Tribeca X was originally a one-day affair. When it launched in 2016 as part of New York City’s iconic Tribeca Festival, it was a single-day slate of programming for the creative advertising industry, capped by an awards show recognizing best-in-class, storytelling-driven marketing. Then, in 2024, it doubled in size, expanding to two days of live programming.

For 2025, it’s jumping into its biggest expansion yet. Its core event will still welcome attendees June 9-10 at Spring Studios in New York City, bringing together “top talent from Hollywood, advertising, and business for two days of high-impact conversations and networking at the intersection of creativity, commerce, and culture,” it says.

But on top of that core event, it now plans to offer year-round programming during activations at the Toronto International Film Festival, the Emmys, Art Basel Miami Beach, and more.

“Tribeca X is scaling to meet the moment. Our year-round expansion positions Tribeca X as the leading platform where entertainment and marketing come together to shape what’s next,” Chris Brady, President and Global Chief Commercial Officer of Tribeca Enterprises, said in a statement. “Building on the strength of our signature two-day program at the annual Tribeca Festival, this year, we’re activating at global tentpoles like TIFF, the Emmys, and Art Basel Miami Beach to foster new opportunities for meaningful connection, creative experimentation, and industry impact with a highly influential community of marketing and entertainment leaders.”

As for what’ll happen during its two-day program, Tribeca X has booked panels with Hollywood legends including Breaking Bad star Bryan Cranston and media CEO/entrepreneur/Roblox enthusiast Paris Hilton, who’ll be onstage with Bruce Gersh, the President/COO of her company 11:11 Media.

Also confirmed to speak are:

• Steve Zahn and Rick Gomez, co-Founders of Macaroni Art Productions, and chef Ouita Michel, about “the incomparable production experience in Lexington and the episodic series YOU BELONG HERE“
• Kenneth Cole, “fashion icon and founder of the Mental Health Coalition, reflects on four decades of using fashion as a platform for storytelling, activism, and social impact”
• Lena Waithe, Emmy-winning writer, producer, and founder of Hillman Grad, “records a special live episode of her hit podcast Legacy Talk, exploring storytelling as a tool for preserving Black cultural memory and shaping inclusive narratives in Hollywood”
• Haider Rafique, CMO of OKX, and actor Chazz Palminteri present Mild Mild West, “a first-of-its-kind Western that fuses crypto and cinema in a groundbreaking cross-industry collaboration”
• Ynon Kreiz, Mattel CEO, on “scaling legacy through culturally relevant brand storytelling”
• Raja Rajamannar, CMO of Mastercard, “shares insights on how brands are transforming into experience curators by blending innovation, entertainment, and emotional connection”
• Todd Kaplan, Kraft Heinz CMO, on “evolving legacy brands through real-time, consumer-first marketing”
• Andrea Brimmer, Ally Financial CMO, on “championing equity and impact through bold investment in women’s sports”
• Lara Krug, Kansas City Chiefs Media and Marketing Officer, on “leveraging fandom and storytelling to redefine brand expansion”
• and Evin Shutt, 72andSunny‘s CEO, on “how optimism, purpose, and bold storytelling power a creative edge”

“In today’s ever-changing media landscape, brands have evolved from sponsors to storytellers,” Jane Rosenthal, Tribeca’s co-founder and CEO, said. “Tribeca X is a unique platform where creative visionaries and industry leaders converge to drive innovation, spark meaningful dialogue, and influence the cultural agenda.”

With these announcements, Tribeca X also announced its official selections for this year’s Tribeca X Awards, which will give nods in seven categories: Feature Film, Short Film, Episodic Series, Commercial Spot, Content Creator/Influencer Collaboration, Audio/Podcast, and Games & Immersive.

This year’s selections include marketing productions by Akris, Apple, Arc’teryx, Audible, BioWare, Brilliant Labs, British Airways Cityflyer, Coca-Cola, Delta Air Lines, Diageo, DIZA, Electronic Arts, Flonase, Fordham University, Haleon & Sensodyne, Human Rights Campaign, Invisalign, Kate Spade New York, Kenneth Cole, Louis Vuitton, Mejuri, Montefiore, Netflix, NFL, Nike, Oatly, Playstation Studios, Reporters Without Borders Germany (RSF), Sephora, Sesame Workshop, Shondaland, Supercell, UberEats, Uniqlo, Team Kentucky/VisitLEX, and Wicked/NBC Universal.

These companies’ nominated creative marketing content will be judged by a jury including Jenna Lyons, Partner at FundamentalCo; Chaucer Barnes, CMO at UnitedMasters Inc.; Kristine Segrist, Global Head of Consumer Marketing for Canva; Carrie Brody, VP of Business Development at Higher Ground Productions; Kyle Wasserman, Creative Executive for Apple TV+; and Don MacKinnon, co-founder and CEO of Hark Audio.

Folks interested in seeing all this go down IRL can get passes here.

Tribeca X is a Tubefilter partner.

Filed under: Homepage Feature, Tribeca by James Hale
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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.

2008 was the year the YouTube community awakened its collective political consciousness.

Several factors informed that trend. The 2008 U.S. presidential race, which ultimately resulted in the historic election of Barack Obama, united the platform like never before. Obama impersonator Iman “Alphacat” Crosson became one of YouTube’s biggest stars, LisaNova‘s Sarah Palin spoofs did big numbers as well, and CNN even teamed up with YouTube for a memorable debate collab.

But if you ask me, the most notable political YouTube video of 2008 was an outtake recorded more than a decade earlier. It features a faulty teleprompter, a red-faced Bill O’Reilly, and a plethora of quotable lines that launched a slew of hilarious memes. O’Reilly’s off-air meltdown encapsulated everything YouTube was becoming: A political force, a haven for viral videos, and a driver of internet culture.

In the previous installment of this series, I talked about how YouTube’s rise re-centered digital content. By consolidating online video culture on a single platform, YouTube shifted emphasis away from the videos themselves and towards the creators of those videos.

But in those early YouTube years, some videos uploaded by faceless channels still managed to cut through the clutter and unite the masses. “We’ll Do It Live” is a perfect viral video, as there’s something for everyone here. The explosive temper tantrum over something so innocuous can be tied to the sense of absurdity that has long been part of internet culture. The final shot of O’Reilly raging on a silent set adds a dash of physical comedy. The video’s meme-worthy nature speaks for itself; even Family Guy got in on the fun.

The video may not have been a sensation if not for O’Reilly himself. In 2008, the irascible pundit was the face of a burgeoning media movement that was in the process of reshaping American political discourse. As Fox News rhetoric brought Tea Party figures like Palin to the fore, liberals sought outlets that met the rising right-wing tide with ridicule. For the YouTube generation, “We’ll Do It Live” offered the same sort of comedic catharsis TV viewers got from Jon Stewart’s Daily Show.

The 2008 election added political vectors to YouTube culture and changed the types of videos that tended to go viral. Another ubiquitous hit from that year featured students from the Ron Clark Academy in Atlanta, who put a presidential spin on the T.I. jam “Whatever You Like.”

In the current political climate, the inherent centrism of “You Can Vote However You Like” feels out of place. At the same time, there are a lot of parallels that can be drawn between YouTube’s first presidential election and its most recent. In both cases, digital platforms’ purported connections to young voters elevated creators to a higher tier of influence. In 2008, when YouTube decided to “do it live” in its own way — with an experimental, star-studded stream — both Alphacat and LisaNova performed their respective political impersonations.

The evolution of YouTube content over the past five presidential election cycles is mostly a shift in tone. Inspired by Obama’s appeal to hope, the creators of 2008 saw an opportunity to unify America by parodying both sides of its political spectrum. The viral videos of the day allowed millions of viewers to revel in shared laughter. These days, there’s more urgency, desperation, and divisiveness behind creators’ political rhetoric — and for good reason.

Perhaps a cultural phenomenon like Alphacat seems quaint to us now. But without his Obama impersonation, would we have creators running for Congress? Could the sharp, authoritative viewpoints associated with 2024’s “influencer election” have been cultivated without the silliness that came before? The Obama years showed YouTubers that they could command attention, even if many of those voices weren’t yet sure what they wanted to say.

And now, to play us out, here’s Sting.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Homepage Feature, News, YouTube by Sam Gutelle
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After weeks of speculation, YouTube has officially locked up the exclusive broadcast rights to an NFL game. The home of NFL Sunday Ticket will offer a free broadcast for the September 5 matchup between the Los Angeles Charges and the Kansas City Chiefs — a game that will take place at the Arena Corinthians in São Paulo, Brazil.

The broadcast deal is a major coup for a platform that has dramatically upped its gridiron presence since it became the official distributor of the Sunday Ticket package ahead of the 2023 NFL season. YouTube is primed to compete with the likes of Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, and Peacock (all of which have scored their own exclusive NFL broadcasts), but we still have some questions about the Xs and Os of this particular strategy. Here are some of the queries that have crossed our minds:

Will this be the first of many free NFL broadcasts?

Technically, viewers can already watch local NFL games for free using an over-the-air receiver, but even that viewing technique requires the purchase of special equipment. YouTube is offering something radical, especially by NFL standards: Worldwide access to a regular season game, with no paywall.

It’s a bold tactic that could draw in new subscribers for Sunday Ticket (more on that in a sec). At a more basic level, YouTube will endear itself to football fans with its inclusive access policy. Streaming hubs looking for a jolt of positive PR could consider a similar move. Those companies already offer some free episodes when marketing new and returning shows. Why not apply that same idea to an NFL broadcast?

Will YouTube’s NFL broadcast move the needle for Sunday Ticket?

The premium package for coast-to-coast NFL access is expensive; YouTube is reportedly paying $2 billion per year for the right to distribute Sunday Ticket. We’ve already seen YouTube experiment with discounts and deals as it looks to recoup its ten-digit costs. The free September 5 broadcast is the latest carrot YouTube has dangled in front of potential Sunday Ticket subscribers.

YouTube’s Sunday Ticket experience has received rave reviews, so the platform may figure that it can get football fans to stick around once it gets them to sign up. A clean broadcast during the São Paulo game — one free from buffering, coverage interruptions, and other technical hiccups — would show viewers that they can trust YouTube to deliver the biggest NFL moments as they happen.

What role will creators play?

In my initial coverage of this deal, I speculated that YouTube could assemble a broadcast team consisting of its homegrown creators (I suggested a pairing of Deestroying and Haley Kalil.) It doesn’t seem as if that will be the case. NBC is set to produce the Brazil game on YouTube’s behalf, so we’re most likely to see the Peacock’s familiar stable of announcers on the call.

At the same time, YouTube would be foolish to omit creators from the broadcast altogether. Some creator-led sideline segments seem like the most natural way to integrate YouTube’s homegrown community into the proceedings. As was the case at the NFL Draft, numerous creators would line up for an opportunity to be included in YouTube’s exclusive broadcast.

Would YouTube have acquired these rights if the game wasn’t being played in Brazil?

The South American nation is a prominent market for YouTube. In the past, the platform has gone there to test new features, such as its Hype leaderboard. Is it trying to market the NFL there, too?

Sunday Ticket is a U.S.-only product for now, so YouTube can’t recruit Brazilians as new subscribers for its football package. Even so, the game YouTube chose for its exclusive NFL broadcast feels like a symbolic choice. CEO Neal Mohan has been keen on international expansion of late, and this move may be part of that plan.

Is YouTube going to make deals like this in other sports?

The platform seems to go where its creators go. As stars like Deestroying rubbed shoulders with NFL greats, YouTube ponied up for exclusive broadcast rights. Amid a trend of golf-related content, YouTube became the exclusive home of several links-based competitions.

So what sport is next? Basketball would be the most obvious answer, since hoops creators have woven themselves into the fabric of the game’s culture. But NBA rights can be tricky to negotiate. Maybe an exclusive college basketball broadcast — one populated by NIL stars — would be a good jumping-off point.

Will we hear about this at YouTube Brandcast?

The deal was announced one day before YouTube’s annual pitch to potential brand and agency partners. That presentation typically focuses on YouTube’s presence on TV screens, so you can be sure that a get of this magnitude will be mentioned. We’ll update this post once we hear what YouTube has to say at Brandcast.

[UPDATE: NFL commissioner Roger Goodell appeared on stage at Brandcast (after receiving a tepid greeting from the audience). The commish helped YouTube reveal details about its expanded partnership with the NFL. In addition to the Brazil game, that collaboration will include an expansion of the flag football game YouTube hosts during each year’s Super Bowl weekend. In addition, iShowSpeed’s new YouTube show will include some football players as guest stars.]

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

During the 30 days of April, 32 U.S.-based channels added at least one million new subscribers. To qualify for the Top 100, U.S.-based hubs needed to increase their subscriber counts by at least 510,000.

The list of creators who got at least one million new subs in April includes some familiar faces like MrBeast (#1 in the ranking with nine million new subs), Jesser (#6), and iShowSpeed (#7). Kid-friendly favorites like Vlad and Niki (#5) and FuFu Squishy (#9) also thrived. Then there was another subset of monthly millionaires who signaled a returning YouTube trend.

Roblox is back. Did it ever leave?

As far as open-ended sandbox games go, Minecraft has long been YouTube’s favorite. The new hotness, however, is Roblox, which paid out close to $1 billion to its creator community in 2024.

Roblox has been a hit on YouTube Shorts for years. LankyBox, whose stars play a lot of different games but often dive into Roblox worlds, became a hot commodity in 2022. By 2024, Roblox games like Rainbow Friends were rocketing up the YouTube charts.

But over the following months, Roblox channels started to slide in our Tubefilter rankings. They didn’t disappear from the chart entirely, but it seemed as if Roblox’s own short-form products were eating up some viewership that had previously gone to YouTube Shorts.

In April 2025, however, two Roblox creators rocketed into the uppermost quarter of the U.S. Top 100. RealRosa‘s goofy gameplay moments vaulted her up to 21st place, while Roblox animator Clutchmaker was right behind her in 22nd. Both creators added at least 1.1 million new subscribers across the 30 days of the fourth month.

For RealRosa, the use of best practices for Shorts production has been crucial. She often frames her clips as challenges, and her family members sometimes join the fun, boosting her Shorts visibility as a result.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Sn7I2_MJ2_o

Clutchmaker’s approach is a little different. The Robloxer (can we call them Robloxers?) leans into his artistic side by using the sandbox’s models as the basis for comedic skits and other pieces of animated content.

That approach has brought more than 1.3 billion lifetime views to his official YouTube channel. Much of that viewership has been concentrated in recent months.

Data via Gospel Stats

To be clear, Roblox never really had a noticeable dip in popularity — at least not over the past year. But it seems as if the game’s community is finding new ways to employ YouTube Shorts as a promotional tool. I’d say that type of Roblox-related YouTube activity is preferable to the weird Rainbow Friends stuff, but what do I know? I’m no Gen Alpha member.

Channel Distribution

This month, 77 channels in the Top 100 are primarily active on YouTube Shorts.

As always, keep up to speed with the latest Tubefilter Charts and all of our news at Tubefilter by following us on Twitter, becoming a fan on Facebook, and watching our videos on YouTube.

Filed under: Articles, Homepage Feature, statistics, YouTube, Youtube Chart by Sam Gutelle
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Ready for a taste of CoCo in the cinema?

CoComelon, the kids’ YouTube phenom that generates 2 billion views a month with its animated nursery rhymes, has partnered with Hollywood heavyweights like DreamWorks Animation and Universal Pictures to bring its first full-length film to theaters.

Parent Moonbug Entertainment–which was acquired by former Disney/TikTok exec Kevin Mayer‘s Candle Media for a reported $3 billion in 2021–says the movie will be CG animated and “inspired by the blockbuster children’s show.” Moonbug will produce alongside Flywheel Media, Prime Focus Studios, and DreamWorks Animation, with animation done by DNEG Group and distribution by Universal.

“Fans will follow JJ and his friends on the big screen for a new adventure,” Moonbug says.

While this will be CoComelon’s first theatrical feature, it’s no stranger to venturing off YouTube. Moonbug has an ongoing licensing deal with Netflix that has so far produced spinoffs like CoComelon Lane, Cody Time, Nina’s Familia, and JJ’s Animal Time. Netflix also airs the original show on its platform, racking up billions of hours of watch time each year from young viewers (and probably their parents, too).

CoComelon also isn’t the first YouTube kids’ obsession to head to big screens. Ryan Kaji, the face of Ryan’s World, starred in Ryan’s World The Movie: Titan Universe Adventure last year. The film was produced by the Kaji family’s longtime partner pocket.watch and didn’t perform great at the box office, grossing over $600,000 against a “budget of less than $10 million.”

A few things give CoComelon a better shot at charming theater audiences. First, Moonbug managed to secure staple Hollywood giants as production partners. Obviously having legacy Hollywood studios involved doesn’t guarantee the film will be good (looking at you, Madame Web), but it will be made by people who know what a movie should look and feel like.

Second, the Ryan’s World film, like the Ryan’s World YouTube content, was live acted, with starring roles going (obviously) to Ryan and his sisters, who aren’t experienced Hollywood-caliber actors. CoComelon, on the other hand, is animated and already voiced by professional actors/singers for YouTube, so there won’t be hiccups taking the cast from small to big screens. The film may still choose to cast new voice actors (we don’t know!), but even then, it can likely hire industry pros without worrying too much about viewers wondering why a character seems different on YouTube versus film. That’s the beauty of animation.

However things shake out, it won’t happen for a while. The film is set to premiere not this year, not next year, but in 2027. That’s a ways off, but it seems Moonbug and co. are willing to bet CoComelon will still be kids’ #1 YouTube pick years in the future.

Filed under: Homepage Feature by James Hale
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[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 April 2025 edition of our Global Top 100 chart gives us our first chance to look back on a monumental YouTube policy change that took effect on April 1. That’s when the Shorts views started going up, and our rankings haven’t been the same since.

By counting Shorts views whenever a viewer engages with a short-form clip for any amount of time, YouTube has ensured that its vertical video all-stars will beat out their long-form counterparts in terms of raw data. Here are a few of the changes we’re seeing:

What’s changed on Shorts? We’ll try to keep it short.

Let’s start with three numerical changes we’ve noticed since last month’s Global Top 100 went live.

The number of channels gaining at least two million subscribers in a single calendar month went from 22 to 25, even though April has one fewer day than March. The number of Top 100 channels that operate primarily on Shorts increased from 81 to 83, and the new-look chart has more diversity as well. There are 25 countries represented in the April ranking, compared to 23 countries in March.

There are also some differences between the March and April charts in terms of the creators who cracked the ranking. Everyone’s favorite barking Ronaldo fan, iShowSpeed, moved from 80th in the March Top 100 up to 34th in April. He added 1.8 million new subscribers even though he didn’t upload a single long-form video during the fourth month of the year.

Instead, Speed is thriving on YouTube thanks to clips from his streams and snippets from his cross-continental travels. His current success suggests that the new view-counting rules favor streamers, since clips from their live broadcasts make for the perfect YouTube Shorts fodder.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/fZWufgrkCcw

But you don’t have to be Speed to benefit from YouTube’s new policy. Any channel that operates primarily on Shorts seems to be in line for an uptick. Up and down the Global Top 100, there are channels that saw significant viewership and subscriber bumps beginning on April 1.

Take Cadel and Mia, for example. The Australian couple channel is known for collaborations with another pair, Jasmin and James. In April, Cadel and Mia jumped nearly 200 spots in the Global Top 100 after adding 1.57 million new subscribers.

Was this YouTube’s plan all along? By promoting both short-form content and live streams, the Google-affiliated hub is reminding its creators that they can benefit by embracing as many formats as possible. Apparently, if YouTube needs to adjust the numbers to make that point clear, that’s exactly what it will do.

Channel Distribution

Here’s a breakdown of the Top 100 Most Subscribed channels this month in terms of their countries of origin:

• India: 29
• United States: 25
• Spain: 6
• Hong Kong and South Korea: 5
• Japan and Mexico: 4
• Brazil, Canada, Indonesia, and Vietnam: 2
• Argentina, Australia, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belgium, China, Germany, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Latvia, Pakistan, Puerto Rico, Turkey and Venezuela: 1

This month, 83 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.

Filed under: Articles, Homepage Feature, statistics, YouTube, Youtube Chart by Sam Gutelle
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MrBeast‘s ambitious reality competition series is officially coming back for more.

During Amazon‘s upfront presentation, the tech giant confirmed that Prime Video original series Beast Games has been renewed for two additional seasons. The announcement confirmed previous reports that had stated Amazon’s intention to renew the popular reality show.

The first season of Beast Games, which premiered during last year’s holiday season, offered a souped-up version of the blockbuster competition videos MrBeast typically uploads on his namesake YouTube channel (which is closing in on a whopping 400 million subscribers). Amazon’s take on the MrBeast format featured 1,000 players and a top prize of $10 million.

In season two, MrBeast will be out to prove that those figures are just rookie numbers. He has already revealed his plan to increase the Beast Games prize pool to $15 million. He has also tied his candy business Feastables into Beast Games by giving away 50 spots in the competition to lucky peanut butter cup buyers.

The upcoming seasons of Beast Games fit nicely into MrBeast’s sprawling empire. With former SoftBank exec Jeffrey Housenbold leading the company now known as Beast Industries, the world’s top YouTuber is looking for funding at a $5 billion valuation. Two more successful seasons of Beast Games would help Beast Industries make its case to potential investors.

“Our goal was to deliver the biggest, boldest competition series ever created, and the response has exceeded every expectation,” Housenbold said in a statement. “Beast Games resonated with fans around the world, and that’s a testament to the creativity of Jimmy and the entire Beast team. We’re grateful to Amazon for their continued partnership, and we’re excited to raise the bar even higher in the next two seasons.”

Beast Industries wasn’t the only firm to benefit from Beast Games‘ hot start. Amazon heralded the show as its most-watched unscripted series of all time, pulling in 50 million viewers during the first 25 days after its premiere. MrBeast’s big-budget gauntlet also brought in a slew of new subscribers. Among Amazon originals released in 2024, only the video game adaptation Fallout brought in more new customers, according to Amazon.

Even amidst that smashing success, Beast Games still has room for improvement as it heads into its second season. After numerous participants in the show came forward with allegations of an unsafe filming environment, MrBeast and Amazon faced a class-action lawsuit from a group of contestants. The two successive seasons will offer a chance to improve the production environment while simultaneously making Beast Games bigger than it was during its first go-around.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Homepage Feature, MrBeast, News by Sam Gutelle
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If you’re deep into Twitch content, there’s an indie app out there that can make your car trips much more exciting. CarStream for Twitch, available on the Apple App Store, integrates Twitch streams into the iOS-powered CarPlay system.

On the relevant App Store listing, CarStream developer CodeStep describes the app as a tool that “transforms your car into the ultimate Twitch listening experience.” Once enabled, CarStream locates active broadcasts from Twitch accounts you follow and displays them within the CarPlay interface. Obviously, the functionality of the app is limited to audio. We don’t need anyone crashing their car because they were trying to watch a wombo combo in action.

Consuming digital entertainment platforms within cars has become a notable — if unexpected — development over the past few years. Mercedes-Benz arguably kicked off the trend when it announced in 2023 that it would put the TikTok app in its new line of E-Class vehicles. The integration was designed so that it only functions when the car is not in motion.

Automakers like Porsche and Rivian soon followed suit by bringing YouTube into their automobiles. This type of integration has been an active playing field for third-party developers, who have found inventive ways to access apps like YouTube in CarPlay.

Twitch is arguably the most natural platform for an in-car listening experience. Many of its streams are passive by nature, as they put the viewer in a leaned-back role. Many people who watch Twitch streams use the long-form broadcasts as background noise while they tidy up or get ready for bed. (Sometimes, the streamers themselves get in on the cleaning and sleeping, too.)

The age of the average Twitch viewer is a factor here. About three-quarters of the platform’s users are under the age of 35. That means many Twitch denizens are either new drivers or are still learning. Once they get behind the wheel, they’ll be more interested in CarStream than what the radio has to offer.

With all that in mind, will Twitch ever roll out a first-party version of CarStream? The Amazon-owned hub hasn’t made any indications that it plans to launch in cars, but if it passes on that opportunity, rivals like Kick might want to give it a try.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Homepage Feature, News, Twitch by Sam Gutelle
Comments Off on Tired of the radio? A new app lets you listen to Twitch streams in the car.

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.

Our latest Gospel Stats Weekly Brand Report has it all: explosions, Ozempic, weird phones, the Mexico border, and a good old-fashioned history nerd dunking. As usual, MrBeast is #1, but there’s some new faces in our top 5 this week–and an unusual lack of sicence content! But don’t worry–our bonus vid has plenty of educational moments.

Check ’em all out here:

#1 $10,000 Every Explosion You Survive
Channel: MrBeast Gaming
Brand: DoorDash
Views: 16,557,683

In last week’s video, MrBeast wanted to know: Would you drown for $500K? This week, he’s taking it even further: Would you risk exploding for just $10K? But don’t worry–unlike last week’s vid sponsored by Jack Link’s, this week’s (sponsored by DoorDash) isn’t set in the real world. That’s because it’s from MrBeast’s secondary channel, MrBeast Gaming. Instead of contestants risking IRL harm, the only things in danger of exploding are their Roblox avatars. This competition is entirely virtual–but the cash prize is still in cool USD.

#2 Coulda Been Love Reunion
Channel: Druski
Brand: Ro, PrizePicks
Views: 7,466,830

Some reality shows wait years to get their casts back together for one last dash of juicy drama. Not Coulda Been Love. The dating show by comedian Druski took YouTube by storm, reaching top 5 in our Gospel Stats Weekly Brand Report multiple weeks in a row. It ended in March, but this week, Druski–who’s still fighting being named in a sexual assault case against rapper Drake–brings contestants in for a postmortem look at the six-episode series–all sponsored by daily fantasy outlet PrizePicks and telehealth company Ro, which offers drugs like Ozempic and Sparks. Druski makes sure to disclose that the drugs in Ro’s catalog “are permitted to be prescribed under federal law but are not FDA-approved.”

#3 I Tested the Weirdest Phones on the Internet.
Channel: Mrwhosetheboss
Brand: Bitdefender
Views: 4,966,911

This may be nostalgia talking, but we miss the days where phones were chunky, clunky, and distinct. It’s like the iconic 90s translucent technology: we didn’t appreciate it while we had it, and now everything is sleek and minimalist, aka samey and boring. Bring back Nokia bricks and the old Google Moment, which had a slide-out keyboard like something from Spy Kids. We’d pay big money for that these days. And so, it seems, would Mrwhosetheboss, who started a video investigating the “weirdest” phones he could find for sale on the ‘net, only to realize “there are far too many good ideas here for us to just leave them in the past.” His adventures are sponsored by cybersecurity software Bitdefender, which only paid for two videos this week: Mrwhosetheboss’s, and #1,086, a review of first-class service on airline Qantas from creator Kym Illman.

#4 US/Mexico Border with Arizona Sheriff – What’s It Like Now? 🇺🇸🇲🇽
Channel: Peter Santenello
Brand: Ground News
Views: 3,854,113

https://youtube.com/watch?v=YLmGuEuansw

Traffic at the U.S./Mexico border is a contentious topic, and Peter Santenello says he’s gonna cut to the heart of it. Santenello, who grew his YouTube channel making travel content and now makes human-centered stories with “no BS polarization or political angle,” as he says, travels to the border to get stock of the current situation. He interviews Yuma County sheriff Leon Wilmot about what the border looks like on a day-to-day basis, and his dispatch from the desert is sponsored by Ground News, a platform that seems in line with his stance on politics. It promises to “make it easy to compare news sources, read between the lines of media bias and break free from algorithms.”

BONUS #1,857 Artifact Jacker Tries to School Me in Archaeology (Scientists Weep)
Channel: World of Antiquity
Brand: Nolah
Views: 43,687

People love getting in fights on X. Go on there and you won’t make it 10 seconds without seeing a post where one person’s dunking on another. Sometimes that dunking pays off. Other times? Not so much. That’s the case for a man who (ironically) goes by the name DeDunking. He’s a YouTuber, and his online presence is all about being a “skeptic” who makes content about “alternate history.” Over on X, he tried to scrap with Dr. David Miano, ancient historian and host of the YouTube channel World of Antiquity. DeDunking’s claim? Miano doesn’t understand the “basic science” behind dating items, and so ‘his version’ of history can’t be correct. Well, get some popcorn, because Miano’s response is a 40-minute-long dissection of DeDunking’s claims–and it’s one heck of a watch. (And with a video this length, you might want to lie back, which makes Miano’s sponsor, mattress brand Nolah, the perfect fit.)

…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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[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. 👇

For the second week in a row, the Global Subs Top 50 ranking was led by a pair of channels that finished far ahead of all others. MrBeast was up to his usual good business by adding three million new subscribers over a seven-day period.

As impressive as that total is, it’s not even half of the 6.8 million new subscribers that joined the Masters of Prophecy channel over the same period. We talked about that AI slop/synthwave hub last week, and it’s still going strong, but some other AI-loving channels are moving up quickly — and they have God on their side.

AI-powered Christianity channels are in the midst of a divine intervention

Since the start of 2025, Christianity has been one of the hottest topics on YouTube Shorts. Debates between heaven and hell have become a common challenge topic, and men of the cloth like Bispo Bruno Leonardo have ranked among the biggest stars in our Top 50 rankings.

That trend is only growing: Two channels in this week’s Global Subs Top 50 mention God in their names, and Bispo Bruno Leonardo is still hanging around in 47th place. The Brazilian bishop might not like his godly company in the ranking, unless his church condones the use of AI-generated slop.

Want to see what I mean? Feast your eyes upon God Loves Dogs. That’s the name of the 21st-ranked channel in this week’s Global Subs Top 50; it added 540,000 new subscribers during the week that was. And what were all those people subscribing for? Nothing more than an array of AI videos featuring — you guessed it — God hanging out with dogs.

This is bizarre stuff, clearly. But dogs always do well on the internet, and this channel is no exception. That’s why it’s closing in on a top-2o finish in our charts.

Christianity is quickly becoming as ubiquitous of a YouTube topic as dogs are. A channel called The Hand of God soared all the way into the top ten in our latest Global Subs Top 50 chart. It added 760,000 new subs with the most basic “heaven or hell” religious content imaginable.

The Hand of God wants to know if you’re going to heaven or hell.

Is this phenomenon only applicable to Christianity? Or could other religions be in the mix for their own YouTube Shorts glow-ups? We may need to gather the finest ecumenical scholars from across the land to determine what types of divine content are set to be favored in the future.

Channel Distribution

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

• India: 22
• United States: 9
• Indonesia, Japan, Pakistan, and South Korea 2
• Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, Hong Kong, Kazakhstan, Puerto Rico, Spain, and Vietnam: 1

This week, 34 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. 👇

KIMPRO, a Korean channel filled with short-form comedy, is still sitting in the driver’s seat of our Global Top 50. With more than 1.88 billion weekly views, KIMPRO continues to take advantage of a view-counting change that favors content producers on Shorts.

Beyond the top spot, there was a noted uptick among the Indian news channels that cracked the Global Top 50. As the geopolitical tensions in Kashmir rage on, South Asians are turning to YouTube to learn the latest updates.

Kid-friendly YouTube channels are fun for the whole family

In lighter news, families are still making unprecedented gains on YouTube Shorts. Indian kidfluencers like Anaya Kandhal have made major progress in the Global Top 50 over the past two years, but family channels are not solely a South Asian phenomenon. Let’s take a look at a few channels from across the globe that are finding ways to bring their family business to the masses.

If you’ve followed these charts regularly over the past few years, you may have noticed Latvia’s occasional presence in the global viewership ranking. The Letts aren’t exactly known for their YouTube prowess, but there’s one Baltic creator who has become an inspiring success story: The elderly man who serves as the face of the dednahype channel.

At one point, dednahype videos were so popular that their anonymous creator ranked among the most-followed accounts on TikTok. They’ve since spread across the short-form landscape and have taken YouTube by storm. On Shorts, dednahype’s aged star cavorts with a younger cast of characters, playing out moralistic scenarios that have become common across vertical video platforms.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/4MjzAPYi2CM

It’s unclear to me whether the younger dednahype co-stars are members of the creator’s family or not, but it doesn’t really matter. In a community that celebrates individual family members to the tune of billions of views, the idea of a zany, prankish grandpa is powerful, even if it requires some screen magic to set up.

The formula has certainly worked for dednahype. The Latvia-based channel picked up 593.7 million weekly views during the first full week of May.

A cool grandpa is nice and all, but it doesn’t even take that level of variety to turn a family channel into a YouTube-favorite hub. Koray Zeynep is a dad from Turkey who has made sporadic appearances in the Global Top 50 by uploading straightforward family videos led by cute kids. This week, the Zeyneps are back in the ranking in a big way, collecting 789.9 million weekly views.

In the brave new world of Shorts accounting, stories like this will only become more frequent. We still don’t know exactly what the YouTube meta will look like a year from now, but it’s a safe bet to claim that family content will continue to be favored among the platform’s top content creators.

Channel Distribution

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

• India: 19
• United States: 7
• Vietnam: 3
• Australia, Canada, and Hong Kong: 2
• Bangladesh, Belgium, Brazil, China, Germany, Japan, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Mexico, Pakistan, Russia, South Korea, Spain, Taiwan, and Turkey: 1

This week, 39 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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After debuting programmatic ads in spring 2024 and cementing itself as the prevailing metaverse king (sorry, Zuck), Roblox used its recent NewFronts slot to talk up data showing people are more engaged with ads on its platform than anywhere else.

It partnered with research firm MediaScience for a study that tracked eye movement and physiological responses like “micro-changes in sweat activity” to see how 140 Americans between the ages of 13 and 34 reacted to engaging with branded experiences on Roblox versus content on social media and streaming TV.

The study found that users paid 100 times more attention to branded content in Roblox than ads on social media, and 35 times more attention to Roblox ads than ads on streaming TV, Roblox said. Participants also showed a 211% increase in “unaided brand recall” vs social media ads, and a 38% increase vs streaming.

Roblox didn’t specify exactly which kind of ads it used from its own platform, social, or streaming, but a rep told Digiday that for competitors, participants were shown “a typical scrolling experience with in-feed ads.” For Roblox, it sounds like participants were logged in to branded worlds, playing games that were designed entirely to push companies and their products.

To be clear, though, Roblox isn’t trying to totally divorce itself from that “typical scrolling experience.” It also presented findings that a Roblox + social combo ad strategy leads to a 292% increase in brand recall vs advertising just on social. Roblox + streaming TV? 107% higher recall than just streaming TV.

Presenting that data indicates Roblox is trying to pitch its programmatic ads as part of a holistic digital ad strategy. This makes sense, considering advertisers have reportedly struggled to understand Roblox’s sprawling ad marketplace. Programmatic ads, which are sold and placed by Roblox itself, are the most straightforward (and also the most contentious, considering complaints from studios who say it’s sucking up the revenue they once earned by making custom branded worlds for companies). Brands already understand reaching consumers with digital ads on platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram; Roblox is contextualizing itself as part of that list.

Which is interesting, since many brands still think of Roblox as a video game whose closest competitors are Fortnite and Minecraft, not a creative social hub ready to compete with creator platforms.

In that way, Roblox going to the NewFronts is similar to YouTube transitioning to the Upfronts. YouTube moved because it wanted to position itself among TV’s big boys. Roblox is hyping its ad formats at the NewFronts because it wants to compete not with game titles, but with platforms.

Allison McDuffee, Roblox’s Global Head of Brand Insights and Measurement, told Digiday Roblox wanted to learn more about consumer emotional engagement and brand recall as a “first step in deeper understanding of how immersive 3D environments are different from other digital content.” (She also mentioned Roblox’s recent partnership with Google as an example of the company expanding its ad offerings and campaign measurement capabilities.)

“This research stems from our overall commitment to ensuring that brands can plan, measure, and verify their marketing and media investments on Roblox,” she added. “We also want brands to have a clear understanding of how immersive 3D media on the platform can help connect to brand outcomes. This is a new area of research as 3D immersive spaces are becoming an increasingly important way of connecting people, especially Gen Z consumers.”

Will this data be bait for advertisers? We’re not sure. Boaz Burns, Associate Director of Innovation at media agency Carat, told Digiday brands are more focused on sales outcomes than tracking consumers’ eye movements and recall.

“Attention scores are certainly important, but it’s a very small piece of the decision-making matrix. Brand recall, for my clients, is of almost no value,” he said.

Filed under: Homepage Feature, Roblox by James Hale
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