Good afternoon, and welcome to the eighth issue of Creator Games.
I’m Salil, co-founder of Third Studios, I lead everything creator economy at THIRD, and I’ll be writing and editing this newsletter every week.
Creator Games exists to discover, fund and tell the stories of the next generation of creator entrepreneurs. This newsletter is where we share the ideas, companies and opportunities driving that mission across Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
If you’ve got any stories to share or any feedback, feel free to email me at salil@third.group.
— Salil
Today’s lineup:
Samay Raina’s $0.60 memberships are turning Latent into a fan-funded OTT
One 56-second ad unravelled Good Good, the $45M-backed golf creator group
A Korean YouTube show made kimchi on camera and sold out three pre-order rounds
Samay Raina’s $0.60 memberships are turning Latent into a fan-funded OTT
Season 2 of India’s Got Latent streams on Netflix and free on YouTube at the same time.
The extras don’t. Four bonus episodes, the latest with Ayushmann Khurrana, now sit behind a button on Samay Raina’s own channel and that’s telling you a unique feature that’s playing out in creator economy.
The Business Case →
On 27 September, Samay dropped the fourth members-only bonus episode of Latent Season 2, India TV reported.
Ayushmann Khurrana joins Suhani Shah, Kullu and Rajat Sood on the panel. 34 minutes. Members only.
The main show works differently. Season 2 premiered on 20 June 2026 as a simulcast on Netflix and YouTube, with a new episode every two weeks, according to The Hindu.
Samay’s promise was “same to same”. Netflix viewers just don’t get ads or a comment section.
The paid layer sits on YouTube. Bonus episodes and BTS specials need a channel membership, and the entry tier is $0.60 a month, per Business Upturn. Two higher tiers cost $6.20 and $21.
Members also get a members-only live chat, a Discord channel and unlisted streams.
Put together, it works like a small OTT. Free episodes for reach. Netflix for distribution. A tier for the fans who want more.
It’s also a comeback. Season 1 got caught in controversy in February 2025, when a remark by Ranveer Allahbadia led to multiple FIRs.
Neither Samay nor YouTube has shared how many people have signed up.
One 56-second ad unravelled Good Good, the $45M-backed golf creator group
Good Good started as a group of friends playing golf on YouTube. Then, in about two weeks, one ad cost them Callaway, its shelf space at Dick’s and its CEO.
The Business Case →
Good Good partnered with Callaway, one of golf’s best-known equipment makers, in 2023.
In March 2025 it raised $45M in its first outside round, led by Creator Sports Capital with Peyton Manning’s Omaha Productions among the investors, per Variety.
On 21 August 2026, Good Good posted “The Driver”, a 56-second ad for its co-branded Callaway driver.
Co-founder Garrett Clark tackles fellow creator Alexis Miestowski and says, “Do not touch my new driver.” It was meant to riff on the horror film “Obsession”.
Many viewers saw it as making light of violence against women. It came down the next day.
Then the dominoes fell, as Business Insider lays out:
Callaway ended the partnership, said its review process had been inadequate and donated $1M to groups fighting violence against women
Dick’s Sporting Goods pulled Good Good products, as did Target and PGA Tour Superstore, per GOLF.com
Good Good pulled out as title sponsor of a PGA Tour event, and Golf Channel scrapped its “Big Break” season
CEO Matt Kendrick attacked Callaway in a string of early-morning posts on X, then stepped down on 2 September, along with new president Joe Flannery
The company is still running. Co-founder and early investor Nahid Giga is interim CEO, and Good Good says retail sales and followings have grown since. It didn’t share numbers.
A Korean YouTube show made kimchi on camera and sold out three pre-order rounds
Five creators. One kimchi master. A show that filmed every step of making a product, then sold it.
Pajimchi Gang’s first three episodes pulled 2M views, and the pre-orders sold out three times before the live sale even started.
The Business Case →
Pajimchi Gang is a YouTube variety show produced by CJ ENM’s entertainment division, starring Kim Pung, Chimchakman, Ppanibottle, Gwak Tube and Kid Milli.
CJ OnStyle, the shopping platform run by CJ ENM’s commerce division, turned the show’s kimchi project into a real product, The Herald Business reported.
The members built the recipe with Park Mi-hee, a certified kimchi master and head of Domisol Food.
On camera, they tried curry powder, mala sauce, Buldak sauce and truffle oil before picking a two-year-aged horse mackerel jeotgal.
Horse mackerel is “jeongaengi” in Korean, a nod to the “gang” in the show’s name, per The Power News.
The numbers:
2M cumulative views across the first three episodes, with views roughly doubling from episode 2, when the product work was shown in full
Pre-orders opened on 8 September. Round one sold out, then rounds two and three
A Family Package of 2kg green onion kimchi and 4kg whole-cabbage kimchi, priced at ~$44)
The live sale on 18 September ran on CJ OnStyle TV, YouTube and TVING at once, with the whole cast on air.
All 5,000 sets sold out 13 minutes before the scheduled end.
Add 600 pre-order sets and that’s 5,600 in total. About 42% of buyers were new to CJ OnStyle.
🗞 Creator Gossip
MrBeast appears to be moving into wearables, with a “Beast Band” trademark filing suggesting creator brands are expanding beyond consumable products into hardware and fitness.
TED is launching a new podcast with Answer in Progress, showing how creator-led formats are increasingly crossing into established media brands.
YouTube is going big on micro dramas, expanding short-form scripted series beyond phones and into TVs, signalling a bigger push to make vertical-native storytelling a mainstream entertainment format.
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