Now creators have their own upfronts, too

This upfronts season, some of YouTube’s biggest creators are baring their souls for advertising dollars—their content souls, that is.

Last week, the media investment company Spotter held its inaugural Spotter Showcase, an upfronts-style event that spotlighted creators like MrBeast, Dude Perfect, Ryan Trahan, Rebecca Zamolo, Jordan Matter, Kinigra Deon, and others. During the presentation, creators unveiled upcoming content plans and potential partnership opportunities with the hope of enticing advertisers and CMOs “from blue-chip companies” in attendance, according to Spotter President Nic Paul.

The event marked the first time Spotter has hosted an external event with creator partners; earlier efforts from the company have focused on supporting creators internally with production, licensing, and other costs associated with content creation, Paul said.

“As we’ve evolved, monetization has been something we are helping creators with because of the attention that they garner,” Paul told us. “But also, creators are very much the networks of today, producing the hit TV shows of today. They are studio execs.”

Movie snack

Challenge-oriented creator Ryan Trahan kicked off the evening’s presentations, and after shouting out his rescue dog and his wife, two things he loves, Trahan pivoted to his love of candy—a segue into announcing that his “better for you” candy brand, Joyride, would be expanding from Target shelves to Whole Foods, Sprouts, and Kroger.

“I feel like this is just such a great example of what can happen whenever you give the creators an opportunity to tell their audience a mission that they believe in,” Trahan said onstage.

Beyond candy expansion, Trahan also highlighted some numbers that his channel has been able to accomplish thus far. Most known for his “penny challenge” series, where he attempts to survive 30 days on the road with only a penny, Trahan said his adventurous ideas in 2022 generated over 300 million views and raised more than $1.4 million for Feeding America, while 2023’s version raised $400,000 in seven days for water.org.

Next up was scripted content creator Kinigra Deon, who ran the crowd through her signature video style and production process—which includes releasing three scripted episodes a week on YouTube—before revealing her next big collab: her first feature-length film, made in partnership with Spotter and Kevin Hart’s Hartbeat Productions, which Deon said will “further engage” her fans while building “an even bigger brand.”

Deon said her flagship YouTube channel provides potential brand partners access to her audience, which she said is predominantly Gen Z and millennial women, and a short, two-week production schedule that allows Deon and her team to quickly incorporate real-time cultural and branded stories.

“This means brands don’t just sponsor content. They become a part of our story,” Deon said.

Missing in action

Representatives from Dude Perfect and MrBeast also presented, although those creators did not attend due to production schedules.

Dude Perfect’s five members were filming with Caitlin Clark as part of a series called Dude Perfect vs, one of the creators’ many upcoming expansions after a recent $100 million investment from private investment firm Highmount Capital.

MrBeast, meanwhile, was tied up filming with a real bear, so Head of Brand Partnerships Melissa Drucker announced the relaunch of MrBeast’s gaming channel alongside various new content offerings, including adventure and competition series, celebrity collaborations, athlete and sports collaborations, and a behind-the-scenes series.

Several other creators were featured between presentations, including new plans from The Try Guys, Sam and Colby, Pierson, Drew Binsky, Airrack, The Royalty Family, and Michelle Khare.

Family matters

Family-focused creators Jordan Matter and Rebecca Zamolo also made their pitches, with Matter going off-teleprompter during his presentation and introducing the crowd to his daughter, Salish Matter.

After saying that the best way to measure who is most famous to Gen Z audiences is to see how someone stacks up on famousbirthdays.com (where his daughter holds the No. 1 spot), Matter revealed that Salish’s 16th birthday will be a key addition to their channel’s birthday surprise series.

“There’s a lot of integrations you can do with a 16th birthday,” Matter said. “By the way, anybody representing any automobile manufacturers here?”

Zamolo introduced the crowd to her network of seven channels that range from product reviews to family vlogging to challenges. Zamolo’s next initiative, ZamFam Back-To-School Survival Guide, will incorporate the new-school-year-feel across all her channels from July through September.

“The best part of this is, if you are a brand, you don’t have to choose between the high-energy production video or an authentic vlog or a viral challenge,” Zamolo said. “With us, you can have it all.”