Future of YouTube...And Coffee?

Welcome to Created, the newsletter that’s more satisfying than a cup of Chamberlain Coffee. Here's what we got today:

• YouTube’s big bets for 2025
• Emma Chamberlain opens first coffee shop
• Outlier of the week

YouTube’s Big Bets for 2025...And What They Mean for Creators

YouTube's CEO just dropped their roadmap for 2025, and it’s clear they’re doubling down on four things: TV, AI, podcasts, and making creators the next Hollywood.

Let’s break it down:

YouTube Is Taking Over Your Living Room

People now watch over 1 billion hours of YouTube on TV daily, and that’s reshaping the platform:

• Second Screen Experience: You’ll soon be able to comment or buy products using your phone while watching YouTube on your TV.
• Watch With: A new feature that lets creators provide live commentary during sports, award shows, and big cultural moments.
• More TV Ads: YouTube is expanding QR codes and pop-up ads when you press pause to keep brands spending on the platform.

The Creator Economy Is Booming

• More than 50% of YT creators making $10,000+ had other income streams beyond YT AdSense and Premium.
• Shopping and memberships are exploding — channel memberships grew over 40% last year.
• New podcast tools to help with discoverability and monetization as YT becomes the #1 destination for podcasts.

AI Is Powering YouTube’s Next Evolution

• Auto Dubbing: More than 40% of watch time on dubbed videos comes from dubbed tracks. Now, YouTube will make auto-dubbing available to all Partner Program creators.
• AI-Generated Backgrounds & Music: Dream Screen and Dream Track are rolling out new features, including AI-generated instrumental soundtracks.
• AI-Driven Video Ideas: YouTube is testing AI tools to help creators brainstorm video concepts, titles, and thumbnails.

The takeaway is clear: YouTube is evolving. Fast.

Creators who understand these shifts early will have the biggest advantage...so start taking notes.

Emma Chamberlain Opens First Coffee Shop

Emma Chamberlain just opened her first Chamberlain Coffee café in LA's Westfield Century City Mall, marking a major shift from her online-only coffee empire.

Backstory

• 2019: Chamberlain Coffee starts as an online retailer.
• 2023: Emma introduces ready-to-go canned coffees and hits $20M in revenue.
• 2024: Products expand to 8,500+ retailers, including Target and Walmart.
• 2025: Emma opens her first brick-and-mortar café.

Why Go IRL?

Unlike other creator-led food ventures that leaned on ghost kitchens, Chamberlain Coffee is investing in a real storefront.

Why?

• Quality control: No relying on third-party kitchens.
• Brand experience: Customers get the full Chamberlain Coffee vibe.
• Long-term play: A physical location builds stronger brand loyalty.

When MrBeast launched Beast Burger, he scaled quickly but ended in a $100M lawsuit over quality issues, showing the risks of outsourcing.

The Creator Food Boom

• David Dobrik’s Doughbrik’s Pizza drew massive lines in LA.
• Danny Duncan bought the frozen yogurt chain 16 Handles.
• Sam the Cooking Guy has opened 7 restaurants in San Diego.

Our Take

Running a café isn’t like selling merch — it’s high-cost, high-maintenance, and hard to scale.

When I interviewed MrBeast, he told me about the incredible amount of time and money he spent on Feastables. His opinion was clear: "I think most people would benefit from just doing brand deals as opposed to starting their own business."

Even Dylan Lemay, who built his brand around ice cream (CATCH’N ice cream), had to shut down his shop after struggling with winter slumps, location issues, and overhead costs.

So, will Emma’s café be a long-term brand builder or a costly experiment? Time will tell.

?? Weekly Roundup: Thumbnails

Here's why we love these YT thumbnails. Hopefully they inspire your next one.

1. Simple envelope + 'open me.' text creates instant curiosity (ProjectMeliora)
2. Couch on the highway + police chase makes you question what’s going on (Drew Dirksen)
3. Massive frozen hand paired with ‘WHAT IS THIS?’ text creates mystery (BRIGHT SIDE)
4. Giant burger cooked in a fire pit is eye-catching (WILDERNESS COOKING)

?? Weekly Outlier

This video by mitxela has 1.2M views, which is 40.1 times higher than the channel’s average. Here's why it took off:

• Engineering as Art: A Real-Time Fluid Simulation…inside a pendant? This catches attention.
• A Journey of Obsession: It captures the relentless iteration and problem-solving behind perfecting a niche project.
• DIY at the Highest Level: It’s not just a cool gadget; it’s an exploration of microcontrollers, physics, and manufacturing.

Powered by YT Jobs

Job Board

• Morning Brew Inc. is looking for a partnership manager
• Jake Tran is looking for a channel strategist
• NorthStarBoys is looking for a channel manager and thumbnail designer

How Spotter Studio Helped Increase Kinigra Deon’s Revenue by 34%

With 4.77M subscribers, Kinigra Deon knows that great videos need great thumbnails. That’s why she started using Spotter Studio.

The results? She saw:

• 34% more revenue per video
• 34% more views per video
• 69% more subscriber growth per video

Using Spotter Studio’s Brainstorm tool, Kinigra just types in a thumbnail concept, and instantly, Spotter Studio generates dozens of concepts. It’s led to videos with 1.1M views and 486K views.

With Spotter Studio, creators like Kinigra can spend less time stressing over thumbnails and more time creating the content their audience loves.

Click here to find your next thumbnail with Spotter Studio.

?? See You Inside

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After all, nothing great is created alone. Talk soon,

Jon