Instagram is bringing its Reels to a TV screen near you. On Amazon Fire TV devices, the Meta-owned social media platform is testing an app that turns its library of vertical short-form videos into a form of living room entertainment.
Earlier this month, Instagram announced that it would begin rolling out a TV hub to bring Reels “from your favorite creators to the big screen so you can enjoy them with friends.” Like YouTube, Instagram is making its short-form videos flashier by borrowing design elements from premium streaming services like Netflix. Multiple accounts can be linked to a single Instagram on TV app, Reels are sorted into granular categories, and a search feature lets users look up specific channels.
This is the first time Instagram has rearranged its Reels for TV-based consumers, but it’s not the first time the company has rolled the dice on living room viewership. Longtime tech observers may remember that in 2018, Instagram launched IGTV, a long-form hub that was designed to compete with YouTube and its TV screen empire. Though IGTV offered content from top creators and boldly reimagined what an Instagram feed could look like, it didn’t last three years before it was subsumed into the entity then known as Instagram Video.
Half a decade later, shifting media diets have convinced Instagram to take another crack at a TV-based offering. Over the summer, a report in The Information claimed that Meta was building a new TV app that would put short-form video front and center. The introduction of linked Reels provided further evidence that Meta was reimagining its quick-hitting videos as a form of leaned-back, serial entertainment.
TV viewership habits may have changed since 2018, but Instagram for TV’s goal is the same as IGTV’s: Meta wants to compete with YouTube. After Google’s video hub brought its Shorts to TVs in 2022, it saw its living room traffic shoot upward. Some creators have reported getting as much as 40% of their traffic from TVs, and through that medium, older viewers are watching more YouTube than ever before. In the most recent edition of Nielsen’s The Gauge report, YouTube accounted for 12.9% of TV screen watch time. No other service got more than 8.3% of that pie.
Keeping up with YouTube is a tall task, but even the leader in TV screen viewership has experienced some blips. Instagram has an opening to scoop up more living room viewers, and if it can, it is likely to bring more features to its new TV app. The introductory blog post explained that new perks like “using your phone as a remote, intuitive ways to channel surf, shared feeds with friends, and making it easier to keep up with your favorite creators in one place” could be coming to the hub in the near future.
Filed under: Articles, Featured, Homepage Feature, News by Sam Gutelle Comments Off on Is Instagram’s TV app ready to compete with YouTube, or is it the next IGTV?
In 2025, the video podcast ad industry took some big steps forward. Major platforms like YouTube unveiled new ad products that let brands target podcast consumers in dynamic and efficient ways. Notable podcasters like Alex Cooper got in on the fun by shifting resources to cater to advertisers alongside listeners. Meanwhile, podcast consumption on TVs continued to surge, validating brand decisions to target video podcast watchers.
Video podcast ads are an exciting new option for buyers, but Oxford Road and Podscribe are reminding advertisers that there’s a lot more to podcasting than just long-form videos. The OG form of podcast consumption — audio — is as relevant as ever, and a whitepaper published by the two companies suggests that audio podcast ads offer far stronger returns than their video-based brethren.
Oxford Road and Podscribe tracked over 1,000 campaigns across more than 100 brands to uncover what they describe as “the hidden performance gap costing brands billions.” The firms’ findings back up that sensational claim: On average, campaigns that only targeted audio listeners outperformed “simulcast” campaigns that incorporated video viewership.
On the whole, YouTube views were found to be about 20% less effective than audio downloads as a vehicle for driving purchases. “A YouTube exposure does not work as hard per ‘impression’ as an (audio-only) podcast exposure at driving advertiser outcomes,” reads the report.
The whitepaper offers a few potential explanations for this performance gap. Oxford Road and Podscribe surmised that audio listeners are more “leaned in” than video viewers, and that YouTube’s more diverse and international audience makes it more likely for ads to be mistargeted. The firms also claim that audio-based consumers are more used to promo codes and therefore more likely to engage with them.
That last point speaks to the central argument here: For all of the gains that have come to the video podcast industry over the past year, it still has some growing up to do. As Oxford Road claimed in an earlier report, brands are holding back potential ad dollars due to growing pains in the world of video podcast ad measurement.
The latest findings show that video podcast purveyors don’t just need to develop sophisticated tracking tools. They need to find a way to tip the scales back in their favor, so that their impressions can be valued as highly as their audio-only cousins.
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. You can also download our YouTube 2025 Sponsorship Landscape Reporthere.
‘Tis the season for festive holiday beverages, and some of YouTube’s biggest channels are raising their glasses. MrBeast led the way with an assortment of hot drinks on offer, while a handful of other sponsored videos depicted boozier methods for keeping warm.
Each family is different, but if your folks like sharing cozy meals with each other during December, read on. Millions have already used these videos as inspiration for their seasonal recipes. Will you join the club?
You might have an odd or idiosyncratic family, but at least your holiday home isn’t a glass platform suspended hundreds of feet in the air. That is the setting for the latest extreme challenge organized by MrBeast. Jimmy Donaldson marooned two of his fans on the floating island and promised them $250,000 if they could make it 30 days without falling off or giving up.
If that sounds like a raw deal, you don’t know the half of it — but Donaldson did afford his contestants one key concession. Midway through the challenge, a floating Starbucks counter arrived on the platform, complete with a barista. The nation’s largest coffee chain may not seem that exciting or novel on the ground, but for contestants who are battling boredom and fatigue, a little pick-me-up does quite nicely.
Will this video convince me to patronize local Starbucks establishments? If the winner will share her $50,000 gift card with me, I’d gladly take her up on it.
While MrBeast serves coffee to his fans, Leo Gonzalez is delivering a different source of holiday season warmth. While all his friends are sipping on eggnog and hot cocoa, he is enjoying a nice frosty margarita.
Yes, the quintessential summertime cocktail is an unusual choice for Christmas. That doesn’t mean, however, that Gonzalez’s chosen tipple is unwelcome in December. Some beverage brands known for their wintertime concoctions, such as the beer company Great Lakes Brewery, serve up Christmas-themed drinks in July. I
f Christmas is permitted to encroach on the rest of the calendar, then it’s only fair for summertime favorites to get their day in the winter sun. Espolón’s inversion of existing marketing trends is clever, and Gonzalez is the perfect spokesman for the switch-up.
Alright, let’s go back to something a little more traditional. We’re still in the realm of holiday season sweets, but we’re swapping the beverages for a little candy. MrBeast’s Feastables rolled out a new product ahead of the new year, and it distills the flavor of hot cocoa into a chocolate bar.
If you want to test how close the Hot Cocoa Crunch is to the real thing, you could always melt it down, but with that bit of rulebreaking, you might end up taking whipped cream to the face like MrBeast does in the ad. Perhaps the perfect pairing is the Feastables bar dipped in one of those Starbucks coffees you bought with your $50,000 gift card.
This week’s Brand Report has given us Starbucks for a pick-me-up, tequila for an aperitif, and Feastables for dessert. But what about breakfast? To cover the most important meal of the day, we have to turn to the longtime master of short-form special effects and his brand partner.
Zach King’s IHOP spot is convenience at its finest. Wouldn’t it be great if you could order your pancakes and more and have it show up before your server even leaves your table? Santa should turn over Christmas present delivery duty to Zach King — with his creative form of wizardry, he could cover the entire world and still make it home in time to feed himself a pancake breakfast.
So if you’re keeping track, so far in this column, we’ve had coffee, margaritas, chocolate, and pancakes. That all sounds delicious, but it’s not exactly the lightest meal you can eat.
That level of excess is typical of the holiday season. Yuletide indulgences are so intense that many people choose to forgo certain vices during the month of January.
Creators like BarChemistry are saying “why wait that long to treat your body a bit better?” His holiday cocktail is make with hazelnut milk that he made himself using the flagship gadget sold by his sponsor, Almond Cow. As he puts it, almost everything in the drink is good for you (except for the vodka).
Other creators are also using the Almond Cow to cook up healthy (and, in some cases, vegan) treats for their revelry. These campaigns are a good reminder that you don’t have to be boozy or sickly sweet to advertise your product during December. Some people could go for something a bit lighter, and that’s where the Almond Cow comes in.
…and there’s a lot more data where that came from. If you like our Weekly Top 5, you’ll love everything else Gospel has to offer. Start with our newly released YouTube 2025 Sponsorship Landscape Report, which you can download right here.
Filed under: Articles, Brands, Featured, Homepage Feature, News by Sam Gutelle Comments Off on Top 5 Branded Videos of the Week: MrBeast brings the Starbucks, Leo Gonzalez brings the tequila
2016 was a banner year for streaming television. HBO’s Westworld was an instant hit among premium subscribers, Amazon imported the BBC sensation Fleabag, and Hulu provided a digital home for the FX comedy Altanta. Netflix gave viewers a history lesson with The Crown and turned an 80s nostalgia vehicle called Stranger Things into the year’s most notable sleeper hit.
As we head into 2026, Stranger Things is reaching the conclusion of its five-season run, and the streaming TV landscape could hardly look more different from its 2016 appearance. There is no glut of acclaimed new shows that have everyone buzzing. The industry is on the precipice of consolidation, with Netflix looking to consume struggling rivals. The era of “peak TV” that brought us so many exciting premiere might be heading toward a valley.
Bloomberg has shared some data from Nielsen that characterizes how dramatic that shift has been. Since 2020, the shows that have captured the most U.S. streaming watch time — and the most placements in Nielsen’s associated top-ten rankings — are familiar favorites from network and cable TV.
NCIS has accumulated 151.4 billion minutes of watch time while in the top ten over that span, while Grey’s Anatomy is close behind with 148.8 billon minutes of watch time. The streaming originals that are closest to those 2000s debutants are in a different league altogether; Netflix’s Ozark ranked #1 on that list with 55.3 billion minutes of watch time while positioned in Nielsen’s top ten.
Other entertainment trends corroborate those findings. Netflix’s internal data has shown that its licensed TV library accounts for many of its most-watched programs. On YouTube, nostalgia for bygone shows is so powerful that studios have attempted to revive long-dormant programs like the Friends spinoff Joey.
When premium subscription services can no longer use splashy originals to get ahead, their ballooning price tags start to look a lot more onerous. In an era of widespread cost-cutting, consumers are turning to free services like Tubi and The Roku Channel. Two years ago, Nielsen’s measurements shows that those hubs were generating similar traffic to Peacock and HBO Max. Now, they account for nearly twice as much watch time when compared to those premium competitors.
2025 may have been the year that firmly slammed the door shut on the era of peak streaming TV. For the first time since Nielsen’s tracking began, none of the top ten most-watched streaming originals of the year were new shows. Viewers are caught in a loop of reruns, rehashes, and licensed favorites.
Stranger Things season five isn’t a new streaming original, but the Midwest American horror show exemplifies the shifting streaming landscape better than any other. A franchise that began as an earnest throwback has taken so long to reach its conclusion that many fans have lost interest. Even if you don’t think season five is “genuinely dreadful Netflix slop,” there’s no arguing that the bloated show has struggled to keep up with evolving appetites. “If season two was a costlier but inferior version of season one, then season five is what season four might have been if Netflix hadn’t felt the need to draw out a plot that was already thrice redundant,” reads one review published in Time.
Maybe 2026 will bring us the new original show that changes the narrative once again, but I’m not holding my breath waiting for the next Squid Game to arrive. Today’s culture is simply too fractured to produce a single program that defines the zeitgeist all on its own. Instead, viewers are retreating to the shows they know and love, while prioritizing the platforms that can bring that content to them in the most cost-effective manner possible.
Filed under: Articles, Featured, Homepage Feature, News by Sam Gutelle Comments Off on Streaming viewers have clear preferences: They want to watch older shows for free
In recent years, consumers around the world have sent a clear, collective message: They are tired of burdensome recommendation algorithms on social media platforms, and they want out.
The desire to be free from siloed, infinitely scrolling feeds led to the development of a depersonalized TikTok feed that went live in Europe. That idea proved so popular that American TikTokers asked to try it out, too. Meanwhile, decentralized feeds like Bluesky are trending up thanks to the algorithmic choice they offer, and entrepreneurs like Patreon’s Jack Conte are working on redesigned, better-for-you recommendation systems.
To meet the demands of creators and fans who feel trapped in their endless feeds, Adam Ayers and Victoria de la Fuente have unveiled Doomscrollr. That’s the name of a new platform that facilitates direct, unfiltered communications between creators and their followers — without any of those pesky algorithms getting in the way.
Each of Doomscrollr’s creator partners receives their own personalized homepage, where their social media posts, digital storefronts, Substack essays, and other updates are synthesized within a single feed. The order of posts is purely chronological. As Doomscrollr’s homepage explains, the platform is designed to take the “corporate chokehold” out of social media.
Ayers, the former CTO of Yeezy, and de la Fuente, a luxury brand executive, envisioned Doomscrollr to fill a gap in their own social media feeds. With her motherhood brand Zillion Trillion, de la Fuente achieved a six-digit following, but that audience was fractured across multiple feeds. Doomscrollr looks to knit those streams together.
“Any traffic source has the potential to fuel your growth engine when it drives people toward properties you own and actually control,” de la Fuente told Tubefilter. “Doomscrollr is designed to be one of those owned properties, not just another profile competing inside an algorithm.”
Ayers and de la Fuente have spent the past year building Doomscrollr’s community from the ground up. After attracting an investor base that includes WeTransfer Founder Nalden and former Accenture Senior Managing Director John Del Santo, the husband-and-wife duo have invited a diverse group of creators to check out their startup.
One success story has been fashion designer Christopher John Rogers, who has used his Doomscrollr account to build an email community that includes more than 150,000 subscribers. Shortly after Doomscrollr launched its freemium model, de la Fuente reported that more than 5,000 new users had signed up.
“Instead of optimizing for infinite consumption, the platform is designed around ownership, intention, and sustainability,” de la Fuente told Tubefilter. “It is built for creators who want control over their audience, their distribution, and their outcomes.”
Emboldening creators is nice, but that sentiment means little without enough revenue streams to back it up, and by eschewing algorithmic feeds, Doomscrollr is moving away from the most common form of monetization on major social hubs. As you might expect, Ayers and de la Fuente have a solution in mind.
“We built Doomscrollr around a flexible freemium and paid pricing model, not advertising,” Ayers said. “Creators can get started for free and upgrade as their business grows, based on the features and ROI that matter most to them.” He added that the company will “actively help creators grow and retain their audiences” when they sign up for paid plans.
AI is in the mix, too, though Ayers stressed that it will “work quietly in the background.” A creator-controlled AI camera, for example, is one tool Doomscrollr users can employ to create gated, exclusive experiences.
That setup is meant to resemble the early days of the internet, before jumbled social feeds complicated topics like ownership and distribution. When Ayers and de la Fuente talk about their creator partners, they use words like “pioneers” and “trailblazers” that harken back to the days when the internet was thought of as a modern-day Wild West.
“The potential of that period was not technological, it was human,” Ayers said. “We are carrying that spirit forward with modern, cutting-edge tools, while staying true to the soul of independent creation.”
That’s quite the daunting mission, especially as the algorithmically-driven feeds become more efficient and calculated. But Doomscrollr’s founders are excited to tackle the project in front of them. “This is only the beginning,” Ayers said. “We are releasing new features designed to help creators get discovered and grow faster, including viral mechanics that do not require gaming algorithms or paying for ads. Our goal is to make growth feel earned, natural, repeatable, and aligned with creator ownership.”
Filed under: Articles, Featured, Homepage Feature, News by Sam Gutelle Comments Off on Doomscrollr wants to return to the internet that existed before all those algorithms
Thanks to the impending return of the FIFA World Cup, soccer content is set to become one of the biggest marketing trends of 2026. Nielsen reported in October that 37% of U.S. consumers believe that their interest in the beautiful game will rise over an 18-month period that coincides with the biggest-ever edition of soccer’s quadrennial tournament.
These days, if a marketing trend is in the air, Roblox is rarely far away, and the sandbox platform is working with the World Cup’s organizer to take advantage of the considerable pre-tournament hype. Gamefam, a company that works with independent creators to turn their Roblox games into licensed experiences, has launched a full-featured football simulator titled FIFA Super Soccer.
Gamefam adapted FIFA Super Soccer from Super League Soccer, a Roblox game developed by creator Mats Watte. Gamefam acquired the rights to that property and transformed it through the addition of licensed FIFA assets. That strategy is becoming more common as Roblox embraces notable IP and firms like Gamefam incorporate franchises like Sonic and Barbie into experiences.
The Super Soccer update letsplayers choose official national team apparel and players within the game, and soccer fans around the world are already enjoyed the refreshed experience. Sportico reported that FIFA Super Soccer attracted 21,000 concurrent users after its name change, becoming one of the 70 most popular Roblox games. Before the switch, Super Soccer had averaged about 1.5 million gameplay sessions per day.
FIFA Super Soccer sits at the confluence of three broader trends. There has been a boom of branded experiences on platforms like Roblox and Fortnite, and the pro soccer world is paying attention. In one notable bid to connect with the global, youthful community that explores those virtual sandboxes, the English club Manchester City developed its own world within Fortnite.
Like with many sports, soccer culture has become increasingly tied to creator content. Influencers have become players, players have become influencers, and brands like Home Depot are centering soccer as they recruit big names for nascent creator programs.
Even if the 2026 World Cup was not the first edition to feature 48 teams, and even if it was not the first Cup held in North America since 1994, it would still be attracting increased attention from digital marketers. The viewership on soccer-related YouTube channels is simply too big to ignore. If the 2026 World Cup can become the “influencer tournament” — thus doing to soccer what the 2024 U.S. presidential election did to politics — it will be a win for advertisers and creators alike.
The third piece of context concerns FIFA itself. Due to ongoing scandals, unpopular World Cup host choices, and naked deference to a certain American president, the Zurich-based organization is short on public goodwill these days.
The FIFA video game series was one of the last pieces of positive PR the namesake org had left, but that ship sailed in 2022 when FIFA ended its long-term relationship with publisher EA. FIFA President Gianni Infantino is eager to launch video games that can compete with EA’s ongoing franchise, because, in his own words, the go-to soccer simulator “cannot be named something else” other than FIFA.
Roblox provides an opening to bring that competitor to market, and FIFA Super Soccer is the result. It may not have the top-of-the-line graphics boasted by EA’s games, but what it lacks in style, it makes up for in the realm of public enthusiasm.
We just wrote about how Matt Kalish, the DraftKings co-founder who invested $11 million in FaZe Clan–and took a 49% stake–after its disastrous attempt at going public, had decided to further mine our industry with a new company called HardScope.
HardScope promises to help creators build “empires.” How? By being “the operating system for the creator economy, connecting brands and fans with the most influential streamers built to lead culture.” In practice behind the buzzwords, that means HardScope is providing creators with support around content strategy, production, and distribution, plus social media management–all aimed, of course, at generating revenue from brand deals and putting ads in front of Gen Z viewers.
But its “empires” are on rocky foundations so far. On Christmas Day, a sizable chunk of FaZe Clan’s core creator roster, some of whom had been with the organization for over a decade, unceremoniously quit.
Streamers Adapt, JasonTheWeen, Lacy, StableRonaldo, YourRage, Kaysan, and Silky all tweeted some variation of “Left @FaZeClan.” Some left it at that, while others gave a little additional context.
“Left @FaZeClan,” Adapt tweeted. “14 Years. Over half of my life, I’d be lying if I said this didn’t hurt, but it had to be done. Thank you to everyone who’s been apart of this journey, the best is yet to come.”
In the days since Christmas, other creators have quit, including former co-owner and COO FaZe Apex and FaZe Rug.
“Officially left @FaZeClan,” FaZe Rug wrote. “This one hurts. After 13 years, I’ve decided to part ways with FaZe. Very grateful for everyone who’s been part of this journey, and the people who became family along the way. FaZe will forever be part of my legacy, but now the new chapter begins.”
During the initial quit wave, none of the creators disclosed why they had decided to leave FaZe Clan. But in FaZe Apex’s Dec. 27 statement, he said the org’s “leadership shifted in a way that made it difficult for me to get involved again.”
“I always intended to see it through to the end and do what I could to help the brand succeed, and it’s finally time to close this chapter,” he wrote. “I have a lot of love for everyone who helped build FaZe, especially the OGs early on, and I wish I had been able to do more to keep things together over the years.”
While Apex didn’t name names, “leadership” likely refers to Kalish, since a person familiar with the matter told Bloomberg the reason creators left is that he was pushing them to sign new deals with HardScope.
FaZe creators reportedly spent the past six months negotiating with Kalish and HardScope, but could not come to terms they found favorable–so they left.
Kalish dismissed their concerns, telling Bloomberg, “My best guess is they’re all good kids and have a lot of people in their ear and are confused.” He added that the org’s current financial situation is “unsustainable.”
He plans to continue with FaZe Clan and HardScope.
As all this has gone public, past FaZe Clan members chimed in. PlaqueBoyMax, who left this past August, hinted issues with management were a key part of his own exit. “We have no control,” he said in a Dec. 25 stream. “There was no control, and it’s like we’re puppets. At least that’s what it felt like.”
Plaqueboymax says Lacy being kicked from FaZe Clan earlier this year for missing a video shoot was real, to the point where they felt like puppets being controlled 😳pic.twitter.com/4HoRZ78kn6
Banks, who joined FaZe Clan in 2011 and became CEO in 2024 before stepping down this past summer amid allegations of crypto scamming, took a different approach: He criticized those who’d left, saying they had “insane egos” and were “disgusting” and “incredibly fake.”
“These guys had free housing, free filmers & staff, all FaZe channels, [and] zero % income shared,” he tweeted Dec. 25. “Their money and platforms all sky-rocketed after meeting me, but I’m the bad guy?”
It’s worth noting that FaZe Clan faced allegations of mistreatment from creators long before Kalish got involved. Back in 2019, then-member and Fortnite streamer Tfuefiled a lawsuit claiming the terms of his FaZe contract–namely that he wasn’t allowed to make his own brand deals, and could only accept sponsorships arranged by FaZe Clan–were “grossly oppressive” and hindering his career.
Tfue also alleged FaZe Clan was not handing over his 20% share of payment for the brand deals it did arrange, and criticized the org’s boilerplate contract as unfair to creators. Banks later admitted the terms of Tfue’s contract were “horrible” for him. The two settled out of court in 2020.
There’s no way to say what might come next. It’s possible we’re looking at the end of FaZe Clan here, whether because of its gutted roster or because of its “unsustainable” financial situation.
We just wrote about how TikTok Shop is tempting both sellers and buyers with things like gift cards and cash incentives. But its ecommerce hub isn’t the only division where TikTok’s looking to grow.
TikTok One, TikTok’s catch-all hub of tools that facilitate sponsored content (often by pairing creators and brands), has launched a campaign with a reward pool of $10,000 in hopes of getting more creators to use Branded Buzz.
TikTok appears to have launched Branded Buzz back in September. It’s a marketplace where brands post calls for content, and creators who respond might get their videos boosted and/or might get compensated with a “bonus” of up to $1,500.
It all revolves around hashtags: Brands’ campaigns have specific hashtags, and in order to be considered for boosting and/or the bonus, creators have to use the hashtag.
According to creator @cambickley, TikTok looks at video performance to determine which creators get compensation. That means not everyone who posts with the hashtag will be compensated, leading to the potential for cases where creators are making sponcon for free.
While we don’t dig that, it’s not unexpected. It fits right in with TikTok’s approach to Shop, where anyone can be an affiliate marketer. All they have to do is post a video gassing up Shop’s products, and they might get the chance to earn some sales commission. But if their content doesn’t catch on, the creator doesn’t get paid, and they just endorsed a product for free.
What’s notable about this latest Branded Buzz campaign is that it’s not for an outside brand–it’s for TikTok itself.
As you can see in this screenshot, the campaign is called JoinBrandedBuzz, and asks creators to post content that answers one of two prompts:
“When did you get your first deal on TikTok?”
“How has monetizing on TikTok impacted you?”
“Turn your creativity into earnings,” the official campaign description reads. “Share your TikTok monetization journey–from landing your first brand deal to building stronger branded content. Tell us how you attract partnerships, improve your paid content skills, and turn creativity into consistent earnings.”
The total bonus pool for the campaign is $10,000, and when the screenshot was posted Dec. 22, 547 creators had already submitted content for consideration.
TikTok obviously wants more people to use Branded Buzz, and $10K isn’t a bad budget to get there. If even just a handful of people are watching each of those 547 videos, that adds up to thousands of new exposure points for the program–and thus potentially thousands of new marketers to participate in future campaigns.
Filed under: Homepage Feature, TikTok by James Hale Comments Off on TikTok wants more creators to take a chance on brand campaigns. So it’s offering $10,000.
Google is keeping its eye on the potential LLM bubble burst. But despite that, it–like pretty much every other major tech company–continues pouring cash into generative AI, rolling out new tools for users, marketers, and creators in hopes of achieving eventual profit.
While there’s been plenty of kickback against previous Google tools, like the AI overviews for both Search results and YouTube videos, and praise for other tools like chatbot Gemini, this latest tool might end up being one of its most divisive.
Last week, an update on the Google Support forum revealed that over the last few months, staffers have been working on Portraits, an “experimental feature” it said “lets viewers conversationally interact with AI representations of participating creators and gives these creators insights into topics that their audiences are interested in.”
Google was careful to say the creators whose Portraits will become available to fans had “specifically chosen to participate,” and had allowed Google to use their content and other sources to design their AI selves.
This isn’t a novel idea. Back in 2023, Amouranth partnered with a company called Forever Voices AI to launch her own AI chatbot with extra parasocial flavor. The bot was advertised to fans as “unparalleled personal access to an AI copy of Amouranth herself, whenever and wherever they desire,” in an experience that “blurs the lines between reality and virtual interaction.”
She was perhaps the most well-known creator to do this with an independent company, but wasn’t alone. Snapchatter Caryn Marjorie, for example, released her own AI bot, and quickly experienced how wrong things could go: Following the bot’s premiere, she received death threats, and there were reportedly issues where CarynAI was sending sexually suggestive messages despite not being programmed to generate NSFW content.
These bots didn’t become permanent installations. CarynAI was shut down in 2024, and Amouranth’s chatbot abruptly went dark in November 2023, after Forever Voices AI’s founder/CEO was arrested for alleged attempted arson.
It also wasn’t only independent companies trying to make this work. Meta, scrambling for the next bandwagon after its womp-womp metaverse pivot, got into the game too.
Shortly after Amouranth’s bot and CarynAI debuted, Meta announced it was going to release its own chattable creator (and traditional celebrity) AIs. It notably nabbed MrBeast for a deal where his appearance was used for a bot named “Zach,” which Meta described as a too-cool-for-you older brother figure that dished out sick burns and always had a fresh joke on the tip of its tongue. (Danny Gonzalezmade a video about interacting with “Zach,” and found the bot didn’t deliver on its promises. In fact, it outright refused to roast him because it just wanted everyone to have a good time. Also it told a lot of jokes about bicycles, for some reason.)
Meta axed all the bots less than a year later, citing low user engagement. To date, we haven’t seen creator avatars launch with any sort of staying power.
It shut down earlier this month after plans to find “a strategic buyer to acquire its platform, AI technology, and two issued patents” fell through, it said in a statement.
“AsqMe made the process effortless with features such as First Draft which uses AI to respond to audience questions based on the creator’s own content. And Question Intercept which pulls questions from the creator’s comments and posts replies back with affiliate links,” the company added.
AsqMe didn’t say how many users it had, just claimed that “[b]y all traditional measures AsqMe was winning.” But the AI Q&A tools it offered weren’t enough to tempt an acquisition.
Now the question is if Google’s AI bots, which have a direct failed predecessor in Meta’s attempt and will offer Q&A interactions, will have any differentiating factor that’ll manage to provide fans with something they actually want.
As eMarketer recently reported, more than half of U.S. adults are unlikely to interact with AI-generated influencers. Gen X and Baby Boomers are more leery of bots (63% said they wouldn’t interact) but skepticism is strong amongst Gen Z and Millennials too (51%).
On top of that, 32% of consumers think gen AI had a negatively disrupting effect on the creator economy in 2025, per Billion Dollar Boy. That’s a jump from 2023, when 18% of consumers felt similarly.
Appealing to parasocial appetites might give YouTube a bump in the short term, but it’s human creators who have carried the platform from its earliest days to two full decades of being the single biggest video destination on the internet. Human creators keep billions of users watching–and thus generating ad revenue for Google.
Spending months figuring out a way to make fake copies of those real influencers is certainly a choice, and based on the history and data points we laid out above, Portraits has a hard road to viability. If someone wants to engage with a YouTuber, they can watch videos or leave a comment, or pay for the person’s Channel Membership or Patreon for more direct access.
Creators and viewers are closer than ever these days–so will fans really settle for a digital pull-string doll?
Filed under: Homepage Feature by James Hale Comments Off on Google is churning YouTubers into chatbots. Historically, that has not gone well.
It’s a common sentiment lately: Google Searchis not the same as it used to be. I’d argue it’s a fantastic example of our modern internet. After the COVID ecommerce boom, basically anyone could become an affiliate seller, so millions upon millions of blogs and websites bloated their pages with SEO slop, hoping to hit high on search results. Then gen AI happened, and those same websites filled with masses of extruded information, some of it wildly inaccurate. Google got into AI too, gutting website traffic with its generated overviews.
All this combined meant searching got harder, for both searchers and trustworthy sites.
According to Search Engine Land, Google’s AI overviews can cut websites’ organic traffic 15-64%, depending on industry and search type. On top of that, the combination of AI overviews and Google Search automatically highlighting website text related to search queries, 60% of searches now result in zero clicks.
As for searchers? People tired of wading through the double whammy of SEO and AI slop started doing one thing that’s guaranteed to get them actual human answers: adding “Reddit” to the end of their searches.
Now, that’s not to say Reddit is some kind of AI-free utopia: It’s signed deals with Google and OpenAI to allow scraping of users’ content for LLM training. But its 400+ million active users still make it one of the internet’s largest forums, with real humans (including a fair amount of subject matter experts) asking and answering questions about literally every topic you can imagine.
For searchers, it’s become a top destination to get accurate, human-written information that’s presented–shocker!–without the intent of selling you something.
So, of course, brands are using this increased traffic to sell you something.
This dataset doesn’t contain actual dollar figures, which makes it hard to weigh companies against each other apples to apples, but we do know Reddit’s Q2 2025 ad revenue was $465 million–93% of the platform’s total revenue for the quarter. Reddit’s YoY growth rate was apparently more than double Instagram‘s, and more than five timesTikTok‘s. And, perhaps surprisingly, YouTube was trailing the pack, with just 1.5% growth in YoY U.S. ad spend. In middle spots were Facebook, X, and Snapchat, with the latter two almost neck and neck.
As we mentioned above, Reddit isn’t an AI-free space. In fact, a lot of this ad growth is likely attributable to the company launching AI ad tools this year and riding that buzzword wave.
So what comes next? The answer probably won’t surprise you: Reddit’s looking to capitalize on all this traffic by becoming a prime search engine–namely through utiziling AI. (Sigh.)
During the platform’s Q2 earnings call, CEO Steve Huffman said that Reddit is “positioned to become a true search destination. We offer something special, a breadth of conversations and knowledge you can’t find anywhere else.”
He added that, at the time, Reddit’s search function had more than 70 million weekly users, and its AI search, “Reddit Answers,” was used by 6 million people.
Moving forward, Reddit wants to expand Reddit Answers globally. It’s already made good on plans to merge the default search box with Reddit Answers, so they’re both in the same place, and users can choose which one to utilize.
Like many other companies throwing everything at AI, Reddit is doing well right now. But what happens when the bubble bursts?
Filed under: Homepage Feature, reddit by James Hale Comments Off on Reddit’s ad revenue is growing faster than any other platform’s–thanks to the AI boom
TikTok Shop is making moves: In the wake of TikTok announcing its sale to a White House-approved group of buyers (which, btw, no big deal, includes Silver Lake, the private equity firm that just bought Electronic Arts in partnership with Donald Trump‘s son-in-law Jared Kushner), its commerce hub is announcing updates to tempt both sellers and buyers.
First and perhaps biggest is the debut of TikTok Shop gift cards.
Just in time for the holidays–although a little late for folks who actually have their lives together enough to buy gifts before the last minute–people can now send each other digital gift cards with values between $10 and $500.
The cards appear to specifically be for TikTok Shop, not a specific brand or the user’s overall account balance, where they could spend it on things like livestream gifts. That puts them in the realm of cards to other ecommerce platforms like Amazon or eBay, and makes them an admittedly appealing gift for hard-to-please recipients, and a catch-all for digital-savvy kids who usually get Robux cards in their stockings.
Aside from the potential revenue bump from gifting is the potential bump from disuse; we obviously don’t have TikTok-specific stats, but in the gift card world overall, tens of billions of dollars are spent by gifters, and then not spend by recipients. Data from Bankrate shows that 47% of U.S. adults have at least one unspent gift card, with an average value of $187. Not exactly small pocket change.
It’s worth noting TikTok is also gamifying these cards. Right now, users can outfit them with a variety of animated designs. But in 2026, TikTok plans to release updates that will let users attach video messages to cards, and will turn receiving the cards into an “interactive unboxing that captures their reaction in real-time,” a TikTok spokesperson told TechCrunch.
On the seller side, TikTok is offering to fund up to $6,000 in Shop coupons for new merchants who join the platform and start selling in December. Digidayreports TikTok is similarly gamifying these offerings, giving sellers “missions” that, if fulfilled, will get them extra perks. (Sellers don’t find out what these missions entail until they sign up.)
Aside from coupons, sellers are also being offered no joining fees and “the ability to earn up to $22,800, based on the gross merchandise value (GMV) they generate,” Digiday reports.
Basically, TikTok is telling sellers that if they join its platform, it’ll subsidize a portion of their sales, giving them greater earnings in those early months. It’s an enticing offer, and we’ll see how it plays out if and when new Shop data emerges.
As all this is happening, TikTok Shop’s future is not entirely secured. Details are still murky, but per a September report from Reuters, TikTok Shop isn’t part of TikTok’s overall U.S. sale—likely because Shop operates in regions outside of the U.S. According to that report, TikTok Shop will continue to be owned by ByteDance. Will that nix its ability to exist in the States? Probably not—but we can’t say for sure yet.
One thing, however, is certain: Until that day comes, TikTok will continue pushing its ecommerce behemoth and raking in as much cash as it can.
Filed under: Homepage Feature, TikTok by James Hale Comments Off on TikTok Shop tempts buyers and sellers alike with new gift cards and cash back
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. You can also download our YouTube 2025 Sponsorship Landscape Reporthere.
After a rare week absent from our top 5, MrBeast returns in form, sweeping not one, not two, but three spots on this week’s list–two of which bring eyeballs to his ongoing brand partner Jack Link’s.
While Le Beast is the dominating force in this latest Gospel Stats Weekly Brand Report, there are other creators here too! Dawson DIY continues our streak of smaller channels getting big Shorts deals, and we wrap up with a fond look back at one of 2021’s very best movies, Willy’s Wonderland. (No, we are not being ironic, and no, we will not take feedback at this time.)
Hey, you know content? You like content? Well, what if we made content…of content?
That idea has carried MrBeast‘s secondary channel MrBeast 2 for a while now. It’s become a pretty dependable pattern: He puts out a video on his main channel (usually a major production involving other creators and/or dozens of competitors)–and then, a few days later, the behind-the-scenes video hits MrBeast 2, capitalizing on the original video’s traffic and bringing yet more views (and ad revenue) to the Beast empire.
Here’s the latest example: This #1 video is a behind-the-scenes of another #1 MrBeast video from early November, 100 People Vs World’s Biggest Trap! And though this new video hasn’t quite reached the original’s 90 million views, it has scooped up a tidy 15+ million more–probably thanks to its clickbaity title invoking popular streamer IShowSpeed.
While the rest of MrBeast’s top videos this week are sponsored by Jack Link’s, this one is courtesy of Slack–the workplace software that maybe would’ve helped Beast HQ avoid some of the chaos created by a simple production miscommunication…..
This video is possibly the quintessential MrBeast content. Mass competition? Got it. Someone being chased? Check. Huge cash prize? Yup. Like MrBeast 2 has become a sort of behind-the-scenes channel, MrBeastGaming is the home for typical MrBeast-sized challenges. The only difference between these videos and the videos on MrBeast’s main channel? These take place in the digital world.
JudeLow stars in this competition, and has the chance to walk away with a crisp $25K if he can avoid 500 fellow Minecraft players for a whole hour. We won’t spoil–but we will say this comes to the ‘net thanks to Jack Link’s, which teamed up with MrBeast a couple months ago to launch official Beast-branded snacks into big box stores like Target just in time for stocking stuffing.
As we noted last week, smaller channels are increasingly being tapped for Shorts partnerships–especially partnerships that revolve around housekeeping and DIY improvements. That’s the case with Dawson DIY, which has 100,000 subscribers and snagged a deal with Craftsman to help turn an old mirror into a classy Christmas gift for his mom.
This partnership is well-timed not just for holidays, but because everyone’s feeling the financial squeeze right now–and it’s nice to have a reminder that there’s nothing wrong with thrifting or re-gifting. (Just make sure you take the price tag off.)
Jack Link’s gets double time on the Beast channels this week–and what’s worth noting about that is the brand has spots in both long-form and short-form content. Its spot in the long MrBeast Gaming video is relatively brief, more in line with a traditional YouTube ad roll. But, as is the case with many Shorts brand deals, this short-form video is entirely about the sponsoring brand’s product.
In this case, MrBeast’s meat. His deal with Jack Link’s repackages some classic flavors in MrBeast wrapping, which’ll give him holiday shelf space outside of Feastables‘ sizable presence in the candy aisle.
Hey kids! Are YOU interested in 90 minutes of Nicolas Cage not speaking a single word, getting mega crunked on energy drinks, and saving a bunch of spunky teenagers from William Afton & co a bunch of evil animatronics? No? Too bad. That’s what you get with Willy’s Wonderland, an absolute masterpiece of cinema that came out in 2021, a full two years before the official Five Nights at Freddy’s movie.
Now, no one from the Willy’s team has ever said their movie is a FNAF ripoff, but the similarities are enough to put the two in direct company. And we do mean company, not competition, because honestly? These films should be watched side by side. They are the ultimate double feature. While that is (in our opinion) the ideal way to watch this film, creator Allie Tricaso delves into Willy’s Wonderland by itself–and that’s cool, because we’re just glad people are still experiencing this film for the first time in 2025.
Tricaso’s adventure is sponsored by Chime, one of many financial services companies making YouTube a major part of their marketing plan. Chime sponsored a total of 4 videos this week, including Tricaso’s, #380, #1,127, and #2,312.
…and there’s a lot more data where that came from. If you like our Weekly Top 5, you’ll love everything else Gospel has to offer. Start with our newly released YouTube 2025 Sponsorship Landscape Report, which you can download right here.
