The Sidemen just dropped a cooking show on Prime Video, except Prime Video isn't actually the main stage. Episode one of Sidemen Presents: SideMenu premiered on the MoreSidemen YouTube channel on June 18, with Prime Video taking episode two the next day. YouTube still gets every Prime episode, just two weeks later. The streamer is now playing second window to a creator's owned channel.
⚡ Key Takeaways
- The Sidemen put episode one of SideMenu on YouTube before Prime Video ever saw it. The streamer is the second window now.
- Prime Video takes episodes 2 through 4 on Fridays through July 3. YouTube gets each one two weeks later.
- KSI announced he was leaving the Sidemen on May 31, 18 days before the premiere. The remaining five shot SideMenu without him.
- Inside hit 55M YouTube views in 10 days in 2024. That number is why Prime Video would agree to play second window at all.
- MrBeast's Beast Games cost Amazon roughly $100M for exclusivity. The Sidemen just proved you can take streamer money without giving up the YouTube run.
- Fanvault keeps creators at 92% the same way SideMenu kept YouTube as the home stadium. Audience ownership equals leverage.
What actually happened?
The deal, first reported by Deadline on May 28, hands MoreSidemen the premiere and Prime Video the early-access tier for the rest of the run. Each of the three Prime exclusives takes a two-week delay before reaching the MoreSidemen channel. The premiere itself lived on YouTube only. The streamer is paying for the bump and accepting the slower window.
The format is team-based culinary competition with Chopped-style mystery boxes and Top Chef-style cuisine themes, per Tubefilter. The cast is Behzinga, Miniminter, TBJZL, Vikkstar, Zerkaa, and Jakey Davies. KSI is absent. He posted a video on May 31 announcing he was leaving the Sidemen after a 13-year run, two and a half weeks before SideMenu's premiere.
Why does this matter for creators?
For years, the streaming-to-creator deal had one shape. The streamer pays, the streamer gets exclusive rights, the YouTube channel goes dark on the IP. MrBeast did it with Beast Games. Even the Sidemen did it last year when Inside moved to Netflix.
SideMenu broke the pattern. The MoreSidemen channel got the premiere. Prime Video is the early-access tier for the rest of the run. The streamer is now the secondary platform behind the creator's owned channel, and that flip is the entire story.
The split also lets the Sidemen test what fans actually pay for. If MoreSidemen pulls big numbers for episode one without the Prime push, that's data. If Prime Video's exclusive window outperforms the YouTube delay, that's a different data set. Either way, the Sidemen own the audience on both sides.
"Our fans at home will be able to watch a new type of episodic content on our YouTube channel. Meanwhile, a new audience on Prime Video will find personalities from the creator space packaged on their TV screens. We're very excited to see SideMenu come to life."
Victor Bengtsson, CEO, Sidemen Entertainment
What's the bigger picture?
The Sidemen are the test case for YouTube-to-streamer crossover. Their reality competition Inside pulled 55M global views in its first 10 days on YouTube in summer 2024, with the premiere alone clearing 14M, per Tubefilter. Netflix bought season two, where it hit #3 globally and #2 in the UK. Netflix then commissioned an American spin-off, Inside: USA, that premiered last September.
Amazon paid roughly $100M for the first season of MrBeast's Beast Games, which drew 50M+ viewers in 25 days and became Prime Video's most-watched unscripted series ever, per TheWrap. Beast Games and Inside proved YouTube IP travels to streamers. SideMenu is the next experiment. The streamer pays for the discovery bump, and the creator keeps the home stadium intact.
The KSI exit hangs over all of it. He posted his departure video to his own 18.4M-subscriber channel on May 31. SideMenu shot without him. The remaining five just proved the brand still pulls Prime Video money without its biggest individual personality, which is the second story buried inside the first.
What does Fanvault think?
Distribution leverage flows toward whoever owns the audience, and SideMenu just made that visible at the windowing layer. The Sidemen kept their YouTube channel as the primary surface. Prime Video became the discovery tier, not the gatekeeper.
Fanvault runs the same play at the monetization layer. An 8% platform fee against Fanvue's 15%, Passes' 10% plus $0.30, and Fanfix's roughly 20%. When the creator owns the audience, the creator should own the economics too. That means 92% to the creator, the storefront, the auctions, and the recurring revenue that lives on after the streaming bump fades.
The Sidemen renegotiated the windowing rule. Every creator with a real fanbase can renegotiate the fee rule.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Sidemen Presents: SideMenu about?
A four-part culinary competition where members of the Sidemen pair with guest competitors for team-based cooking challenges. The format mixes Chopped-style mystery box twists with Top Chef-style cuisine themes, per Tubefilter. Judges include culinary creators Harrison Webb and Sorted Food.
Episode one premiered on the MoreSidemen YouTube channel on June 18, 2026. Episodes 2 through 4 debut on Prime Video on consecutive Fridays through July 3, then reach YouTube two weeks after each Prime drop.
Why are Prime Video and YouTube splitting the release?
Sidemen Productions wanted both audiences without surrendering either. MoreSidemen got the premiere to reward the YouTube fanbase the brand was built on. Prime Video gets episodes 2 through 4 first to bring the show to a streaming-only audience that consumes content on TVs. Each Prime episode reaches YouTube two weeks after its Prime debut, so the channel never goes dark on the IP.
Where is KSI?
KSI announced on May 31, 2026 that he was leaving the Sidemen after 13 years, two and a half weeks before SideMenu premiered. He posted the video to his own
How does this compare to MrBeast's Beast Games deal on Prime Video?
Amazon paid roughly