“I think what makes [Challenge Accepted] special is that it’s a show that would have never ever got greenlit at any other studio,” Michelle Khare said after winning Show of the Year at the 2023 Streamy Awards, which garnered over 15 million views. “It’s a show that got made because the only barrier to entry was the upload button.”
Khare’s show, Challenge Accepted, may just be ushering in a new era of YouTube. In covering last year’s event, I wrote about how The Streamy Awards has been like a “crystal ball of culture; you see what the future of media looks like before the rest of the world does.” This year — and Khare’s win — further built on that theme.
Quite fittingly, this year’s host Matthew “MatPat” Patrick opened with a crash course of the YouTube’s past eras, including the original viral video era to the rise of “OG YouTubers” like Jenna Marbles to vloggers like Casey Neistat taking over in the 2010’s and so forth.
As MatPat concluded, we should keep our eyes on the “adulting era of YouTube, where creators suddenly became business people and their channels became large corporations…OG’s are retiring, AI is on the horizon, and Shorts and TikTok have fundamentally changed what it means to create content.”
With Challenge Accepted taking home one of the top Streamy Awards this year — it’s clear YouTube’s pendulum is swinging yet again into another era. From spectacles to storytelling, from short-form to long-form, and from solo-creators to teams building out studios and production companies.
After all, Khare’s episodes of Challenge Accepted often feel like a mini-documentary. From training in a U.S. Marine boot camp to running a marathon in Death Valley, the videos often span over 25 minutes and take months to produce. Khare and her partner Garrett Kennell told me on the red carpet that “the majority of the episodes we were nominated for took over a year to produce, film, and edit.”
When describing the biggest opportunities on YouTube today, Khare said, “there’s a craving and attention for leaning back and enjoying long form videos.” Kennell agreed, adding the viewer’s desire for “less spectacle and more depth with the audience… We pick ideas based off of Michelle’s fear or insecurities. That’s the best way to get a very organic and authentic vibe and ultimately has the best arc.”
In building her own modern studio, it was fitting that Khare took a moment to celebrate her team on stage after winning the Streamy Award, naming each person one-by-one. While on the red carpet, I spoke with many other creators who had a similar mindset as Khare and Kennell’s when it came to building teams to tell better stories.
This included Ryan Trahan, who won the Streamy for First Person Creator of the Year. He went out of his way to share his spotlight with teammates editor Zach Levet and creative director Preston Avery White. Reflecting on their journey, Trahan said, “They were contestants in one of my videos, and off camera, I just became best friends with them. Eventually, I asked them if they’d want to make videos with me, and they said yes and that was the best decision of my life. I’m super grateful.”
White added, “I’ve never clicked so much with any two people ever in my life. It’s like we have one hive mind and it’s easy to do what we do.” That has clearly translated to their most recent “Penny Series” videos, which have now exceeded 48.2 million views.
The 13th annual Streamy Awards aired live on MatPat’s YouTube channel The Game Theorists. With a cumulative 15 million cross-platform views, the 2023 Streamy Awards exceeded the previous years’ record of 9.7 million views. It more than doubled the average viewership of the 2020-2022 shows (6.4 million views) — making it the most viewed Streamy Awards to date.
I spoke with Drew Baldwin, who co-founded The Streamy Awards and TubeFilter along with Josh Cohen. Baldwin shared his insights on the show’s evolution, stating: “The first time we did the Streamy Awards together we were not at the same company. We produced it together and we were like, we gotta join forces. That was 13 shows ago. It’s been a decade and a half of working together and now we have our mojo,” said Baldwin.
Cohen also reflected on the evening on his podcast Creator Upload, sharing that, “The whole reason we started this was to shine a bigger spotlight on the industry and the individuals creating content in it. I think over time we’ve gotten incrementally better and better at that.”
Baldwin also commended their partnership with Dick Clark Productions, which also produces the Billboard Music Awards and Golden Globe Awards, for taking the event to new heights. This includes talent and partnerships lead Jeremy Lowe who helped orchestrate many creator collaborations before and during the show that made it feel all the more native to its digital roots.
Beyond a bigger venue for the show, another noticeable change in this year’s event was both the marketing and distribution. The Streamy Awards YouTube channel shared unique content in the form of Shorts that took the “POV” perspective of the Streamy trophy right after the winners left the stage. Additionally, the record-breaking 15 million views in the first 48 hours thanks to distributing it on YouTube (both on MatPat and The Streamy’s channels), TikTok, Twitter, and other social platforms versus a single distribution point as it’s been in the past.
As host, MatPat, Stephanie Patrick, and their team at Theorist Media brought about their unique brand of humor, insight, and professionalism. Catching up on the red carpet, he shared insights into his preparation process and why this year’s Streamy Awards is something new. He specifically emphasized the collaborative nature between his team and the Dick Clark team, which led to a show that wasn’t just engaging but also interactive, fostering a sense of camaraderie with the audience. A group of creators played last to leave the circle for a Streamy Award, and online viewers voted to eject a creator from the ceremony. As MatPat put it, “It is a much more participatory show than in years passed.”
The AMP crew, a collective of six dynamic creators, including Kai Cenat, Agent 00, Fanum, Duke Dennis, Davis Dodds, and Chrisnxtdoor, emerged as one of the Streamy’s most celebrated groups with three awards with Cenat’s winning Streamer of the Year two years in a row.
Most notably, Cenat live-streamed for 30 days straight this year, cementing his prominence as the top streamer once again. Speaking with Cenat on the red carpet, I asked him about the prep-work that goes into a month-long stream.
“My team. Everyone who’s behind the scenes, we brainstormed for a couple of months and executed the job,” Cenat said. I asked him what some of his proudest moments were during the stream, and he shared, “Definitely breaking the record for Twitch most subs, but just everything we did. The whole experience was amazing.”
On the red carpet, I also had the opportunity to speak with Gamer of the Year winner Dream. He offered sage advice for aspiring creators hoping to make it to The Streamy Awards one day, stating, “You have to stand out. You have to be unique. There are a million other people trying to do what you want to do.” Those are words he’s taken to heart as he’s now pioneering his a new path as musician, recently releasing his album, “to whoever wants to hear”, which includes his new single Everest featuring Yung Gravy.
Lastly, this year’s Streamy Awards included a performance from Armani White and concluded with pop duo Icona Pop turning the entire room into a dance party with their hit songs ‘I Love It’ and ‘Fall In Love’. As MatPat said, it was a night to celebrate the past, present, and future. That’s exactly what happened.
If you haven’t already, watch the full 2023 Streamy Awards here and tune in for more content on The Streamy Awards official YouTube channel.
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