The Try Guys have never been afraid to say yes to ambitious ideas, and their latest development certainly fits that bill. On a new channel called Try Every Day, co-hosts Keith Habersberger and Zach Kornfeld are exploring one new idea every 24 hours — and their fans are invited to join the fun.

Back when they were still a quartet, The Try Guys became famous for their willingness to take on extreme challenges. Their content has gone through several evolutions since then, and their numbers have been reduced in half. Ned Fulmer was ousted from the group in 2022, and Eugene Lee Yang announced the end of his Try Guys tenure two years later.

Since Yang’s departure, Habersberger and Kornfeld have held down the Try Guys fort while expanding to new fields like OTT distribution and live entertainment. Their new channel, however, offers “back-to-basics trying,” as Kornfeld put it in an introductory video. Rather than reinventing the wheel, Habersberger and Kornfeld are going back to the format that first launched their careers — with a twist.

An element of audience participation makes Try Every Day distinct from the OG Try Guys channel. Fans have been prompted to submit videos in which they explain an activity they’d like to see the guys try. During the month of September, Habersberger and Kornfeld will take on one of those ideas each weekday, filling up their new channel in the process. While they embark on that journey, the main Try Guys hub will go dormant.

This isn’t the first time The Try Guys have added interactivity to their content. In live shows hosted on the streaming platform Kiswe, the group has let its fans come up with wild scenarios for them to act out. A similar spirit drives the new channel. “We really want this show to be about you, to inspire you to try new things,” Habersberger said.

Try Every Day has plenty of similarities with The Try Guys’ previous work, but Habersberger and Kornfeld are also emulating an indelible YouTube duo: Rhett & Link. The new channel has much in common with Good Mythical Morning, the five-times-weekly show that has captivated Rhett & Link’s fans for more than a decade. Adventurous “tries” are common occurences in Good Mythical Morning episodes, so the long-running format is a good fit for The Try Guys. The first Try Every Day installment even returns to territory that has been visited on GMM in the past: Strange Shark Tank items.

Even if Try Every Day may only be a month-long phenomenon, it is a clever reinvention of the daily vlog format that once dominated YouTube. If Habersberger and Kornfeld have any extra effort to spare at the end of September, I’d love to see them try, try again with their month-long campaign.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Homepage Feature, News by Sam Gutelle
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Spotify‘s new feature completes its transformation into a social media platform. The streaming platform based in Stockholm has introduced Messages, a feature that is exactly what it sounds like: An in-app hub dedicated to DMs and other forms of interpersonal communication.

According to Business Insider, the rollout for Spotify’s messaging service began during the last week of August. Initially, Spotify is limiting access to its new feature, which will only be available in “select markets.” Users in Latin America will be the first ones to slide into the new DMs, with an expansion to the U.S., Canada, Brazil, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand planned for the “coming weeks.” For now, Messages is a mobile-only feature.

Spotify’s Messages will look familiar to those who have sent DMs on other platforms. When sharing a song or podcast with a friend, users will have the choice to route their recommendation through the in-app service. In keeping with common security practices on the internet, recipients will have to manually accept incoming correspondence from people they haven’t interacted with before.

In other words, Spotify Messages would not be out of place on TikTok or Instagram. Spotify already has partnerships with those apps, so its latest update feels a bit redundant. In a post on the For the Record blog, Spotify explained that its Messages will “complement these integrations, not replace them.”

If you want to know why Spotify felt the need to introduce its own DMs, look no further than the features other platforms have added to their respective messaging services. Earlier this year, Instagram loaded up its DMs with 20 new features, transforming a classic communication format into a hub for audience engagement and revenue generation.

Could Spotify add some monetization features to its in-app conversations? On platforms like Twitch and YouTube, chat-based formats form the basis for robust revenue streams. Spotify’s communication infrastructure isn’t there yet, but Messages could provide a solid foundation for future development — and given Spotify’s focus on creator monetization, I wouldn’t be surprised if the platform’s leaders are thinking along those lines.

“Spotify users have told us they want a dedicated space within the app to share songs, podcasts, or audiobooks they’re excited about with friends and family, and an easy way to keep track of recommendations,” reads the For the Record post. “For artists, authors, and creators, easier sharing means more word-of-mouth recommendations and helps create new fans. Our goal is to give users what they want and make those moments of connection more seamless and streamlined in the Spotify app.”

There’s one more wrinkle to this story: YouTube. Spotify has fashioned itself into a challenger to Google’s video throne, but that’s a difficult mission to accomplish. YouTube’s ability to provide focused entertainment and communication has allowed it to remain on top of a crowded industry. With more social features, Spotify can show its users that they can find an all-in-one social media experience without leaving the green-tinted app. We’ll see how eagerly consumers adopt the new DMs as the feature’s global rollout continues.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Homepage Feature, News, Spotify by Sam Gutelle
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Apex Legends‘ next influencer gauntlet will be a little different from what battle royale players have come to expect. The multiplayer game developed by Electronic Arts subsidiary Respawn Entertainment is playing host to the Creator Tournament Series, which will pit streamers against one another across the “wildest, most unforgettable events.”

Since its 2019 launch, Apex has maintained a passionate creator community. Tyler “Ninja” Blevins won Twitch’s first Apex tourney, Red Bull tapped high-profile players for a hotel-themed activation in Chicago, and big names like iiTzTimmy have signed with major talent agencies.

Thus far, the majority of Apex activity has featured the game’s standard battle royale mode, which mirrors similar titles like Warzone and Fortnite. The Creator Tournament Series, however, will shake things up. As explained on the EA website, the influencer competition will feature creator-built maps with eclectic rulesets.

Interested designers can submit their gameplay ideas via the Apex creator hub. “We don’t want the same old tournament format – we’re looking to create one-of-a-kind and unforgettable experiences for the Apex community,” reads EA’s info page. “Melee only? Great! Turn Apex into a [tabletop] RPG? Deal! One bin challenge? Even better! If you can dream it, you can pitch it!”

If you’re wondering why Respawn is shaking up Apex, look no further than the game’s biggest competitor. Fortnite began as a straightforward battle royale game, but it has since evolved into a sandbox platform that powers a variety of creator-made experiences.

With that pivot to Roblox-style entertainment, Fortnite paid out more than $350 million to creators in 2024 alone, and experience studios have become thriving businesses. Brands have come calling, and notable developers like Typical Gamer have amassed seven-digit follower counts through Fortnite alone.

Recently, however, there has been some disputes between Fortnite publisher Epic Games and its creator community, and that friction opens up an opportunity for Apex to get creative. Respawn’s battle royale title has seen its player base decline since its high-water mark; according to Steam Charts, the game’s peak concurrent numbers are less than half of what they were during February 2023.

Apex still has plenty of admirers, but a Fortnite-style pivot will help prevent it from becoming the next PUBG. After all, the battle royale genre as a whole is just like its signature free-for-all game mode: Winning requires constant upgrades, and one wrong move can get you eliminated. The Creator Tournament Series is an evolution of sorts, one that looks to bring Apex back to the apex of its category.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Homepage Feature, News by Sam Gutelle
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YouTube isn’t the only one secretly using generative “AI” tools. Last month, CEO Ted Sarandos said Netflix used a text-to-video generator in the production of Argentinian sci-fi miniseries The Eternaut, to cut down on human VFX costs for a scene where a building collapses. While Netflix had used generators before for things like scene visualization and shot-planning, The Eternaut (which came out in April 2025) was the first time generated video had appeared as part of the finished product.

“We remain convinced that AI represents an incredible opportunity to help creators make films and series better, not just cheaper,” Sarandos said at the time. “They’re AI-powered creator tools. So this is real people doing real work with better tools.”

Now that it’s done the “AI” deed itself, Netflix is allowing production partners to use generators, too–but unlike Netflix itself, they’re not allowed to keep generated assets in their final works.

In a company blog post, Netflix laid out five principles for using generators in production of content for its streaming platform:

1. The outputs do not replicate or substantially recreate identifiable characteristics of unowned or copyrighted material, or infringe any copyright-protected works
2. The generative tools used do not store, reuse or train on production data inputs or outputs
3. Where possible, generative tools are used in an enterprise-secured environment to safeguard inputs
4. Generated material is temporary and not part of the final deliverables
5. GenAI is not used to replace or generate new talent performances or union-covered work without consent

Also, anyone who uses generators must inform Netflix about it. That’s an intriguing requirement, considering how often studios caught using generated content in the past have issued public statements where they place the blame on contractors and/or claim to have no knowledge of large language model usage. Netflix, by setting these guidelines, is shunting aside its own potential plausible deniability–but that’s in service of it praising gen “AI” as an inextricable part of the creative future. (Hey, that also sounds like YouTube.)

To be clear, though, this isn’t a generator free-for-all. Netflix laid out some cases where production partners would need written permission to move forward with using “AI,” and others where they wouldn’t be allowed to.

Written permission uses include using Netflix’s own proprietary data, using other artists’ work to train generators, using prompts that reference copyrighted works, using generators to create key characters/settings/visuals, and using generators to recreate the likenesses/voices/etc of real human talent (so they can’t make a fake Darin De Paul and call it a day).

The big no is production partners trying to use generators to make footage of real events or people.

“Audiences should be able to trust what they see and hear on screen,” Netflix said. “GenAI (if used without care) can blur the line between fiction and reality or unintentionally mislead viewers.”

Netflix might have slipped in care itself previously. We mentioned above that The Eternaut was the first time generated video had appeared in a finished Netflix project. That’s true–but Netflix had already appeared to use generated photos in a project. The true crime documentary What Jennifer Did featured photos of its subject with suspiciously Uncanny Valley hands and teeth–a hallmark of early generative models.

Obviously, if the photos were generated, their creation and inclusion in the documentary now breaks Netflix’s new guidelines, so this shouldn’t happen again.

Netflix’s guidelines are some of the first to be released publicly. We know Hollywood studios are using generators, but they’re mostly close-mouthed about it. The biggest discussion around generated content guidelines comes from SAG-AFTRA, which backed down from a total ban on AI and now is fine with it being used, so long as the union gets its $$$ cut. SAG-AFTRA is still negotiating what’ll be allowed in the next contract with studios, but since everyone wants the money that comes from churning things out without paying for human labor, we’re guessing generators will have a significant presence in our digital realm and in Hollywood for the foreseeable future.

Filed under: Homepage Feature, Netflix by James Hale
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YouTube is giving some much-needed shine to unsung creators around the world. Hype, a feature that highlights channels with fewer than 500,000 subscribers, is now available globally.

We spotted YouTube’s Hype feature on a channel with about 75,000 subscribers.

On YouTube’s mobile app, the Hype button will appear on eligible channels next to other creator-friendly features like Remix and Thanks. Viewers can give Hype to three videos per week, and the uploads that receive the most kudos will show up on a central leaderboard that can be found (again, on mobile) via the Explore tab.

The points system is weighted so that smaller channels benefit more from receiving Hype, but anyone under the 500,000-subscriber threshold can benefit from YouTube’s new feature. Hyped videos, for example, will carry a badge that will appear across the platform.

YouTube first announced Hype last year, when it said it would test the feature in Brazil, Turkey, and Taiwan. Less than a year later, Hype is spreading to 39 countries, including major markets like the U.S. and India.

“The hype is building, and we have more features on the way,” reads a blog post announcing the expansion. “Soon, there’ll be leaderboards for specific interests like gaming and style, and a way for you to easily share that you just hyped a video to cast an even bigger spotlight.”

For creators who are struggling to grow on YouTube, Hype might not seem like much, since there will be stiff competition for the 100 spots on the leaderboard. What the feature does do is express the growing importance of so-called “microinfluencers,” who are able to haul in marketing dollars even though they lack substantial subscriber counts. By rolling out Hype widely, YouTube is saying that size matters not. Even on a smaller channel, an impressive video can break through.

So which clips have made it to leaderboard so far? It’s still early, so thus far, the list of Hyped videos touches many of the top trends on YouTube Shorts. There are cooking videos, memes derived from The Amazing Digital Circus, and survival content. As YouTube’s Trending tab phases out, the Hype-eligible masses will be able to show that they too know how to harness popular categories for their own benefit.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Homepage Feature, News, YouTube by Sam Gutelle
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YouTube is partially responsible for the rise of alternative streams that run adjacent to traditional sports broadcasts. Now, it’s bringing that type of programming to the first game of the 2025 NFL season.

As the hotly anticipated matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and Los Angeles Chargers approaches, YouTube has shared some more details related to its first-ever exclusive airing of a regular-season NFL game. In addition to the traditional broadcast, which will be streamed on the YouTube homepage and the official NFL channel — several alternative feeds will be available, including one hosted by megastar iShowSpeed.

Speed, whose real name is Darren Watkins, is a longtime partner for YouTube’s NFL coverage. Along with his buddy Kai Cenat, Speed headed to the NFL YouTube channel to provide pregame entertainment ahead of last season’s Super Bowl. Now, he’s one of four creators who have been invited to co-stream the Chiefs-Chargers tilt. Comedian Tom Grossi will hel, the other English-language alternative broadcast, while Spanish-language coverage will be provided by Robegrill and SKabeche.

Surprisingly, there will be no creator-led streams in Portuguese. Even though the game will be played in São Paulo, and creator sports coverage is popular in Brazil, YouTube is keeping its co-streams bilingual for now.

The four creator-led broadcasts will run next to YouTube’s more traditional feed, which will feature commentary from Super Bowl-winning QB Kurt Warner and longtime broadcaster Rich Eisen. Former college football player Deestroying will report from the sidelines, and Colombian pop star Karol G — who has a sizable YouTube presence of her own — will perform a halftime set.

In other words, no matter where you choose to watch YouTube’s exclusive NFL broadcast, the screen will be packed with creators. In that sense, the Chiefs-Chargers game won’t be much different from other NFL events YouTube has covered.

Given the amount of fanfare associated with YouTube’s venture into the world of NFL regular season exclusives, the decision to set up co-streams — and therefore deflect some amount of traffic away from the traditional feed — is a bit curious. But YouTube has several reasons to turn its creators into simulcasters. Reach is an obvious consideration here, given Speed’s 43 million YouTube subscribers. And since creators like Dude Perfect helped establish the phenomenon of alternative broadcasts, YouTube’s decision to include them here is a nice nod to the history of the trend.

YouTube will also get an opportunity to test the relatively recent feature known as Watch With, which will power the high-profile creator streams. Twitch’s version of that feature allows it to roll up massive cross-platform viewership numbers for blockbuster events like Ibai’s La Velada Del Año. YouTube wants to report a big viewership figure for its first exclusive NFL broadcast, and co-streaming is an easy way to pump up those numbers.

The creators will get some benefits out of the arrangement, too. Speed is set to embark on a U.S. tour that will be in full swing when the Chiefs-Chargers tilt goes down on September 5. Therefore, he’ll get some free promotion for his upcoming dates — not that he needs much help drawing a crowd.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Homepage Feature, News, NFL, YouTube by Sam Gutelle
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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.

Minidramas have officially made it on our Gospel Stats Weekly Brand Report. Join Alan Chikin Chow for not one, but two episode of a sponsored, bite-sized drama series that’s racked up over 50 million views so far. Then catch MrBeast putting people in jail, Vaseline Noodles exploding some kittens, and Any Austin answering a question we never thought to ask.

#1 Survive 100 Days In Prison, Win $500,000
Channel: MrBeast
Brand: Moose Toys
Views: 87,473,428

It doesn’t matter if you’re a cop or a criminal–in Cell Block MrBeast, everyone‘s in jail. The world’s most-watched YouTuber has paid people to live in circles, gyms, private jets, and more, and while we wouldn’t describe those stays as cushy, they were certainly more comfortable than this one. For this video, Jimmy Beast put two contestants in a fake prison. One of them is the guard. The other, the prisoner. If the two of them can make it 100 days with only each other as company, they’ll win $500,000. And unlike the traditional cop/criminal relationship, this one has to be chummy if they want to walk away with that cool half mil.

MrBeast has been on a Shopify sponsor kick lately, but this one is brought to viewers by Moose Toys, the company that produces his Swarms figures (and an upcoming animated series to promote them).

#2 Famous Popstar Goes Undercover presented by @LANEIGE_US #BeautyAndTheBeatSeries #laneigeus [EP 1]
Channel: Alan’s Universe
Brand: Laneige
Views: 13,438,363

Alan Chikin Chow is getting glam. We’ve been writing about the minidrama craze, and Chow’s new YouTube Shorts series Beauty and the Beat, part of his fictional setting Alan’s Universe, fits right in. It’s peak drama: An overwhelmed popstar desperate for a break from the spotlight remakes herself as a high school student (with the help of cosmetics from sponsor Laneige), only to remember that hey, being a teenager isn’t always so fun. After the relief of her makeover and the safety of anonymity, she finds herself on the receiving end of classic mean girl bullying…

#3 Fashion Show SABOTAGE presented by @LANEIGE_US #BeautyAndTheBeatSeries #laneigeus [EP 3]
Channel: Alan’s Universe
Brand: Laneige
Views: 10,602,302

…but don’t worry, she gets her revenge. We don’t want to spoil the whole storyline, so we’ll just say Chow and co-star Chelsea Sik‘s content is right on target for what companies like MicroCo and ReelShort are trying to do. (Quibi also once tried to do it, but we won’t talk about that.) These are catchy, melodramatic installments with archetypal characters and familiar storylines–and clearly, fans are digging it. This series nabbed spots #2 and #3 this week, proving there’s viewer appetite for drama drama drama. We’re betting Laneige is happy too, with over 50 million views on Beauty and the Beat‘s eight episodes so far.

#4 What if Exploding Kittens were a Boardgame
Channel: Vaseline Noodles
Brand: Exploding Kittens
Views: 6,563,245

If the name “Exploding Kittens” doesn’t take you back to 2015, maybe Vaseline Noodles‘ sketch-style promo video will. In this 90-second ad for the classic card game company, Vaseline Noodles (aka Nick Wong) plays a group of friends all arguing about what to do for their latest game night. One wants a board game. The other? The extremely early-2000s-flavored viral card game Exploding Kittens. The host’s solution: Why not both? He introduces the official Exploding Kittens Board Game, which debuted earlier this month. Wong’s video is the only one the brand sponsored this week, but he’s not the only creator who brought home a stray kitten or two.

BONUS #97 Do GTA5’s Street Signs Comply With California Law?
Channel: Any Austin
Brand: Rocket Money
Views: 774,472

Any Austin is the master of answering questions you never thought to ask. What is the restaurant industry like in Skyrim? Are the woodworkers in Legend of Zelda‘s Hyrule good at their jobs? How does the waterworks system in Cyberpunk 2077 operate? Where do the birds in Red Dead Redemption 2 go? You can learn all this and more on his channel, where he just got Rocket Money to pay him to spend 22 minutes painstakingly examining whether Grand Theft Auto 5‘s dozens of street signs comply with California law.

…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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Roblox-the-company might be in a rough spot right now, but the developers using its tools and platform to build and launch their own video games are reaching new virtual heights.

Grow a Garden and Steal a Brainrot are two of Roblox’s most popular games. One is a farm sim, and the other is a sort of thief’s paradise bootleg Pokémon, where players build hoards of pixel creatures, and can acquire new ones by stealing them from rivals’ bases. On any given day, they both tend to average around ~1 million concurrent players–a huge number.

But that number is nothing compared to the ones they hit this past weekend.

See, Grow a Garden and Steal a Brainrot have something important in common: They both run regular “Admin Abuse” events, where players who log in during set periods can get limited-edition drops from the game’s administrators. The joke is that admins are “abusing” their power by manipulating the game’s systems–but it has a positive connotation, since the manipulation is solely to reward players.

These events are catnip for pushing player numbers up. They require people to join the game at the same time, spiking concurrent player stats, and rely on FOMO by offering things like special items to ensure players are motivated to show up.

Both Grow a Garden and Steal a Brainrot run Admin Abuse events on weekends, and in the past have successfully spiked their numbers to ~15 million concurrent players each.

So, how to grow (and steal) past that figure?

Easy: Throw a good old-fashioned flame war.

Last week, Jandel, who made Grow a Garden, and SpyderSammy, who made Steal a Brainrot, started posting across TikTok, X, and Discord, hyping up their player bases for an all-out Aug. 23 “Admin War,” where both games’ Admin Abuse events would take place at the same time. And there were some pretty high stakes:

“I am declaring an official Admin Abuse war against Good Boy Sammy,” Jandel tweeted Aug. 15. “My wager. For every 1m players more than Steal a Brainrot–I will donate $5k to Team Water.”

“Challenge accepted @jandelRblx,” SpyderSammy responded. “‘Good Boy’ Sammy will show you what good admin abuse is. I’d be happy to match your wager and donate to Team Water as well regardless of who wins.”

The kayfabe did its job. Saturday came, fans poured in, there were a few crash issues, and by the end of the day, Grow a Garden and Steal a Brainrot had both reached over 20 million concurrent viewers, and pushed Roblox-as-a-platform to 47.4 million–its highest concurrent player count yet.

Grow a Garden already set a record as Roblox’s most-concurrently-played game back in June, when it reached 21.6 million players. The Aug. 23 Admin War put it up to 21.1 million, so not quite record-breaking. Steal a Brainrot, though, set its own new record at 20 million, becoming the second Roblox title ever to hit that concurrent player figure.

Both games have now beat Fortnite‘s concurrent player record of 15.3 million, set in 2020 by its Marvel finale event (and recognized by Guinness).

As for Roblox itself, that 47.4 million puts it ahead of Steam‘s record 40.2 million. (Steam, for the uninitiated, is owned by Team Fortress 2 developer Valve, and is the largest seller/launcher of PC games available. It regularly has tens of millions of people buying and playing thousands of different games.) Steam set that this past March, thanks to traffic driven by new AAA releases like Monster Hunter Wilds.

All this means that Roblox is officially the world’s highest-concurrent-player game platform, and Grow a Garden and Steal a Brainrot are among the world’s highest-concurrent-player games.

Does that mean they’ll always have such commanding traffic? Not necessarily. At press time, they’ve both dropped back down to their usual ~1 million concurrents. But 1 million is nothing to sneeze at, and this successful player engagement event shows that increasingly, Roblox might just be the YouTube of gaming: a massive repository of passion-driven, user-generated content that’s succeeding with fans, advertisers, and investors while the institutional industries around it struggle.

Filed under: Homepage Feature by James Hale
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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. 👇

MrBeast continues to trade the #1 spot in the Global Sub Top 50 with an Argentine protege. This week, it’s Alejo Igoa‘s turn the claim the top position in our ranking of the most-subscribed YouTube channels of the week. Igoa added 2.1 million new subscribers to reclaim the chart-topping perch he held earlier in the summer.

The top ten also includes some channels that tie into current events — or, at least, the events that are relevant in our neck of the woods. Roblox drama has enveloped the internet, and the creator at the center of it is seeing his subscriber count rise.

Schlep may be banned on Roblox, but his YouTube numbers are skyrocketing

What began as a simple hunt for sexual predators has evolved into a multiplatform saga that has turned a 22-year-old Texan named Michael into the talk of the internet. Online, Michael is better known as Schlep, and Roblox’s response to his signature video format has spiraled out of control.

Here’s the context: In the Roblox world, Schlep is known for working with JiDion to expose and banish predators who lurk on the sandbox platform in search of impressionable targets. Roblox’s response to Schlep’s vigilantism was to look past his witch hunts and banish him instead.

The explanation for the Schlep ban was that the creator was engaging in “unauthorized and harmful activities on the Roblox platform” that “directly undermine Roblox’s safety efforts and, critically, are exposing our users to increased risk.” That logic didn’t sit well with the Schlep fans, who cheered him for turning his investigations into six recorded arrests.

Though he is not allowed to conduct his Roblox activities anymore, Schlep’s YouTube channel is taking off. He added 600,000 new subscribers during the last full week of August, which brought him up to 7th place in the Global Sub Top 50. He even attracted the attention of noted predator catcher Chris Hansen, who joined him for a blockbuster YouTube collab.

One of the top comments on that video comes from noted gaming creator KreekCraft, who tipped Schlep nearly $500 for his efforts. KreekCraft, who is one of the elder statesmen of the internet’s Roblox community, has waded into the Schlep controversy to support a creator he sees as wrongly persecuted. One of his most recent takes on the situation has picked up more than 1.9 million YouTube views just three days after its initial upload date.

I wouldn’t suggest that KreekCraft is approaching this drama with his own numbers in mind, but he just had one of his best weeks ever on YouTube. He added 500,000 new subscribers, bringing his total count up to 13.8 million. He landed in 15th place in the Global Sub Top 50 after placing 60th a week prior, and he hit some big viewership milestones, too. He got more than 150 million YouTube views in a single week after failing to top 100 million during the previous 51 weeks.

Data via Gospel Stats

The Schlep situation has given Roblox creators an opportunity to show where their values lie, and big names like KreekCraft have made it clear that they are more interested in showing solidarity with their fellow creators rather than supporting the company that facilitates their gameplay.

It’s funny. While Roblox struggles to deal with a situation that could spiral into its version of the Adpocalypse, its creator community is getting bigger than it’s ever been before. Maybe Roblox would’ve been better served to just let Schlep do his thing.

Channel Distribution

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

• United States: 16
• India: 9
• Hong Kong: 5
• Australia: 3
• Canada, Mexico, Pakistan, and Vietnam: 2
• Argentina, China, Egypt, Indonesia, Japan, Russia, South Korea, Spain, and Taiwan: 1

This week, 37 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. 👇

There’s a new #1 in this week’s Global Top 50. Throughout August, Double Date has dominated our rankings, as have related couple channels Cadel and Mia and Jasmin and James. During the last full week of August, each of those channels fell at least three spots each.

In their stead, KIMPRO has reassumed a familiar position atop our worldwide viewership chart. The Korean channel known for its short-form output picked up 1.8 billion weekly views as it brought its lifetime YouTube viewership above 100 billion hits.

The craftsman channels are getting even craftier

It’s time for our semiannual check-in on the world of short-form “crafts” channel. I’m not talking about slime creators, art makers, or anything like that. In the parlance of YouTube Shorts (and our Top 50 charts in particular), “crafts” usually refers to videos that feature skilled tradesmen, eclectic machines, and oddly satisfying processes.

We’ve explored that phenomenon through channels like Gulbahar Technical and Mavi Gadget, the latter of which was once a mainstay at the top of our Tubefilter charts. There are some other crafts channels in this week’s Global Top 50, but I noticed a commonality linking a few of them: The creators behind those hubs are getting hungry.

Food, like machinery, is a popular topic on YouTube Shorts. Culinary creators like Nick DiGiovanni have become regulars in our rankings, and why not? No matter where you’re from in the world, everyone has to eat.

Daily Crafts is one of the channels that has recognized and exploited the link between “crafts” videos and food content. Like many of the hubs that fall into the former of those buckets, Daily Crafts gets its views by repurposing East Asian videos for Arabic-language markets. It translates craftsman content with a particular emphasis on farms.

Among Daily Crafts’ most-watched short-form uploads, several videos depict unique ways to harvest watermelons. The #1 Daily Crafts short is driven by a high-powered pasta cutter, and yes, it certainly qualifies as “oddly satisfying.”

The focus on farms has worked wonders for Daily Crafts. With 530.9 million weekly views, the short-form hub moved from 78th place up to 33rd in the Top 50. It got 51% more views compared to the previous week’s tally.

Farm Crafts is similar to Daily Crafts in many ways, and I’m not just talking about their respective names. Farm Crafts got 665.5 million weekly views by adding Arabic titles to some of the most amusing farm-set content from East Asia. This time last year, Farm Crafts didn’t exist on YouTube, but despite its young age, it is now the 17th-most watched channel on all of YouTube.

Data via Gospel Stats

Such is the power of oddly satisfying farm equipment. These tools don’t just aid in the planting, growing, and harvesting of crops — they also open up new avenues for revenue generation on the short-form side of the internet.

Right now, content aggregators seem to be doing the best job of finding and sharing those videos. How long before the farmers themselves get in on the fun?

Channel Distribution

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

• India: 14
• United States: 11
• Hong Kong: 6
• Australia, Canada, Spain, Taiwan, and Vietnam: 2
• China, Egypt, Germany, Indonesia, Japan, Pakistan, Russia, South Korea, and Ukraine: 1

This week, 42 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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YouTube creators are understandably wary about the changes generative AI could bring to their careers. Technological advancements powered by artificial intelligence are threatening to steal creators’ work, fill the internet with deepfakes, and make it more difficult to tell reality from fiction.

Those concerns have put creators on edge, and some of them have noticed some unauthorized changes to their videos. After short-form uploads go live, YouTube is using machine learning technology to retouch them.

As far back as June 2025, keen-eyed YouTube viewers have spotted Shorts clips that look like they had been subjected to AI-generated edits. Telling details, such as face and hair shapes, appeared too clean and neat to come from real people. Observers questioned whether YouTube was applying AI to videos after the fact.

Earlier in August, those queries started getting louder. Rhett Shull, a musician with about 750,000 YouTube subscribers, shared a video discussing retouched Shorts. The altered channels included his own, that of fellow musician Rick Beato, and several other notable hubs like Vlogbrothers and Rhett & Link. If I’m scrolling on Shorts and this came up, I would think this is an AI-generated short,” Shull said, “that Rhett & Link are using AI to generate content for Good Mythical Morning.”

To be clear, it is normal for YouTube to rescale videos after they’ve been uploaded. To play videos in different resolutions, for example, YouTube will add its own encoding and compression, balancing factors like video quality and load times in the proces.

In statements shared in response to Shull’s video, YouTube reps characterized the contentious video changes as routine enhancements. On X, creator liaison Rene Ritchie described the edits as an experiment powered by “traditional machine learning technology” that aims to “unblur, denoise, and improve clarity in videos” while serving YouTube’s mission to “provide the best video quality and experience possible.” In a statement provided to The Atlantic, YouTube spokeswoman Allison Toh stressed that “these enhancements are not done with generative AI.”

Those responses make it clear that YouTube is drawing a line between what it calls “traditional machine learning technology” and what we know as generative AI. Ritchie clarified that idea in a follow-up tweet, writing that “GenAI typically refers to technologies like transformers and large language models, which are relatively new.”

Some technologists aren’t buying that explanation. “I think using the term ‘machine learning’ is an attempt to obscure the fact that they used AI because of concerns surrounding the technology,” University of Pittsburgh Chair of Disinformation Studies Samuel Woolley told the BBC. “Machine learning is in fact a subfield of artificial intelligence.”

Ultimately, the semantic argument is beside the point. Shull argued that the enhancements look like AI to viewers, and that alone makes the changes impactful. He sees artificial-looking content as something that “makes you question the reality of what you’re seeing,” which can affect the relationship between creators and their fans.

“The trust of my audience is the most important thing that I have as a YouTube creator,” Shull said. “Replacing or enhancing my work without my consent or knowledge with some kind of AI upscaling system not only erodes that trust with the audience, but it erodes my trust with the platform of YouTube.”

Can YouTube win back the trust of creators who are skeptical regarding the platform’s use of machine learning technology? For a long time, communication with creators was one of YouTube’s biggest weaknesses. Channels like Creator Insider have addressed that problem, but the latest kerfuffle shows there is still a disconnect between YouTube and many of its creators. As AI slop takes over YouTube Shorts, humans want their original work to stand out. So if YouTube wants to tinker with those uploads, it might want to give its users a heads-up first.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Homepage Feature, News, YouTube by Sam Gutelle
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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 YouTube star’s NFL journey comes full circle, a TikToker’s acting career takes off, and the newest word in the dictionary is making us say “Dafuq!?Boom!”

Creator commotion

Deestroying will be on the sidelines for YouTube’s NFL broadcast. The football content creator has already rubbed shoulders with NFL stars through his 1on1s series. He’ll put those relationships to use as the on-field reporter for YouTube’s upcoming coverage of the Chiefs-Chargers tilt in Brazil. Not to brag or anything, but I totally called it.

Channel 5’s Andrew Callaghan is beefing with The New York Times. YouTube’s favorite independent documentarian was working with the Times on an op-ed about Trump-era threats to editorial freedom, but the paper ultimately opted to nix the piece instead, according to Semafor. Undeterred, Callaghan will read his piece aloud on his channel.

RIP to Caught in Providence judge Frank Caprio. With his wry sense of humor, thick New England accent, and empathetic approach to the law, Caprio turned mundane courtroom scenes into YouTube gold. He passed away earlier this week at age 88 due to prostate cancer.

Pop culture minute

Anna Sitar’s acting debut is in a tennis flick that’s being served up in time for the U.S. Open. After breaking out on TikTok, Sitar ventured into the film world (with a little help from the app that made her famous). Now, Sitar is getting her first big role as the leading lady in Quiet Please, a tennis-themed short film with elements of psychological horror.

TikTok’s “Movie Guy” lands iHeartMedia gig. With 3.5 million followers on TikTok, Juju Green — better known as Straw Hat Goofy — is a powerful voice in the world of pop culture criticism. Per Variety, Green is now porting his takes over to iHeartMedia, where he will have a role as a “key entertainment contributor.”

Alex Botez is making progress on her chess-inspired video game. First announced last year, Botez’s attempt to bring elements of chess into the broader world of strategy gaming is advancing slowly and steadily through development. “I am still super excited to launch the chess video game. That is going to come out some point next year,” Botez told Dexerto. “We’re going to be playtesting soon, but the rest we’re keeping pretty secret for now.”

Events and happenings

iShowSpeed’s next tour is a 25-state U.S. swing. He’s been to Indonesia. He’s been to Turkey. Now, iShowSpeed is touring his home country, with 25 stops planned across 35 days. Not so bold prediction: Clips from this tour are going to be the next big thing on YouTube Shorts.

Kai Cenat is ready to roll with Mafiathon 3. Not to be outdone, Speed’s buddy is preparing a blockbuster stream of his own. Mafiathon 2 was arguably the biggest thing on the internet when it bowed late last year. To make it a threepeat, Cenat will launch Mafiathon 3 the next time he goes live on his Twitch channel. Watch out — that broadcast might begin sooner than you’d think.

Alex Cooper is donning showgirl attire for Unwell’s Vegas event. Cooper’s media company is heading to Sin City for a two-day happening that will take place in October — just after the release of Taylor Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl album. The wide-ranging guest list includes creators like Trisha Paytas, actors like Nicole Byer and Meg Stalter, and personalities like Paris Hilton and Bethenny Frankel.

The biz

Mark Goldbridge wins broadcast rights for top-flight German soccer matches. The creator known for his Manchester United fandom will broadcast live Bundesliga matches on his channel. Between this piece of news and CazeTV’s World Cup deal, creator broadcasters are apparently the hot new thing on the pitch.

CaseOh joins Moist Cr1TiKaL’s soap brand as co-owner. With Moist Soap, popular streamer Charlie White made his move into the retail world. He’s now getting an assist from another one of Twitch’s biggest names, and the commercial introducing the new co-owner is as silly as you’d expect from these two.

The LDS Church has cultivated a sprawling influencer network. A New York Times report details the Church’s effort to promote itself through deals with local creators. There are many Mormon creators who can contribute to those campaigns; Salt Lake City has long been one of the biggest creator hubs in the U.S.

The internet is a strange place

“Skibidi” is a new word in at least one dictionary. The Cambridge Dictionary has added some Gen Alpha gibberish to its database, and Skibidi Toilet creator Alexey “Boom” Gerasimov should be proud. Other new entries to the dictionary include “delulu” and “tradwife.” I think Cambridge might be a little late jumping onto the skibidi bandwagon, but I’m also not sure I have enough Ohio rizz to comment on the matter.

Want to watch Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning on YouTube? Better learn Morse code. In recent years, free movies have become more common on YouTube. Paramount put a twist on that phenomenon by broadcasting the script of the latest Mission Impossible flick in Morse code. Deciphering the dots and dashes may seem like a lot of work for a few hours of entertainment, but Ethan Hunt has pulled off far more improbable tasks.

Andrew Tate is suing TikTok and Meta for “emotional distress.” The right-wing commentator has said that he “will lose his entire fortune” to fight a legal battle related to his 2022 deplatforming. If this case is going to bankrupt Andrew Tate, then all I have to say to him is “go for it.”

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Homepage Feature, News by Sam Gutelle
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