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Top 50 Most Viewed U.S. YouTube Channels • Week Of 02/02/2025

[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 surpassed 700 million weekly views to lead the U.S. Top 50 for the third week in a row. The most-subscribed personality on YouTube now delivers his new uploads to more than 355 million fans.

You won’t find another channel in the U.S. Top 50 that has even half that many subscribers, but the other U.S.-based chart entrants are nevertheless killing the game. They’re finding unique ways to adapt viral trends, hauling in millions of views in the process.

Finders are keepers

Creators who can locate specific items or locations have never had it so good. Thanks in part to the rise of the landmark-finding game GeoGuessr (and its star player Trevor Rainbolt), YouTube viewers have been primed to expect big things when they see the word “find” in the channel title.

That’s my explanation for how JayFindsThings got 223.4 million weekly views, which increased his traffic nearly three times over and vaulted him up to 11th place in the U.S. Top 50. Jay isn’t a GeoGuessr player, but he’s an expert when it comes to locating unusual, single-use objects. In one of his recent uploads — which has become his second most-watched video to date — he appeals to the current season by tracking down a gadget that forms perfectly spherical snowballs.

Aside from GeoGuessr, there’s another factor driving the growth of JayFindsThings and other similar channels. As we’ve explored several times in the past, YouTube Shorts viewers love anything to do with gadgets, gizmos, oddly satisfying machinery, and other wacky items. That preference has been good news for channels like BippyBop, a hub that turns those items into playtime all-stars.

Data via Gospel Stats

In theory, any viewer with a working Amazon account could hunt for the finds Jay presents on his channel. But that raises an interesting what if: Can YouTube bring those shopping dollars to its own platform? It has already shown that it’s serious about competing with TikTok in the realm of ecommerce. Creators like Jay could prove to be useful assets for YouTube as it heads down that path.

Channel Distribution

This week, there are 38 YouTube Shorts channels in the U.S. Top 50.

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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Top 50 Most Viewed YouTube Channels Worldwide • Week Of 02/02/2025

Scroll down for this week’s Tubefilter Chart. 👇

There’s a new #1 in the Global Top 50. T-Series topped the chart throughout January, but MrBeast came on strong to pip the Indian record label during the first week of February. MrBeast has now taken the lifetime subscriber crown and the weekly view crown from T-Series; the North Carolina-based creator is the ultimate chart-topper.

The other channels in the Global Top 50 aren’t in the same stratosphere as MrBeast, but they’re all getting at least 250 million views per week. Here are some other things they have in common:

It takes two times two to tango

Couple channels have enjoyed sustained popularity on YouTube since the introduction of Shorts more than three years ago. Over that time, creators like Pink Shirt Couple have risen to the top of our rankings. Even the breakup of its two stars couldn’t stop them from (individually) ascending the charts.

The channel we’re looking at this week is built on a simple premise: If couple channels are popular, then a channel featuring two creator couples should be twice as big, right? That seems to be the philosophy driving Double Date, and as of the first week of February, the two couples are getting their desired results.

Of the two pairs featured on Double Date, the one with (by far) the larger subscriber count is Jasmin and James, a duo known for performing lip-synced dancers to a German tongue-twister song. For their collabs with Cadel and Mia, viral dance trends are still on the menu.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/a46l9TtQ4cA

By getting 316.6 million weekly views, Double Date showed there’s room on YouTube Shorts for couple team-ups. The foursome moved into 29th place in the Global Top 50 after enjoying a 55% week-over-week viewership bump.

There’s still room in the charts for individual families, of course. One nuclear unit that recently reentered the rankings is Diary of 4. The Canadian clan is surging as it approaches its high water mark from last year.

Data via Gospel Stats

Diary of 4 still has a ways to go before its weekly view count gets back to 500 million, but a 26% week-over-week increase puts the quartet on the right track. Maybe a collab with another family channel would be enough to push them back into the global top five.

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: 7
Hong Kong: 5
Indonesia: 4
Vietnam: 3
Canada, Japan, and South Korea: 2
Argentina, Australia, Bangladesh, Belgium, China, Czechia, El Salvador, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Spain, and Taiwan: 1

This week, 36 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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Have you heard? YouTube restores Dr DisRespect’s monetization and Alix Earle brings skinny jeans back

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 controversial creator is getting his access to the money faucet restored, an it girl is bringing back an old trend, and China’s latest tech success story is already facing bans.

Creator commotion

YouTube restores Dr DisRespect’s account. The fallout that occurred after Guy “Dr DisRespect” Beahm sent inappropriate messages to a minor has left him barred from most major social platforms, including Twitch. YouTube is a little more lenient and is letting Beahm make money from his videos again. It’s not all good news for the streamer — the game studio he co-founded, Midnight Society, has shut down.

Fanum hits the cover of GQ. The creator who inspired the slang term “Fanum tax” is now building an empire that extends to “much more than video games,” according to the GQ cover story. Not to be outdone, fellow AMP member Kai Cenat showed up on the front cover of Billboard.

The creator behind Demolition Ranch is riding off into the sunset. Across 14 years, firearms enthusiast Matt Carriker uploaded more than 700 videos and attracted nearly 12 million subscribers. If you want to continue his work, you can purchase the deed to the ranch in question. It will only cost you about $15 million.

The biz

Alix Earle has the skinny on the new fashion trend. The “skinny jeans vs. cargo pants” debate that has captivated Millennials and Gen Z for so many years may be coming to an end. Even TikTok it girl Alix Earle is now embracing skinny jeans by launching a “comeback” line with retailer Frame. Moral of the story: Wear whatever pants feel comfortable to you, because fashion is just going to change course again in a few years.

Moriah Elizabeth is getting all misty. The enterprising creator has added a body mist brand called ME Scents to her product line Moriah Elizabeth Beauty. Forget looking like creators — now you can smell like them too.

Turbo Tax offers filing tips for creators. If you’re getting ready to declare the income you made from your content, check out this guide first. You don’t want to miss any of those deductions for self-employed individuals.

The latest tech

Italy bans DeepSeek. The Chinese generative AI model that sent stocks into a tailspin is facing the same regulatory scrutiny applied to other companies from its home country. Italy has already taken action against the chatbot, and it probably won’t be the last nation to seek action against DeepSeek.

Is OpenAI worth $300 billion? Investment firm SoftBank is reportedly exploring that level of valuation as it looks to back the ChatGPT maker. So I guess DeepSeek won’t put every U.S. generative AI company out of business.

Looking for excitement on YouTube’s Inspiration tab. Over at Aftermath, reported Nathan Grayson wrote about the “boring” advice he received when he sought guidance from YouTube’s AI-powered video prompt tool. If Grayson wants to know who the Inspiration tab is for, he might want to ask Gemini itself.

The court of law

Nelk’s NFT sales draw ire from buyers. Did the creator group operate as “snake oil salesmen” by selling blockchain products that possessed no real value? That’s what a new lawsuit alleges. There’s certainly a lot of money at stake here, as the Nelk boys grossed $23 million from their initial NFT drop in 2022.

A former TikTok exec has accused the company of retaliating against her. Brand exec Katie Ellen Puris claims that ByteDance terminated her employement because she spoke out about age and sex discrimination at the company. Her retaliation suit just advanced thanks to claims filed in New York.

The Alphabet Workers Union is looking for a path forward in its battle against Google. YouTube Music contractors who want to collectively bargain with Google have earned some favorable decisions, but a D.C. Circuit Court now seems skeptical that the suing workers have a path forward, at least from a legal perspective.

The internet is a strange place

An Italian TikToker brought chaos to a ski resort. The Italian getaway of Roccaraso is clamping down on day trippers after local creator Rita De Crescenzo visited the slopes. De Crescenzo’s fans showed up in droves, creating an overcrowded environment. This seems like it creates a perfecft opportunity to cast De Crescenzo in the next season of The White Lotus.

A viral star’s zoo lets you be the animals. Toco turned heads in 2023 with a hyperrealistic dog costume. Now he’s bringing that concept to a zoo that will allow visitors to dress up as animals. Something tells me there’s gonna be some weird stuff going on at that zoo.

A lion cub doesn’t make for a great wedding gift. That’s what Rajab Butt, one of Pakistan’s top creators, found out when police came to his home and confiscated his lion cub after his nuptuals. Did the cops even know that the lion was going to be in so many fun videos?

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Homepage Feature, News by Sam Gutelle
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NFL doubles down on creator spotlights with a Kai Cenat vs IShowSpeed Super Bowl pre-game

The NFL has dropped a bunch of creator news this week. The league has long been cozy with YouTube, but now it’s tapped the platform as the official sponsor for its annual Super Bowl Tailgate Concert–and, on top of that, it’s working with YouTube to launch Access Pass for Legends, which will give NFL players and content creators permission to use high-quality NFL footage in their videos without fear of being demonetized.

So, what now?

Well, it’s tagged in two of the world’s biggest creators–Kai Cenat and IShowSpeed–to go head-to-head in an official NFL flag football match that’ll stream on the NFL’s YouTube channel the day before Super Bowl LIX.

In an announcement video, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell (who showed up to speak at YouTube’s Brandcast in 2023, btw) rings up IShowSpeed.

TEAM SPEED VS. TEAM KAI

FEBRUARY 8TH

THE SUPER BOWL LIX FLAG FOOTBALL GAME

9PM ET ON @YouTube pic.twitter.com/1U2zYKOhyM

— NFL (@NFL) January 31, 2025

“Speed, I was just watching your stream, and it had me thinking…We’re throwing a flag football game down in New Orleans and it’s going to be streamed on YouTube. We’re looking for two of the best to be part of the game.”

IShowSpeed asks Goodell if he can challenge anyone he wants. When Goodell confirms, Speed immediately replies, “Bet. I challenge Kai Cenat.”

Speed and Cenat are two of the biggest creators in the world right now, and they’re no strangers to sports content. Speed filmed videos with Olympic runner Noah Lyles and New York Jets cornerback Sauce Gardner. Cenat, meanwhile, hit the court with the Little Ballers Association, his own fictional league, where he and a group of kiddos challenged one another in playoffs with just as much fanfare as March Madness. Cenat and his content group AMP took on RDCWorld for an NFL football matchup in April 2023, too; it marked the start of the 2023 draft and was also streamed on the NFL’s official YouTube channel.

Speed and Cenat will each try to lead their team to flag football domination Feb. 8, 2025, starting at 9 p.m. EST.

Filed under: Creator, Homepage Feature by James Hale
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Khaby Lame vows to “see all the world and its problems” as UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador

Khaby Lame is out to make a difference. The most-followed personality on TikTok has been named as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, a role that will allow him to witness and combat some of the issues faced by children around the world.

Lame kicked off his partnership with UNICEF (which stands for United Nations Children’s Fund) with a trip to the country where he was born. In Senegal, where 90% of locals work informal jobs, the world’s top TikToker urged his compatriots to reach for the skies. “I tell them to dream big,” Lame said when asked to deliver a message to the nation’s youth.

“It’s a true honor to be appointed as a UNICEF goodwill ambassador and be part of an organization that puts children’s rights front and center every day,” Lame added in a statement. “From my own experience as a child fearing poverty, struggling to find my passion at school, and losing my job during the COVID-19 pandemic, to finding my place and calling in the world, I know that all children can thrive when they are given a chance and opportunity.”

Lame, who eclipsed Charli D’Amelio to become the most-followed TikToker in 2022, now reaches more than 162 million fans with his silent, hilarious sketches. Since rising to the top of the social media world, Lame has made his Hollywood ambitions clear and has been seen everywhere from Fortnite to the film festival circuit.

On his path to internet fame, Lame has not shied away from political matters. He used his journey to Italian citizenship to exemplify the trials immigrants like him must endure to get recognized by the government in Rome. “It’s not right that a person who lives and grows up with the Italian culture for so many years, and who is clean, still doesn’t have the right to citizenship,” he said at the time.

He’s now continuing to speak out alongside an organization that has turned to social media stars to amplify its message. In a world where Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF is not what it used to be, the U.N. has sought collabs with partners as diverse as Moonbug and TikTok. Its first Goodwill Ambassador from the digital space was Lilly Singh, who ascended to that position in 2017. Now, during a time when 60% of all people in Senegal are under 25, the U.N. is hoping that a Gen Z icon can be a source of inspiration.

Other UNICEF Global Ambassadors include Millie Bobby Brown, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Danny Glover, Ricky Martin, Leo Messi, Liam Neeson, and Shakira.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Homepage Feature, News by Sam Gutelle
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On the Podcast: Hollywood ballin’?

FYI, Tubefilter has a podcast.

It’s hosted by our very own Joshua Cohen (that’s me) and Lauren Schnipper. Subscribe to Creator Upload on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen.

This week’s episode is sponsored by creator membership software Memberful.

NFL careers tend to be bright and short. The average player getting drafted out of college can expect to make around $800,000 a year in pro ball. For most of them, that shakes out to career earnings of about $2.8 million. That’s a decent chunk of change–but these guys know it won’t sustain them forever. So, when they hang up their jersey for the last time, they’re already looking for the field where they can score their next touchdown.

And increasingly, they’re finding it on YouTube.

Hollywood has sort of always been the post-career aspiration for big-time sports players, but not many of them have made it there. O. J. Simpson (pre-court case) successfully parlayed his Buffalo Bills fame into multiple film cameos, Kobe Bryant won an Oscar with his 2017 animated short Dear Basketball, and Lebron James got into filmmaking in 2020 with his production company SpringHill.

But SpringHill, despite having Lebron James attached, still lost a LOT of money. Like, tens of millions each year. (It was expected to lose tens of millions again in 2024, but before it could, it merged with British studio Fulwell 73.) That’s a very stark illustration of how even major celebrity athletes struggle to make it through the gates in Hollywood.

YouTube, though, doesn’t have gates. In fact, it’s actively working to get more athletes on its platform. (Maybe because sports is responsible for some of the only dependably money-making content out there anymore…) It recently partnered–yet again–with the NFL to launch Access Pass for Legends, a program that’ll give ex-NFL players permission to use high-quality game footage from the NFL’s archives.

The goal? To “[empower] these athletes to take control of their narratives, build powerful brands, and transition into successful media moguls in their post-playing careers,” Angela Courtin, YouTube’s VP of Connected TV and Creative Studios, said.

Yeah, NFL players might have a sweet couple million in their bank accounts when they retire. But they’ve also got renown, which is arguably even more important. These guys are capable of going from playing in front of tens of thousands of people to pulling in tens of thousands of views per video on YouTube. Fans are willing to follow them and see what they’re up to, and ex-players are becoming more and more savvy about producing engaging content.

Over the last couple years, we’ve seen several athletes make it on YouTube with podcasts and videos. There’s the Kelce brothers and their chart-topping podcast New Heights, former Tennessee Titans player Taylor Lewan and his ‘cast Bussin’ with the Boys, and former Chicago Bears player Brandon Marshall with I Am Athlete. Outside of football, there’s current golf pro Bryce DeChambeau, who has nearly 2 million subscribers, and Olympian Noah Lyles, who has 288K with another 1.6 million on Instagram.

Players are figuring out how to transition their sports celebrity for the digital age, and YouTube is at the center here. It’s helping them reach audiences in a meaningful way, with no gatekeeping and no middlemen. And I think that’s pretty cool.

I get into all this and more with my co-host Lauren Schnipper in the latest installment of Creator Upload. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or whenever you listen. You’re gonna dig it.

Memberful is a best-in-class membership software that empowers creators to build customized membership businesses. Creators can generate reliable recurring revenue, all while fostering meaningful connections with their audiences. Get started for free, no credit card required.

Filed under: Creator Upload, Homepage Feature, Podcasts, YouTube by Joshua Cohen
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TikTokers are using Shop keywords to band together against ICE

Donald Trump‘s second term kicked off with thousands of arrests as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) carried out the president’s crackdown on undocumented immigrants. In response, protestors and human rights watchdogs have ramped up their activity, and they’ve found a novel way to turn TikTok into a powerful organizing tool.

In thousands of new videos posted since Trump’s return to power, TikTokers have alerted viewers about ICE activity while also instructing them how to act if immigration police officers turn up at their homes, schools, or places of work. Many of those TikTokers — perhaps motivated by a fear of censorship — chose to refer to ICE with coded language rather than naming the organization directly.

That security measure has spawned a new trend: “Cute winter boots.” That’s TikTok’s most common metaphor for immigration raids, since cute winter boots can stop you from slipping on the ice. One creator advised viewers to “memorize your first amendment rights” before going outside in your fashionable new boots.

“Cute winter boots” is more than just a cutesy coded phrase. On an app with a significant ecommerce operation, mentions of clothing are designed to manipulate a recommendation algorithm that seems to favor references to buyable goods. Some creators have even gone to the trouble of setting up TikTok Shop storefronts that offer relevant narratives, such as Elie Wiesel’s Holocaust memoir Night.

The TikTokers talking about their antifascist TikTok Shop faves are part of a growing group of creators who are hacking algorithmic ranking systems to generate more attention for their content. “What the algorithm likes is products,” TikToker @citiesbydiana told User Mag. “It’s a way to talk about resisting the federal government in a way that will actually reach people.”

Organizers have used the energy surrounding the #cutewinterboots tag to draw attention to demonstrations happening around the country. One of those “sales” (i.e. protests) took place in Seattle earlier this week.

@dannieirvine #cutewinterboots #fypシ #fyp #trending #seattle ♬ original sound – Dannie

With the rise of ICE protestors on TikTok, will Donald Trump’s uneasy alliance with the app stay intact? For now, the president is saying he can save TikTok, but if creators revolt against him, he could start singing a different tune.

But this isn’t just about TikTok. Across all major social platforms, users are uniting to fend off immigration police and reassert unalienable rights. Resources like People Over Papers have popped up to collect information about recent and ongoing ICE raids, and organizations like the ACLU have solicited donations through the power of crowdfunding. At this rate, cute winter boots will remain in fashion throughout all four seasons.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Homepage Feature, News by Sam Gutelle
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The Paul brothers teased a Jake v. Logan boxing match, but they gave us a Max reality show instead

Logan Paul and Jake Paul aren’t squaring off in the ring just yet, but they are working together on a docuseries that will let viewers “meet the family.”

After teasing a potential boxing match on social media, the brothers took to Instagram Live to reveal the true nature of their joint announcement: They have partnered with streaming service Max for a project titled Paul American, which is slated to premiere on March 27.

Paul American will focus on the Ohio-born brothers and their family, who have stuck together since Jake and Logan first got their start on Vine. Amid their rise to internet fame, there have been plenty of controversies involving the brothers and their brash behavior. A teaser for the Max docuseries shows that Paul American will not shy away from contentious topics. “It’s probably going to hurt our careers,” Jake said during the announcement stream.

The most controversial family in America just landed a reality series 😈 @PaulAmericanMax premieres Thursday, March 27 on @StreamOnMax pic.twitter.com/trdZRiyxv6

— Logan Paul (@LoganPaul) January 30, 2025

Viewers flocked to the announcement stream to see if Jake and Logan were telling the truth about the match they were building up on their respective social media accounts. Unfortunately for fans of influencer boxing, the Paul brothers don’t have a fight planned at the moment.

Instead, like so many things involving the Pauls, the reveal of Paul American was filled with bluster. The family’s attempt to offer its version of Keeping Up With The Kardashians comes at a time when Jake and Logan are riding high, with presidential interviews and high-profile streaming events under their belts.

That said, they’re not the first creators to make a streaming docuseries about their family, nor even the first former Vine star to do so. Paul American could offer fresh context to help us understand a pair of mercurial influencers, or it could be as big of a letdown as their fight announcement that wasn’t.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Homepage Feature, News by Sam Gutelle
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Creators have turned golf content into an arms race. A top-ranked player thinks it’s hurting the sport.

Golf content is currently undergoing a boom on platforms like YouTube, but the category’s rising popularity might come with some drawbacks. As golf creators hurry to make deals with the competing PGA Tour and LIV Golf circuits, Rory McIlroy is questioning whether that gold rush goes against the spirit of the game.

Based on what’s already gone down in the golf world since the start of the year, 2025 is shaping up to be a banner year for creators on the links — much like 2024 was for football and basketball content. The PGA Tour has already announced that it will host a trio of creator tournaments throughout the 2025 calendar year. Not to be outdone, Saudi-backed LIV Golf has struck a deal with Rick Shiels, one of the most-subscribed golfers on YouTube.

This massive moment has been a long time coming. After getting millions of views and launching offline ventures in 2023, golf creators leveled up in 2024, when they hung out with PGA Tour stars and competed in tournaments of their own.

If the PGA Tour is following the NFL’s playbook for social media success, the next step is to bring more pro players into the fray. Some top golfers have already collaborated with the YouTube stars of the links. After getting millions of views for his Tiger Woods team-up, Grant Horvat returned to YouTube’s trending tab alongside longtime Woods rival Phil Mickelson.

Tiger and Lefty may be eager to explore the world of YouTube, but another former #1 player is not so enthused. In an interview with the Fresno Bee, McIlroy argued that golf creators have “diminished” the sport’s core product. Though he admitted that upstarts like Horvat are “killing it” by making “really cool” content that pleases “a lot of people,” he believes that the on-course product deserves more attention.

“I would much rather sit down and watch real golfers play real tournaments,” McIlroy said. “To me, that’s more entertaining. But I understand other people want something different, and that’s totally fine as well. I think there’s space for all of this.”

McIlroy may be onto something. Sports creators may not get in the way of the games themselves, but they do shift the balance of power toward individual athletes. Does the increasing focus on the drama surrounding sports detract from the enjoyment of the action? Rory McIlroy seems to think so — but your mileage may vary.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Homepage Feature, News by Sam Gutelle
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YouTube cozies closer to the NFL, replacing TikTok as Super Bowl tailgate sponsor

YouTube is getting even cozier with the NFL. The platform and league have a longstanding relationship that’s accelerated in recent years, with YouTube snapping up a decade’s worth of rights to NFL Sunday Ticket–and, just this week, announcing the launch of Access Pass for Legends, which aims to put former NFL players on the fast-track to becoming “media moguls” on YouTube.

Now, YouTube is taking over from TikTok as the official sponsor for the NFL’s pre-Super Bowl event, the Tailgate Concert.

It’ll produce the two-and-a-half-hour pregame “just steps away” from the Caesars Superdome, where the Kansas City Chiefs are set to take on the Philadelphia Eagles–and the whole thing will be broadcast live from the NFL’s YouTube channel.

The Tailgate Concert began as an annual tradition back in 2021, when the NFL–like pretty much everyone else–was looking for a long-distance way to keep fans connected. TikTok was the event’s principal sponsor in 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024, and it tapped music artists like Miley Cyrus, Gwen Stefani, Jason Derulo, The Chainsmokers, and The Black Keys to headline.

But this year, TikTok’s on the rocks. It’s still technically allowed in the U.S., but only thanks to a temporary ban extension from Donald Trump. The Trump administration is currently focusing on other things, so TikTok is flying under the radar–but that lapse may not last, so we’re not surprised the NFL looked elsewhere for a sponsor.

We’re also not surprised it chose YouTube, since–as we mentioned above–the pair have a long and storied relationship. Now, with Sunday Ticket and Access Pass, they’re working together more closely than ever. Roger Goodell, the NFL’s commissioner, even appeared as a guest at Brandcast, the annual event where YouTube touts all the accomplishments marketers might want to hear.

YouTube has tapped Post Malone to headline this year’s concert, and scheduled segments from YouTubers Kristy and Desmond Scott, Chanen and Juwan Johnson, Monet McMichael, and Carter Kench.

Malone, who’s known for his wide variety of collabs with video games, fashion brands, food companies, and more, also has a sizable YouTube presence (nearly 30 million subscribers), and will also be a headliner at this year’s Coachella, another event where YouTube has major involvement.

“This year’s Super Bowl LIX YouTube Tailgate Concert marks a significant moment, as YouTube takes over as the official sponsor of this fan-favorite pregame event, providing an experience that amplifies the energy and excitement of the Super Bowl,” the NFL said in an official league blog post. “This partnership is a natural fit, given YouTube’s commitment to supporting the creator and artist communities, its global reach, and the company’s dedication to delivering unparalleled entertainment that brings fans around the world closer to the events they love.”

As Deadline points out, YouTube introduced “multi-view” tech last year that will let viewers watch multiple stages in the same stream, so that may come into play here, and may give YouTube an edge over TikTok as presenter.

It’s possible that, if TikTok doesn’t get banned, the NFL will go back to it as the Tailgate Concert’s sponsor next year. But with all the ties between YouTube and the NFL, we’re thinking if this year’s stream goes well, it’ll probably become part of YouTube’s live event portfolio moving forward.

Filed under: Homepage Feature, NFL, YouTube by James Hale
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Meta continues pushing Instagram Reels as Q4 2024 results beat expectations

Meta‘s earnings from the fourth quarter of 2024 served as a reminder that Mark Zuckerberg’s company is most likely to benefit in the event of a long-term disruption to TikTok’s operations. The tech giant’s stock price briefly reached a price of more than $700 per share after Zuck and co. announced that Meta had exceeded projections over the final quarter of the calendar year.

On a call with analysts on January 29, Zuckerberg forecasted a “big year” for Meta’s properties. Citing innovations like Meta AI, the founder of the company originally known as Facebook predicted that new products would generate a “long-term advantage” powered by industry-leading scale.

A lot of those products will be catered to creators and users who upload and consume Instagram Reels. With TikTok facing the threat of a U.S. ban, Meta has positioned Instagram as the natural successor to the embattled, ByteDance-owned app. To make that case, Meta has fortified Reels with a slew of new features that will bring the format’s user experience closer to what TikTok’s.

Those updates have been supported by two powerful assets: Algorithmic promotion and cold, hard cash. The money has come in the form of direct payments to TikTokers, while the ranking boost has arrived for Instagram creators who have hacked the app’s new Trial Reels feature.

The data-driven creators who have experimented with Trial Reels may also be interested in new tracking tools that analyze videos through metrics like View Rate and Views Over Time. Instagram Head Adam Mosseri has identified viewership data among the most important numbers creators should look at when evaluating their content.

Meta’s Q4 2024 updates show that Instagram’s feature-rich approach is paying off. With $48.4 billion in quarterly revenue, Meta raised its topline number by 21% year-over-year. “We’re going to learn what’s going to happen with TikTok, and regardless of that, I expect Reels on Instagram and Facebook to continue growing,” Zuckerberg said.

The stock market bump that followed the Q4 2024 report got Meta off to the “big year” Zuckerberg wants. Whether because of Instagram’s new products or because of Zuckerberg’s deference to President Trump, investors are high on Meta. Can the parent company of Facebook and Instagram reel in the revenue it has promised?

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