Future of YouTube…And Coffee?

February 26, 2025

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

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

For the first time ever, TV has surpassed mobile as the primary way people watch YouTube in the U.S.

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

Forget traditional media. Creators are now building full-scale studios, launching billion-dollar brands, and rewriting the playbook for entertainment.

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

AI is shaping how videos are made, discovered, and consumed:

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 Background & 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?

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

Emma isn’t the first creator to open a food business:

Our Take

Some creators’ food businesses are passion projects. Others are cash grabs. Emma’s café? A high-risk move toward long-term brand building.

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.

Simple envelope + “open me.” text creates instant curiosity (ProjectMeliora)
Couch on the highway + police chase makes you question what’s going on (Drew Dirksen)
Massive frozen hand paired with “WHAT IS THIS?” text creates mystery (BRIGHT SIDE)
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.

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:

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.

💰 Job Board

🏆 The Created Referral Program

Know someone who’d also love this newsletter? Refer them and get gifts.

Refer 1 friend: you’ll get my Infinite Ideas book. It’s my 8 best tips to find viral ideas for your next upload.

Refer 5 friends: you’ll get my Top 50 Thumbnails book. It includes a detailed breakdown of why they work so you improve your packaging.

Trust me, these books are packed with more tips than most paid courses.

Copy this unique link and email, text, or post it: [RH_REFLINK GOES HERE]

👋 See You Inside

Join our Discord of 5,700 creators who help each other grow and give feedback on your ideas, videos, and thumbnails. Totally free.

Nothing great is created alone.

– Jon

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