FreshCut’s short-form gaming videos hit 2M visitors in 5 months

FreshCut has hit two million visitors in five months for its short-form video platform that specializes in gaming content and communities. By the end of Q2, the platform reached 910,000 monthly active users (MAUs)

It has also drawn 130,000 content creators to the platform. The company said this growth highlights the platform’s straightforward yet effective value proposition of providing a unified space for short-form content catering to the next generation of gaming enthusiasts, creators, and communities.

Creator-First

FreshCut wants to disrupt the $100 billion social media ad market on behalf of gaming content creators. To date, the platform has invested over $1 million in creators through its FreshCut Community Fund. The aim is to establish a fair and sustainable business model that shares advertising revenues with creators, a practice that most social media platforms do not currently implement.

“One of our goals is to make the platform even more equitable for creators. To achieve that, we intend to activate advertising over time and share meaningful revenue with Partnered creators. The current revenue split for creators on tips is 90% to creators, 10% to FreshCut. To date, FreshCut reinvests the majority of its 10% into the Community via Community Fund,” James Kuk, CEO and cofounder of FreshCut, told GamesBeat.

Alongside Kuk, FreshCut was founded by Ben Stueck, and Ernie Le, all of whom are former Twitch executives and veterans in gaming. They say what sets FreshCut apart from other platforms is its community-centric approach to improving content discovery for gaming-specific creators.

“The cornerstone of any game is having a strong community to support it,” said Kuk in a statement. “Yet the key failure of major social media platforms for gamers is a lack of community focus, since they serve hundreds of verticals that go far beyond gaming. Our goal is the opposite, which involves a laser focus on gaming content, developing close bonds with specific gaming circles for more authentic relationships, and bolstering discovery since it is one of the biggest struggles creators face. As a testament to our vision, our user base has soared month-over-month since we launched.”

Unlike broader-focused platforms, FreshCut concentrates on building strong bonds with specific gaming circles, fostering authentic relationships, and enhancing content discovery, which has been a major challenge for creators. The platform’s user base has witnessed substantial month-over-month growth since its launch, validating its vision and strategy.

Key features of FreshCut

Fresh Cut has curated community content, where users can join specific gaming communities, such as Roblox, Fortnite, and Smash Brothers, and access trending content from top partnered creators and community members.

Currently, Roblox content is FreshCut’s fastest growing and most active community. Alone, Roblox accounts for over 50% of its userbase and viewership.

FreshCut’s content recommendation engine ensures curated videos tailored to each community’s interests. The platform also offers unique creator interaction through its “Reacts” feature, enabling partnered creators to overlay video reactions onto user-generated content.

And FreshCut prioritizes user-friendly upload and editing capabilities with its FreshCut Studio product, providing essential short-form editing tools for both mobile and web platforms. Creators can easily upload short videos, images, and text to their desired gaming communities.

Moreover, FreshCut offers monetization opportunities for creators through its digital good called “FreshCut Diamonds.” Viewers can purchase Diamonds to support their favorite creators directly through tipping or redeem them for rewards in the FreshCut merch store. The platform has already seen over eight million Diamond tips — equivalent $80,000 — to date.

FreshCut’s growth has been primarily driven by partnerships with top creators such as NightFoxx, Lana Rae, Bevarooni, and Tdog, who have each garnered over a million views.

“FreshCut has the potential to be the biggest gaming community benefiting both creators for their content and developers for game discovery,” said Bevarooni, developer and head of community & player support at Supersolid game studio, in a statement. “Having a career in the gaming industry for the past 17 years I’ve come across a lot of different new gaming communities, but I never felt intrigued enough to look into utilizing them personally or for business purposes until FreshCut. Their strong belief in putting value in their community and the support of their partners is what initially had my interest in checking the app out.”

FreshCut has raised a total of $11.6 million in funding, including its seed round and series A.

Kuk was previously head of global business development and strategic partnerships at Twitch. Stueck, chief product officer, has 10 years of games and tech experience, and he led product integrations for core software and services at Twitch. Le, chief content officer, was also an early Twitch leader.