The YouTuber With $7M in Ticket Pre-Sales for His Movie. How He Did ItMarkiplier on getting theaters on board for his indie ‘Iron Lung.’ Plus: Dhar Mann Studios’ CEO on the company’s microdrama deal with Fox
This is a preview of Like & Subscribe, my standalone Ankler Media newsletter on the creator economy. I scooped Substack’s new TV app, interviewed Wheelhouse CEO Brent Montgomery about his investment in microdramas, wrote about TikTok’s and BuzzFeed’s moves in vertical video and explored how Snapchat is minting new stars. Email me at natalie@theankler.com
Creators are finding their way onto every screen, and this week I talk to a hot new indie filmmaker: top YouTuber Markiplier, who’s conjured a unique recipe for box office success to the tune of $7 million in ticket pre-sales for his feature, Iron Lung. Plus, I’ve got an update on creators owning the microdrama story, including the one stat that convinced Dhar Mann Studios CEO Sean Atkins to get into the vertical video business with Fox Entertainment. But before I dive into those stories, I’ve got a great offer for you and a look at TikTok’s rocky first few days as an American-owned app. The offer: In honor of the one-year anniversary of Like & Subscribe and to thank everyone who has supported my work as a free subscriber there, I’m giving you 30% off an annual subscription. It’s my first-ever sale, and it won’t happen often, so if you’d like full access to my weekly columns — all the juicy intel behind the paywall — plus my monthly Substack Live conversations with movers and shakers in the creator economy and early access to special events like my live L.A. panel with Jordan Chiles and Noah Beck last fall, now’s the time to sign up!
Now, on to TikTok: Last Thursday, Bytedance announced it had finalized its deal with a group of non-Chinese investors — including Oracle, investment firms Silver Lake and MGX, and such individuals as Michael Dell — to create a new U.S. TikTok app. Adam Presser, a veteran of Warner Bros. who most recently led operations and trust and safety at TikTok, was named the new company’s CEO. It was the long-awaited resolution to a nearly six-year battle to keep TikTok operational in the U.S. But by this weekend, as videos circulated on other social media sites that showed federal agents shooting ICU nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, users began to report that TikTok was censoring videos that criticized ICE. Some creators also complained that the platform’s payment tools appeared to have been shut down. TikTok responded on Monday with a post on X, of all platforms, indicating that a power outage at a U.S. data center had disrupted its services. It followed up again a few hours later, explaining that while the network had been recovered, “the outage caused a cascading systems failure” that could mean continued slow load times or time-out requests, including when posting new content; view counters that show 0 views on a video; and the disappearance of earnings. As of Tuesday morning, the company said it had made “significant progress” in fixing the problems but that technical issues might persist. As TikTok’s ownership saga has played out over the past year, creators have largely continued to use the app like normal. But this weekend was a stark reminder that small changes on these social media platforms can have a real impact on the content people see and creators’ ability to earn a livelihood, eroding trust over time. Market research firm Sensor Tower reports that the daily average of U.S. users deleting the TikTok app has surged 150 percent in the past five days. I’ll continue to report on how the change in ownership impacts creators who’ve built audiences (and businesses) there. Get your annual subscription to Like & Subscribe for 30% off and dive into the rest of today’s newsletter, where I’ll break down for you:
The rest of this column is for paid subscribers to Like & Subscribe, a standalone newsletter dedicated to the creator economy from Ankler Media. Interested in a group sub for your team or company? Click here.
Got a tip or story pitch? Email tips@theankler.com ICYMI from The AnklerThe Wakeup Sundance deals come alive; Amazon TV shakeup The People, the Parties: Inside the Last Sundance in Park City Who Richard Rushfield saw, what he did and what mattered to everyone this year Heated Rivalry Casting Directors On Finding Connor Storrie & Hudson Williams: ‘Lightning in a Bottle’ Jenny Lewis and Sara Kay tell Elaine Low the backstory of the stars’ self-tapes and chemistry test Sundance Day 3: A Gen Z Congressman and a ‘Totally F*cked Up’ Racist Two years after Richard interviewed Rep. Maxwell Frost at Sundance, Frost is attacked. Plus: indie films’ signs of life Sundance Day 2: Charli XCX, It Girl How The Moment met the moment, writes Richard, like it or not Sundance Day 1: Indie Film Organizes to Stop the Merger Era Plus: Richard’s first screenings — including a new movie with Chris Pine and Jenny Slate — were a reminder of what makes the fest so special TV in 3: Netflix Licensing Spree, Decoded; WBD Cable Strategy The dominant streamer is bulking up its library with some unexpected shows, writes Lesley Goldberg. But why? Judgment Day for Indie Film Starts Today at Sundance Plus: Richard’s conversation with the fest’s Eugene Hernandez Netflix, Warner Bros. and the Global Fallout Begins U.S. upheaval is ripping through Europe, writes Manori Ravindran SCOOP: Substack Is Launching a TV App CEO Chris Best tells Like & Subscribe’s Natalie Jarvey about the new platform’s bid to grab some of YouTube’s living-room audience Oscar’s 11th Hour Showdowns, Decoded Several categories remain wide open, writes Katey Rich — and contenders will have to fight tooth and nail Oscar Morning Shockers, Snubs & Screams No trophy yet, but there were 10 big winners of the day, writes Katey Inside Hollywood’s Book Wars: How a Top Universal Exec Decides What to Buy IP guru Jordan Moblo tells Lesley about the Heated Rivalry moment shaking up studios Super Bowl Ads: A New Ruthless Game for Stars and Their Agents Not just any A-lister will do, as reps from CAA, WME, UTA and NBCU’s Peter Lazarus reveal this year’s rules of negotiation to Ashley Cullins 🎬 Amazon MGM’s First Swing of ’26: Hit, Miss or TBD? Plus: Hamnet plays this year’s Anora at the box office 🎧 What Heated Rivalry Reveals About Minting Stars 🎧 Oscar’s Instagram Wars; Sundance’s Last Magical Hurrah More from Ankler Media
New from Natalie Jarvey’s creator economy newsletter: Brent Montgomery: Hollywood ‘Needs a Win.’ Microdramas Are the Answer TikTok, BuzzFeed Jump Into the Microdrama Race
Andy Lewis’ latest IP picks: A Wild, Real-Life Spy Thriller & a Rollicking Slackers-in-Space Sci-Fi Adventure
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