Top 5 Branded Videos of the Week: Cheaters, consoles, and ‘Lethal Company’

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.

Joe Rogan has dropped out of our top 5 after dominating last week’s list, making way for YouTube OGs like Linus Tech Tips, Wendigoon, and some good old ASMR. But that doesn’t mean he batted zero over the last seven: he’s in at spots #26 and #29. We expect him to be a pretty familiar face on our Gospel Stats Weekly Brand Reports if he keeps hanging around people involved in the Trump administration (and the social media CEOs who want its approval). For now, though, our top 5s are quite the collection, from a take on Nintendo‘s next console to how narcotics-selling cartels transport their goods and a cheating investigation worth of early 2000s MTV.

Check ’em all out right here:

#1 I Hate Nintendo and I’m Buying a Switch 2 IMMEDIATELY
Channel: Linus Tech Tips
Brand: dbrand
Views: 4,262,571

Nintendo‘s handheld Switch console changed the game (no pun intended) for legions of video game enthusiasts. But the Switch has some notable issues, so folks have been looking forward to its inevitable descendent–which they hoped would surpass the predecessor. But when Nintendo announced the uncreatively named Switch 2 earlier this month, there was an instant wave of criticism. Nintendo’s stock even dropped. But Linus Tech Tips–despite loathing Nintendo–thinks the console might be worth picking up. We’ll let him give you his reasons, all sponsored by tech customization company dbrand. (Now, let’s just hope Nintendo doesn’t copyright claim his video…)

#2 The Genius Design of Narco Submarines
Channel: fern
Brand: Brilliant
Views: 3,279,040

When you say “cartel smuggling,” most people tend to think of clandestine desert operations with trucks stuffed full of wrapped packs of drugs. And when you say “submarines,” it conjures images of ocean warfare and exploration. Now forget those two images entirely, and smush together the  ideas of “cartel” and “submarines,” and you’ve got fern‘s latest video. Some high-tech drug smugglers are using deep-sea diving vessels to transport their wares around the world, and it turns out these subs are pretty cool pieces of technology. fern’s rundown is sponsored (appropriately) by online course company Brilliant

#3 The Dark Story & Lore of Lethal Company
Channel: Wendigoon
Brand: Factor
Views: 3,142,359

Lethal Company was one of the top games of 2023. Made by a single person, it went big almost immediately after launching. It hits the same notes as Among Us: a group of friends can log in and face danger together…or be the danger to each other. In Lethal, players work for a mysterious corporation that sends them into abandoned buildings to recover anything valuable. Surely that’s not so bad. Surely there aren’t monsters around every corner. Right? Right. And in this video, Wendigoon runs down the history of all those totally-not-monsters, offering a comprehensive look at the lore sponsored by meals-by-mail company Factor.

#4 Is Her Boyfriend Secretly Into Her Friends? | UDY Loyalty Test
Channel: UDY
Brand: Aura
Views: 2,774,327

As long as there have been relationships, there’s been cheating. And as long as there’s been TV, there’s been people who love catching cheaters live on camera. MTV cornered the market back in the early 2000s, but now we have YouTube, and it’s DIY cheat-busting all the way, baby. UDY has built a 7 million subscriber channel by setting up situations to catch cheating boyfriends and girlfriends–and its latest episode (sponsored by digital safety company Aura) welcomes guest Grace, who wants to see if her boyfriend will flirt with another girl. We won’t spoil whether or not he fails the test, but we will say this ep has a twist ending that’s almost certaintly contributing to its steadily growing view count.

BONUS #1,170 Tingly ASMR Pamper with Nostalgic Wooden Items
Channel: Karuna Satori ASMR
Brand: Scentbird
Views: 60,931

Last up, our bonus vid this week–in keeping with the vintage theme–is ASMR sponsored by perfume subscription company Scentbird. Karuna Satori has over a million subscribers on her channel, and this half-hour-long video is a prime example of her craft. ASMR might not be as dominating a force as it once was, but it still has a strong foothold on YouTube–and Scentbird is right on trend sponsoring it. Karuna isn’t the only channel on Scentbird’s bankroll this week: It also sponsored videos #50, #323, #415, #425, #572, #657, and #977.

…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.