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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December was one of our biggest months here at the Gospel Stats Weekly Brand Report, with holiday sales fervor driving more sponsored videos than ever. We hit nearly 3,000 some weeks–but, now that commercially oriented winter holidays are over and the new year has arrived, we’re seeing things return to normal: just over 1,500 videos were uploaded this week. Another thing returning to normal? Science creators taking the top slots. We also have more double trouble this week–but instead of a creator getting two spots like last week, it’s a sponsor: Brilliant.
Check this week’s report out right here:
#1 Western Airsoft Battle Royale
Channel: Dude Perfect
Brand: Bodyarmor
Views: 3,635,991
For those craving a little Red Dead Redemption, longtime trickshot group Dude Perfect put together a fully stocked Western town that looks straight out of a John Wayne movie. The Dudes–Tyler Toney, Garrett Hilbert, Cody Jones, and brothers Coby and Cory Cotton–split into teams to take each other out across numerous challenges, complete with horseback riding, good old-fashioned dustups, and helpful townspeople trying to defeat dastardly villains. The five-man desert duel is (appropriately) sponsored by hydration brand Bodyarmor, which also sponsored #397 and #662 this week.
#2 How one man exposed your DNA
Channel: Veritasium
Brand: Brilliant
Views: 3,448,535
Kary Mullis was a surfer, a scientist, and–according to Veritasium, both an “LSD fiend” and “the weirdest person ever to win the Nobel Prize.” Like many other Veritasium videos, this one is sponsored by STEM education company Brilliant, which also paid for the video in our #3 spot. Also like many other Veritasium videos, this one delves into a piece of science history most viewers have probably brushed up against, but haven’t investigated in depth. In this case, Mullis helped to invent the tech that now allows us to take a very very tiny sample of a person’s DNA and spin it out into samples big enough to study. Pretty DNA-mazing.
#3 Making coffee from scratch (is hard)
Channel: NileBlue
Brand: Brilliant
Views: 2,912,262
What if we took the whole “if you stopped buying coffee from Starbucks you could save enough money to buy a house” thing and extrapolated it? What if, instead of buying any coffee, we just went out and made it ourselves? Well, turns out it would suck. For Brilliant’s second video this week, we have NileBlue showing us the science behind why processing raw coffee beans into a palatable cup of joe is far more difficult than most people think. We think we’ll just nip down to the corner store, thanks.
#4 The Best Self Defense Videos (w/ @kurtisconner)
Channel: Danny Gonzalez
Brand: ExpressVPN
Views: 2,665,911
Next time you get accosted by a bear in the woods, this latest video from Danny Gonzalez and Kurtis Conner won’t help you. However, it will help if you get accosted by a person. Maybe. In this video sponsored by ExpressVPN, these longtime buds react to “the best” self-defense videos on the internet. As one commenter puts it, this video is 20% self-defense and 80% Gonzalez and Conner giggling, so your mileage may vary, but there are some clips of self-defense situations. Whether they’ll be helpful or not…maybe book a class.
BONUS #747 This Drained lake is Loaded with Fishing Lures!!
Channel: Brendan Miller
Brand: HISEA
Views: 84,071
Magnet fishing and river bottom-scouring videos have been a popular genre on YouTube for years now, and Brendan Miller‘s channel is no exception. In this video, he gets a look at what’s left after a lake is drained, and it’s a fisherman’s dream. His adventure is sponsored by waterproof work gear brand HISEA.
…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.
