MrBeast is bringing a themed experience to Sin City. The most-subscribed personality on YouTube has partnered with Resorts World Las Vegas for a “MrBeast Experience” that is described as the “ultimate” entertainment opportunity for the creator’s fans.

The MrBeast Experience will operate on the Las Vegas Strip from April 13-15. Though some of MrBeast’s live appearances — such as the grand opening of his burger joint and his more recent promotional efforts for Beast Games — have focused on the man himself, the Vegas activation is a chance for fans to experience the gamified format of a typical MrBeast video. Resorts World is selling a three-night package that includes a “mystery bag,” with contents ranging from MrBeast swag to a $10,000 gift voucher.

“We’re thrilled to partner with MrBeast to bring a new immersive experience to the property,” said Resorts World CMO Ronn Nicolli in a statement. “It’s special and unexpected and delivers on our commitment to create unforgettable experiences. We look forward to welcoming his fans to create lasting memories at our property.”

Those lasting memories could help MrBeast improve his image after a previous trip to Vegas led to complaints from Beast Games contestants that ultimately spawned a class-action lawsuit against the creator. Even with its questionable filming conditions, Beast Games went on to become Amazon’s most-watched unscripted original series.

For his latest trip to the Nevada desert, MrBeast is latching onto a trend we first covered in relation to the U.K. creator group The Sidemen. They worked with a partner to announce a “ghost hotel” that would be themed around their shared YouTube channel. A similar experience for Apex Legends fans arrived in Chicago last year.

The MrBeast Experience will add to the influencer happenings that are already going on in Las Vegas. Between its big-ticket events and its local community, Sin City is becoming a hotspot for creator culture.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Homepage Feature, News by Sam Gutelle
Comments Off on Viva Las Vegas: MrBeast is launching a resort experience on the Strip

Spotify wants to be the internet’s #1 destination for podcasts–but is it?

It’s spent hundreds of millions of dollars acquiring podcast production companies and individual shows like The Joe Rogan Experience. Why? Because it really wants to get big in the video podcast space–and the platform that’s already big in that area is the behemoth YouTube.

While signs point to growth in video podcast viewership on both platforms, we’ve seen indications that YouTube might still be leading Spotify when it comes to creator adoption. Indications like Alex Cooper deciding to move the video version of her chart-topping podcast Call Her Daddy–as well as the video version of every other show produced by her network Unwell–off Spotify in favor of YouTube.

“We cannot comment on a creator’s agreement with another platform or what steps it might necessitate regarding their content on Spotify,” the platform said in a statement about Cooper’s decision. “We can say that tens of millions more podcast fans are watching video podcasts on Spotify than ever. We can also tell you that video podcasts are growing at their fastest pace ever, so clearly, creators and audiences alike are embracing the medium, and lighter ad loads, on Spotify.”

In an effort to keep creators close, Spotify is now introducing Creator Milestone Awards–its own version of YouTube’s Play Buttons.

But instead of sending creators awards whenever they hit a certain number of subscribers, like YouTube, Spotify will do quarterly “evaluations” of all the podcasts on its platform and send bronze, silver, and gold plaques to shows that have hit 100 million, 250 million, and 500 million streams, respectively.

“Spotify remains the ultimate destination for podcast creators, with more than 1 billion people having listened to a podcast on Spotify since we entered the space in 2019,” the platform said in a company blog post. “And for the first time, we’re introducing the Spotify Creator Milestone Award to recognize the journey, growth, and streaming success of podcasts around the world.”

The goal is “setting a new standard for podcast achievement and honoring the many record-setting shows on our platform,” it added.

Some shows receiving the first batch of Creator Milestone Awards include…

Bronze (100 million streams)
–David Dobrik and Jason Nash‘s VIEWS
-true crime podcast Rotten Mango, hosted by Stephanie Soo

Silver (250 million streams)
–Dateline NBC‘s weekly show hosted by longtime correspondent Andrea Canning
-educational podcast Stuff You Should Know, hosted by Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant

Gold (500 million streams)
–The Joe Rogan Experience
–Crime Junkie, hosted by Ashley Flowers and Brit Prawat

These are only the shows Spotify chose to highlight in its blog post. The full roster of shows who’ve hit 100 million, 250 million, and 500 million streams is available here.

Most of these, like Rogan’s show, are total non-surprises based on previous disclosures from Spotify and previous third-party data. We are a little surprised, though, that Spotify chose to highlight Dateline NBC, a corporate news show, in the blog post for it its inaugural Creator Milestone Award feature. YouTube has historically faced contention for giving Play Buttons and press space to channels like T-Series, which is also owned by a media corporation. (Editor’s Update: Spotify tells us it was not “editorially driven” in choosing which shows to highlight in the Creator Milestone Awards blog post; those selected, it says, are simply examples of shows that have crossed the relevant listenership thresholds.)

Spotify has been closemouthed about podcast performance data–both audio and video–to date, so it will be interesting to see quarterly hard data about which shows have the biggest audiences on Spotify.

As for the creators who’ll receive these awards, they can expect personal hand delivery, Spotify said. Plus there’s a few extras:

“Award recipients will be hand-delivered a physical Spotify plaque, they’ll be spotlighted across Spotify’s social channels, and will be featured in a new editorial hub on-platform,” it said. “We’re also releasing a marketing campaign to highlight some of our first award recipients at New York City’s Penn Plaza.”

We’re curious if Spotify’s move here will successfully draw in more creators. YouTube’s Play Buttons have become coveted items to work toward, and if Spotify’s are similarly received, it could boost creator engagement with Spotify as a platform.

Filed under: Homepage Feature, Spotify by James Hale
Comments Off on Spotify wants to beat YouTube at video podcasts. So it’s giving out its own gold and silver creator plaques.

As TikTok‘s American operations hang in the balance, the app is applying the lessons it learned in the U.S. to further its growth in other territories. In particular, TikTok is leafing through its ecommerce playbook in the U.K., where new business-friendly policies offer a path forward for enterprising creators.

TikTok recently announced a “game changing” tool called GMV Max, which optimizes campaigns by identifying and scaling top-performing assets. GMV Max users can use the feature to build campaigns that deploy “all available TikTok Shop content,” according to a TikTok blog post.

GMV Max is designed for the 200,000 active small businesses that peddle their wares on TikTok Shop. Those sellers host 6,000 TikTok LIVE broadcasts per day, according to the blog post. That community is part of a global wave of social sellers that earns billions per year for TikTok parent ByteDance.

Local resistance and cultural clashes hindered TikTok Shop’s initial U.K. rollout, but the app has gained favor across the pond through initiatives that have included in-person pop-ups in London. Insights from TikTok Shop’s operations in the U.S. have shown that the app’s consumers prefer a shared shopping experience.

That’s what Sandie Hawkins, who helped lead TikTok Shop’s U.S. push before recently departing the company, explained to Business Insider. “You have that community environment,” she said. “You have all of your friends there with you and they’re telling you what they think you should buy. You’re taking those recommendations right there, and you’re closing the loop instead of having to send them to go someplace else.”

Though the U.S. government may not realize it, efforts to ban TikTok only instill a deeper sense of community. That’s why, when the likelihood of a U.S. TikTok ban was at its highest, TikTok Shop sales spiked. Even if President Trump fails to bail out TikTok, the app’s excitement surrounding ecommerce has already taken hold with American consumers, and TikTok has millions of reasons to continue its investment.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Homepage Feature, News by Sam Gutelle
Comments Off on Outside of the United States, TikTok is still making Shop happen

A new firm is launching to handle the “boring stuff” that makes creator careers possible. The company is literally called Boring Stuff, and it boasts an initial client roster headlined by YouTube star Eric Decker (a.k.a. Airrack).

Boring Stuff offers a wide-ranging suite of financial services, ranging from bookkeeping to accounting to payroll management. Co-Founder Zack Honarvar and CEO Varun Bhuchar are positioning their company as a solution designed with creators in mind. Boring Stuff’s team of CPAs, tax specialists, and operational experts are trained to handle the “unique challenges” creator businesses face, Bhuchar said in a statement.

Honarvar, Airrack’s manager and his Co-Founder for the “YouTuber film school” Creator Now, added that the “operational support” provided by the Boring Stuff team unburdens clients so they can “dedicate their internal resources” to creative pursuits.

In addition to Airrack, other names on Boring Stuff’s client list include Yes Theory and Tejas Huller. “Creators who want to be taken seriously by traditional media investors and brand partners need to operate like media companies, not solo creators,” Airrack said in a statement. “But trying to hire and manage operational staff while growing a channel can be overwhelming. Boring Stuff has been a game changer for me—they understand the unique challenges of the creator economy better than anyone else.”

Boring Stuff is look to grab a slice of the ever-captivating creator economy, a multi-billion dollar business that is projected to continue growing over the next five years. As creators have leveled up, numerous firms have swooped in to help them manage their complex finances. Creative Juice has also offered tax season assistance, and Karat has worked with companies like Visa to legitimize creators within the walls of traditional financial institutions.

Bhuchar, a FOX veteran, and Honarvar are out to further simplify the U.S. tax code as it applies to professional creators. More details about their business can be found on the Boring Stuff website.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Homepage Feature, News by Sam Gutelle
Comments Off on With Tax Day on the horizon, a startup wants to be the creator economy’s CPA-in-a-box

Here’s something I didn’t have on my second Trump term bingo card: The president is carrying on a policy enacted by the Biden Administration. Trump’s press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, announced that the White House will continue to make overtures to creators by granting them access to the Brady Press Briefing Room.

Leavitt wants creators of all stripes to apply for access to the Briefing Room. “We are encouraging anybody in this country: whether you are a TikTok content creator, a blogger, or a podcaster — if you are producing legitimate news content, no matter the medium, you will be allowed to apply for press credentials to this White House,” she said.

Trump’s Democratic predecessor invited influencers into the political process like never before. Select creators received presidential talking points at private pressers, the ill-fated Biden reelection campaign tried to drum up support on TikTok, and Biden even addressed creators directly at the inaugural White House Creator Economy Conference.

Though the Dems increased their creator overtures to unprecedented levels — and pushed out some traditional voices in the process — Trump was the candidate who ultimately fared the best on social media. His collaborations with the young male podcasters who drive Gen Z interest helped him increase his performance among that demographic.

Early in his second term, Trump made it clear that he will have a greater presence on YouTube than he did during his first term (he may also try to save TikTok along the way, too.) Part of that growing social profile will involve more press access for creators. Leavitt said that the decision to credential new media voices is a response to the increasing amount of trust Americans invest in those sources. The new wave of political influencers is pushing out established political pundits across the board, and that surge has now arrived at the doors of the White House Briefing Room.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Homepage Feature, News by Sam Gutelle
Comments Off on Trump administration to creators: “You will be allowed to apply for press credentials to this White House.”

Over the past few years, it’s become more apparent than ever: Athletes want to tell their stories. Occasionally while they’re still on the world’s stage, but most often after, when their team obligations are over and they’ve secured themselves a legacy in their sport. But while many athletes have gone on to produce and/or star in podcasts, documentaries, and books about their lives, they’ve never truly broken into one of the world’s biggest entertainment engines: Hollywood.

Don’t get us wrong, we’ve definitely had some serious athletes-turned-actors. Others, like Kobe Bryant and Lebron James, started their own production studios. (Bryant was also the first and only athlete to win an Oscar, thanks to his 2017 animated short Dear Basketball.) But–for one reason or another–there doesn’t seem to be a smooth path from athletedom into the sort of audiovisual creativity Hollywood offers.

Enter YouTube.

In 2023, the NFL and YouTube (one of its longtime partners across multiple areas) launched the Access Pass Program, which would give an approved group of content creators permission to use NFL archive footage in their videos. For creators, the benefits were significant: Not only were they getting access to high-quality footage of games, but they were explicitly allowed to monetize videos where they used that footage, without worrying about being copyright claimed. And they got to develop their own relationship with the NFL.

Influencer marketing company Whalar, which is also involved with the program, told Fast Company that Access Pass generated generated more than 46.5 million views for the NFL in its first year, and over 200 million to date.

So, of course, the NFL is interested in continuing the program–but with some tweaks. As Fast Company points out, the landscape has changed somewhat over the past two years. More NFL players are starting and growing successful podcasts: There’s former Tennessee Titans player Taylor Lewan and his ‘cast Bussin’ with the Boys, and former Chicago Bears player Brandon Marshall with I Am Athlete. Can’t forget the Kelce brothers, either; they regularly appear on our Gospel Stats Weekly Brand Reports because their episodes are some of the most-watched sponsored videos on all of YouTube).

To embrace these former players’ successes, the NFL and YouTube are putting together Access Pass for Legends, which will give content creators and athletes permission to use official footage.

Marshall, an NFL multi-record-holder who played wide receiver for 13 seasons, is one of the first players to join the program.

As he told CBS back in 2016, “I think that the business of the NFL is growing every single day, and players are being told to stay in a box and just play football, and we’re missing out on a lot of opportunities, not only to grow as men and businessmen but to experience different things.”

This program may not be a fast-track into Hollywood, but it will give athletes the footage and support to kick off content careers on YouTube. (And, from the hybrid Hollywood/YouTube creators we’ve spoken to, it sounds like YouTube might be the better deal…)

“Now, the same guys that helped build the game are now in position to have this access, go on YouTube and build a business,” Marshall told Fast Company. “That is the biggest win, being able to tell stories from a different perspective. It’s going to be exciting to see how some of our legends take advantage of this program.”

Also joining Access Pass for Legends are former NFL players Cam Newton, J.T. O’Sullivan, and Kurt Benkert.

“NFL players and legends are no longer just seen as athletes but as creators and storytellers with valuable perspectives on the game that increasingly have a home on YouTube,” Ian Trombetta, the NFL’s SVP of Social, Influencer, and Creator Marketing, told Fast Company. “Access Pass for Legends reflects this evolution by giving NFL icons additional tools to build their own media businesses.”

Angela Courtin, YouTube’s VP of Connected TV and Creative Studios, added that YouTube sees this as a way to “[empower] these athletes to take control of their narratives, build powerful brands, and transition into successful media moguls in their post-playing careers.”

We’ll be keeping an eye on the program to see how players use this launchpad–and what YouTube creators they tap to collaborate.

Filed under: Homepage Feature by James Hale
Comments Off on The NFL is turning ex-players into “media moguls” on YouTube

Kick has a new plan to increase its credibility among streamers: It’s hitting the rewind button.

No, Kick isn’t releasing its take on the most-disliked YouTube video of all time. Its interpretation of the word “rewind” is more literal, as its viewers will “soon” have the ability to back up live action and replay hype stream moments right after they happen.

Kick announced its “real-time” rewind tool with a video on X that featured streaming star xQc. The electric-haired Quebecois creator demoed the feature while playing Overwatch; he staged a stream highlight that viewers could not see due to technical difficulties, then showed how simple it is to rewind the broadcast and catch up on the missed action.

Rewind in real time?

Pick Kick. pic.twitter.com/Uk948wQOV2

— Kick (@KickStreaming) January 27, 2025

“Actually ahead of the curve, hold on now,” xQc wrote on X. Kick founding father Trainwreck responded by admitting that the tool has “a lot of things still to fix,” though he still termed it a “W” nevertheless.

One reason why this feature is such a big W for Kick is because an analogous stream rewinder is not currently available on Twitch. Like other major streaming platforms, Twitch lets streamers turn their highlights into VOD clips, but Kick’s real-time rewind adds a new layer of immediacy to that type of content. That’s why the Stake.com-affiliated hub is now instructing potential users to “pick Kick” if they want to “never miss that moment.”

The feature is also significant in terms of the strategic shift it represents for Kick. The platform got off to a hot start in its early days, when it inked massive exclusive contracts with streamers like xQc. Those deals gave Kick the name recognition it needed at the time, but they also wound up being seen as albatrosses more than anything else. As Kick looks to cater to the other 99% of its community, it is introducing features that give streamers legitimate reasons to jump ship from Twitch — no hefty contracts necessary.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Homepage Feature, News by Sam Gutelle
Comments Off on Kick wants viewers to use new rewind feature to make sure they “never miss that moment”

Research shows that Gen Z is going on fewer dates compared to what previous generations experienced in their collective 20s. That trend presents a challenge for dating app operators like Match Group, but the parent company of Tinder, Match.com, Hinge, and OkCupid has an idea. The Tinder brand is connecting with lovelorn members of Gen Z by partnering with TikTok relationship gurus like Madi Webb.

Webb, the host of the hit podcast In Bed, uses her TikTok account to dispense practical dating advice to more than two million followers. With help from Match Group, Webb broadcast her message more widely through a Tinder-sponsored series titled The Connection Experience.

The resulting “dating updates” are collected in a playlist that chronicles Webb’s life on Tinder after Match Group invited her to rejoin the app. Webb’s self-deprecating charm shines through as she guides her skeptical fans through her current dating pool.

@madibwebb getting ready for a first date with sauna man ft @Tinder ♬ original sound – Madi B Webb

At the end of her Connection Experience, Webb wound up with a girlfriend, and she credited Tinder for giving her the confidence to publicly identify as queer. “I genuinely can count on two fingers how many times I have been in-person hit on by another woman, and that was because I was making the most crazy eye contact you’ve ever seen in your life,” Webb told Axios.

Match Group has long paid attention to social media and the creator culture that has spawned from that industry. Tinder’s Loops represented a pre-TikTok experiment in vertical, short-form video. The app has since gained cred among digital natives through creator-driven partnerships and scripted content.

TikTok, the home of so many jaded Zoomers, may not jump out as an obvious milieu for a Tinder campaign. But there are plenty of connections between video platforms and dating apps: YouTube was initially meant to be a dating site, according to Co-Founder Steve Chen, and more couples became F.B.O. thanks to a Facebook Dating hub revealed in 2019.

Multiple startups are betting that TikTok-style feeds are the future of online dating. Match Group will get to reveal the results of its foray into TikTok when it reports its fourth-quarter 2024 earnings on February 5.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Homepage Feature, News by Sam Gutelle
Comments Off on Tinder hopes to match with Gen Z by borrowing some credibility from TikTokers

Innovations revealed by a Chinese tech company are having a trillion-dollar impact on the U.S. market. High-Flyer‘s generative AI model, DeepSeek, has been used to power a top-of-the-line chatbot that is taking value away from American genAI companies.

On the surface, the DeepSeek chatbot looks like it could be a clone of OpenAI‘s ChatGPT. The two bots operate similarly, as they both possess the ability to answer questions, refine searches, and write programs.

DeepSeek’s resemblance to ChatGPT explains why it has sent shockwaves across the AI industry. The Chinese bot is producing industry-standard results despite being trained with far smaller supercomputers. The New York Times noted that AI bots are typically trained with the help of 16,000 chips, but the DeepSeek-V3 model only required about 2,000 chips.

To make matters worse for American tech companies, DeepSeek is also more accessible than its competitors. Its open-source status enables collaborations with other developers, and its flagship chatbot can be queried without an account. In contrast, ChatGPT access is so restricted that users find workarounds to gain access.

So even though ChatGPT became a bonafide celebrity after it hit the market, DeepSeek has now stolen some of its thunder. And that’s not all: The advances in the Chinese tech sector are impeding financial progress among trans-Pacific rivals. The release of the latest DeepSeek model sent U.S. stocks into a tailspin as investors questioned whether Big Tech firms actually have control over the generative AI industry.

Bloomberg estimated that the sell-off decreased the value of American tech companies by about $1 trillion. Frequent AI investor Marc Andreessen described the stock market hit as “AI’s Sputnik moment” — a wake-up call about the technological progress made by a foreign adversary of the United States.

Will the U.S. government heed that wake-up call? The body that has come close to banning TikTok has expressed that China-controlled apps must be regulated to protect the security of Americans, but those consumers aren’t listening. Millions of users would prefer to explore the potential of buzzy Chinese social media apps like Xiaohongshu and Lemon8 rather than moving their activity to U.S.-owned platforms. DeepSeek is the latest Chinese creation to turn heads, but it won’t be the last.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Homepage Feature, News by Sam Gutelle
Comments Off on The rise of AI bot DeepSeek reminds the U.S. government that it can’t contain Chinese tech forever

[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 earned a second-straight #1 finish in the U.S. Top 50, even though his viewership on his main channel fell 12% week-over-week. Both his dominance of the YouTube charts and the volatility of his viewership are par for the course. Once his next video comes out, his traffic is likely to trend in the other direction.

Other creators in the chart seem to be trending up no matter what they do. In particular, it’s a big moment for creators in STEM, who are climbing the rankings with the same sort of engineering explainers that went viral last year.

Dun-da-dun-da-dun, cre-a-tor gadgets!

For a significant portion of 2024, the most-watched channel in the U.S. Top 50 was MaviGadget, a channel that offers an up-close and personal look at the operation of heavy machinery. MaviGadget’s weekly view count approached one billion over the summer before tailing off toward the end of the year.

Now, we may have been introduced to the next MaviGadget: Craftsman Whale. Like other STEM channels that are thriving on YouTube, this one distills engineering lessons into bite-sized chunks that are ideal for Shorts consumption. I’d guess there’s a lot of overlap between fans of oddly satisfying videos and people who want to watch a railroad track remover in action.

There’s not too much difference between Craftsman Whale and MaviGadget (except that the former channel is apparently run by a large sea mammal). Other STEM creators, however, are finding their own paths to the top. Mark Rober is a perfect example. The popular engineer’s increasing activity on Shorts has given him access to a new audience. He’s now approaching peek weekly viewership with polished, educational science videos of all shapes and sizes.

Do people watch these STEM videos to learn or to enjoy a spectacular show? Answers to that question may vary, but science content on Shorts has been a successful experiment so far.

Channel Distribution

This week, there are 36 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
Comments Off on Top 50 Most Viewed U.S. YouTube Channels • Week Of 01/26/2025

[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. 👇

The Global Top 50 has an unchanged top four this week, but some curious trends are brewing further down in the ranking. At the front of the pack, it’s business as usual for T-Series, which put together yet another chart-topping performance with 802.2 million weekly views.

There are only ten channels over the 500 million mark this week, but all 50 entrants in the global ranking got at least 240 million weekly views. Let’s take a look at some of the unusual channels that have hit that mark.

It’s pink! (Still.)

It’s been two years since the Barbie movie hit theaters, but the flick’s rose-colored glasses still seem to be tinting everything in sight. One of the fastest-rising creators in the Global Top 50 is Ukraine’s Candy Superstar, whose hot pink videos add electric color to topics that might otherwise seem mundane.

The 2023 release of Greta Gerwig’s buzzy toy adaptation briefly made social media Barbie girls like Mayca Brasil into the most-watched creators on YouTube. Though the days of Barbenheimer are long behind us, Candy Superstar harkens back to that era with her most-watched Short, a peek at the skincare routine that informs her Barbie aesthetic.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/VRB8DxaZyWU

The pink hue of this video reels in viewers of all ages, but other Candy Superstar videos have questionable levels of kid-friendliness. Do viewers really need to see her rhinoplasty? No matter the subject, Candy Superstar’s outfit matches her signature look, and that keeps the traffic coming.

Another interesting case is PresentHunt, a purveyor of colorful videos with unicorns and rainbows in its channel image. By delivering brightly accented videos to millions of views, PresentHunt is reaching viewership totals that were previously unattainable.

PresentHunt’s 32nd-place finish in the Global Top 50 puts it just ahead of Candy Superstar, who hit 37th place thanks to her 279.7 million weekly views. Both of these hot-hued hubs are likely to be back in the Top 50 next week. That’s the power of pink.

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: 9
•  Indonesia: 4
• Canada, Hong Kong, Japan, Pakistan, South Korea, and Vietnam: 2
• Argentina, Bangladesh, Belgium, Canada, China, El Salvador, Germany, Kazakhstan, Spain, Taiwan, and Ukraine: 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
Comments Off on Top 50 Most Viewed YouTube Channels Worldwide • Week Of 01/26/2025

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.

Joe Rogan has dropped out of our top 5 after dominating last week’s list, making way for YouTube OGs like Linus Tech Tips, Wendigoon, and some good old ASMR. But that doesn’t mean he batted zero over the last seven: he’s in at spots #26 and #29. We expect him to be a pretty familiar face on our Gospel Stats Weekly Brand Reports if he keeps hanging around people involved in the Trump administration (and the social media CEOs who want its approval). For now, though, our top 5s are quite the collection, from a take on Nintendo‘s next console to how narcotics-selling cartels transport their goods and a cheating investigation worth of early 2000s MTV.

Check ’em all out right here:

#1 I Hate Nintendo and I’m Buying a Switch 2 IMMEDIATELY
Channel: Linus Tech Tips
Brand: dbrand
Views: 4,262,571

Nintendo‘s handheld Switch console changed the game (no pun intended) for legions of video game enthusiasts. But the Switch has some notable issues, so folks have been looking forward to its inevitable descendent–which they hoped would surpass the predecessor. But when Nintendo announced the uncreatively named Switch 2 earlier this month, there was an instant wave of criticism. Nintendo’s stock even dropped. But Linus Tech Tips–despite loathing Nintendo–thinks the console might be worth picking up. We’ll let him give you his reasons, all sponsored by tech customization company dbrand. (Now, let’s just hope Nintendo doesn’t copyright claim his video…)

#2 The Genius Design of Narco Submarines
Channel: fern
Brand: Brilliant
Views: 3,279,040

When you say “cartel smuggling,” most people tend to think of clandestine desert operations with trucks stuffed full of wrapped packs of drugs. And when you say “submarines,” it conjures images of ocean warfare and exploration. Now forget those two images entirely, and smush together the  ideas of “cartel” and “submarines,” and you’ve got fern‘s latest video. Some high-tech drug smugglers are using deep-sea diving vessels to transport their wares around the world, and it turns out these subs are pretty cool pieces of technology. fern’s rundown is sponsored (appropriately) by online course company Brilliant.

#3 The Dark Story & Lore of Lethal Company
Channel: Wendigoon
Brand: Factor
Views: 3,142,359

Lethal Company was one of the top games of 2023. Made by a single person, it went big almost immediately after launching. It hits the same notes as Among Us: a group of friends can log in and face danger together…or be the danger to each other. In Lethal, players work for a mysterious corporation that sends them into abandoned buildings to recover anything valuable. Surely that’s not so bad. Surely there aren’t monsters around every corner. Right? Right. And in this video, Wendigoon runs down the history of all those totally-not-monsters, offering a comprehensive look at the lore sponsored by meals-by-mail company Factor.

#4 Is Her Boyfriend Secretly Into Her Friends? | UDY Loyalty Test
Channel: UDY
Brand: Aura
Views: 2,774,327

As long as there have been relationships, there’s been cheating. And as long as there’s been TV, there’s been people who love catching cheaters live on camera. MTV cornered the market back in the early 2000s, but now we have YouTube, and it’s DIY cheat-busting all the way, baby. UDY has built a 7 million subscriber channel by setting up situations to catch cheating boyfriends and girlfriends–and its latest episode (sponsored by digital safety company Aura) welcomes guest Grace, who wants to see if her boyfriend will flirt with another girl. We won’t spoil whether or not he fails the test, but we will say this ep has a twist ending that’s almost certaintly contributing to its steadily growing view count.

BONUS #1,170 Tingly ASMR Pamper with Nostalgic Wooden Items
Channel: Karuna Satori ASMR
Brand: Scentbird
Views: 60,931

Last up, our bonus vid this week–in keeping with the vintage theme–is ASMR sponsored by perfume subscription company Scentbird. Karuna Satori has over a million subscribers on her channel, and this half-hour-long video is a prime example of her craft. ASMR might not be as dominating a force as it once was, but it still has a strong foothold on YouTube–and Scentbird is right on trend sponsoring it. Karuna isn’t the only channel on Scentbird’s bankroll this week: It also sponsored videos #50, #323, #415, #425, #572, #657, and #977.

…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
Comments Off on Top 5 Branded Videos of the Week: Cheaters, consoles, and ‘Lethal Company’