Today the full-service creator company Jellysmack announced the expansion of its fast-growing global Creator Program with a new venture that offers upfront capital to qualified creators in exchange for licensing videos in the creator’s YouTube library.
Jellysmack’s unmatched deep data and AI capabilities enable the company to predict potential earnings of any given creator’s YouTube video catalog and offer lump sum payments ranging from $US50,000 to $US50,000,000 or more to qualifying creators. This catalog licensing venture brings the Jellysmack Creator Program’s total plan for creator investments to $US750M.
Jellysmack’s new catalog licensing model gives creators an upfront cash infusion to take the next steps for business growth without giving up any equity in their intellectual property, brand, or new ventures. While many creators are expected to use the funds for common needs like scaling content creation, hiring additional team members, launching new business ventures, or securing studio space, creators can use the capital for anything they choose.
Additionally, the company does not participate financially in any newly uploaded YouTube video content.
This non-dilutive design allows creators to remain fully independent and at the helm of their burgeoning enterprises.
The catalog licensing venture establishes yet another pathway for Jellysmack to support creators as business owners. Creators can either opt for a deal to receive immediate capital in exchange for licensing some of their YouTube catalog, take part in the Creator Program for multi-platform monetisation over time, or participate in both.
“Whether a creator is looking for upfront capital to invest in production or to focus on longterm multi-platform growth, we’re ready to back creators with over $US750 million committed to catalog licensing,” Jellysmack APAC general manager, Laurent Hulin, said. “Between the Jellysmack Creator Program and the introduction of Catalog Licensing, Jellysmack is committed to empowering creators as solopreneurs. It’s all part of our creator-driven mission to empower creators behind-the-scenes to go bigger.”
A large-scale social video creator in its own right, Jellysmack got its start by building and scaling dozens of its own video channels like Beauty Studio, Oh My Goal, and Gamology into the world’s leading social communities. This first-hand knowledge plus the company’s unmatched technology, puts Jellysmack in a unique position to support individual creators not just financially, but also strategically.
Jellysmack ANZ & SEA country manager, Ezechiel Ritchie, explains that Jellysmack’s history
sets it apart. “Jellysmack is creator at heart. We have grown some of the largest communities on social media. Unlike pure financial partners, we think like creators and understand how to support creators’ big dreams. Our Catalog Licensing offer enables creators to access the value of their back-catalog today, instead of waiting the collect the revenue over the next three to five years,” he said.
Jellysmack’s internal data teams include over 200 experts with hundreds of additional tech and data hires planned for this year. The company’s advanced AI technology gives it a unique edge in valuing the future performance of legacy content. Jellysmack’s predictive analytics and custom algorithms for social media video performance will be central in selecting creators and generating aggressive offers.
“By receiving the revenue upfront for their old videos, creators no longer have to wait years for YouTube to pay out back catalog earnings and can invest that revenue to grow their business. It’s not a loan and their past content can fund their future success,” Ritchie said.
Jellysmack has been making a name for itself over the past few years with the skyrocketing performance of the Jellysmack Creator Program. The Creator Program leverages the company’s proprietary AI technology and first-party data to help individual video creators grow their audiences across multiple social platforms. In 2021, the Creator Program grew by 300%, going from 100 creators to over 400 by year’s end.
It currently counts over 500 of the world’s most influential creators as partners, including megastars MrBeast, PewDiePie, and Nas Daily, plus many of Australia’s top video creators including How Ridiculous, JoshDub, HowToBasic, Self Sufficient Me, Tannar, Vincenzo’s Plate, Cupcake Savvy Kitchen, and SAMMIT.
The company’s cutting-edge tech stack recently attracted a nine-figure Series C investment from world-renowned technology fund SoftBank Vision Fund II which catapulted it to a unicorn status valuation.
