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 Report here.
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The holiday shopping adstravaganza is in full swing–but despite the many videos peddling stuff to put under the tree, our #1 video this week comes from a channel that’s decidedly less festive.
We won’t spoil any more than that (don’t look down. Don’t do it. Resist temptation.), but we’re guessing you won’t be surprised by the presence of this particular creator, who’s popped up on our top 5s several times this year. As for his company…check them all out below!
#1 How Police Captured Colorado’s Smartest Killer
Channel: Dr Insanity
Brand: Outskill
Views: 10,565,326
True crime has become one of the top content niches online, and a lot of that charge was led by Netflix, with slickly produced, attention-grabbing, and sometimes lurid specials like Making a Murderer, Tiger King, and Don’t F**k with Cats. But YouTube is also a home to true crime–and it has the speed-to-market advantage, with channels like Dr Insanity getting ahold of police and security camera footage sometimes just months after a crime took place, and using it to narrate the story for hungry viewers.
In this case, Dr Insanity covers the case of Kristil Krug, who was murdered by her husband Daniel. Dr Insanity’s coverage runs over an hour, detailing what led to Kristil’s death in December 2023 and Daniel’s conviction in April 2025.
Often with true crime channels, we see creators take sponsorships that at least loosely fit into the genre–things like cybersecurity companies and personal info protection apps, or self-defense lessons/products. But this video is sponsored by Outskill, an AI company that Dr Insanity promises will let viewers “Dive deep into AI and Learn Automations, Build AI Agents, Make videos & images – all for free!” That promise is followed up with letting viewers know that if they decided to “join and attend” Dec. 6 or 7, they’d get “Bonuses worth $5100+.” Yeah, okay…
#2 Try the new lighting effects from Govee celebrating Disney’s Zootopia 2 now playing in theaters
Channel: NickandCarrie
Brand: Zootopia 2 + maybe Govee?
Views: 5,438,862
Disney might be going after Google now that it’s best billion-dollar buds with OpenAI, but that doesn’t stop it from recognizing the power of YouTuber marketing. To pump up its latest sequel Zootopia 2, it tapped couple channel NickandCarrie.
Or at least…we think it did, because while this video does have a little automatic “Includes paid promotion” flag, it doesn’t have any of the other required disclosures. The video title spotlights both smart-light company Govee and Zootopia 2, but doesn’t say NickandCarrie are sponsored, and the video also has no description. It’s pretty clear to us that the clip is sponcon, but what about to other viewers? And is the sponsor Govee, or Zootopia 2? Both? We’re guessing both, since Govee partnered with Disney for Zootopia 2‘s launch, and for its part is offering custom lighting effects that users can display on all their home devices.
The content is doing numbers for Disney and Govee, but let this be a reminder: disclosures are not optional.
#3 Sierra is THE place to shop for all your active holiday gifts!
Channel: Chasing Sage
Brand: Sierra
Views: 9,638,545
We’ve been seeing it more and more: smaller channels getting hyperspecific brand deals that are steadily turning Shorts into an ad network. This week, it’s family vlog Chasing Sage and outdoor outfitters Sierra. The clip is only 27 seconds, and is cut like something we’d see on TV, with smiling kids, fresh snow, and a vicarious sledding day that’ll make you want to reach for hot chocolate. It’s homey family fun–lo-fi and (the magic word) authentic.
Something tells us Sierra is pleased–especially with the over 5 million views it’s racked up.
#4 Making lunch for 3 famous YouTubers #Sponsored #YouTubeRecap
Channel: Chef Tyler
Brand: YouTube
Views: 5,143,520
It’s rare that we see YouTube itself sponsoring content, but we’re not surprised this is the topic it chose for brand partnerships. As we wrote last week, YouTube used to produce annual year-end look-backs called Rewinds. That went down in flames in 2018, and after the initial surge of COVID shutdowns, YouTube announced it was no longer going to do Rewinds.
But, with podcast competitor Spotify basically owning the end of the year with its fancy, made-to-share-on-socials Wrapped, YouTube is back in the game. Instead of doing a single house-produced video, it’s doing–well, it’s doing Wrapped. Each user (as long as they don’t mess with their watch history in any way) will get a personalized Recap that shows them which creators they’ve been watching, their top niches, and more.
We didn’t have luck getting Recap to work, and some people who have accessed theirs have called it AI slop that’s not representative of their viewing habits. That doesn’t seem to be Chef Tyler‘s experience. He promoted Recap by making dishes for each of his three most-watched creators of 2025. At the risk of sounding clickbait-y, his #1 most watched will probably surprise you.
BONUS #3,442 A Real Life Bag of Holding!
Channel: Will Henry
Brand: Emberglow Gaming
Views: 140,027
Okay, yes, we know this slot was filled by Critical Role last week, so we’re doubling up on Dungeons & Dragons. But this ad was too nerd-cool for us to pass up, and–like Sierra’s ad Short–was made by a growing channel. Will Henry, tabletop gaming enthusiast, has been making sketch videos about D&D for a while now, and though his audience is small in number, they’re huge in passion.
And Emberglow Gaming knew they’re exactly who to target for one of its top products: A real-life Bag of Holding. In D&D, the Bag of Holding wraps around an extradimensional pocket, so the user can store things with no limit. While that’s not possible IRL (yet), Emberglow got as close as it could by making a bag built to hold everything your local tireless Dungeon Master could need. There are clips for a gaming mat, pockets for dice and miniatures, a water bottle holder, and more.
Look, we just think this is rad. This is a company that knows its niche and is making functional products for the people enjoying it. We could all use more human creativity these days, and brands enabling that creativity are what we like to see.
…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.
