Media giants are now fully aware that the future is in OTT platforms. But how do these burgeoning platforms differentiate themselves from the pack? How can platforms strategize to become the go-to hub for streaming content?

Caroline Giegerich has led strategy and activation in management roles at HBO and Showtime, and has consulted for Netflix and Paramount. Today she helps us break down the fascinating and complex politics at play in this competitive landscape.

Becoming a prominent YouTuber requires a lot more than creative video ideas - you have to know how to build a personal brand. Longevity on a platform as fickle as YouTube means taking on a CEO-mindset.

Leslie Morgan has built a name for herself in helping creatives build and scale their brands, decide who do you hire and why, as well as how to scale so creatives can focus on continuing to diversify their businesses. Leslie has worked with Michelle Phan, Chad Wild Clay, John and Hank Green, and so many more.

Snapchat has reported 11 million new users in Q3 of 2020, bringing their daily active users to 249 million. In addition, Gen Z ranks Snapchat as their favorite app. This is because Snapchat has bet heavily on in-app offerings that cater to the sensibilities of this generation: augmented reality, engaging “Discover” content, and in-app "minis". We’re a far cry from the stories of Snap’s stock plummeting because Instagram stole “stories”; the platform has adapted and won the hearts of teens in 2020. In this episode, we explore how Snapchat has dominated Gen Z.

Eyeballs are shifting away from television and shifting towards Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok. How do the traditional “Hollywood” celebrities build a presence on these digital platforms? Gwen Miller is the VP of content at “Kin Community”, a digital entertainment company that specializes in women’s lifestyle content. They work with celebrities like Tia Mowry, Derek Hough, Jordin Sparks, and many more on creating content for digital. We discuss the “TV-to-YouTube” transition for Hollywood celebs, the importance to understanding data, and the ever-evolving nature of the digital space.

Follow Gwen on Twitter: https://twitter.com/gwenim?lang=en

Brands are desperate to understand YouTube: the community, the platform’s algorithm, converting viewers to customers. What’s the secret? Dane Golden has been helping companies approach this space for the past 10 years with strategies ranging from top-of-funnel awareness to discoverability and amplification of assets. Companies NEED to understand this platform, and Dane Golden is their guy. We discuss the efforts by brands to make a presence on YouTube, the importance to viewer retention, “gaming the algorithm”, and so much more. 

Sarah Hashkes is the CEO of "Radix Motion" which is currently developing "Meu", a social media platform based around communicating through full body movement. Using her background in cognitive neuroscience research and martial arts, Sarah has previously consulted for Facebook, Debias VR, and Mindglow on mixed reality strategy.

We discuss her new social platform "Meu", as well as the future of social media in the wake of Netflix's "The Social Dilemma".

Here are links to Sarah's new social platform, "Meu":

https://wefunder.com/radix.motion

http://radixmotion.com/

It's so much more than a T-shirt: creator merchandise acts as tangible evidence of the bond between a fan and their favorite influencer. Merch has become one of, if not the, most profitable revenue streams for content creators, especially in the wake of the "Adpocalypse". Companies like "Fanjoy" and "Teespring" are properly monetizing off of this connection, paving the way for clothing brands to focus on influencer apparel. What does the incredibly lucrative nature to influencer merch say about the overall power of the "Creator-Fan" relationship? All of this and more is explored in this episode of "TubeCircuit".

2020 is shaping up to be the year of a heightened focus on the cloud-based model for the gaming industry. But with Amazon's recent announcement of their "Luna Cloud Gaming Service", it's apparent that the future of this gaming model incorporates the live-streaming phenomenon (Twitch/YouTube Gaming). How will a "Netflix-Meets-Gaming" experience being delivered by every major player in this industry impact digital media as a whole? Why did it take so long for the gaming industry to take a streaming approach? Is now the right time? All of this and more is explored on this episode of TubeCircuit.

A mere 6 months after launch, short-form video app "Quibi" is looking for a buyer. How did we get here? Wasn't an "Instagram-meets-Netflix" experience perfect for the average millennial? Why and how did the app fall so dramatically short of expectations when they had $2B in initial funding? In this episode we look at the full timeline of Quibi's life cycle thus far, analyzing where things went wrong.

Charli D'amelio gets her own drink at Dunkin', Travis Scott gets his own meal at McDonalds. Partnerships between influencers and brands in 2020 are far beyond an ad-read; they're creative collaborations. The honest relationships between influencers and their fans allow for a brand's message to be communicated and trusted by a Gen Z audience.