Top 5 Branded Videos of the Week: MrBeast still loves Samsung (and Lamborghini)

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.

It’s another busy week in our Weekly Brand Report. The sponsors that attached their names to the most-watched branded YouTube videos of the week also support some of YouTube’s smaller creators. Each brand featured in this report sponsored at least five videos with 25,000 views that were all released in the past week. We’ll try to make sense of it all below:

#1 Stop This Train, Win a Lamborghini
Channel: MrBeast
Brand: Samsung

Last September, Samsung announced that it had struck a deal to make its Galaxy devices the official vlog cameras of MrBeast. Six months later, I’d wager that the Korean tech giant is feeling pretty good about that partnership. Samsung-branded MrBeast videos have pulled in hundreds of millions of views on several occasions, and during the third full week of March, Jimmy Donaldson and co. brought Samsung to the top of our Weekly Brand Report. Galaxy devices make only brief appearances in MrBeast’s latest video, but the clip (which pits a Lamborghini against a moving train) is a hit, both literally and figuratively.

#2 I Tested 1-Star Drive Thrus
Channel: Ryan Trahan
Brand: Shopify

Something tells me that fast food brands were not exactly lining up to sponsor Ryan Trahan‘s latest chart-topper. The ascendant creator has become an expert on one-star reviews, but I’m not convinced that he actually enjoys the time that he spends at America’s worst eateries, even if he always leaves five-star reviews and never tells a lie. Trahan may not be the perfect Wendy’s spokesman, but ecommerce brand Shopify is happy to support his charming and upbeat channel. If Shopify wants Trahan to evaluate the success of the sponsorship, I’m sure the Texas native will be able to find many positives, as he always does.

#3 Turning styrofoam into cinnamon candy
Channel: NileRed
Brand: Nebula

Nebula is the streaming service to turn to if you want to learn new things or discover astonishing facts about the world we live in. In his latest Nebula-sponsored video, NileRed hit us with a real doozy: Styrene, the compound that styrofoam is made from, also occurs naturally in cinnamon. With that bit of knowledge in mind, Nile attempted to make cinnamon candy out of styrofoam containers. A word of warning on this one: NileRed is one of YouTube’s most gifted scientific minds, and like many of the things Nebula subscribers can study, this particular hypothesis is best tested by the pros.

#4 I’m Not Allowed To Date Until I’m 30
Channel: MSA previously My Story Animated
Brand: Dragon City

My Story Animated, the storytelling platform now known as MSA, has shown up in our Weekly Brand Report for the first time. One of the channel’s recent tales tells the story of two sisters who are barred from dating until they reach their 30s. Luckily, they’re able to entertain themselves by playing the mobile game Dragon City, which, as the video tells us, contains an appealing blend of “strategy and style.” A game with a sense of style seems to be a fitting sponsor for MSA, which augments its storytelling with emotive animations. Dragon City also attached its name to the seventh-ranked video in the latest Weekly Brand Report.

BONUS #1,808 this takes courage
Channel: Connor Franta
Brand: BetterHelp

BetterHelp is well-known for its frequent YouTube sponsorships, and it appears 85 times in this week’s Brand Report. The mental health service has been criticized for its business practices and called out in numerous YouTube video essays, but many creators still rely on it as both a sponsor and a provider of mental health counseling. One of those partners is influential vlogger Connor Franta, who promoted BetterHelp as part of a monologue on the subject of courage. Franta has long been passionate about mental health, and with BetterHelp’s support, he helping his viewers summon the courage they may need to start seeing a therapist.

…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.