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.

After two solid weeks of Alan Chikin Chow domination, usual top 5s MrBeast and Veritasium are back on our list, along with a couple newcomers–both sports-related–and the king of all horse girls trying something we definitely do not recommend trying at home.

Check it all out right here:

#1 $1 vs $1,000,000,000 Nuclear Bunker!
Channel: MrBeast
Brand: Feastables
Views: 82,379,995

Billionaire bunker tours are somewhat of a thing on YouTube, with folks like MrBeast, Ryan Trahan, Airrack, and Jack Pembroke using their platforms to prop open the doors of underground shelters built by rich people who think they’re gonna have a good time when the world ends. In most cases, these bunkers are ultraluxe, with amenities like swimming pools, sprawling gyms, movie theaters, and bowling alleys. But in this case, MrBeast is doing a bit of a Worth It twist by starting with a $1 bunker (aka a broken shipping container half-buried in the dirt) and going all the way up to the U.S. Space Force’s Cheyenne Mountain Complex. And, of course, this video is sponsored by Feastables and its new limited-edition hazelnut cups.

#2 Every Haaland Pass = $100 💵
Channel: John Nellis
Brand: FotMob
Views: 29,399,587

John Nellis‘s channel pitch? “I complete football side quests so you don’t have to.” And in this Short, the side quest in question is one that benefits a Nellis subscriber. He heads to a Manchester City game and agrees to shell out $100 every time star striker Erling Haaland gets a pass. We won’t spoil how high the number went, but we will say Nellis’s wallet is hurting a little less thanks to sponsor FotMob, which is a gameday companion app for soccer enthusiasts and also sponsored video #1,594 this week.

#3 Exposing Why Farmers Can’t Legally Replant Their Own Seeds
Channel: Veritasium
Brand: Incogni
Views: 7,899,906

For this week’s video, Veritasium launched a full-scale investigation into Monsanto, an agricultural biotechnology company that makes pesticides and was acquired by Bayer in 2018 for $63 billion. In true Veritasium STEM style, he goes into the history of pesticides, from one man who wanted to prevent his kids’ suffering with poison ivy to the use of Agent Orange. Then he tackles “The Crop Mafia”–and the systems that keep modern farmers from planting what they want, when they want, and limits the amount of food they can grow. This hourlong video is the sort of stuff you’d see on 60 Minutes–and, like most things these days, you can see it on YouTube first.

#4 F1 Driver Goes Undercover in Amateur Kart Race
Channel: Quadrant
Brand: NordVPN
Views: 5,689,413

We usually talk individual creators when it comes to YouTube, but there are mainstream media companies there vying for viewers–and, in Quadrant‘s case, succeeding. The motorsports company (which says it covers “apparel, athletes, content and partnerships”) joined the ranks of YouTubers being sponsored by NordVPN this week with a video that puts Formula 1 upstart Ollie Bearman in full prosthetics and undercover at a local go-kart race. Bearman has been racing competitively for most of his life…so what will it look like when he’s up against total beginners? And what happens when his fellow racers realize who’s behind the wheel?

BONUS #1,916 Eating HORSE FOOD to become the ULTIMATE HUMAN STEED
Channel: Uwos Lab
Brand: War Thunder
Views: 59,576

Horse girl gacha game Umamusume: Pretty Derby started going viral a few months ago. It’s what it sounds like: You gacha roll for cute girls with horse ears and level them up in races. But what if someone wanted to level up in real life? That’s the question only Uwos Lab is brave enough to answer. In this video, he sets out to turn himself into the ULTIMATE HUMAN STEED by taste-testing horse treats. God, we love the internet.

…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.

Filed under: Articles, Brands, Featured, Homepage Feature, News by James Hale
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If there’s one thing everyone in our industry can agree on, it’s this: Creators are innovators. And a recent spate of practical products from YouTubers like Linus Tech Tips, JerryRigEverything, Jonathan Katz-Moses, and Hacksmith Industries have shown us, once again, that creators don’t just innovate in digital video.

Hacksmith Industries has grown his channel to 15.4 million subscribers and ~20 million views a month by recreating engineering marvels from films–think the Power Loader from Alien, a Star Wars lightsaber, an Iron Man suit, and John Wick’s bulletproof suit. All of these recreations are functional (or at least semi-functional), but they’re usually massive, heavy, and expensive one-of-a-kind items, so fans have to admire from afar.

But Hacksmith’s latest work is something they can get their hands on, and fans have helped personally chip in millions of dollars so far to do just that.

Introduced through a Kickstarter campaign that launched Aug. 6, Hacksmith’s Smith Blade is a 21-in-1 everyday carry tool whose star is a blade made of M390. That’s a steel Hacksmith says is “produced in Germany through a process called powder metallurgy that seems almost like science fiction, there’s a reason why it can literally cut other knives in half.”

Also included are wire strippers, tweezers, a bottle opener, a protractor and ruler, a pry bar, Phillips- and flat-head screwdrivers, a pen, a sewing awl, an illuminator that glows thanks to radioactive tritium, a fire striker, an emergency glass breaker, and more. It’s also got one patent pending feature: a storage slot for 4mm drill bits.

“Whether you’re a hands-on maker, or perhaps a mom or dad who is expected to know how to fix anything and everything, the Smith Blade is built to be there when it matters most,” Hacksmith wrote in the Kickstarter description. “From household repairs to backwoods camping…from writing that note when nobody else has a pen, to playing family IT guy or ‘certified’ DIY electrician swapping a light switch, it’s got you covered.”

The campaign priced the Smith Knife at around ~$200 a pop for the “standard” version. There are both cheaper and more expensive options, too. (It’s priced around what his competitors, like Leatherman, charge for their products.) Hacksmith’s goal? To bring in around $180,000 for the first production run.

Instead, his campaign tallied up ~36,600 backers, who handed him $10,636,050.

“Wow! We thought this campaign would do well but it has already exceeded all of our expectations,” Hacksmith wrote in an Aug. 19 update. “We’ve already become the most funded EDC ever, the most funded knife ever, the most funded Canadian Kickstarter project ever…and we’re in the top 25 most funded projects of all time, period, across all categories!”

The campaign is now officially over, but is still taking orders. This is a clear case of a creator making an innovative product with appeal beyond his fans. We’re betting a lot of the early funding and word-of-mouth oomph came from Hacksmith’s YouTube viewers, but it’s clear from the amount of money raised and from comments on his updates that not everyone knew about his YouTube content before encountering the Smith Knife. It’s a product born of his engineering prowess with appeal for the people who watch his content, but the performance of its Kickstarter campaign proves it has broader appeal.

He’s not the only creator to prove this. Linus Tech Tips‘ ratcheting multi-bit screwdriver sold 103,000 units—$7.2 million worth–in just three months. Meanwhile woodworking YouTuber Jonathan Katz-Moses got a $2 million investment from Slow Ventures, the first investment to come out of its $60 million Creator Fund. JerryRigEverything made his own knife selling for $20 ($150 if you want it gold-plated).

What ties these products together? They’re all functional, for use by everyday people and expert craftsmen. We know YouTubers are often experts when it comes to their interests–now they’re turning that expertise into multimillion-dollar products.

Filed under: Creator, Homepage Feature by James Hale
Comments Off on YouTube’s Hacksmith just raised $10 million on Kickstarter

[Editor’s Note: Tubefilter Charts is a weekly rankings column from Tubefilter with data provided by GospelStats. It’s exactly what it sounds like; a top number ranking of YouTube channels based on statistics collected within a given time frame. Check out all of our Tubefilter Charts with new installments every week right here.]

Scroll down for this week’s Tubefilter Chart. 👇

This week, three different YouTube channels added at least one million new subscribers. Two of those channels added approximately one million, while the third added four million new subs. You can probably guess who the person lapping the field is: That’s right, it’s MrBeast himself.

MrBeast may not actually own the NFL, but he owns YouTube. His platform-leading subscriber count is now up to 432 million, but there’s at least one interesting question we can ask regarding his dominance: Will an upstart from another platform be able to approach his level of star status?

Ibai has conquered Twitch. Now he’s coming for the YouTube crown.

At age 30, Bilbao, Spain native Ibai Llanos has already accomplished quite a bit. He has founded his own esports company, set Twitch records with his influencer boxing series La Velada del Año, and been named by Forbes as Spain’s most prominent content creator.

Ibai likes to keep himself busy, so it’s understandable for his YouTube output to be sporadic. Until recently, the most popular uploads on his self-titled YouTube hub have been VODs of various Velada del Año fights.

Fresh off the fifth edition of his boxing bash — which once again obliterated his own record for the most concurrent Twitch viewers — Ibai has gotten busy on YouTube. He has uploaded long-form videos that wouldn’t look out of place on the Sidemen channel while also increasing his output on YouTube Shorts.

Those uploads are starting to draw a big crowd. During the first week of September, Ibai added 400,000 new subscribers, bringing his total tally above 14 million. That was good enough to reach 28th place in the Global Sub Top 50, and Ibai is still going strong. His most recent long-form video, an ode to Peruvian food, already has 2.5 million views just three days after its initial upload date.

Ibai is not the only Twitch star to make a name for himself on YouTube. Big-name streamers like Kai Cenat and iShowSpeed have recently cracked our charts, with their established fanbases moving over to their respective long-form video hubs en masse.

In general, it feels as if the worlds of YouTube and Twitch are moving closer together. Cultures that once felt distinct are now sharing top creators, trends, and tentpoles with each other. Ibai is one of the people participating in that widespread cultural absorption. On Twitch, he draws from influencer boxing stars like Jake Paul, but on YouTube, as I mentioned, he takes inspiration from on-platform leaders like the Sidemen.

Gaming videos are largely responsible for the merger of Twitch and YouTube culture. Twitch has long held a status as a haven for gamers, and titles like Minecraft and Roblox are big on YouTube as well. That’s how we got channels like outwork (#18) and Team Lily (#39) in this week’s Global Sub Top 50.

How big has gaming gotten on YouTube Shorts? Consider this: OneMinute_Gamer, a channel that didn’t exist at this time last year, is now one of the most most-subscribed hubs of the week across all of YouTube.

Data via Gospel Stats

Ibai’s connections to the esports world give him a foothold in digital gaming communities, even as he explores a diverse breadth of video topics and categories. He is perfectly set up for a big push on YouTube if he feels like setting his mind to it.

And if he doesn’t, I get it. Putting together all those record-breaking Veladas del Año takes a lot of work.

Channel Distribution

Here’s a breakdown of the Top 50 Most Viewed channels this week in terms of their countries of origin:

• India: 17
• United States: 8
• Hong Kong: 4
• Indonesia: 3
• Pakistan and Spain: 2
• Argentina, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Israel, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Peru, South Korea, Taiwan, United Arab Emirates, and United Kingdom: 1

This week, 40 channels in the Top 50 are primarily active on YouTube Shorts.

As always, keep up to speed with the latest Tubefilter Charts and all our news by subscribing to our newsletter. You’re going to love it. 👉  Newsletter.Tubefilter.com.

Filed under: Articles, Homepage Feature, News, Statistics, statistics, YouTube, Youtube Chart by Sam Gutelle
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[Editor’s Note: Tubefilter Charts is a weekly rankings column from Tubefilter with data provided by GospelStats. It’s exactly what it sounds like; a top number ranking of YouTube channels based on statistics collected within a given time frame. Check out all of our Tubefilter Charts with new installments every week right here.]

Scroll down for this week’s Tubefilter Chart. 👇

If you want to reach the #1 spot in our Global Top 50, you have to be a pro — a KIMPRO, that is. The Korean short-form hub returned to its usual perch atop our viewership ranking after collecting 1.75 billion weekly YouTube views at the start of September.

Last week’s #1 finisher, Sierra and Rhia FAM, dropped down to second place in this week’s chart. The other two channels with at least one billion weekly views both upload videos that depict mechanical gadgets. Cool Items is representing China in third place, while India’s CurioVerse is in fourth.

Religious YouTube videos are getting polytheistic

If you’re a regular reader of this column, you may be familiar with the wave of religious channels that have cracked the Global Top 50, often by using generative AI to depict God and Jesus. That phenomenon, strange as it may be, is not going away any time soon. In fact, it is now expanding to faiths outside the Judeo-Christian tradition.

Uljhan Suljhan, the #48 channel in this week’s Global Top 50, is one of the hubs expanding the scope of religious content on YouTube Shorts. Though its short-form library spans a multitude of genres, there is a common thread linking several of the channel’s top-performing Shorts: The Hindu deity Sri Krishna.

Krishna is a major deity who has been depicted many times in film and television, and Uljhan Suljhan uses some of those portrayals to bring theological YouTube content to life. The channel’s most-watched video, which has more than 86 million views, posits that an eight-year-old boy has a spiritual link with Sri Krishna.

These videos do good work for Uljhan Suljhan, which collected 459.6 million weekly views to bring its lifetime YouTube tally above six billion. It’s nice to see religious YouTube videos get popular without AI assistance.

But even without AI enhancements, videos like these still tie into other short-form trends. Remember those gadget channels I discussed in the intro? They get billions of weekly views by depicting mechanical processes and crafty projects undertaken by creative individuals.

To find the link between that category and YouTube’s theological genre, all we need to do is look one channel below Uljhan Suljhan in the chart. In 49th place, we find MZKtricks-1, a channel that got 440 million weekly views at the start of September. The craftspeople depicted in MZK’s most-watched Shorts use their building skills to create miniature worlds that feel divinely inspired. It’s only a short logical leap from those videos to the fanciful depictions of Sri Krishna that make Uljhan Suljhan’s Shorts shine.

Data via Gospel Stats

Sure, this might be a bit of a stretch, but I’m looking for any logic that can explain YouTube Shorts’ sudden turn toward religious topics, and this is the best idea I can come up with. Both crafty videos and theological videos appeal to viewers’ senses of wonder and imagination. If they have that in common, and they’re both capable of generating billions of YouTube views, why not combine multiple genres on a single channel?

Channel Distribution

Here’s a breakdown of the Top 50 Most Viewed channels this week in terms of their countries of origin:

• India: 17
• United States: 14
• Hong Kong: 6
• Australia, Canada, and Indonesia: 2
• China, Germany, Japan, Pakistan, South Korea, Spain, and Tanzania: 1

This week, 44 channels in the Top 50 are primarily active on YouTube Shorts.

As always, keep up to speed with the latest Tubefilter Charts and all our news by subscribing to our newsletter. You’re going to love it. 👉  Newsletter.Tubefilter.com.

Filed under: Articles, Homepage Feature, News, statistics, Statistics, YouTube, Youtube Chart by Sam Gutelle
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Week one of the 2025 NFL season is in the books, and YouTube is touting the healthy results of its first exclusive gridiron broadcast. The platform’s coverage of the Brazil-set tilt between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Los Angeles Chargers drew an average-minute-audience of 17.3 million, according to data from Nielsen.

That was a big enough viewership total to set a new record for the most-watched live stream in YouTube history. A YouTube rep confirmed that the viewership number includes YouTube and YouTube TV, local over-the-air distributors for in-market teams, and NFL+.

By NFL standards, however, YouTube’s traffic was fairly pedestrian. The opening game of the 2025 slate, which took place the night before YouTube’s broadcast, hauled in a Nielsen rating of 28.3 million across NBC networks and Peacock. In 2024, the average NFL broadcast reached 17.5 million viewers, though that season’s Brazil game had 16% fewer viewers than YouTube’s exclusive.

So from a ratings perspective, YouTube was right on the money. The Google-owned platform proved that it could handle NFL-sized viewership without encountering major technical hiccups (looking at you, Netflix). The improved results over last year’s Brazil game could pave the way for future NFL exclusives on YouTube.

YouTube’s audience may have been typical NFL traffic, but the broadcast itself was far from ordinary. The on-air team offered an eclectic mix of media personalities, retired football players, and creators, with MrBeast’s introductory video setting the tone from the first minute of the stream. In general, the coverage felt looser and more irreverent than a typical NFL broadcast. Derek Carr did his Jon Gruden impression during pre-game analysis, Cam Newton stole the show at halftime with a ridiculous outfit, and Deestroying roamed the sidelines to offer a fan’s perspective.

If you’re a fan of YouTube and its community of homegrown creators, segments like that one felt like appropriate homages to the host platform. YouTube draws some of its disruptive power from its ability to peel back the curtain and offer a more personal connection between entertainers and fans, so it felt right that YouTube’s take on an NFL game involved human cannons, iShowSpeed commentary, and ad-libbed moments.

As fitting as that approach may have been, it wasn’t for everyone. In particular, MrBeast’s outsized presence drew the ire of many football fans. In widely shared posts on X, the broadcast’s semi-regular throws to MrBeast were compared to force-feeding and other forms of torture. More astute critics questioned whether creators like MrBeast and iShowSpeed possess enough ball knowledge to make meaningful contributions to an NFL broadcast.

YouTube could have limited the creator cameos, but then its NFL coverage would feel the same as what you’d get on any other network. In other words, the platform is caught in the same tug-of-war that has been part of its identity from its early days to the present: It must figure out how to strike a balance between creators and traditional celebrities, even in cases when those two broad fanbases don’t overlap. Hopefully, YouTube will get more chances to find the right mix on future NFL exclusives.

As for the game itself? Justin Herbert led his Chargers to an upset win over the Chiefs. Herbert has collabed with creators himself, so maybe the YouTube community has more in common with the game of football than the haters seem to think.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Homepage Feature, News, NFL by Sam Gutelle
Comments Off on YouTube’s NFL broadcast was a distinctive, record-breaking show, but some fans weren’t so enthused

Each week, we handpick a selection of stories to give you a snapshot of trends, updates, business moves, and more from around the creator industry.

This week, a $40 million campaign reached its conclusion, a creator event took place in New York, and a cheeky chicken lover made a big move in London.

Creator commotion

MrBeast’s #TeamWater tops out at $40 million. After joining forces with Mark Rober to address the earth’s forests and oceans, MrBeast got charitable once again to address the global water crisis — and he successfully reached his lofty fundraising goal. Thanks to the campaign’s massive tally, Water Aid will be able to distribute potable drinking water to communities in need across the globe.

Good Good is launching its own golf club. In this case, the word “club” refers to a social group organized via Discord, not a literal piece of golf equipment. In addition to weekly rounds, the Good Good Golf Club will offer everything from video game challenges to fantasy football to merch giveaways. Not bad for one of YouTube’s favorite golfer groups.

Kai Cenat confirms that Streamer University is coming back in 2026. There were already rumors that Cenat would bring back his college-set creator gathering, and he offered an official announcement via a newsdesk set up at his Mafiathon 3 streaming event. You can’t deny that the guy is full of creativity, especially when it comes to reveals like this.

Events and happenings

Colin and Samir made headlines with a one-day conference in Brooklyn. With Press Publish NYC, your favorite creator’s favorite creators fashioned their brand into a boutique, curated industry event. It was a place where attendees could “build connections, cultivate creativity and find inspiration,” as Colin and Samir put it in a statement.

The host of Chicken Shop Date is ringing in her longevity alongside her fans. On September 26 and 27, Amelia Dimoldenberg will celebrate ten years of her chicken-fried talk show with her first live event. The venue hosting the bash is fittingly named Protein Studios.

The next big creator economy conference is kicking off in Madrid. A get-together called CreatorHub will unite Europe’s videomaking community in September. A partner app called Luffa has been launched in advance. I’m hoping attendees will catch sight of Spanish megastars like Ibai and TheGrefg — or at least get the chance to snack on some tasty tapas.

Eric Ochoa is pivoting into the world of stand-up comedy. Old-school YouTube fans will remember the SUPEReeeGO channel as a source of hilarious sketch comedy and skits. The man behind that hub, Eric Ochoa, is set to host a stand-up show at the Spotlight29 casino on September 19.

Movers and shakers

Patreon taps a TikTok vet to pursue partnerships with top creators. In roles at the Ad Council and TikTok, Lina Renzina forged connections with a rising class of digital influencers. Those relationships will serve her well as she moves on to Patreon, where she will be the new Head of Top Creator Management.

Generative AI startup Promise names Michelle Slavich as its CMO. Slavich, a longtime public relations operations at major platforms like YouTube and Netflix, will head up marketing efforts at a buzzy new company that wants to bring genAI into the entertainment industry. Alongside Slavich, Promise has also added Tyler Mitchell and Mariana Acuña Acosta to its leadership team.

The biz

The Ninja Kidz are kicking it at a well-known New Jersey mall. The father-and-daughter duo of Jordan and Salish Matter will join the Ninja Kidz as they celebrate the opening of a new Action Park at the American Dream mall. MrBeast’s appearance at American Dream was a memorable day — and the Ninja Kidz are good bets to draw big crowds of their own.

Keith Lee reheats The Reheat alongside sponsor Microsoft. In the branded web series, Lee visits restaurants that saw their popularity explode after the TikTok-famous food critic gave them positive reviews. Season two of the show is on the way as both Lee and Microsoft look to uplift Black- and Latino-owned businesses.

Marks & Spencer has a new web series? Love That. When did web series become cool again? I don’t know, but brands are eager to get back in on this revived trend. Love That will focus on some of Marks & Spencer’s most fashionable pieces, with celebrity stylist Melissa Holdbrook-Akposoe hosting.

The internet is a strange place

Druski’s whiteface routine was certainly polarizing. I understand that people have varied opinions about Druski’s decision to dress up as a lilly-white country bumpkin, complete with a coat of flesh-colored paint. But whether you love this idea or hate it, I think we can all agree that the makeup was shockingly realistic and well done.

Valkyrae used birdsong to get a cameo in a video game. While chatting with the developer of Waterpark Simulator, the streaming star imitated bird calls to convince the dev that her sound effects belonged in the game. These days, when a creator asks to be in a game, the powers that be typically oblige them, and this episode is no exception.

A Japanese VTuber agency is letting you rent a virtual grandma. Do you need some sage advice, but you don’t have any real-life wise elders to turn to? Just rent a VTuber granny who can dispense her pixelated wisdom unto you. I just hope she doesn’t encounter technical difficulties when she gets sto the moral of the story.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Homepage Feature, News by Sam Gutelle
Comments Off on Have you heard? #TeamWater makes a splash, Colin and Samir press publish, and you can go on a ‘Chicken Shop Date’.

Forget the Wells Fargo Wagon — the hot new vehicle connecting with shoppers across the United States is Facebook‘s custom Airstream. Representatives from the Meta-owned platform are hopping into their big blue van for a six-city road trip that will highlight various community-focused features that are available on Facebook.

The tour began with a kickoff event at Melrose Trading Post in Los Angeles. At that activation, as with the successive stops on the cross-country swing, Facebook offered a mix of Marketplace deals and activities led by creators. Sellers like Justin Miller hawked vintage wares that are typically sold through Facebook’s popular ecommerce hub, while photographer Thalía Gochez used cosmetic Marketplace purchases to refresh attendees’ profile pictures.

In other words, the tour is like a Facebook-ified version of Antiques Roadshow. Upcoming stops include Boulder, Dallas, Nashville, and New York City.

Facebook’s emphasis on Marketplace is no surprise, especially when you consider Gen Z’s established affinity for secondhand shopping. That trend inspired Pinterest to open up a virtual Thrift Shop, but Facebook has found a way to one-up the competition: It’s delivering those pre-owned finds to real-world locations across the country. Attendees who visit the Facebook Airstream while it’s parked will be able to step into a Remix Lab, where dated garments can be refashioned into upcycled looks.

The coast-to-coast swing is also part of a recent wave of multi-city event series led by digital media companies and platforms. At the start of the college football season, for example, Culture Media kicked off a college campus tour that will visit some of the most storied football venues in the United States.

The increasing frequency of these tours speaks to the widespread nature of today’s creator industry. Social media content isn’t just a Los Angeles and New York thing anymore. Cities like Dallas are becoming creator hotbeds as well, so companies are hitting the road to meet their communities wherever they reside.

Meta sees creators as key players in its plan to revive the joy of old-school Facebook. Events like the one at Melrose Trading Post show what that spirit looks like. If you want to join the fun, keep your eyes peeled for a bright blue Airstream.

Filed under: Articles, Facebook, Featured, Homepage Feature, News by Sam Gutelle
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Sesame Street has been active on YouTube for nearly 20 years, and it’s not leaving that territory anytime soon. Thanks to a multifaceted deal between the Sesame Workshop and its longtime host platform, YouTube will add “hundreds of full episodes” of Sesame Street as well as seminars that will teach creators how to create impactful children’s content.

The official Sesame Street YouTube channel dates back to January 2006, making it one of the oldest brand hubs on the Google-owned video site. Since then, Sesame Street has surpassed numerous round-number milestones. It has collected 28 billion lifetime YouTube views while attracting nearly 28 million subscribers.

Thanks to the latest expansion of Sesame Street‘s YouTube presence, those numbers will soar even higher. The raft of episodes coming to YouTube includes some “classic” installments of the 56-year-old educational TV franchise. Those blasts from the past will live alongside YouTube-exclusive content, which Sesame Workshop will continue to produce. So if you liked Elmo’s collab with Toys and Colors earlier this year, you’re in luck.

YouTube’s Sesame Workshop partnership will also extend to its creator community. The nonprofit — which performs extensive research related to topics like childhood development and early education — will share its secrets with channel owners who want to produce “content that is entertaining while also promoting learning.”

The deal stands to benefit both parties. Sesame Street will deepen its YouTube presence after ending its deal with HBO last year. Netflix stepped in to provide a new streaming home for the beloved program, but two months before the premiere of new Sesame Street episodes, YouTube solidified itself as the go-to source for reruns from the show’s golden age.

For YouTube, deals of this nature are uncommon, as the platform is not known for buying scripted shows that previously premiered on linear networks. Changing times, however, require changing strategies. Deals like Netflix’s agreement with Ms. Rachel and the Disney+ CoComelon coup show that major streaming services are eager to poach the top-performing children’s shows on YouTube. The Sesame Street pact shores up YouTube and preserves its reputation as a favorite destination of Gen Alpha consumers.

But the deal is not just about competition with other platforms. With statutes like COPPA in effect, platforms like YouTube are awash in regulatory scrutiny. That’s why they’ve committed to measures that will steer kids toward more beneficial content. With that mission in mind, classic Sesame Street episodes seem like the perfect videos for today’s youth to watch.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Homepage Feature, News, YouTube Kids by Sam Gutelle
Comments Off on Want to make good kids’ videos? YouTube can tell you how to get to Sesame Street.

In MrBeast‘s ideal future, everyone watches his videos. But it’s not just that. Everyone also eats a Lunchly at noon and a Feastables bar after dinner. When kiddos whine for a toy at the store, it’s a Swarm figurine that gets put into their palms. MrBeast Burger might also have been part of this future, had things not gone sour with its ghost kitchen operator. That experience hasn’t put MrBeast off trying to establish a foothold in more industries, though: According to a leaked pitch deck, he also wants people to drink MrBeast-branded beverages, manage their money with MrBeast-branded fintech, crank out some levels in MrBeast-branded games, do self-care with MrBeast-branded wellness, and—perhaps most interestingly—plug their cell phones into the MrBeast mobile network.

The pitch deck, verified and reviewed by Business Insider, is part of Beast Industries‘ bid to raise fresh funding at a $5 billion valuation. Bloomberg previously reported the company has made most of its profit, around $20 million, from $270 million in Feastables sales. The video half of his business, which covers his YouTube channels and Prime Video‘s Beast Games, was $80 million in the red as of March 2025.

With that in mind, it’s obvious why MrBeast (aka Jimmy Donaldson) is trying to build out a web of moneymaking opportunities. And while he is, we think, the first content creator to get deep into plans for his own cell company, he’s not the only celebrity to do it.

There’s Ryan Reynolds‘ Mint Mobile and SmartLess Mobile from actor trio Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, and Will Arnett (named after their podcast). Most recently, there’s Trump Mobile, announced in June and aiming to capture the SIM cards of MAGA enthusiasts.

These mobile brands, while run by vastly different people, all have one thing in common: they are renting airspace from major cell companies like Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T, branding it under their own names, and selling it. MrBeast isn’t going to splash billions building the massive infrastructure needed to become a new nationwide carrier; instead, his network will be–like Mint, SmartLess, and Trump Mobile–a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO).

Being an operator/provider instead of a carrier has big perks. The Beast team won’t have to shell out for hardware maintenance (sorry to electricians out there who wanted to scramble up cell towers with MrBeast logos plastered across their harnesses), and due to the growing popularity of MVNOs, there are businesses offering outsourcing for things like customer service and billing.

Alex Besen, an MVNO consultant, told Business Insider the “ultimate objective” is for MrBeast to focus on marketing and sales, and outsource everything else.

That outsourcing process starts with snagging a deal from one of the aforementioned major carriers. It’s too early to know which company that might end up being, but it’s worth noting T-Mobile bought Mint Mobile for over $1 billion, and has previously sponsored Donaldson.

STOP THE CRANE! @MrBeast just announced T-Mobile as his new wireless partner 👉 https://t.co/C1fg9xUdcj pic.twitter.com/oM6FMxOf2Q

— T-Mobile (@TMobile) April 27, 2024

So…will this work out for him?

It’s possible. Reynolds drew a lot of traffic to Mint with cheap plans and no-B.S. marketing with promises to be different from the big guys, but he somewhat lost that goodwill when he sold out to T-Mobile. MrBeast might not be commanding billions at the box office in a red-and-black suit, but he’s getting 4 billion views on YouTube each month, and Feastables has shown that his marketing engine works.

But Fortune makes a good point: The bulk of Donaldson’s audience skews young, from middle school to early college, and those people largely are not paying their own cell phone bills. It’s a lot easier to convince Mom to pick up a chocolate bar in the checkout line than it is to get her to switch cell phone networks. This process is easier these days with the omnipresence of electronic SIM cards (like those from Saily, a very frequent YouTuber sponsor), but still a hurdle.

All that being said, we see Donaldson’s vision for a future of omnipresent Beast. Now it’s just a matter of whether that vision will come true.

Filed under: Creator, Homepage Feature by James Hale
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In just over a month, VidSummit will return to Dallas, where it’ll welcome thousands of creators and other industry professionals for three days of hardcore business development.

Founded in 2014 by digital video/marketing guru Derral Eves, VidSummit was the first of its kind for our industry. While most previous events had focused on mass-gathering creators so fans would have a chance to meet many of their YouTube idols under the same roof, VidSummit immediately imposed a strict no-fans rule. Instead, it wanted to emulate the focused, bootcamp-like biz dev conventions of sectors like technology and finance, and be a one-stop, packed-full smorgasbord of information that career-minded creators could use to level up their channels.

“When I started VidSummit, it was because I saw a need,” Eves tells Tubefilter. “A lot of my friends who are creators saw themselves as a YouTuber, but didn’t see building an actual business out of it. I saw a lot of them come and go, and I wanted to help them see how I see the opportunity, which is that content creation is a very, very interesting industry.”

Why so interesting? “There’s a lot of traditional models that just work,” Eves says, “blended with new audiences and new strategies. We’ve been able to evolve and creators are now key figureheads in the economy. They see what’s possible and they think in different ways. They’ve grown into leveraging who they are, and at the same time they’re media companies, and they’ve been able to expand in so many different ways.”

Now, 11 years later, VidSummit “is what it’s always been,” Eves says: a place for these evolving, expanding creators to continue their growth via crowdsourced knowledge and community support.

VidSummit 2025 will be a three-day event offering dozens of panels and workshops featuring industry leaders and creators–from notable up-and-comers like Dzung Lewis to OG pros like HopeScope and Mia Maples–all with the goal of pooling creators’ innovative minds together and helping one another build out their content, companies, and teams.

In 2023, VidSummit moved from its usual home in Los Angeles to Dallas, a move that both sized up its facilities to accommodate more attendees, and put it in Texas, the U.S.’s fastest-growing hub for content creation alongside cities like Atlanta. Previously, VidSummit welcomed around 1,500 attendees per conference; in 2023, it shot to 3,000; and in 2024, it brought 3,500.

This year’s convention is expecting around 4,100 people, Eves says. They’ll each pay ticket prices starting at $995.

One big difference attendees can expect from 2024’s event to 2025’s? The current omnipresence of generative “AI.”

“The content creator economy is evolving with AI,” Eves says. “It’s going to change the way we create content, the way that business processes work, and so a lot of the presentations had to grow with AI.”

“But we’re not necessarily replacing the creation with AI,” he clarifies. “We want creators to leverage all the opportunities in front of them. We’re at the most interesting time for being a content creator. The economy’s matured, we’re seeing more sponsor dollars, ad dollars, creators making their own brands…It’s at the highest peak it’s ever been, and now we’re bringing a way to increase your production with AI.”

That being said, a large portion of VidSummit’s creator-led programming is case studies, and Eves specifically calls out Maples’ presentation as “about being authentically you, which I think is what’s going to stand out in a world of AI.”

Another case study Eves says attendees should look forward to is one from Jordan Barclay, aka Minecraft YouTuber EYstreem. His production studio Spawnpoint Media runs a handful of proprietary channels and hires fledgling Australian talent to host them. Last year, Spawnpoint scored a $5 million investment from Spotter, which it plans to use to open a multimillion-dollar studio in Melbourne. Amidst that cash injection, Barclay’s talk is about his strategic decision to lower the amount of content he produced–and how doing that doubled his overall revenue.

Attendees this year can also anticipate returning VidSummit favorites like the job fair, along with new additions like the opening of a third floor, which will allow for more creator presentations and workshops.

Workshops are something the conference tested out last year to a “great reception,” Eves says. Due to that success, it’s tripling the amount of hands-on, small-group workshops it offers, and is partnering with Adobe to bring in “some of their brightest employees, and equipment for creators to use,” he adds.

Last but certainly not least, Creators in Fashion, the catwalk show launched last year by MatPat-founded Theorist, will return for its second year–this time, in person at VidSummit.

The show will feature looks and walks from creators like Cassey Ho, Mia Maples, Mary Allyson, Glam Girl Gabi, Esteffanie, and Sydney Morgan, and will feature even more creators off the catwalk. Style Theory host and Creators in Fashion emcee Amy Roberts told us in June that Theorist’s goal with the show’s second year is, “aside from featuring all the creators who are doing amazing things in the fashion space, to be able to highlight as many creators as possible.”

Roberts will share emceeing duties with MatPat, who retired from appearing on camera for Theorist productions, but still works there behind the scenes (in between his Capitol Hill appearances, of course).

The Creators in Fashion show will take place on the last day of VidSummit: Thursday Oct. 9.

The convention runs Oct. 7-9 at the Irving Convention Center just north of Dallas.

You can check out tickets here, and stay tuned to Tubefilter in the coming weeks for a sneak peek of one creator’s presentation, plus our official guide to VidSummit 2025.

VidSummit is a Tubefilter partner.

Filed under: Homepage Feature, VidSummit by Tubefilter Staff
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TikTok is well-known for its ability to put butts in movie theater seats, and one of the biggest ticketing platforms in the U.S. is looking to capitalize on that trend. TikTok users are getting the ability to buy tickets from Fandango via an in-app integration that makes use of TikTok’s Spotlight solution.

Disney is the first distributor to take advantage of Fandango’s TikTok partnership. The Mouse House will use the integration to sell tickets to Tron: Ares, the upcoming continuation of the futuristic Tron franchise. TikTok users will be able to tap a “get tickets” icon to book their seats for the upcoming film, which will see a wide release on October 10.

On short-form platforms like TikTok and YouTube Shorts, film excerpts have become a popular genre, with some clip farmers hauling in millions of views per week. Hollywood entities like The Boxoffice Network have responded by using that momentum to push ticket sales, and as a result, TikTok users are 44% more likely to go see a movie at least once per month compared to non-users, according to a blog post published by the ByteDance-owned app.

TikTok’s status as a movie marketing vehicle kicked into high gear last year when the app announced Spotlight, an expansive toolkit designed for the promotion of films and TV shows. Fandango was encouraged to use Spotlight thanks to its own findings regarding TikTok and its effect on ticket sales. The vending platform reported that 50% of domestic TikTok users have discovered a new theatrical release via TikTok.

“At Fandango, our mission has always been to connect fans with the movies they love, wherever they are,” said Fandango SVP of Marketing and Partnerships Claire Ripsteen in a statement. She added that the TikTok deal is “a powerful step in meeting audiences in their daily digital lives, making it easier to turn the excitement of discovering a movie into the instant gratification of securing your tickets in advance, with no lines and no waiting.”

The TikTokification of movie marketing does come with some warning signs. Creators who share organic content related to Hollywood blockbusters must grapple with copyright issues that only become more complex when generative AI enters the equation. Amid that chaos, Fandango’s big move is a good sign — it indicates that the cinematic side of TikTok is moving above board, a transformation that figures to increase earnings for both a hurting Hollywood and its creator partners.

Filed under: Articles, Fandango, Featured, Homepage Feature, News by Sam Gutelle
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No, G FUEL isn’t shutting down.

Since its launch in 2012, the energy drink powder brand has sought to titillate the tastebuds of creators, gamers, and nerds of all kinds–and, to reach those audiences, it’s gone digital, sponsoring dozens of YouTubers, Twitch streamers, and esports pros, in some cases releasing official creator collaboration flavors and shaker cups for added exclusivity.

These days—and despite a mass creator exodus in 2022 after allegations that employees faced a toxic work culture—the DTC brand is pretty much baked into creator culture, with only a couple competitors (including creator-owned, -invested, and -operated Gamer Supps, which is shooting for an evolution involving canned drinks and retail).

So it sent shockwaves through the ‘net when, on Sept. 2, G FUEL posted what seemed to be an abrupt goodbye.

An unforgettable run. Thank you for the love, the grind, and the memories. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/STnLlIx8TE

— G FUEL® (@GFuelEnergy) September 3, 2025

“After years of shaking things up, fueling the grind, and rewriting the rules, it’s the end of an era,” it tweeted. “It’s been an incredible journey being able to build alongside creators, gamers, streamers, and a community that became family. […] So, to everyone who’s been a part of it thank you, we love you. Logging out.”

The post’s replies filled with shock. Awe. Disappointment. Cheeky jabs. But some people caught on: G FUEL hadn’t said it was shutting down. It said the end of an era, indicating this wasn’t a true somber announcement, but a marketing stunt.

They were right, and overnight, the new era dawned. G FUEL reduxed its website to direct visitors to G FUEL 2.0, a new formula it says addresses complaints about the original being “chalky.”

The face of this brand-wide reformulation is PewDiePie, who’s been a G FUEL Ambassador (with his own flavors, Lingonberry and Yuzu Slash) since January 2019. Shortly after revealing it was not, in fact, closing up shop, G FUEL tweeted a video where PewDiePie tries Lingonberry 2.0 for the first time.

After shaking it up while lamenting “the best drink of all time, how do you make it better?”, PewDiePie takes a sip and quickly changes his tune. “Yeah, it is better,” he says. “Smoother, it’s just a cleaner drink. Feels more…liquid-y. Less chalky, I guess, is what I’m trying to say. Feels like there’s less powder in it, smoother, overall better drinking experience.”

✅ PEWDIEPIE APPROVED

❌ No chalky finish
❌ No fillers
✅ Smoother taste
✅ More antioxidants

🔥 The ALL-NEW G FUEL formula is your cheat code! And it’s available NOW.
⚡ https://t.co/XUHKUFUxlG pic.twitter.com/00zu6vSI7t

— G FUEL® (@GFuelEnergy) September 4, 2025

On its 2.0 landing page, G FUEL promises the new formula, which is being deployed across its stable of flavors, is indeed less chalky, has no added fillers, and “no settling at the bottom of your shaker!” It also promises the changes are just in texture–the taste is still the same, and it still has 140mg of caffeine per serving. (And for those who miss the chalk, G FUEL says the original formulation is still available.)

As for what non-PewDiePies think, we’ll have to see once this new formula starts shipping into consumers’ hands. We’re also curious if the reformulation spiked sales this week. We wouldn’t be surprised if it did, considering chalkiness was a common complaint among G FUEL dislikers who now may want to give it a second shot, along with die-hard fans who want to, like PewDiePie, see how “perfection” can be improved.

This is the first time G FUEL has tweaked its formula since launch, and it’s likely hoping less chalk will give it the edge over Gamer Supps et al. We’re curious about that too; G FUEL was first to market and has been the sort of ‘default’ energy brand for creators and gamers, but it’s not doing as much week-to-week outreach to digital communities—at least on YouTube. Using data from Gospel Stats, we can see that in the third week of August, G FUEL sponsored a small handful of YouTube videos (including one from PewDiePie), while Gamer Supps sponsored nearly 25.

Filed under: Homepage Feature by James Hale
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