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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Welcome to our latest Gospel Stats Weekly Brand Report, where veterans MrBeast and Kurzgesagt once again dominate–but we have some newcomers bringing a grab-bag mix: there’s kids’ content, hard-hitting journalism on the effects of Hurricane Helene, and a skyscraping factory built in a supremely satisfying video game. Plus we see a surge of sponsorships from Aura, an identity-protection service that sponsored our bonus video last week, and this week paid for the upload in slot #4.
Check ’em all out right here:
#1 100 Identical Twins Fight For $250,000
Channel: MrBeast
Brand: Lunchly, Feastables
Views: 82,056,801
Some people (including fellow content creators) don’t find MrBeast, Logan Paul, and KSI‘s new brand Lunchly very appetizing, but that hasn’t stopped the trio from slapping Lunchly sponsorships on several videos following its debut. The latest is this #1 upload from MrBeast–a quintessential Beast video featuring a splashy competition with competitors chosen based on a gimmick theme (in this case, they’re all twins) and promised the champions will win a massive payout. The co-sponsor is MrBeast’s chocolate brand Feastables, a bar of which conveniently comes in every Lunchly box.
#2 I Built a SECRET Zoo In My House!
Channel: Ben Azelart
Brand: GoGo squeeZ
Views: 16,033,529
Like in past weeks, MrBeast’s video is leaps and bounds ahead of the #2 upload, having garnered an untouchable 82 million views. But unlike past weeks, where #2 videos usually rack up between 5 and 10 million views, this one has nearly 20 million. Kids’ entertainer Ben Azelart tapped his inner Tiger King for a 30-minute upload where he and two friends build secret animal-themed rooms and call two kids and their parents in to judge whose interior decorating takes top spot. This video is another quintessential project: Azelart has found a secret-room-building niche for his channel that brings him over 250 million views a month. 50 secret rooms at once? He’s got it. Secret soccer field? That too. This adventure is sponsored by fruit blend snack GoGo squeeZ, a brand that (like Azelart) is new to our Weekly Top 5.
#3 This Video Might Save 58 Lives Next Week
Channel: Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell
Brand: Brilliant
Views: 4,331,879
Hey, do you guys ever think about dying? Because that’s exactly what Kurzgesagt wants you to do. The ever-inquisitive science/world facts channel took a deep dive into its demographic with this video. Most of its viewers are between the ages of 15 and 35 and live in western countries, so it took a look at some of the ways people of those ages perish where they live, and ran down all those ways in this fleet 13-minute upload. 58 people from that demographic are statistically going to pass from the methods mentioned in the video…unless, Final Destination-style, Kurzgesagt can inspire them to keep an eye out and dodge the Reaper. As is the case with many Kurzgesagt videos, this one is sponsored by longtime partner, edutainment company Brilliant.
#4 Hurricane Helene Historic Storm Surge Devastates Cedar Key, Florida
Channel: Jonathan Petramala
Brand: Aura
Views: 3,476,520
The devastation from Hurricane Helene has been extensively covered in the media, but independent journalist and documentarian Jonathan Petramala has been right on the ground, sharing video from the storm surge as it hit Florida. Petramala remained in Cedar Key as the hurricane hit, and documented the before, during, and after, including sharing information about the island city’s historic downtown and how it was impacted. His 11-minute upload is a sobering look at what we can expect from future storms–but also a glimpse at how on-the-ground, community-driven reporting can give people empathetic insight into what’s happening across our world. As we mentioned above, this video is sponsored by identity-protection company Aura, which paid for nearly 40 other videos this week–and, in recent weeks, has become one of the most prolific sponsors of YouTube content.
BONUS #5 I Built a Fully Vertical Factory That’s a 100% Total Nightmare
Channel: Let’s Game It Out
Brand: Opera
Views: 3,127,451
Okay, we normally pick our bonus video from further down the roster, but considering the rest of this week’s videos have been a bit high-stress, we thought it’d be fun to chill out with a video game courtesy of sponsor Opera.
In Satisfactory, which released last month and has been a big hit with people who love organizing and/or are masochists, you get dumped on a planet and told to build a factory that’ll harvest resources and transport them to the big boss overseers in space. The “satisfaction” part comes when you figure out how to construct a meticulously organized network to harvest resources and turn them into valuable components to make more efficient machines that can process more valuable types of materials. Let’s Game It Out took the game’s central challenge to new heights, literally, because instead of sprawling his factory out horizontal, he stacked it all into one massive tower. Trust us–seeing this thing come together and actually work is like ASMR for the eyes.
…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.
