Top 5 Branded Videos of the Week: Cars, trains, and…pizza?

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.

Welcome back to our Gospel Stats Weekly Brand Report. If you’re a vehicle enthusiast, this week is for you–we’ve got frequent flyer Mat Armstrong back with another poor totaled Rolls Royce, Veritasium to explore the physics of railroad systems, and WhistlinDiesel with a no-holds-barred test of the Cybertruck‘s supposed invincibility. We’ve also got Drew Gooden with a crackdown on YouTube‘s AI thirst, and pizza enthusiast Charlie Anderson to share his experience opening his very own pie pop-up.

Check ’em all out right here:

#1 Whistlindiesel Cybertruck Durability Test #2
Channel: WhistlinDiesel
Brand: LF*GO!
Views: 10,593,034

As you may know, Cybertruck durability tests have historically gone…not very well for Tesla and its owner Elon Musk. But could this one be different? Offroad enthusiast WhistlinDiesel is no stranger to putting vehicles through their paces. He’s tested a Ferrari, a G-Wagon, monster trucks, a life-size remote-control tank (yes, really), and much more. All that is to say, he’s pretty tough on the toys in his garage. Whether or not Tesla’s famously fragile “truck” can compete–well, we won’t spoil. But we will say its high-octane adventures are appropriately sponsored by energy pouch company LF*GO!, which only paid for WhistlinDiesel’s vid this week.

#2 I BOUGHT A FLOOD DAMAGED ROLLS ROYCE CULLINAN & REBUILT IT IN 7 DAYS
Channel: Mat Armstrong
Brand: carVertical
Views: 7,777,469

Mat Armstrong is back and ready to rescue another Rolls Royce. Seeing these ultraluxury cars on his channel makes us cringe a little every time, not because we hate seeing Armstrong get ahold of them, but because we hate seeing what’s happened to cars worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. That is one appeal of Armstrong’s videos, though: they’re cathartic, letting viewers watch step by step as he returns a totaled car to its former glory. Like many of his previous restoration vids, this one is sponsored by crash history service carVertical

#3 Why Don’t Railroads Need Expansion Joints?
Channel: Veritasium
Brand: Saily
Views: 4,164,584

And last but not least on the vehicle-enthusiast front, we have something for the train fans. Veritasium is one of the biggest science channels on YouTube, and appears on our Weekly Brand Report at least twice a month. This week? He’s sharing the physics behind train tracks and why they keep those massive cars running smoothly, without any need for expansion joints (aka gaps that allow for the metal tracks to shift, expanding and contracting as needed–except it isn’t needed!). We’ll let him do the explaining, all sponsored by e-SIM brand Saily.

#4 YouTube is obsessed with AI
Channel: Drew Gooden
Brand: SoFi
Views: 3,406,154

It’s no secret: YouTube is BULLISH about AI. Since ChatGPT hit the market, CEO Neal Mohan has spent a lot of time talking up YouTube’s artificial intelligence ambitions, all while promising to keep creators at the center of any developments. But do creators actually want all the tools YouTube is bringing out? An AI song maker, AI comment summaries, AI livestream summaries, AI audio dub tracks…It’s a lot, and more is in the pipeline. Drew Gooden‘s SoFi-sponsored video is a comprehensive (and, as usually, dryly funny) look at what one creator thinks of the AI takeover.

BONUS #995 What I’ve Learned Running a Pizza Pop-Up For a Year
Channel: Charlie Anderson
Brand: LMNT
Views: 40,839

As digital content has become more and more of a solid career, we’re finding that more and more creators use the skills they build managing their channels to start managing their own brands. That’s exactly what Charlie Anderson did. His content is all about pizza, and so he, of course, decided to open his own pizza joint. Obviously that’s easier said than done, and Anderson didn’t sugar-coat. His 13-minute video chronicles the struggles and successes of running a pop-up restaurant. And one of those successes? Raising nearly $27,000 on Kickstarter to help make his shop Good Pizza Cleveland a permanent fixture.

…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.