Hi, this is Amanda Perelli and welcome back to Insider Influencers, our weekly rundown on the business of influencers, creators, and social-media platforms. Sign up for the newsletter here.
Starting next week, YouTube will begin paying creators for their short-form videos from a $100 million "Shorts Fund."
Creators can earn between $100 and $10,000 a month for their videos.
The roll-out of the Shorts fund comes at a time when YouTube is looking to compete against TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat to be seen as a platform where creators can reach new audiences, earn money, and build a sustainable business.
Here are a few key eligibility requirements channels must meet in order to qualify:
"Channels uploading videos with watermarks or logos from third-party social media platforms, non-original videos (for example, unedited clips from movies or TV shows), or videos reuploaded from other creator's channels will not be eligible."
"Channels need to have uploaded at least one eligible Short in the last 180 days."
Once a creator qualifies, they will have until the 25th of the month to claim their bonus payment or it may expire.
"The level of performance needed to qualify for a bonus payment may differ between creators (based on audience location for example) and may change from month to month due to fluctuations in audience location and the number of creators making Shorts," YouTube said.
The esports organization Immortals announced on Monday the signing of a "League of Legends: Wild Rift" esports roster.
The team signed gaming YouTube creator SeongHun "Hoon" Jang to be the core of the team.
Esports started with teams for desktop games like "League of Legends" and "StarCraft II," but mobile gaming has since taken over as the top draw for viewership.
My colleague Michael Espinosa spoke with Immortals president Jordan Sherman, who explained how he'll evaluate the team's success and how he's approaching the market.
Here are the four criteria he'll use:
Engaging new fans with digital content
Success in Riot's first tournament series
Bringing "Wild Rift" to more fans around the country
Working with Riot to grow "Wild Rift" itself
Currently, Immortals' four main divisions include its teams in "League of Legends" and "Valorant," the "Overwatch" League team Los Angeles Valiant, and the Brazilian esports organization MIBR.
Sephora has leaned into paying micro influencers and employees to develop content for social media.
I spoke with a Sephora exec about the brand's "Sephora Squad" influencer-marketing strategy.
Sephora Squad's 2021 group includes 73 members and 79% are BIPOC, the company said. 48 of the members are influencers and 25 are Sephora employees.
This year, Sephora was focused on hiring more influencers who spoke Spanish and made Spanish-language content, as well as creators with diverse hair types.
Here's a breakdown of how the company selects which influencers to work with:
Prospective members first apply on Sephora Squad's application page.
Then, they must ask their followers to submit a testimonial about them.
Once accepted, Sephora pays the members to promote the brand and develop content for its own social channels.
"Previously, we were looking at influencers in a campaign and initiative based way," said Abigail Jacobs, senior vice president of integrated brand marketing at Sephora. "Then with the launch of the Squad, we established a group of influencers that we work with on more of an annual basis to really build partnerships with."
Riot's first global "Valorant" tournament featured costreams by more than 20 creators.
The creators, broadcasting in several languages, brought more than 300,000 new viewers to the event.
Michael reported that the success of "Valorant's" costreams shows the potential of alternative esports broadcast experiences.
Here are a few takeaways about the broadcast experience:
To decide which streamers to let costream the event, Riot uses two metrics: engagement and the amount of new viewers that can be brought to the broadcast.
To get insights like these, Jafroodi said that Riot partnered with Stream Hatchet, a livestream analytics company.
Kasra Jafroodi, Riot's head of global strategy for "Valorant" esports, said Riot will let a greater number of creators to costream future events.
Baroud is a 23-year-old dental student based in Chicago. He films tooth brush and dental product reviews, like trying spicy ramen flavored toothpaste.
"I saw a great opportunity where I get to have fun and explore my creativity, and also take over a marketplace that hasn't really been touched yet: dental products," Baroud told Insider.
Baroud makes money from ad revenue (YouTube's Partner Program), sponsored content, and TikTok's Creator Fund.
He recently signed with the creator talent management firm Night Media.
"It's quickly turning into my job," Baroud said about social media. "I'm leaning towards working as a dental associate to allow me to have more time to create content."
Baroud said he eventually wants to create and sell his own line of dental products to sell directly to his followers.
TikTok subscribers (primary platform) :8.9 million
This uptick is centered around a new TikTok challenge featuring creators attempting to fit into a series of cropped frames created by a video filter.
Influencers Bryce Hall and Austin McBroom fight at Miami's Hard Rock Stadium during LiveXLive’s "Social Gloves: Battle Of The Platforms" on June 12, 2021.
And before you go, check out the top trending songs on TikTok this week to add to your playlist. The data was collected by UTA IQ, the research, analytics, and digital strategy division of United Talent Agency.
