Top 5 Branded Videos of the Week: Giant cat robots and fish UFOs, oh my

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.

If there’s one thing YouTube audiences like to do, it’s learn. We’ve seen for years now that educational and DIY content are integral to the platform, and that’s especially apparent in our latest Weekly Brand Report, where the list is absolutely dominated by videos (and sponsors) whose entire business is teaching you stuff.

What stuff?

Find out right here:

#1 KNOCKOUT CHAOS | Anthony Joshua vs. Francis Ngannou Fight Highlights
Channel: DAZN Boxing
Brand: AutoZone

Okay, we know what we just said about educational content, but this is the one exception. (Although we suppose this could be considered educational to a certain crowd? Aspiring boxers? Hopeful future sports hosts?) With over 12 million views, the top branded video this week is highlights from the March 8 Anthony Joshua vs. Francis Ngannou fight, which ended in just two rounds with a decisive knockout by Joshua. The fight was one of boxing’s biggest events so far this year, so we’re not surprised it found a sizeable audience on YouTube. We’re also not surprised it was sponsored by DAZN, the sports streaming service that’s been on our radar since it picked up broadcast rights for the Logan Paul vs. KSI 2 fight four years ago.

#2 The Oldest Unsolved Problem in Math
Channel: Veritasium
Brand: Brilliant

Veritasium is back, baby. It was #3 on last week’s Brand Report with a video about math, and this week it’s bumped up a spot, also with a video about math. This video is (as the title suggests) about a 2000-year-old math problem. The problem asks one question: Do odd perfect numbers exist? Veritasium takes you through the nitty-gritty in this video, detailing what a perfect number is, where this math problem came from, who’s tried to solve it, and what it might take to one day find a solution. This video is sponsored by educational brand Brilliant, which is a very regular sponsor of educational videos on YouTube. This week alone, it’s sponsored over 20 videos, including #96, #359, #516, and #1446.

#3 Is the Cybertruck *ACTUALLY* bulletproof?! (vs .50 cal rifle)
Channel: JerryRigEverything
Brand: Ridge

As we all know, Elon Musk is fond of making claims about what his companies’ products can do. And, in introducing the…interestingly designed Cybertruck, he claimed a couple things: one, that it would have armored glass windows, which didn’t go so well in demonstration, and two, that it would (except for the windows) be made of bulletproof paneling. JerryRigEverything decided to put that claim to the test with an experiment that involved shooting .22, .17, 9mm, 223, and .50 caliber rounds at the vehicle. Did it survive? You’ll have to find out for yourself. The vid (and nearly 20 others this week) was sponsored by RFID wallet company Ridge, which recently tapped even further into the creator space by bringing in Marques Brownlee as a chief creative partner and board member.

#4 We made a real CATNAP Animatronic!
Channel: Wicked Makers
Brand: Day One

The folks behind the uncannily realistic Springtrap animatronic from a few months ago are back with a ‘bot from another franchise: Poppy Playtime. Wicked Makers‘ latest build is the gangly-legged Catnap, and their 25-minute video chronicling the journey of bringing this furry monstrosity to life has racked up 4 million views. For folks who need to decompress after seeing a nightmare IRL, their sponsor is journaling app Day One, which only sponsored their video this week. It also didn’t sponsor any last week, so this could be the start of its YouTube marketing push. 🤔

BONUS #16 How Fish Survive Hydro Turbines
Channel: Practical Engineering
Brand: Nebula

And now for the fish UFOs segment of today’s report. We know, we know, “hydro turbines” aren’t really UFOs, but just see it from a fish’s POV: You are gently lifted by mysterious forces and currented away to a strange new place. That fits the Roswell quota for us, folks. This video is from Practical Engineering, and is an extremely thorough look at the systems built into dams that allow fish to pass through them unharmed. Practical Engineering tours locations, interviews experts, and includes some cool animated graphics that really give insight into the spin cycle treatment for fish. This video is sponsored by education-heavy streaming service Nebula, which we’ve covered many, many times here at Tubefilter, and which also sponsored more than 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.