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.
Subscribe for daily Tubefilter Top Stories
Our latest Gospel Stats Weekly Brand Report is staffed by the old guard: MrBeast, Veritasium, and Danny Gonzalez, accompanied by an interesting mix of sponsors. But we also have Druski back for a third straight week with his MTV-esque bachelor show Coulda Been Love, plus a new co-op game that puts a spin on sci-fi and fantasy.
Check ’em all out right here:
#1 Coulda Been Love Episode 4: Snow Bunnies
Channel: Druski
Brand: SeatGeek, PrizePicks
Views: 8,768,206
For the third week in a row, Druski is in our top 5 with his YouTube-first reality show Coulda Been Love. The show is doing massive numbers, and getting Druski’s name trending on soical media. But it’s not the only reason he’s trending. Just after our list came out last week, he was named in a lawsuit alongside Diddy and Odell Beckham Jr. The plaintiff alleges all three men assaulted her in 2018. Druski has denied involvement, and the news doesn’t appear to be affecting views for Coulda Been Love…yet.
#2 Something Strange Happens When You Trust Quantum Mechanics
Channel: Veritasium
Brand: NordVPN
Views: 7,255,161
Get ready for a mind-bender. In this week’s video, frequent top 5 maker Veritasium gets a little Everything Everywhere All at Once with it. As he explains, he’s spent decades studying physics, and because of it, thought all objects travel on one path through existence. That’s what physics taught him. But what if it’s not true? What if “everything is actually exploring all possible paths all at once”? We’re no scientists, so we’ll let Veritasium break down his thought process here, but we will say this 33-minute video (sponsored by frequent YouTuber partner NordVPN) is worth watching if you want to remember the universe is much, much bigger than what we’re experiencing right now.
#3 How I Trapped 100 People In 100 Circles
Channel: MrBeast 2
Brand: Lovesac
Views: 5,762,418
In last week’s report, MrBeast made spot #1 with a video about trapping 100 people in circles. This week he’s milking that concept even more, with a behind-the-scenes video showing the “insane” amount of work that went into making the original video possible. This upload is on one of his secondary channels, MrBeast 2, which ‘only’ has 50 million followers compared to the 374 million he has on his main account. That explains why, instead of the 80-120 million views we normally see on MrBeast videos, this one has ~5.7 million–an amount more in line with other YouTubers who make our list. It’s sponsored by furniture company Lovesac, which also got a shout-out in the original video for providing beanbags to contestants.
#4 I’M HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL
Channel: Danny Gonzalez
Brand: Pokémon
Views: 4,799,225
If you were around in 2006, you remember the sonic boom of High School Musical. Now, I was in middle school, so it was naturally a defining moment in my life. But even if you were older and/or not into listening to hormonal teens sing about their feelings, HSM left a cultural impression. And now Danny Gonzalez is here to give the definitive dissection of what High School Musical–not just the first movie, not just the second, but all three–did to us. His hourlong deep dive is sponsored by The Pokémon Company International, which may come as somewhat of a surprise, since Nintendo often seems more keen to copyright strike creators than partner with them.
BONUS #1,649 Split Fiction | The Best Co-op Game Ever Made?
Channel: PlayStationGrenade
Brand: Electronic Arts
Views: 35,691
It’s an old (and dare we say tired?) war: sci-fi writers versus fantasy writers. Who tells the most immersive, otherworldly stories? Who writes about the critical issues of our times through the lens of a campaigning kingdom or a distant, struggling planet? Who cares! What matters is that Split Fiction does something different. In this game (made by Hazelight Studios and published by video sponsor Electronic Arts), two authors–one sci-fi and one fantasy–become trapped in each other’s fictional worlds. The longer they remain immersed, the more their stories intertwine, putting them and their characters in danger. Split Fiction is co-op, with one player controlling fantasy author Zoe and the other controlling sci-fi author Mio. To survive, players must work together from their separate worlds–and hope to bring everything together.
…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.
