While MrBeast partners with the NFL and Kai Cenat connects with NBA stars, a different sport is looking to inspire its own wave of creator-powered trends. Welcome to the wild world of tennis content, which is being proliferated across platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram as the annual U.S. Open approaches its climax.
Tennis streams have long been available on platforms like YouTube, but the sport’s digital presence has ramped up considerably during the 2025 calendar year. In January, we got strange, animated streams that offered copyright-proof coverage of the Australian Open. Eight months later, the U.S. Open is the setting for several notable initiatives, including a YouTube-distributed dating show and a partnership between the ATPand TikTok.
Like with many other sports, there’s a simple explanation for this uptick in digital activity: Tennis players are becoming creators. The Netflix show Break Point, for example, profiled top-ranked American man Taylor Fritz and his girlfriend Morgan Riddle (among many other players and partners). With her impeccable sense of courtside fashion and her growing Instagram following, Riddle has become an in-demand creator within the burgeoning creator economy.
Encouraged by tennis’ growing cultural cachet, influencers from varied walks of life are stepping onto the court to execute brand partnerships. Several names on the Underscore Talent creator roster are part of that push: Ollie Muhl got a Ralph Lauren fit before serving up aces in Queens, celebrity chef Sohla El-Waylly taste-tested the Honey Deuce cocktail in an Emirates-sponsored Reel, and the canine star of Ellie’s Golden Life prompted her human to get up to some courtside mischief.
In a statement, Underscore Co-Founder and Co-CEO Dan Weinstein explained what makes these partnerships so impactful. “Creators are not only making the U.S. Open trend,” Weinstein said, “they’re making the brands that host them synonymous with one of the most relevant sporting events for Gen Z, Millennials, and even Gen Alpha.”
Underscore isn’t the only agency making a play for tennis fan viewership. On YouTube, the USTA teamed up with Fresh Tape Media to release Game, Set, Matchmaker, a dating show set at the U.S. Open. We live in an age when a saucy tennis romance like Challengers can become a cultural touchstone, the USTA is getting in on the trend.
These types of stories won’t fade away once the U.S. Open concludes. Thanks to the ATP’s new TikTok partnership, tennis fans can expect short-form stories to hit their FYPs at the speed of a Ben Shelton serve. And since Netflix is picking up the streaming rights to future tennis tournaments, it’s safe to say that the effort to turn the sport’s stars into social media creators is far from over.
Filed under: Articles, Featured, Homepage Feature, News by Sam Gutelle Comments Off on Amid a lively U.S. Open, the tennis world is serving up social video content
As the battle between Roblox and the creator known as Schlep continues to intensify, an attorney notable for his social media presence is getting involved. Mike Mandell, who runs the Law By Mike channel on platforms like YouTube, is working with Schlep to prepare a legal action that will accuse Roblox of implicitly enabling the sexual predators who are active within its gamified worlds.
The Schlep saga has been headline news since early August, when the creator revealed that he had been banned by Roblox. By finding and exposing predators on the platform, Schlep claims to have uncovered evidence that led to at least six arrest, but Roblox bigwigs accused him of “vigilantism” and suspended his account.
The fallout from that decision has soured Roblox’s relationships with advertisers and the public while simultaneously making Schlep’s YouTube channel one of the most-subscribed hubs during August. Now Schlep is joining forces with another creator who has accrued chart-topping viewership. In a video on the Law By Mike channel, Mandell discussed his dealings with several potential plaintiffs who are considering lawsuits against Roblox.
“The platform promised to be safe, but the reality is very different,” Mandell said. “On behalf of everyone, I’m helping to sue Roblox.”
Though the title of Mandell’s video is “I’m Suing Roblox,” Schlep set the record straight in a post on X. He said there is “no lawsuit filed yet,” as his current priorities include “raising awareness about the dangers of Roblox, advocating reforms to improve safety on the platform, and ensuring accountability not just for myself but for all the child victims across the app.” He did confirm the alliance between his legal team and Mandell, claiming that Roblox “asked for it” with its draconian approach to his predator hunts.
Should Mandell officially file a case against Roblox, it would join several other suits that have recently targeted the platform and its unsatisfactory approach to child safety. Two of those lawsuits have been revealed in the past month, and Louisiana’s Attorney General is also taking legal action against the popular sandbox.
Given Schlep’s furor toward Roblox, his battle against the platform doesn’t seem as if it will subside anytime soon. In an effort to take action against vigilantism, Roblox may have hurt its long-term prospects among players and creators.
Filed under: Articles, Featured, Homepage Feature, News, Roblox by Sam Gutelle Comments Off on Predator catcher Schlep is teaming up with one of YouTube’s favorite lawyers to escalate Roblox feud
[Tubefilter Charts is a periodic 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. We use data directly from YouTube and in terms of subscribers, YouTube rounds that data to the first three significant figures. Check out all of our Tubefilter Charts with new installments every week right here.]
Scroll down for this week’s Tubefilter Chart.
The channels that cracked this month’s Global Top 100 are in rare company. To make it into our ranking of the most-subscribed content destinations on YouTube, one million monthly subscribers is essentially a prerequisite. Only three chart entrants fell short of that benchmark.
Even among that group, one creator stands alone. MrBeast added 11 million new subscribers during the month of August. Only one other creator, Argentina’s Alejo Igoa, even managed to get half as many monthly subs, and his 31-day total of 6.1 million barely reaches 50% of MrBeast’s tally.
Chart toppers are turning their channels into their personal versions of Mythbusters
Are you interested in running silly physics experiments in your neighborhood, but you don’t have the time, energy, money, or brains to get an engineering degree? Don’t fret — you don’t have to be Mark Rober to embrace the scientific method on YouTube Shorts.
Hafu Gohas figured out a more economical way to bring experiments to your Shorts feed. The Canadian creator has gone through several phases in his career, and his latest pivot into short-form spectacles has pushed him into our charts.
In August, Hafu Go added 1.5 million new subscribers, vaulting him up to 47th place in the Global Top 100. (He had sat outside the top 500 one month prior.) His primary YouTube hub now has 14.7 million subscribers to go along with his 4.6 billion lifetime views.
Initially, that viewership came on fitness videos and other pieces of lifestyle content, but as Hafu Go told us in 2022, he has “an extensive research process of coming up with ideas.” That process led him to his current niche: Homemade science videos that take advantage of the “teaser-and-payoff” format that drives so many YouTube Shorts hits.
Whether he’s testing Hollywood cigarettes or dropping bricks, Hafu Go finds ways to inspire curious Shorts viewers around the world. In one of his biggest videos to date, he used colored smoke to dye a pair of sneakers. I hope no one in the area got confused and asked him who the new pope would be.
Hafu Go’s content may seem not-so-rigorous compared to the videos put out by formally trained engineers like Rober. But while Rober missed the Global Top 100 despite his August exploits, Hafu Go shined. Maybe viewers connect with science experiments when the person leading the tests is as much of an amateur as his fans.
That theory would explain how Wickey and Mickey made it into the Global Top 100. The Pakistani channel has a lot in common with Hafu Go, and many of its top Shorts are of the experimental variety. In this case, however, there’s an added sense of danger. Wickey and Mickey act as if they’re ready to lose their fingers in the name of science, and their improvisational attitude seems to click with the Shorts audience. How else can you explain the channel’s huge August, in which it crossed 30 million daily views on one occasion?
Data via Gospel Stats
Wickey and Mickey’s video may not pass muster at your local engineering school, but on YouTube, their misadventures are gold. By adding 1.1 million monthly subscribers, the pair from Pakistan reached 64th place in the Global Top 100.
I’d be curious to hear what someone like Rober thinks of these homemade experiments. Perhaps, with a few reaction videos to his name, Rober could turn into the STEM world’s answer to Gordon Ramsay.
Channel Distribution
Here’s a breakdown of the Top 100 Most Subscribed channels this month in terms of their countries of origin:
United States: 30
India: 27
Hong Kong: 8
Spain: 4
Australia, Canada, and Mexico: 3
Argentina, Brazil, Indonesia, and Pakistan: 2
Belarus, Belgium, China, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, Peru, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, and Vietnam: 1
This month, 67 channels in the Top 100 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.
Saturday Night Live celebrated its 50th anniversary last season, and as it heads into the next half-century, it’s doing what many established entertainment entities are these days: looking online for fresh talent.
In the leadup to Season 51’s Oct. 4 premiere, several cast members have exited, including Heidi Gardner, Devon Walker, Michael Longfellow, Emil Wakim, and John Higgins, a key member of the Lonely Island-esque trio Please Don’t Destroy, who’ve spent the last four seasons of SNL making digital shorts, some of them successfully viral.
Comedian, actor, and writer Walker, who was on SNL for three years, announced his exit on Instagram, saying, “Me and the show did three years together, and sometimes it was really cool. Sometimes it was toxic as hell. But we made the most of what it was, even amidst all of the dysfunction. We made a fucked up lil family.”
At the same time as cast members are announcing their departures, SNL is unveiling their replacements.
New members include Dropout regular Jeremy Culhane and Kill Tony regular Kam Patterson, along with Canadian actress and TikToker Veronika Slowikowska, Please Don’t Destroy member Ben Marshall, and Tommy Brennan, who worked at Cameo and LinkedIn before becoming a full-time stand-up comedian.
These announcements show us where entertainment–at least comedy entertainment–is looking to find its next stars. Dropout (formerly CollegeHumor), has recovered from its near-shutdown under former owner IAC, thanks to CEO Sam Reich buying and leading it. It’s now a top YouTube media company, producing successful shows like Dimension 20 and Game Changer(which Culhane previously guest hosted).
Kill Tony, meanwhile, is an anti-woke-flavored stand-up show where aspiring comedians have 60 seconds to impress host Tony Hinchcliffe and a panel of comedy veterans. Its weekly episodes, filmed live in Austin, Texas, have regularly been some of the top-watched sponsored content on YouTube. Earlier this year, that attention nabbed it a three episode + one special deal with Netflix–which, of course, continues to comb YouTube for talent despite its CEO’s seemingly dim opinion of the platform.
Slowikowska, meanwhile, appeared in two seasons of fan-favorite creature feature What We Do in the Shadows, and has appeared in several Amazon Prime Video productions, but she’s also amassed ~700,000 followers on TikTok and has her own podcast, nevermind.
As is usual with SNL, it’s not giving out a lot of details about what these new, digital-born cast members will be up to ahead of the premiere. But we expect they’ll help draw in younger, internet-savvy viewers (folks are already abuzz on the Dropout subreddit), and maybe bring a punch of the absurdist humor us digital natives are known for.
Filed under: Homepage Feature by James Hale Comments Off on SNL taps more of the internet for new cast
[Tubefilter Charts is a periodic 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. We use data directly from YouTube and in terms of subscribers, YouTube rounds that data to the first three significant figures. Check out all of our Tubefilter Charts with new installments every week right here.]
Scroll down for this week’s Tubefilter Chart.
August was another big month for Jimmy Donaldson. The man known as MrBeast retained his YouTube-leading position in the U.S. Top 100 by adding 11 million new subscribers during the eighth month of the year.
On the whole, it was a good month for individual creators. The next three entrants after MrBeast — Topper Guild, Ben Azelart, and The Stokes Twins — are all creator-led hubs that added at least two million new subscribers over our most recent 31-day measurement period. One particular creator was absent from the ranking, but she found other ways to affect the running order.
Not even Taylor Swift can keep up with YouTube Shorts slop, but this is her trying
If you look at the century of channels that are included in this month’s U.S. Top 100, you might find yourself asking a simple question: Where the heck is Taylor Swift?
Swift arguably had the biggest hit of the month on YouTube thanks to her appearance on fiancé Travis Kelce‘s New Heights. The record-shattering video podcast only became more momentous when Swifties learned that the collab was the preamble to Swift and Kelce’s engagement.
Despite all that fanfare (and more than 20 million YouTube views), Swift herself is nowhere to be found in the U.S. Top 100. The only Swiftie representation in the ranking comes from a musical duo that has performed covers of the singer-songwriter’s tracks.
They call themselves The Orona Sisters, and they just made their first appearance in the U.S. Top 100. During August, they added 594,000 new subscribers, which brought their YouTube tally above one million. After not placing in the charts a month ago, they finished 70th in the latest U.S. ranking.
To be clear, this situation is not the same as the case of Taylor Red TV. That musical trio that saw their viewership balloon because their channel handle alluded to Taylor Swift’s name and the title of one of her studio albums. In contrast, The Orona Sisters are true Swifties who have filled their YouTube Shorts library with brief covers of Taylor-approved standards like “Style.”
That’s good for The Orona Sisters. But what about Taylor herself? Even after authoring a world-beating moment that centered on YouTube, Swift and her football-playing boo couldn’t keep up with all the weird Jesus videos, AI slop, and Robloxers who are running rampant in the U.S. Top 100.
That fact says a lot about the current state of YouTube Shorts, but it’s not like the Kelce brothers’ New Heights podcast had a bad month. In fact, it shattered its own viewership records on YouTube by hauling in more than 35 million monthly views. And with the Chiefs’ tight end set to begin what could be his final season in the NFL, Travis Kelce’s biggest moment in the spotlight could still arrive in the future.
Data via Gospel Stats
We probably won’t see Swift herself in our charts until she drops The Life of A Showgirl on October 3. When that date arrives, it will be good news for the pop scene’s favorite cat lady — and for admirers like The Orona Sisters.
Swift’s release date for her 12th album will come so early in the month that her official channel will have a good chance to crack the October edition of our monthly rankings. Did she opt for that strategy because it will make her look good in Tubefilter? I’m going to go out on a limb and say yes.
Channel Distribution
This month, 76 channels in the Top 100 are primarily active on YouTube Shorts.
President Donald Trump‘s “Big Beautiful Bill” includes at least one perk for the creator class. People who make their living on the internet will seemingly have a chance to claim new deductions as part of the “no tax on tips” stipulation included in Trump’s recently passed spending policy.
When the Big Beautiful Bill passed in July, most of the conversation surrounding the “no tax on tips” deduction focused on restaurant servers. After all, that’s the group Trump seemed to be targeting when he endorsed his update to the tax code during his 2024 presidential campaign.
A close reading of the fine print, however, revealed that servers will not be the only workers who will be able to claim new write-offs. “Digital content creators” are included in Axios‘ list of the professions that will qualify for the “no tax on tips” deduction.
By taking advantage of that policy, creators will be able to claim a deduction that covers up to $25,000 of tip money. Since the deduction phases out for individuals making more than $150,000, the biggest earners on platforms like YouTube and TikTok may not see significant changes when Tax Day comes. For the lower and middle classes of the creator economy, however, the deduction may offer a significant boost.
The policy sounds good in theory, but it’s not totally clear how the “no tax on tips” deduction will apply to creators. The biggest question concerns the definition of a tip as it pertains to social media platforms. Is any direct payment from a fan to a creator considered to be a tip, no matter if it’s a Super Thanks on YouTube, a subscription fee on Patreon, or a paywall-unlocking transaction on OnlyFans? How much wiggle room is included in the Trump administration’s definition of creators? If claimants must “produce and publish on digital platforms original entertainment or personality-driven content, such as live streams, short-form videos, or podcasts,” where do creator-led companies fit in?
And as per usual, we must consider the TACO of it all. Trump promised to reward creators after they assisted his return to the Oval Office, but some of the proposed perks have yet to materialize. A deal to safeguard TikTok’s U.S. operations, for example, is still in limbo nearly 20 months into the current presidential term. Will the creator application of “no tax on tips” turn into another area in which Trump Always Chickens Out?
The “no tax on tips” deduction is a temporary policy that is set to expire in 2028, so this particular perk has a clear expiration date. Until then, creators can and should make the most of the write-off while it’s still available. It will be an option on this year’s tax forms when the public’s bills come due next April.
Filed under: Articles, Featured, Homepage Feature, News by Sam Gutelle Comments Off on Trump’s tax deduction for tips lets creators keep the change
In February 2025, YouTube turned 20. The video site has gone through a lot over the past two decades, including an acquisition, an earnings glow-up, and multiple generations of star creators. In our 20 Years of YouTube series, we’ll examine the uploads, trends, and influencers that have defined the world’s favorite video site — one year at a time. Click here for a full archive of the series.
Though the phenomenon of video game speedrunning dates back to the Super Nintendo days, it arguably reached its peak in the early 2020s. Amid a flurry of COVID-related lockdowns and shelter-in-place orders, viewership skyrocketed on speedrunning streams, and annual events like Awesome Games Done Quick set donation records by collecting more than $3 million at some of its individual events.
If you read the headline before you started reading, you’re probably wondering what the speedrunning phenomenon has to do with MrBeast. Simply put, between Jimmy Donaldson‘s first brush with viral fame and his Squid Game-inspired apex, he turned the journey from aspiring creator to YouTube star into a speedrun — and as he is wont to do, he set a record in that category that has yet to be broken.
Videos began showing up on the MrBeast channel in 2012, though the creator’s early efforts are mostly notable for how different they are when compared to Donaldson’s current output. MrBeast as we know him didn’t exist until 2017, when Donaldson earned his first encounter with viral fame. By recording himself as he counted up to 100,000, Donaldson produced a sleeper hit that has since picked up more than 32 million views.
It was at that moment that the MrBeast speedrun began, and the North Carolina-based entertainer advanced from leaps and bounds from there. In 2018, his “subscribe to PewDiePie” billboard earned him his first coverage in Tubefilter (sorry we missed the counting video, Jimmy.) Later that year, the videos we now know as signature MrBeast fare — large-scale competitions featuring round-number prize money sums — took off.
And so, by 2021, just four years after his breakout, Donaldson was in position to produce what is arguably the biggest blockbuster in YouTube history. His take on Squid Game (albeit with much less murder than the original version) needed just four days to get 100 million views. No non-music video has ever made it to nine digits faster. How’s that for a speedrun?
It’s been nearly four years since the Squid Game remake (where does the time go?) Over that period, MrBeast has maintained his position as YouTube’s biggest draw. His unprecedented rise has upended the industry we know now as the creator economy. Influencers are earning more than ever before, and they are diversifying their revenue by getting active in fields like investing, creator products, and brand partnerships. In all of those areas, Donaldson has set the pace.
But before he could advance YouTube into the future, Donaldson had to experience its past and present, and that’s where our speedrunning metaphor comes back into the story. Before becoming famous, the man now known as MrBeast was a student of YouTube who studied the platform’s content and stars religiously.
As he embarked on his own creative journey, he seemed to synthesize all of his learnings on a single channel. The grand scale of his videos evoked forerunners like Dude Perfect, who went as big as possible in search of world records. His combative nature and eventual clashes with management can be compared to the volatile career of the man who MrBeast asked us to subscribe to. Donaldson’s enhancements to the visual language of YouTube hearkened back to previous groundbreakers like Casey Neistat, and his uncompromising attitude made him as big of a lightning rod as Logan Paul.
In other words, this was not merely an “any%” speedrun. Donaldson conquered all of YouTube by becoming all of YouTube, before continuing on to venture into theretofore-uncharted territory.
Before MrBeast, the history of YouTube unfolded in a straight line. Early innovators like Smosh and Ryan Higa passed the torch to international stars like PewDiePie and Psy, who were themselves usurped by Vine- and TikTok-raised upstarts like the Paul brothers.
Donaldson, however, is YouTube’s final boss. His videomaking style pushed the platform to its limit, creating masterstrokes like the Squid Game remake that remain unparalleled in terms of their size, scope, and impact. He proved that by being a student of YouTube, he could achieve heights that were once thought to be unreachable. Once upon a time, one million subscribers was a notable benchmark. The MrBeast channel now has more than 430 million subscribers, and in the time it took me to write this sentence, a few more fans added themselves to that tally.
The MrBeast channel is the biggest creator showcase YouTube has ever hosted, but the titular host isn’t perfect. His rapid rise has earned him regular callouts and criticisms, and he’s endured his share of contentious legal battles, too. It wouldn’t be right, however, if the ultimate YouTube creator was a goody-two-shoes. Since its inception, the Google-owned platform has served as a home for artists who are eager to push boundries, and that’s what Donaldson does, even when the results start to get messy.
You can feel however you want about him, and he certainly has his share of both lovers and haters, but no matter what you think about him, there’s no denying that the MrBeast brand is here to stay, and like the winner of Squid Game‘s first season, no one can knock him off his pedestal.
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.
This week’s Gospel Stats Brand Report proves Alan Chikin Chow has a chokehold on YouTube. His Laneige-sponsored Shorts series even beat out MrBeast, which is a crown worn by few here in the top 5. It’s clear from this week’s list that YouTube viewers have the minidrama munchies–but that doesn’t mean long-form is entirely off the menu.
LEGO has been on our radar for a while now, mostly because it has a history of being very choosy about its YouTube sponsorships. But in recent months, it’s gone from having one or two videos a week–if any–to consistently sponsoring several videos per week. This week, it sponsored ~10 videos, including this #1 double-whammy from VFX specialist Caleb Natale that also grabbed cash from Netflix and its live-action adaptation of hit anime One Piece. Like most sponsored Shorts, its entire runtime (in this case, 26 seconds) is an ad, with the sole, well-animated purpose of directing users to buy new One Piece LEGO sets at Target.
We’ll spoil you–but not for the show! No, we’ll spoil that, like last week, Alan Chikin Chow‘s minidrama series Beauty and the Beat has not one, but two spots on this week’s list. As we mentioned above, sponsored Shorts are often distinct from long-form content in one key way: Long-form usually has an ad spot buried somewhere in the content, while for Shorts, all of the content is the ad spot. That’s sort of the case here. Laneige‘s cosmetics feature prominently in Beauty and the Beat, with every female cast member sporting shiny lip gloss, blush, and other products. But Chow’s series, produced on his studio channel Alan’s Universe, also has a high-octane high-school plot that would be at home on any K-drama streaming service…or mid-2000s Disney Channel.
It’s not often that MrBeast isn’t #1, but we can attribute this to him posting on his secondary channel, MrBeast Gaming, which has a ‘paltry’ 50 million subscribers compared to his main channel’s 430 million. He’s popped up on our list a few times with videos like this, which follow his usual win-the-challenge-get-buku-bucks format, except within Minecraft or Roblox instead of IRL. For this week’s video, he challenges people to survive the biggest, baddest bosses–and, of course, there’s a plug or two for his new Feastables flavor.
While we’ve featured four of Chow’s Beauty and theBeat episodes so far on our lists, there are 15 published so far–an example of the sort of large-commitment, long partnership we’ve seen creators like Dude Perfect seeking with brands. We’re not sure if there’s more of the series to come, but what we do know is that Chow and cohost Chelsea Sik most recently capped off their narrative Shorts with a mini music video whose star is undeniably the Laneige makeup counter.
Who’s not down for a cozy meal after all that drama? We love using our bonus spot to highlight niche companies partnering with great-fit creators, and this video from culinary enthusiast Girl Gone Grilling is exactly what we’re looking for. Setting our journalistic commitment to nonbias aside to say mushrooms are one of the best foods to grill in the entire world, and clearly Mushroom Council knows that. This agricultural organization is all about the ‘shrooms, and picked GGG as its spokesperson this week, telling folks how to properly fry up their fungi.
…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.
In 2023, Netflix defied expectations by launching a successful effort to police accounts that had been shared between multiple households. Two years later, YouTube is betting that it can apply Netflix’s big move to its YouTube Premium service.
According to Android Police, YouTube is beginning to tighten its enforcement of its account-sharing rules. Some users who are subscribed to the YouTube Premium family plan have received messages informing them that their subscriptions “will be paused.” The warning went out to users who are accessing Premium from addresses that are different from the ones listed on their accounts. After a 14-day grace period, if those subscribers are still watching from the wrong location, they will be stripped of their Premium perks.
YouTube’s policies state that Premium family plan usage is meant to be shared within a single household, though that stipulation has seldom been enforced up to this point. The change could be inspired by the results of Netflix’s similar crackdown. After announcing its plan to eliminate password sharing, the streamer braced for cancellations. Instead, Netflix enjoyed a surge of signups after booting some members off of their shared accounts.
Premium accounts for a growing slice of YouTube’s revenue pie. Subscription numbers across Premium and the related YouTube Music service crossed 100 million in 2024, and that number rose to 125 million this year. By taking a similar approach to Netflix, YouTube is looking to maximize earnings from subscription tiers like the family plan, which has been subject to several price hikes in recent years.
The latest crackdown accompanies YouTube’s previous efforts to wring more value out of Premium. The platform’s war against ad blockers, for example, gave users more reasons to buy into the ad-free experience they can get with a $13.99-per-month Premium plan. The latest push in that area may prove just as unpopular as Netflix’s actions, but the returns could very well be worth the critiques.
Filed under: Articles, Featured, Homepage Feature, News, YouTube by Sam Gutelle Comments Off on A crackdown on account sharing worked wonders for Netflix. Now YouTube is giving it a try.
Recently we spoke to the team over at Real Good AI, a nonprofit run by data scientist Dr. Amanda Muyskens. She happens to be married to Bob Muyskens, YouTube/streamer/podcaster and longtime friend of Markiplier, and Real Good AI was born out of their conversations about the current state of generative “AI.” Mark and Dr. Muyskens both knew they wanted to do more than talk about it, so she became the engine powering RGAI’s research into whether modern data analysis and large language models can be applied for the good of humanity, and he is the benefactor pouring thousands of dollars of run-funds into the nonprofit’s gas tank.
But while RGAI is creator-founded and has their involvement baked in, there are other nonprofits hoping that, in an era of federal cuts and regional belt-tightening, they too can connect with online audiences at far cheaper rates than traditional fundraising.
For decades, nonprofits have brought in funding through large-scale events like charity dinners, galas, and silent auctions, interspersed with more private affairs like luncheons for marquee donors. Nonprofits earn money through these means, of course, but they’re big-cash-in investments that don’t always pay off as planned.
That’s why the Elevate Prize Foundation, an org founded in 2019 that recognizes “best-in-class social impact leaders driving transformative change across issue areas,” decided to launch its own production studio.
CEO Carolina Jayaram Garciatold The Associated Press that as a foundation, “Storytelling is how we’re able to draw people in and get them to connect to a deeper truth about themselves or about the world or a problem that needs to be solved. It’s connecting those issues back to you as a human and not saying, ‘Well, that’s their problem. That’s all the way over there.’ The story allows it to be human.”
Elevate Studios‘ first production was Nevertheless: The Women Changing the World, a YouTube series that’s brought around ~3 million views so far. The foundation plans to put out a second season in summer 2026.
“It’s been incredible to see the growth we’ve had on YouTube and how it’s resonated so quickly with so many people,” she told AP. “We know we’re on to something here.”
And that growth hasn’t just been positive for the Elevate Prize Foundation. Cindy Eggleton, co-founder and CEO of early childhood development nonprofit Brilliant Cities, was featured in Season 1 of Nevertheless, and says her organization has received increased funds after her YouTube appearance.
New donors have flocked in, and “we have a funder who wants to increase his gift from $7,000 to $100,000,” she said. “It’s kind of incredible.”
We’re not surprised these orgs are seeing success on YouTube. We of all people know how powerful the reach of these platforms–and the creators who call them home–can be. From Thankmas to Ryan Trahan and Haley Pham‘s cross-country St. Jude-a-thon to #TeamWater, creators have spent years using social media to amass millions upon millions of dollars for good causes.
Now that nonprofits are following in their footsteps and going directly to viewers/potential donors, we’re interested to see how their funding landscape flexes with the strength of online media.
Filed under: Homepage Feature by James Hale Comments Off on Nonprofit funding is being slashed. For one org, the solution is becoming a YouTube studio.
[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. 👇
Two weeks ago, MrBeast outpaced Alejo Igoa to take the #1 spot in our Global Sub Top 50 chart. Igoa reclaimed the top position a week later, and one week after that, the game of high-stakes ping pong is continuing. MrBeast is back ahead of Igoa after adding three million new subscribers during the final week of August.
Five different channels — four of which are tied to individual creators or creator duos — added at least one million new subscribers during the week that was. At the same time, channels further down in the chart are aping those top draws to ensure that their own viewcounts skyrocket.
How do you say “short-form slop” in Spanish?
Some of the internet’s biggest stars should be asking themselves that question. As creators like The Stokes Twins and SpyderSammy rise to the top of the heap on platforms like YouTube and Roblox, they are encountering Spanish-language creators who are borrowing their credibility to reel in millions of fans.
An obvious example of this trend is a channel called Chistes de Stokes. Its name and channel image position it as a fan hub for The Stokes Twins, who placed fourth in this week’s Global Sub Top 50.
The actual content of the Chistes de Stokes channel reveals it to be much weirder than it seems on the surface. With harsh visual filters and ill-fitting background music, Chistes de Stokes doctors the titular duo’s videos so that they’re harder to detect using digital fingerprinting services. Then the freebooters add in a Spanish-language translation to draw in viewers from across the Hispanic world.
On one hand, the success of Chistes de Stokes — which finished tenth in the Global Sub Top 50 with 550,000 new weekly subs — is a testament to the worldwide appeal The Stokes Twins have cultivated. That international growth comes with some drawbacks, and Chistes de Stokes is one of them.
This trend becomes a bit more concerning when it involves a creator who isn’t even in the Global Sub Top 50 himself. SpyderSammy is a big deal in the Roblox world, but on YouTube, he’s being outpaced by creators who are capitalizing on their encounters with him.
I’m talking about Jugando con Nachito, the #38 channel in this week’s Global Top 50. Nachito added 320,000 new subscribers during the final week of August, making him Chile’s lone representative in our subscriber chart. When you realize that Nachito’s two most-watched Shorts are little more than SpyderSammy fan material, and that Sammy himself has had to duck numerous impersonators, the trend of high-achieving fan channels stops looking so innocent.
You can’t deny the results. Thanks to his references to SpyderSammy, Nachito has gone from a relative unknown to one of the biggest Robloxers on YouTube.
Data via Gospel Stats
Freebooted content is a problem as old as the internet, and this form of imitation feels like the next evolution of that phenomenon. Will YouTube crack down on channels that profit off another creator’s likeness?
That’s hard to say — but this trend’s affect on Latin American YouTube viewership cannot be denied. Countries like Chile, Peru, and Colombia are now factors in our Global Sub Top 50 charts, and creators like Nachito are the reason why.
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.
[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. 👇
As August draws to a close, our Global Top 50 ranking has a new leader for the third week in a row. This time, Sierra & Rhia FAM took a turn in the top spot. The Canadian hub leveraged its family-friendly library of short-form videos to the tune of 1.4 billion weekly views.
Only three other channels got at least one billion YouTube views over our most recent seven-day measurement period. Many of the top-ranked hubs provide children’s entertainment, but halfway around the world from Sierra & Rhia’s home base, a political explosion is changing the makeup of our charts.
As TikTok falters, YouTube steps in with coverage of Indonesian protests
In the world’s fourth-most populous country, widespread dissatisfaction with political leaders has triggered a rash of protests. Indonesians took to the streets to express their discontent regarding President Prabowo Subianto and a controversial policy that grants bonus allowances to members of Parliament. The death of a delivery driver at the hands of the police further fueled the flames.
Initially, the protests were streamed widely on TikTok, but that changed last week. The ByteDance-owned platform, perhaps partially motivated by the strength of its ecommerce operation in Indonesia, chose to play nice with the national government by temporarily suspending its live video service.
In response, Indonesians have turned to YouTube to find updates of the unrest. Local organizations like Tribunnews — which owns more than 20 newspapers across Indonesia — have earned millions of views with wall-to-wall coverage. Tribunnews topped out in 47th place in the Global Top 50 after collecting 425.2 million weekly views. Some pieces of its protest footage has claimed millions of views all on their own.
Compared to TikTok, YouTube has a long history of partnerships with news organizations, and that track record is putting the Google-owned platform in a prominent position. Even if Indonesians return to TikTok LIVE after the suspension ends, they’ll still be able to find more thorough reporting on YouTube.
Breaking news organizations like Tribunnews have been able to consolidate gains on YouTube even after major political moments fall out of the news cycle. Consider News18 India, which came onto our radar amid violence in the Kashmir region. News18’s traffic has decreased since the most heated moments of that recent conflict, but it’s still in the Global Top 50, reaching 34th place with more than 494.1 million weekly views.
Data via Gospel Stats
Once upon a time, the Indonesian section of YouTube was best known for amusing short-form videos that make liberal use of special effects and generative AI. One of those channels, Rbrain Project, is in the Top 50 this week, but Indonesians are also showing that their YouTube habits offer more than just fun and games. A pivotal moment in Indonesian history is playing out right now, and YouTube-based reporters are prepared to meet it.
Channel Distribution
Here’s a breakdown of the Top 50 Most Viewed channels this week in terms of their countries of origin:
India: 18
United States: 10
Hong Kong: 6
Indonesia: 3
Australia,Spain, and South Korea: 2
Belgium, Canada, China, Germany, Japan, Pakistan, and Russia: 1
This week, 41 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.
