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.
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Super Bowl LVIII is getting some strong pregaming on YouTube. Not only are fantasy sports brands like PrizePicks and Underdog Fantasy continuing to rack up sponsored videos, but Super Bowl-bound Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce (who, yes, is also dating Taylor Swift) is seeing a big rise in viewership for New Heights, the podcast he co-hosts with his brother and fellow NFL player Jason Kelce.
Check out our top five picks right here:
#1 $1 vs $250,000,000 Private Island!
Channel: MrBeast
Brand: Stumble Guys
This week may belong to the Super Bowl, but in our Weekly Brand Reports, it’s pretty much always MrBeast week. He was topping the charts in 2023, too, but very occasionally was outpaced by another creator. So far in 2024, though, he’s been in the #1 spot every single week with his newest videos. And he’s not likely to be caught: this week’s video, where he took viewers on tropical vaycays to increasingly expensive private islands, brought in 97 million views, beating the #2 video by over 90 million. MrBeast’s island adventure was sponsored by battle royale game Stumble Guys–which makes sense, considering he just announced a major partnership with it.
#2 I Got Kicked Out Of Walmart With Gail Lewis!
Channel: Danny Duncan
Brand: PrizePicks
Coming in at #2 is Danny Duncan, who’s known for bombastic stunts, selling ice cream, and making risqué merch. His latest escapade landed him in hot water with Walmart–but the video, which is sponsored by daily fantasy sports company PrizePicks, starts with Duncan in the hospital, recovering from a displaced hip. He’s in a wheelchair while he recovers, so tells the camera he needs a “strong female presence.” That presence is none other than Gail Lewis, the former Walmart employee who went viral on TikTok for her emotional last clock-out. In Duncan’s video, she goes back to Walmart as his escort, and the two make enough trouble that the cops end up getting called. Despite the apparent brand-riskiness of the whole thing, PrizePicks is on board, and also sponsoring 40 other videos this week.
#3 Travis Wins on the Road, Jason Celebrates Shirtless and Full Divisional Round Recap | Ep 75
Channel: New Heights
Brand: Experian, PrizePicks, Buffalo Wild Wings, Accelerator Active Energy, Etsy, Farmer’s Dog
Before the Swift era, Travis Kelce‘s podcast with his brother, Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce, was bringing in about 20 million views a week on YouTube. As soon as rumors began circulating about him dating Swift–around September 2023–New Heights shot to nearly 80 million views a month. It hasn’t slowed down much–which is probably somewhat to do with Swift, of course, but also, Travis is headed to Super Bowl LVIII for the fourth time, so the podcast has been chronicling his months-long journey through the playoffs, and now the weeks leading up to the Chiefs facing the San Francisco 49ers in Las Vegas this Sunday. Their podcast had a plethora of sponsors, among them PrizePicks.
#4 I Used Just 1 Item to Turn Palworld Into Ridiculous Chaos
Channel: Let’s Game It Out
Brand: Opera
Palworld made a controversial entry into the gaming world last month. It sold 5 million copies in three days, but since then has been mired in myriad controversies, like whether or not it ripped off Pokémon, whether or not its developers used genAI, and the fact that players can capture and sell people (though they will be warned that it’s not a nice thing to do). This week’s fourth-top branded video isn’t sponsored by Palworld, but it is about Palworld, with YouTuber Let’s Game It Out logging in to make the game as chaotic as possible. Let’s Game It Out snagged browser Opera GX as a sponsor; it also sponsored around 15 other videos this week, almost all of them about video games (plus one about MKUltra).
BONUS: #514 How I Got 1000 Wins in a row on DBD!
Channel: SupaAlf
Brand: War Thunder
And last but not least, our bonus for this week features the sponsor War Thunder, a mobile game that says it’s “dedicated to aviation, armoured vehicles, and naval vessels from the early 20th century to the most advanced modern combat units.” The game makes sense as a match for Dead by Daylight YouTuber SupaAlf, considering DbD features four Survivor players fighting for their lives against one Killer (usually someone from a big-name horror franchise, like Michael Myers, Ghostface, Chucky, or a Xenomorph). DbD is big on YouTube, and so are mobile games like War Thunder, which sponsored 20 other videos this week.
…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.
