal is part of a broader trend of creators building out content networks and partnering with traditional companies, such as studios, investment firms and media outlets, to take on bigger projects and reach new audiences.
For Yes Chef, the partnership means expanding to new content and distribution channels. While YouTube will remain a big focus, the studio will also develop scripted and unscripted TV, feature films and streaming projects. Short-form series could also be on the table in the future, Goldburg told us.
“Any modern studio should have a good mix of socials, clipping, long form and streaming,” he said.
Jack’s Dining Room currently has about 3 million Instagram followers and 1 million YouTube subscribers. Yes Chef Group’s business also includes live events, such as private dinners and food festivals, which have attracted 10,000 attendees.
The challenge for Yes Chef Studios will be standing out—and winning new audiences—as food is a crowded and competitive content category.
On YouTube, for example, food and beverage is the eighth-largest content category, accounting for 4.3% of video views so far this year, according to Pixability. That puts it ahead of other popular categories like video gaming, which accounted for 3.1% of views, but behind others like sports (13.2%) and pop culture (7.4%).
Some of YouTube’s top food creators, like Nick DiGiovanni and Binging with Babish, are also now bringing their content to new channels, including streaming services and film festivals. That shows that there is plenty of appetite for food content, but it could also make it harder for Yes Chef’s upcoming shows to capture an audience.
Along with 101 Studios’ expertise and funding, Goldburg is betting on one of the same things that led him to launch Jack’s Dining Room in the first place: “Food is the one thing in the world that everyone can relate to.”
For our full conversation with Goldburg, tune in to the latest episode of Scalable, available on YouTube, Spotify, Apple or wherever you get your podcasts. He also discusses his live event strategy—and whether he would ever open his own restaurant.
Plus, we dig into the state of talent representation in the creator economy and whether creators really need an agent or manager.
What You Need to Know From YouTube and Meta's Events This Week
Fall tech events are in full swing. At Wednesday’s Made on YouTube event, the company unveiled a slew of new features for creators, giving us a peek into what the company is focused on. Three themes stood out to us: AI, livestreaming and serialized short-form video.
With tools like “Ask,” a conversational editing assistant, YouTube is using AI to help embed it more firmly in the content creation process, rather than just distribution. It’s also giving users more control over their experience, by allowing them to create custom feeds around a certain topic. That reminds us of “Your Algorithm” on Instagram.
YouTube is also infusing AI into livestreaming with real-time auto-dubbing, making it easier for foreign language speakers to engage with the content. That comes alongside several other updates to live content, including new ways for viewers to react live and participate during a stream. YouTube also announced that it had renewed its partnership with Coachella to livestream both weekends next year.
Live content is crucial for YouTube to live up to its mantra that it’s the “new TV.” The company said that over half of its top 100 creators now have TV as their most-watched interface. But mobile-first, short-form content is also a huge driver of engagement. (More on that in our “By the Numbers” section below.)
Meanwhile over at Meta Connect, the focus was naturally all on AI, including what’s next for Meta’s new personal AI agent Muse. Updates included voice mode, a real-time avatar and bringing the agent to Meta smart glasses. It’s also turning Muse into a Tamagotchi-like charm that could fit on a keychain. (We have to admit it’s cute, but do we really need AI on us at all times?!)
While Meta is focused on getting consumers to use Muse, it’s also called out specific use cases for creators, including tracking brand deal payments or scanning their inboxes and DMs for messages that need a reply and drafting a response.
OpenAI Taps Patreon Execs—And An Influencer Army
OpenAI hired Patreon’s co-founder and chief technology officer Sam Yam to lead creator product. Coming with him are Patreon’s former head of product Drew Rowny and head of engineering Shannon Ma.
The hirings come as OpenAI has been ramping up its broader creator strategy. On Wednesday, Business Insider reported that the company is enlisting an “influencer army” to help make AI look “cool” and “good for the world,” according to a talent manager and campaign brief. We’ve recently analyzed AI companies’ efforts to reshape their image via creators here and here.
But after all the consumer backlash to OpenAI’s brand trip with influencers earlier this summer, the company will have to tread lightly. Plus, with recent comments by founders of major AI companies about needing to slow down development of the technology before it kills us all, there’s only so much creators can do to improve people’s perception of AI.
We’re also very curious which creator tools OpenAI is cooking up! Given Patreon’s focus on memberships, that could be an obvious move. We may know more soon—Yam said to pay attention to OpenAI’s DevDay next week.
But one thing we do know: OpenAI isn’t planning to acquire more tech podcasts after its takeover of TBPN, according to partnerships exec David Duxin, who appeared at our Scalable Summit in May.
Read more about what Duxin said about OpenAI’s burgeoning creator strategy here, including how it’s working with creators behind the scenes.
The Round Up
LinkedIn is cracking down on fake profiles and resumes. The platform is testing a way for verified users to confirm that a connection actually worked or studied somewhere. Once a person gets enough confirmations, they’ll get a verification badge on their profile. Admins of company pages can also now remove known imposter accounts.
President Trump launched a 24/7 “Trump TV” livestream on the White House’s YouTube channel. The move came after five major networks pulled him from the air for banning CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House. Early Thursday, a judge ordered that the outlets’ access be restored.
Intersection, an out-of-home advertising company, is expanding its Creator Network to bring six new creators to more than 4,000 LinkNYC screens across all five boroughs. LinkNYC is New York’s network of ad-funded kiosks offering free Wi-Fi, calls and charging. The new creators include street-style photographer Johnny Cirillo who uses the handle @watchingnewyork and Sara Leeds, the creator behind @doormanstories.
Creator Moves
Is MrBeast getting into tech wearables? The YouTuber filed a new trademark application for a “Beast Band.” The application was first spotted by trademark attorney Josh Gerben. Interestingly, the move follows MrBeast’s splashy partnership with Google, which includes promoting Fitbit. A representative for MrBeast declined to comment.
In other MrBeast news… He co-authored an Op-Ed in the New York Times arguing that using video to document charitable work can better motivate others to act.
Gwyneth Paltrow is launching a Goop newsletter on Substack, making it the latest brand to launch its own newsletter. The first edition will include the breakfast recipes Paltrow makes for her boyfriend on Saturday mornings. “I’ll also be sharing the travel recommendations and hidden gems currently living in my Notes app,” she wrote in a post, adding that Goop staffers and friends will also contribute.
Warner Bailey, the creator behind the meme page turned media company Assistants vs. Agents, co-founded a new company called Loyd. Dubbed an “intelligent workspace for the global entertainment industry,” it’s designed to help assistants and entry-level staffers with their jobs. We love that the name of the platform makes it sound like it’s a real-life assistant for assistants called Lloyd, albeit with slightly different spelling!
Anthony Jeselnik, a stand-up comedian, is launching a new video podcast with Spotify’s The Ringer called “Jeselnik Book Club.” In the show, he will discuss literary gossip and question pop culture with guests such as authors, friends and celebrities.
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📊 By the Numbers: 6.5 billion
That’s the number of views that microdramas on YouTube surpassed in the first half of this year, per the company, with watch time growing by over 50% year-over-year. The company also said that views of microdrama content on TVs rose by 90% during the same time period, but without a baseline, it’s hard to know how meaningful that increase is.
Either way, we’re not surprised to see YouTube highlighting microdrama viewership on TVs. The company has to find a way to reconcile its push into the living room with its growing focus on short-form content, which is more suited for smaller screens. That includes the launch of Shorts series, which allows creators to organize their Shorts into seasons and episodes, similar to long-form content on YouTube—and Instagram’s “Series” feature.
🐝 Brand Buzz
Gap is bringing pop concerts back to malls. Yes, you read that correctly. The retailer signed a multi-year deal with Wexler Records and Republic Records to back a new five-member group called Just Your Type, or JYT. The boy band will perform at malls, do meet-and-greets at Gap stores and help design a clothing line for Gap. They’ll also co-produce a docuseries.
The partnership comes after Pam Kaufman was named Gap’s chief entertainment officer in February with a mandate to build out a “fashiontainment” strategy. It also comes as Gen Z is helping make shopping malls cool again: 63% of US adults ages 18 to 29 said they shopped at malls at least “sometimes,” per July data from Ipsos, up from 54% one year earlier.
🥗Remember the McDonald’s “Super Size Me” diet? Sweetgreen now has its own version, thanks to copywriter Tim Donohue, who ate nothing but meals from the salad chain for 25 days. After a video by Donahue about it went viral, Sweetgreen jumped on the moment, giving select fans free lunch and dinner for a month if they documented it online.
Best Buy is launching on TikTok Shop in late October. It plans to sell nearly 10,000 products from brands including Oura, Bose and Dyson.
Court Docket
Clavicular, the “looksmaxxing” influencer and Twitch streamer, was charged in connection with the rape of a teen girl, according to a criminal complaint.
Talent Tracker
Margo Plotkin launched The Kith Company, a brand and marketing partnerships firm. She spent 15 years at CAA, most recently as co-head of global content partnerships.
Stu Wood is now general counsel and VP of business affairs at Wonder Studios, an AI film studio. Previously, he spent six years at TikTok, most recently as head of legal, global content and partnerships.
Daniel Etzioni joined YouTube’s strategic partner development team, focusing on talent agencies and management.
