Welcome to our rundown of the most-watched branded YouTube videos of the week.
We’re publishing this snippet of a larger Gospel Stats Weekly Brand Report in order to analyze sponsorship trends in the creator economy. Any video launched in tandem with an official brand partner is eligible for the ranking.
And – as the name up above would imply – all the data comes from Gospel Stats. If you’re interested in learning more about Gospel – and which brands are sponsoring what creators on YouTube – click here.
Subscribe to get the latest creator news
Welcome back to the Gospel Stats Weekly Brand Report! And never fear: if you were disturbed by last week’s MrBeast upset, he’s back on top this week, with his latest buried alive spectacle putting him firmly at spot numero uno.
Read on to see who sponsored him–plus catch up with five dudes from Texas, get a Mythbusters flashback, take a deep dive into how truly, truly odd Adam Neumann is, and more from this week’s most-watched branded YouTube videos.
#1 I Spent 7 Days Buried Alive
Channel: MrBeast
Brand: Verizon
The Beast is back, and after several previous “buried alive” challenges, he’s here with his longest one yet. Encased in an (admittedly pretty comfy-looking) grave for seven full days, MrBeast talked up his sponsor Verizon by showing how its 5G internet works even when someone is 10 feet underground. We expected to see more Verizon–and other telecommunications brand–spots this week, given this data was pulled ahead of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, but Verizon only sponsored one other video in the top 2,000: #467, How Nani is Breaking The Game.
#2 Luckiest Dude Wins
Channel: Dude Perfect
Brand: Samsung
It was luck of the Texans in Dude Perfect’s latest video, where they promised viewers 14 minutes of “the most random video you will see on YouTube 🤪.” What follows is 13 rounds of not-quite-competition that’s a big departure from the Dudes’ usual skill-based content. This time, their athletic abilities don’t determine the winner; it’s all purely up to whose luck runs out last. Their sponsor was Verizon competitor Samsung with its foldable Galaxy Z Flip5. It had more facetime this week than Verizon, sponsoring four videos, most of them gaming content. (Though, funnily enough, this week’s 982nd top branded video is about “next level Samsung customization,” but is actually sponsored by Surfshark VPN.)
#3 The Mythbusters Were Wrong!
Channel: I did a thing
Brand: FlexiSpot
It’s a big cajones move to challenge a Mythbusters conclusion, but that’s exactly what I did a thing (aka Australian YouTuber Alex Apollonov) did in this week’s #3 video. Way back in 2003, the Mythbusters guys busted a myth (shocking, I know) that a penny dropped from a skyscraper could kill someone. They ramped up a penny to terminal velocity and found that while it could ding you pretty good, it wasn’t lethal. Apollonov’s approach is a little…different. He takes the Australian 50 cent piece–the heaviest coin in circulation–and proceeds to demonstrate “what a coin traveling at 230kmph (slower than the terminal velocity) would do to you. Turn you into a piggy bank.” His sponsor, standing desk brand FlexiSpot, was probably glad they weren’t in the room.
#4 The real reason I left Sweden.
Channel: PewDiePie
Brands: NordVPN
It’s been a while since PewDiePie departed from his grueling daily upload schedule and switched to longer-form, more occasional videos. That strat doesn’t seem to have put a damper on his traffic, because he’s got spot #4, with a 32-minute vlog-style video talking about his life and poking fun at his motherland. He also gave his sponsor, NordVPN, an extensive shout-out, with a PowerPoint presentation that illustrated the pros of going with Nord over its competitors. (The last item on that list, probably unsurprisngly, was “Big PP.”) As you’ve seen in previous Weekly Brand Reports, Nord has a sizable and consistent presence on YouTube. This week’s no different: it clocked in at 25 total sponsored videos.
BONUS: #200 The Ridiculous Rise and Fall of WeWork
Channel: The Plain Bagel
Brand: BetterHelp
WeWork is really having a time of it lately, but if you watch The Plain Bagel’s video, you’ll see that’s kind of how it’s always been. Bagel’s rundown of WeWork’s origins, business model, company town-esque aspirations, and the increasingly weird ways former CEO Adam Neumann spent a lot of investors’ money is a tight but comprehensive 15 minutes. And with the educational tone of his content, it’s probably not a surprise that this video is sponsored by language-learning software Babbel, which also paid for 13 other videos in this week’s top 2,000.
…and there’s a lot more data where that came from. If you’re interested in learning more about Gospel – and which brands are sponsoring what creators on YouTube – click here.
