---
title: 'Creators Are the New Studios: Inside the Rise of YouTube''s Next Generation'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=wjxI65OjYqA'
video_id: 'wjxI65OjYqA'
date: 2026-07-14
duration_sec: 0
---

# Creators Are the New Studios: Inside the Rise of YouTube's Next Generation

> Source: [Creators Are the New Studios: Inside the Rise of YouTube's Next Generation](https://youtube.com/watch?v=wjxI65OjYqA)

## Summary

Kinigra Deon, a creator who has built a scripted content universe on YouTube, discusses her journey from a one-woman army to a studio head with Kim Larson and Renee Ritchie from YouTube. They explore how creators are becoming the new studios, the evolution of brand deals, and the importance of tax incentives for digital creators.

### Key Points

- **Kinigra's Scripted Content Success** [00:00] — Kinigra Deon has brought scripted content to YouTube as a single creator vision, building a rich dynamic universe on the platform.
- **Alabama Tax Incentives for Creators** [00:45] — Starting October 1st, budgets between $100,000 and $500,000 in Alabama will get 45% back as a tax credit, helping creators green-light projects.
- **Creator Journey Milestones** [02:15] — Key milestones include getting the first editor, then a producer, then a manager to handle business, leading to accelerated growth.
- **Delegating and Hiring** [03:30] — Kinigra found it hard to delegate but now has three full-time editors, three script writers, and is hiring a producer for the first time.
- **Brand Deal Evolution** [05:00] — Brands now trust creators to come up with ideas, providing guidelines but no scripts, leading to authentic integrations. Kinigra's brand deals grew from $15k to $1.3 million in a year.
- **Creator Relatability vs Traditional Celebrities** [07:30] — Creators like Kinigra are relatable and sincere, creating deeper connections with audiences compared to traditional celebrities.
- **Shift from Videos to Shows** [09:00] — The unit of measure is now a show, a repeatable format with sophisticated story arcs, making it easier for advertisers to buy.
- **Series as a Formula** [11:00] — Kinigra always treated her content as series, posting consistently on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays, which worked well.
- **Next Generation of Creators** [13:00] — Creators now have a clear career path, with examples like Kinigra inspiring others. The barrier to entry is lower, but success requires consistency and learning.
- **YouTube Studio AI Tool** [15:30] — The new AI tool in YouTube Studio allows creators to ask questions about their channel performance, providing insights like comparing thumbnails or understanding audience retention.
- **Markiplier's Movie Success** [18:00] — Markiplier crowdsourced his movie onto thousands of screens with a $3 million budget, proving creators can succeed in feature films.
- **Kinigra's Future Vision** [20:00] — Kinigra plans to build a homestead, find talent in Alabama, and expand into live shows and late-night TV, while also building a team to handle other creators.

### Conclusion

Kinigra Deon exemplifies the rise of creators as new studios, leveraging tax incentives, brand deals, and consistent content to build a media empire. The future holds more feature films, AI tools, and a growing ecosystem where creators are the new celebrities.

## Transcript

Knickerbocker Don has done the not impossible, but improbable. She's brought scripted content to YouTube as I don't want to say like entirely a one-woman army, but very very close to like a single creator vision of an incredibly rich dynamic universe brought to life on the platform. Kim Larson runs the team that deals with all the top creators and all the top gamers literally connecting YouTube to the people who make the platform shine the most. And I'm Renee Ritchie, creator liaison. I have the absolute joy of talking to you about what we started talking about actually 2 years ago in VidCon. >> Yes. >> Creators are the new studios and you've just been building and building that out. >> So, in Alabama is definitely new. Um, what's even crazier is I I've just started having a conversation with like the Alabama Film Commissioner and me and her had a meeting and we were just talking about how can we make film be more of a not just a A lot of people will come to film in Alabama because the tax incentives, but how do we create this film hub here? And so, I'm trying to pioneer that and actually figure out a way of how we continue to grow and and cuz there's a lot of Alabama filmmakers that I had no idea about and I didn't even know about the tax credit and they have this thing I don't know if I can say it, but I'm going to say it and if I'm going to ask if I can say it later, but starting October 1st um, budgets between 100,000 and under 500,000 would get back 45%. >> Wow. >> Wow. >> Yes. >> Wow. >> Yes. >> And and you will qualify for that cuz for those tax credits. >> Yes. >> That's amazing. Congratulations. That's a lot of money. >> Yes. >> [laughter] >> Especially because then you can do so much with it because we're already investing in the infrastructure in Alabama and we're already hiring people that are in Alabama and we're creating jobs and we're creating this thing, but right now we get zero credit for that. And so, um uh uh it's um Her name is Megan, and she's the commissioner there. And so, she's been over that project to help creators and and people who don't have those really really huge budgets to to, you know, be able to green-light their project because they'll get that incentive. >> There is so much I want to dig into there. Kim, when you hear these stories cuz you've heard like you have Alan Chicken Chow and Dhar Mann in Burbank, uh you have Matt Pat and Mr. Beast in North Carolina. Creators are becoming this next generation startups uh studios. How do you look at at that holistically across the creatorverse? >> Well, it's a journey. Uh and what's so cool is Kinigra and the creators that you mentioned are at the very sort of apex of that journey. But it took a long time for her to get there. And I have so much respect. And I think I mean, there are so many important milestones. I think one of the most pivotal is when you get your first editor. That really sort of can jump-start growth. Then when you get a real producer, and then maybe a manager that sits around and starts to take some of the business stuff off your plate. And then I think there's a bit of a snowball. Like creators that get to there really start to have, you know, the the tool kit the tool kit around them to to accelerate faster. But to get where Kinigra is, I want to ask you how many people you've hired. Like how many people are on your team now? >> I'm looking at Emmanuel because Emmanuel is always like, "Kinigra, you need to hire. You need to hire." >> Emmanuel's on Kim's team for those, yeah. >> And I'm like, it's hard. >> Emmanuel's her partner manager, and we did have this conversation where we said, "You need to convince her to hire more people." And he did. >> Yeah. And so, um we started, honestly, like I said this last podcast and it's still harder, but I have done it. But delegating has always been hard for me because when you start out as a creator, you are used to just wearing so many hats. >> wasn't joking. You were doing all of it. You were directing, producing, cat like you were the main editor for a long time. You didn't want to let that go. >> Oh, no, I did want to let it go. I [laughter] just couldn't find anyone. >> Mark Zuckerberg's octopus. You were all eight arms. >> Yes, exactly. And so, like you said, the biggest thing though was finding a great editor and once I did find that, I found three of them. So, we do have three full-time editors that help with the content. Directing, I'm still primarily the main director. Only and we have directors that we've hired, but teaching them and learning them what teaching them how to direct for our audience, that has been the biggest challenge. And so, it's a it's one of those things, it's like a risk thing, but you know that it's going to get you to the next level. And so, you see it because your audience can tell when there's a difference in how you're communicating and telling the story. And so, lately what I've just been trying to do is figure out like have them more so shadow me. This is why like for example, my audience is 70% female. >> Mhm. >> Start with the girls. Start with the girls. Do not have the boys sitting there talking the entire time. And then, um we also start hiring script writers because that was a big thing for us. And so, we have three script writers that send scripts and um Now, producer, this is a new thing, right? I I don't have a producer, but I've been working on um like we have our McDonald's brand deal that we're doing and this time I'm like, "Okay, I want to try to do it in a traditional format." And I've literally it's it's actually been a struggle. I'm not going to lie because talking to the traditional people, I'm like, "Well, listen, we're going to go the traditional, but you're going to have to meet me in the creator like the creator way. Like we're going to have to meet halfway. And they're like, "Well, do you need a script supervisor and the continuity and then the producer?" And I'm like, "No, I don't." So, um but then I'm like, "Okay, what does the producer do?" And they're like, "Well, they call and they handle everything." I'm like, "Okay, what else do they do besides, you know, and cuz I'm like, I can literally send that email." But because like I said, delegating, that is hard for me cuz I'm like, "Why am I getting this person to do that?" But this is going to be the first time where we have a producer, we have a DP, we have I'm literally going to be there as a director, meaning I'm only directing the actors. And this is going to be the first time we get to do that. And I know it's going to be a big struggle, but I understand that I'm going to have to learn how to play just one position in order to grow our company. And then the goal is to the entire um the entire team that we're hiring, they're all in Alabama. So, the goal also is, "Hi, we just did that project. How about you come and join Kinigra Deon Entertainment?" And now we have that team because I really, really want to um have like more Alabama-based filmmakers a part of our team. >> I love that. You were also talking back 2 years ago about how hard it was to get brand deals for scripted content and now you just dropped McDonald's. >> Yes. Um this year has been the craziest year. Like, last year, if you would have told me, "Hey Kinigra, you're going to have a brand deal with McDonald's, Adobe, GM Motors, Elf Cosmetics, Sparkling Ice," I would have literally said, "No, there's no way. And if so, it's going to be, you know, probably low and I'm just going to have to sell myself and show them that I can do it." First, it has been the complete opposite of that. It has literally been "Hey Kinigra, we have this campaign. What ideas do you have? And I'm like, wait, so I don't have to say this? No, long as you don't show the brand like they have guidelines, but it's not about what you say. It's not about a script that they've given. They're more focusing on me as the creative who know my audience and they're trusting me to come up with what is going to work the best and that has been like I love brand deals and I'm not going to lie at first even when I used to do them I hated them. I really did. I was like I wanted them but I did I hated them because it felt so inauthentic and it was like trying to convince a person please let me tell this in my way and they were like, no, you have to stick to this and then you have to make sure you say this line verbatim. It's like an interruption of the story and so but now where we are it's like it's just I can make the product be a part of the story and it doesn't feel like an interruption. It just it just give the the audience a feeling they get to feel something which connects them to the product and so that has been a big shift. Um we went from doing literally maybe 15k in brand deals to like just this year alone now 1.3 million. We got a new one. 1.3 million. in brand deals so yes. >> Is this a story you're hearing more and more often Kim? >> Uh yes. I think couple things. There's this maturation that that creators like Kennygirl going to go through and it took a little bit longer on the long form side where you know brand deals have been such a big part of the short form side and um brands are so much farther along than they were. To hear that there was no script provided, no tagline that had to be inserted at the specific time in the thing, and that they actually came to her asking for ideas first, that is a c-c-c change from where we were even like 12 to 18 months ago. >> True. >> Um and then I think, you know, we here at YouTube, like we are um this is called a P0 priority. It doesn't get any higher than P0. Uh and we are all supremely focused on making sure this becomes a very meaningful monetization stream for for creators. >> I want to go back to something you mentioned about tax credits because part of everything that you've been working on and a lot of our teams have been working on is about getting creators to be treated the way that traditional celebrities, whether that's being nominated for like Emmy Awards or Oscars one day or like who knows, Tonys, you know, maybe maybe MatPat will get a Tony, I don't know. Um but also like >> And we're going to support creators for a Clio, too, to get their to get their ads awarded. >> And also like being represented in job reports and getting these tax credits, that feels like a huge uphill battle. >> I think so. Um I think it's because even though okay, for let's just start the reason why I feel brands are starting to shift is because there are a lot of people in the background that are doing a lot of education, a lot of consulting, and then they have the proof and the numbers to show why this should be that shift. And I think it's going to be the exact same thing with lawmakers. Think about it. It takes forever for change in laws or in in anything that we It takes forever for that to even happen. And so I think the conversation is where they're starting to see us as media companies, but the laws changing and and that is going to be I think, it's just going to take more time. But, like even with Alabama and the commissioner there, she's young. She's She's been in the the film industry for a long time. Even her green-lighting lower budgets getting a tax incentive, that's really a a huge step, especially for Alabama. >> Yeah. >> I think you had two major things that happened in the industry. You had COVID and then not too long after that the writer's strike. And so, there was a movement out of Hollywood into all these other places that have really now started to invest in a a film and TV and creator industry ecosystem. And they're realizing that in order to keep them there in their state filming, they're going to have to get really smart about providing tax credits. >> It's interesting to me, too, because and maybe I'm pushing this too far because I am a creator and I'm very creator-centric, but like I think there's always a battle for relevancy. And right now the world is moving towards creators. Like there is still absolutely traditional media, but I think when a lot of these, like senators or congress people or commissioners, that who their children are talking about, who their grandchildren are talking about, isn't just like the big movie stars, the big musicians, the big TV stars. It's increasingly like the big YouTube stars, and they they want their awards to still have relevancy. They want their jobs to still have relevancy. And they have to they have to go to where the audiences are. >> Um I I agree. Um and I think even when it comes to even like the traditional awards, I do think that is more likely to happen more so than the laws being changed. That that that's just slow. Unless they start doing things that are like just smaller budgets, because even with that amount of budget, like for example, with our we spend at least, you know, 2 million in our production and filming overall every year. And so, it would be nice if they would consider that piece, but it doesn't. It's more so it has to be one big project. It has to be this same type of series. So, even that budget isn't something that we're going to get a tax incentive on. It's going to be like if we want to go do a longer series or a scripted that that is what going to is going to qualify. What I would like to see in the future is for them to say, "Hey you've did this thing. It's the exact same way as traditional except for it's just multiple projects." To be able to group them and then get an incentive. >> Well, there's a big difference between and I'll use like you're the best example of this. Um if you think about traditional celebrities in Hollywood and I will I will stereotype and I'll apologize right now for stereotyping. But often with that fandom comes a wall around them and they surround themselves with protectors. Uh and that you know, from a a brand trying to be relatable, that's hard. You know, you see this person on this big screen. >> Yeah. >> And that that is hard for the the general person me to relate to that person. Whereas with Kanegra and with creators like herself, she's a mom. She's an entrepreneur. She's a female businesswoman. She's an Alabaman. Like there are so many points of relevance that you can find in her and she lets those come through. And so, it's it it's I hate the word inauthentic so I'm not going to use it, but relatable. And I think brands just glom onto that. >> There's a sincerity. >> Yeah, a sincerity, a genuineness. >> And a connection I think also like a lot of the traditional media is like aspirational. Like you see them on the movies and they hope that you want to be the character they play on the movies. And so, you'll do things like them, but you have a real connection with your audience. Like they they have like have communities, you have comments, you have all these different mechanisms that they don't just want it like I'm sure like everyone growing up now is going to want to be you, but also some of them just enjoy what you enjoy and you're a way for them to like filter out all the noise in the universe. >> Yeah, and then they support. Like when we had like okay, I I I dropped so many like brand deals. I was like, "Oh my gosh, this is too many that I'm dropping at one time." Every single comment was like, "Oh yes, Keniebra, get to the bag." >> [laughter] >> Okay, I'm going to go check out the link. >> from what creators used to go through. >> Exactly. It because and you want to know why? It's because it's not an interruption. And it's also because they understand that this is a way of our our business and this is the way that we're monetizing our business and and it's a way that we're able to put more and invest more into the content that we create for them. And I think like our community and our audience is like they really really understand that and they truly support it. >> Yeah. >> Like truly support it. Like I have literally I I did a the brand deal with Elf and I had a fan like show me that she stuck her um the primer to this the side of her face and it was like, "Ah okay." >> Yeah, yeah, you can't get that kind of buy-in. And it's interesting because it's filtering to the trades now. When you look at the Hollywood Reporter and Deadline and um Variety Variety, even like the big papers like of record now, like increasingly the conversation is about creators. >> It's a big validation and it's been a long time coming, but it is so heartwarming to see creators get their due. >> So when you're looking again like we're talking about now creators. We're at Brandcast right now, the upfronts for YouTube and we're talking about a slate of shows which in of itself like for people who have only like we did have YouTube originals back in the day before I was at YouTube. So you had YouTube originals back in the day. But now there's a slate of shows and it is it feels like more digestible to people. Like another way in to understanding YouTube in the form of more traditional Hollywood or more traditional brand deals and advertising. >> You 100% nailed it. The unit of measure used to be a video or a vlog. Maybe a series, and now the unit of measure is a show. It's a repeatable format. It has a more sophisticated storyline arc. And it's more sellable because this is what advertisers know how to buy. They know how to buy episodic series. There is more opportunities for brand integration throughout that. Uh and there's there's, you know, just deeper story, which which creates more connection. So, uh this is going to be a great night tomorrow. We're going to announce a lot of cool shows. And what's so great is even behind that there's an even longer list of of shows coming and just a few just a handful get to actually make it on the stage. >> Do you think about that? Like cuz for a long time creators really did think about like this is a video. This is the ads on this video. This is the brand deal on this video. And not a lot of people thought about series, but the opportunity to maybe like make a series creatively, but also like now like if you have these deals, they know what's coming and they can say I don't want one video, I want 10 in a series. >> Well, for me I've always started with series. And I I and I think it's because when I started YouTube, I think I I treated it like it was already a TV show. And even from how we post, we post every Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday at 5:00 p.m. Central time. And so for me I've always like if something works, it works. So in the very I mean in the very very early stages just about every single one of my videos were series. It was like episode one, episode two, episode three and this is back in 2019 and so for me it was a formula that always worked. I think just creators didn't know that it was something that worked and once they saw that it did, it was just like, oh, this is something that we should be doing. But I think that has always been the formula. If you look at >> And you got there early. >> Yeah, I just like you got there early. >> Yeah, and if you look at traditional like think about how many of your favorite TV shows are series. Like and so there's always been this format there. I think once creators really start building their businesses and and looking at how to optimize their their channel and their audiences, it just made sense to do something that was repeatable, that was something that would make them want to come back and watch. So a series to me is a no-brainer, but I think other creators started to see that as they start growing and elevating in their their like production business. >> Yeah, no, I love that. I also like I think sometimes we get pushed back from creators who say like, I don't want to be put into a box. I don't like you will only recommend me if I do this thing. But there is this rich history of series and serials like uh we mentioned micro dramas a while ago. Like people used to like they used to see like these little these little tiny movies in front of your movies that would be serialized for months and if not years. Like YouTube is reinventing all these formats for the digital era and there is [snorts] something nice about like I want to connect with the on video. I know what I'm going to get. There is zero risk on clicking on this and for like the brand like I know these next 10 episodes, there is zero risk in investing on this and we can be creative. We can have like side channels. We can have side series. We can have like a like a a shorts experiment we're running on the side uh to feed that creativity. And that's also not new. Like people in Hollywood had art like the art house movie they made after the blockbuster or like maybe they did a TV series in between the movies they were doing. And I love Kim that like we it's not just lip service. We're not just it's not just a tagline. It really is like creators coming fully into all the options that entertainment has always had. >> I got no response to you either [laughter] way. You just nailed it. I mean that's exactly what's happened. Uh and I will say though over the last it was like 12 to 18 months there's been a real acceleration. There was something and I can't exactly point to point to what it was but we are seeing creators of Kanika's caliber just soar. And um from production value to output to the growth in the studios to the sophistication and the multiple business lines that you now manage uh there's we sort of hit the hockey stick I feel like. >> Yeah. Yeah. How do you feel like I know like now when we started as creators there there was no previous generation of creators. Everything was sort of like blazing a trail like you mentioned but now there's all these people when you ask them they want to be a creator. It's like one of the top jobs that everyone wants to do like astronaut, fire person, creator. Um how do you think about this next generation coming up behind you? >> I'm so happy for them because if you said back then you wanted to be a creator someone would have said what the what the hell is that what is that? >> even know how to tell our friends what we did for a living. >> Exactly. And then I remember when I first started like creating videos it was like what are you doing? Like what are you literally what are you doing? You're a freaking clinical scientist. Why are you making this content? And so but now it is truly people look at this as a career path and if you have that it factor and or if you have that drive or you have that creativity, you now don't have to Okay. >> Talk about your requirements for your employees cuz what you're doing is I think extra special, the investment you're making in your in your employees. >> for example, all of our actors, right? They're all creators and they have to be. So, you can't just come and act in a video. Um I don't think that really serves them the best purpose. The purpose is for them to create a brand and become entrepreneurs and own a business and build and so we basically have this universe and so like honestly the last brand deals that I've done have included my cast because they finally understand that we have built this universe of our actors and our and our cast and even with some of our directors if they want to direct certain things and they're able to say, "Hey, this person directed it." It's It's really just about now I think people are able to see that this is truly a I don't even want to say I know they say job but it's not a job. It's something more. It's like >> Exactly. It's It's but it's It's >> a calling. >> But it's easy. You know but I guess that's what it is because it's so easy when you're creative and you're in it and you're doing something that you love and imagine now that a little kid or a little girl who truly loves acting, she can literally just pick up her phone or then upgrade to a camera or whatever and she can just do it. There are no prerequisites that she has to do. She doesn't have to go to college if she doesn't want to now until like provide for her family or or after graduation. It's okay if she doesn't know if if she want to, you know, be a nurse or if she want to talk about nursing on her podcast. Like right now it's like if you want to do it, you truly can because you've seen people actually do it. And so I think this next generation of creators are going to be so confident to put out the thing that they want to put out and they're going to also be they're going to have so much more information on how to do it and how to accomplish it. >> Yeah, I love that. I think also it is hard work. Like I think like we talk about creators like you and people think like they see you at the top of the mountain and they're like I just got to walk up the mountain. They don't realize how hard it was for you to find the way. Like maybe you went around twice and up and this didn't work and then you went up this way and it is a lot of work and I think like people will look at your team and you work with some of the biggest creators on the planet, but there are 3 million creators in the YouTube Partner Program, probably 30 plus million like active creators at any given time, maybe more. I don't we don't have like official numbers on that, but um the idea that not everyone will get to this level. Some people work very hard to get to this level, but what I love is that this is raising the level. Like when you talked before about like in the very early days of YouTube, literally it's like, "Oh, I can make a video of me at the zoo." Like and maybe that was the aspiration or you know like I I could use it as storage for my family videos. And now people are looking at YouTube and thinking I can literally be I could be Michelle Khare, I could be Kinigra Deon, I could be like any of these the the same as you want to be like a movie star previously. Like I love how you're just raising the roof and the potential and it's a lot of work to get there. We're building products like great brand deal products for you and advertisers, but those end up going out to every creator. >> Yeah. >> So I believe very, very much in the halo effect. And it's really hard to quantify. Um I got my marketing stripes at Nike and we learned if you got those sneakers on the best athlete in the high school, the coolest kid in the hallway, you get the rest of the high school. >> Yeah. >> And this is what you see here. There's an aspiration that that she and creators like her have created. And some of that is you do make it look easy. >> Yeah. >> And I have to spend a lot of time being like, "It's not that easy the way the way she makes it look." But what they've created is um a sense of what >> excellent looks like. >> Yeah. >> And then no matter where you are, you know, starting and you know, paired that with her relatability, her sincerity, you're just like you get this warm and fuzzy like, "Oh my god, I could maybe do that." >> Yeah. >> And that is like that spark that this generation now has because they have a production studio in their pocket. >> Yeah. >> And that powerful combination, I think it's going to just explode. You know, 30 million content creators, who knows what that real number is and I think it's just going to explode. >> And there's probably a lot more now with short form and people who are just participating and remixing and doing all these >> And I And I know I said easy. And so let me cuz I don't want people I don't want you to think that this is like just easy, but it's easier for me because I truly love it. Like it's Granted it's a lot of work and you're always working in and and you're always trying to think of ideas, but when you genuinely love doing it, it's easier. Like going into the hospital lab, even though I sat there and sometimes I worked midnight shifts and sometimes nothing would even come. Like I was just literally would be sitting there. That was hard. >> Yeah. >> That was hard for me. And so this even though is I feel like I maybe working more, but it's easy because this is easier to do because it's something that I really love. It's something that I'm really passionate about and it's like when you're acting in your purpose, it's almost like when you luck up and you find like your purpose, now everything is with intention on that going back to that purpose. And so, that is why it is easy and I think there are so many people beforehand who probably could have been some of the best creators, but because they weren't supported in a way or or their own, you know, just you didn't see that many examples, they probably shaded away from their purpose. But now creators are able to truly see what is happening, who who like there are so many and then there's like there's so many different type of creators. >> Yes. >> So, like What's What is her name? She do the um science stuff. It's like a a Cleo. Yes. It's like >> For me, I wouldn't even think that would be something, but then you watch it and it's like, "Dang, this is really good." >> My own in my hometown, 10 minutes away is Nile Red, who sits there to makes 45-minute long videos turning cotton balls into cotton candy and gets like 20 million views or like and like that could only exist on YouTube. There's no one green-lighting that in a studio system. >> Oh, no one would green-light that in a [laughter] >> Conversely, like what I love to talk to people about what I do myself is like I will go to like Mr. Beast's channel or Marques's channel, sort by oldest, and watch like the first videos and see how long it took them to get 100 subscribers, 1,000 subscribers, to become successful. It wasn't like it was never overnight. It was it mostly years and years of like school before they could even make it into work. >> Yeah. And I think that comes from the consistency. And and I think that's what separates the top creators from the ones who are trying to get to the top. It's that consistency because what that consistency does is it allow you to learn and grow and get better. Like if you look at the first Mr. Beast video and then you look at his production now, it's like day and night. But then if you look at how consistent he was, you can literally see over time how his business starts to change, how his mannerisms start to change, how the edits start to change. And that only happened because he was getting feedback from his audience and he had content to get feedback from. >> Yeah. >> And so that is the biggest growth is like we're able to be consistent and learn from our mistakes and our failures and from the data and from the analytics. >> And he has terrific retention across videos, which I think creators are really dialed into like my retention for the video, but like your videos, too, his videos, if someone watched the last video, there's a high likelihood they'll love the next video. And even if you say like, well, he has unlimited budget, he ran a marathon in clown shoes, he read the phone book, he showed that he could do YouTube with zero. Same with Speed. Like before Speed was touring like Africa and the Caribbean, he was he was just at home sitting in front of a computer and built a tremendous audience. There was no like there was no barrier other than their ability to find an audience and build that audience. >> Yeah. >> Yeah, it's really fascinating. Where do you I know like no spoilers, we can't do spoilers on a show, Kim, but where do you where do you see this going like when you look across the next like year, few years of of creators and and especially like creators as the new studios? >> Well, um coming back to our theme of shows, um our product now has gotten so good. And you look at what a 4K thumbnail looks like on a living room screen next to a thumbnail from another streamer and there's no difference. >> Yeah. >> And I think that merging there is going to on the theme of the hockey stick just going to keep increasing that living room audience. Um and then, you know, the tools are getting better, our analytics are getting better. We're trying to work really hard to make it easier um to get get connect your insights >> Yeah. >> so that she can fast turn on ideas quicker. >> Ask studio. >> ask studio. That thing is so good. It's good. Wait till Wait till you can compare against two channels. >> Yeah. >> Oh. Just you wait. >> I was Okay, I know. Sorry. But because you said I literally was um typing in like I thought I was having like a bad May. I'm like, "Oh my gosh, May is horrible." So I said, "Hey, why is this May so worse than last year?" And it said, "Well, honestly, it's not. Um the difference is honestly you've increased like your AVD like by 50%. So you actually have a deeper connection with your I It went through this whole thing and then I was like, "Okay, well, what can I do to help increase the AVD but also like the the views and And it went through this I'm like, "This is crazy how good it is." It's an analytics partner. >> It is good. >> It's only going to get better. >> When is it coming to the phone? >> [laughter] >> That's a great question. >> Yeah, we'll ask the team. >> the team. Yeah, yeah. >> Okay, all right. Take a note. Take a note. We got a note. >> But it is like putting our analytics team into like you literally your pocket. Yeah. >> Yeah, because I suck at analytics. I really do. Like I remember when um I remember with Emmanuel, he'd tell me, "Did you know that, you know, 70% watch you on the in the living room?" They do? All right. You know, you know, like he would tell me these things and I'm like, "Oh, no. I had no clue. I had no idea." And now you have this tool that can literally say, "Hey, compare my last three thumbnails from my last three videos and tell me like rank them. What do like what was like you can it's just crazy. I was literally on it for like 2 hours just asking random questions and I called my husband and I was like, "Look at this. Our channel isn't our channel isn't dying. It's actually okay. Yeah, it was crazy but yeah. >> it's just like you publish fewer videos than you did at the time last year or like you did shorter videos or like you made more shorts but less Yeah, it's like and the other and there's and it's just really hard like I'm terrible at analytics. Some people download the CSV files and pivot table and all of this stuff. I So I just asked the other day like which which videos are growing >> fooled. I thought you were an analytics guru. >> not I'm I'm not good at like the the data I can figure out like the strategy. Channel strategy I've got but just sorting through numbers because averages are weird, statistics are weird. Like as your videos go more viral the the metrics go down not up. There's a like counterintuitive. But I'm just like which homepage videos are growing my cuz I didn't care about I just wanted to know homepage were growing my the channel the most and it's just like and I'm like I'm going to make more like these cuz I want to focus on on discovery traffic. >> That's a good question to ask it. >> Yeah. >> Ah, all right. I'm asking probably going to get in the group of creators and ask them, "Hey, give me some questions. Give me some Yes, what are your questions that you think that you would need to know or you figured out to to help grow your channel?" And then I'm going to ask it and then come up with a strategy from the like I I didn't know I I I know you guys talked about it at the summit but I thought it was like, "Okay, actually whatever." Like the thing where you create the um the video and it give you ideas, that wasn't good. Sorry. >> [laughter] >> And then this thing I'm like this thing is good. That was a good product. Okay, sorry. >> No, that because like it is hard to get every like one of the things is not everyone is into numbers and so we try to make like more visual representations, but then it's hard to make a and this is just going to do it. It's going to just unlock the way that you the way that you want to interact. >> going to really help the creators who sometimes when you first start creating you have no idea where to start, what's important, and you literally can't ask these questions and it can even from whether you're an expert, whatever level you are, you're able to get the answer back to help you on your journey. And I think that is really cool and I think every creator, if you're starting, you need to go to the desktop. It's a little it's like a little tab there and it's like it'll come up like a little star if you want to click it and then it opens this thing, you ask it a question and it's going to pop and then you can probably ask more questions, but yes. >> Love it. >> You just did a brand deal commercial right there. You didn't even know it and you did an app studio commercial for us. >> This is great and also we're going to have conversations in in studio so you'll be able to pick up where you left off and maybe start doing like multiple different things in in studio. It's going to be I think it's going to be really powerful for creators. >> Oh, yeah. >> I think the other thing that's really exciting for me is like also on your team you deal with them in the big and biggest gaming creators and we saw Mark Markiplier do a movie. Like I I I think that's going to that's that's coming now too cuz a lot of creators are looking at that and going I have an idea for a movie. >> Absolutely. Absolutely. Talk about one determined creator who literally crowdsourced his movie onto what did we end up you know 5,000 screens? I'll get the number wrong, but it was tremendous. Uh and with a budget of 3 million bucks and what he turned that into uh it is testament and again, it's raising the bar. It's showing everybody what's possible with grit, vision, creativity, uh and I think that is I think this will be a seminal like kind of a turning point. I think we'll talk about this moment with Markiplier as you know in the coming months and years of like that was a trigger point for a lot of other people. >> True. >> And he's only continuing to invest more and more. I mean, he's a force. >> Honestly, when I saw that, I was like, Reggie, >> [laughter] >> we can do this. >> feature film >> Yes, we can do this. This is why haven't why haven't we done that? And And I think it's just because you you don't know that you really can. And to see a creator do it and do it so well. >> Yeah. >> And And because he had you can tell he had a passion in in the project. You can you can see how hard he worked on it as well. And then he also built the fandom to to really be interested in what he was doing. That was Yeah, he's >> he spoke about. >> he's one of those pioneers. And I'm I guarantee you there going to be so many creators that are about to put the creator a feature and then they're going to self-distribute it into the movie theater. >> Well, and what I love is how many people told him it was not possible. And how he knew with his 38.4, I think, million subs that they're going to turn out for him. >> Yes. >> He needed to make a quality product, talk about it, bring and he brought his audience along with the journey. >> Yes. >> They were so invested in this project. They knew the game. And all the people on the periphery were like, >> Yeah. >> this is going to be a big zero. And then to see it shine and, you know, out everybody's expectations is just like, bam. It's awesome. >> said, too, is like YouTube for a long time we've talked about our formats, like you have shorts, you have long form, podcast, live streaming, like all these things you can do, image posts, all these things, but the way that you're translating that is I can make a micro drama, I can make a series, I can make a movie. >> Yes. >> And it it maps to like all these forms of entertainment that we've all known forever are now vibrant again in the digital world. >> Yeah, and accessible. >> Yeah. >> It's there's no gatekeeping to do it. It's literally I want to do this, I can do it, and I can put it on YouTube. And then I can have the proof when someone says something doesn't work. It works. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. Uh same question I asked him, what what is next for King Vader Deion? What is your vision for not like you don't again no spoilers, but what is your vision for the next little while? >> Ah, the next vision. I know last time it was building a studio, we have that. Um I think outside personally it would be definitely um I I want a a homestead and and I want a garden and I want to have like a a family compound. So that's personal. That's what I want to do. In the business, what I would really like to do like even with our studio that we have, I really want to go find talent and find creators and help them like for example in Alabama there's some really funny people. I mean they are hilarious. And what I see uh Josh like what he's done and and how much content he's put on on YouTube and he's hilarious as well. And I will want to like even with our theater that we're going to have do live shows and do you know late night TV and have just really expand into more media um driven content and then search for other people that should really be creators but just don't know how to do it. >> And I don't want to gang up with anybody in this room, but like maybe hiring and and building out the team and cuz people do say 10x is easier than 2x. Like once you once like you invest in that talent, it comes back to you. >> True. >> Yeah. >> True. True. That's true. I probably I need to build a team to handle them. Are they going to come to me like all the creators that I have now? They come to me for every Can he grow? My channel got demonetized. >> of you. There's only one of you. But there doesn't have to be. >> True. >> Like you can get to cherry pick the parts that you love the most and just hand off the other. Like you can go do that now. I'm fine. >> Yeah. Very much so. Yeah. So that would be next, too. >> Thank you both so much for your time. I really appreciate this. This is a terrific chat and I can't wait to talk to you again and see how many See how the homestead and the the massive studio empire has built out. >> wait either. I can't wait next time where I'm like, "Oh my gosh, I cannot believe I put out that movie. Did you see it?" We put out three. And did you see what they did? >> it right now. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I can't wait to I can't wait to see what happens. It took me 20 years to [laughter] make a sequel. I did that sequel the same year. Yeah. So, yeah. But thanks for having me. I really enjoy these conversations. >> for being here. Can I give you for everything you do for creators? It's so appreciated. >> Thank you. First time on Creator Insider? Who is that? >> on Vany. Yeah, no. Many, many. Thank you.