News

It’s been almost six months since months since Creators HQ, Dubai’s $40.8 million initiative to get 10,000 more content creators living and working in the city, opened a digital industry makerspace in the Emirates Towers.

Announced at the third annual 1 Billion Followers Summit, the makerspace promised creator members a range of perks, including over 300 creative and biz dev workshops each year. Among its first 100 members were Dhar Mann (25 million subscribers on YouTube), Yes Theory (9.5M), The Anazala Family (10M), Supercar Blondie (21.5M), Germán Garmendia (1.7M), and Surthany Hejeij.

So, what have they and other members gotten to experience since Creators HQ’s launch?

Well, to kick things off, it hosted onboarding sessions like an open house that gave creator members “an opportunity to meet the minds behind the initiative. The open house also gave creators more details about Creators HQ’s promise to help them get on the fast track for acquiring Golden Visas,...

The United Arab Emirates’ $40.8 million initiative to get 10,000 content creators (and other creative professionals) living and working in Dubai is kick-starting with Creators HQ, a makerspace in the Emirates Towers that offers community, technical, legal, and production support for creators willing to relocate to the city.

One hundred of those creative professionals have already been accepted to Creators HQ as Founding Members. While all Creators HQ members get perks like help securing a Golden Visa, relocation support, and access to 300+ biz dev events per year, Founding Members get additional exclusive pluses, like 24/7 concierge services, a guaranteed speaking slot at the annual 1 Billion Followers Summit, and priority access to participate in the Dubai government’s influencer marketing campaigns.

Some of the creators accepted as Founding Members are Dhar Mann (25 million subscribers on YouTube), Yes Theory (9.5M), The Anazala Family (10M), Supercar Blondie (21.5M), Germán Garmendia (1.7M), and Surthany Hejeij.

For these pros,...

Ibai Llanos has rewritten the Twitch record books once again. The Spanish streamer drew more than 3.4 million concurrent viewers for La Velada Del Año III, the latest in a series of influencer boxing events.

The third edition of La Velada Del Año (which translates to “The Night of the Year”) took place at Madrid’s Civitas Metropolitano stadium, where 70,000 fans showed up to watch a series of fights and musical performances.

Ibai’s seven-hour stream of the event included appearances from top Hispanic creators and artists. YouTuber Fernanfloo won a close contest against gamer Luzu, Mexican streamer Samy “Rivers” Rivera participated in two matches, and Puerto Rican megastar Ozuna delivered a headlining musical performance. The main card proved to be a bit anticlimactic, as Chilean YouTube legend Germán Garmendia lasted less than two rounds against the big punches of his Argentinian opponent Coscu.

The event was not without its hiccups.

The 'Love Army' squad -- a faction of digital creators formed by Jerome Jarre last spring that ultimately raised a staggering $2.7 million to help fight a famine in Somalia -- is back in action following an earthquake that rocked Central Mexico last week.

Jarre and Juanpa Zurita, German Garmendia, the actor Ben Stiller, and others are looking to kickstart recovery efforts following the harrowing event, which has killed hundreds of people and left untold infrastructural damage in its wake. “This earthquake tried to push Mexico down, but instead, Mexico is rising,” Zurita writes on a just-launched GoFundMe campaign page dubbed #LoveArmyMexico. The campaign, which he created, has already raised roughly $190,000 of a $500,000 goal in just one day.

Visit Tubefilter for more great stories.

Forbes released its list of the highest-paid YouTube stars on Monday, with the top ten earning a total of $70.5 million over 12 months. PewDiePie, $15 million Roman Atwood, $8 million Lilly Singh, $7.5 million Smosh, $7 million Rosanna Pansino, $6 million Tyler Oakley, $6 million Markiplier, $5.5 million German Garmendia, $5.5 million Rhett and Link, $5 million Colleen Ballinger, $5 million   PewDiePie, $15 million Roman Atwood, $8 million Lilly Singh, $7.5 million Smosh, $7 million Rosanna Pansino, $6 million Tyler Oakley, $6 million Markiplier, $5.5 million German Garmendia, $5.5 million Rhett and Link, $5 million Colleen Ballinger, $5 million PewDiePie, $15 million Roman Atwood, $8 million Lilly Singh, $7.5 million Smosh, $7 million Rosanna Pansino, $6 million Tyler Oakley, $6 million Markiplier, $5.5 million German Garmendia,...

Felix Kjellberg’s Bro Army just keeps on growing. PewDiePie - the Swedish-born, United Kingdom-residing Let’s Play gamer’s home on YouTube - recently crossed another impressive million-subscriber marker.

On November 1, 2016, the channel hit 49 million subscribers. The event occurred just 44 days after PewDiePie passed the 48 million subscriber mark. That means that Kjellberg added new members to his Bro Army at a rate of about 22,727 new subscribers per day, 947 new subscribers per hour, 16 new subscribers per minute, and about one new subscriber every 3.8 seconds. It’s an impressive clip, though (as we’ve mentioned before) that subscriber acquisition rate is significantly down from when the world reached Peak PewDiePie back in March 2014. That's when Kjellberg’s channel was tacking on a new sub every 1.2 seconds for about 72,428 new subs per day.

PewDiePie claimed the Most Subscribed YouTube Channel of All-Time title from Smosh back in August 2013 and there’s no...