It’s been years since we last encountered a piece of Justin Bieber drama worth chewing over, but the singer’s performance at Coachella has given us something to talk about. By singing along with his old YouTube videos, Bieber ignited a controversy — and may have involuntarily provided an intriguing commentary on the relationship between social media and live music.

During the middle of his set, Bieber pulled up YouTube on his computer and started playing videos from the early days of his channel, back when he was still known online as kidrauhl. As baby Biebs strummed away on the screen, the adult version of the pop star sang along to his old Usher and Chris Brown covers.

The stunt — which ended up including other Bieber videos and random YouTube favorites like the “double rainbow” guy — drew polarized reactions online. Critics felt that the YouTube detour fell short of the spectacle Bieber’s fans had come to see. Others questioned whether such a low-rent portion of the show really deserved to come with a rumored $10 million performance fee.

Others, however, understood that Bieber was turning the spotlight back on his fans. He may be the pop star, but his fans made him the big shot he is today, in part because they consumed his early YouTube videos en masse. Watching kidrauhl clips with his fans let him relive a rise that would have looked very different in an age before the internet.

“There was something beautiful, even thrilling, about watching Bieber trawl YouTube,” reads GQ‘s review of the set. Music critic Anthony Fantano also praised the stunt, dubbing it a “postmodern piece of performance art” that could only come from a YouTube legend. “He’s displaying to the audience the way that he as an artist, and he as a person, grew up on the internet,” Fantano said.

There’s another wrinkle to this: Live music and social media are becoming inextricable from one another. Once upon a time, live music thrived on its immediacy and the fleeting connection between the performer and the audience. But in an age when thousands of concertgoers upload clips in real time (and platforms explicitly encourage that behavior), that ephemerality is blunted.

Or, to put it another way, if a thorough selection of clips from Bieber’s Coachella set can be found on YouTube, what are the live attendees really paying for? Has live music become just another piece of content, indistinguishable from the rest of your feed? “Bieber not only singing along to younger videos of himself, but also laughing at viral clips of himself running into glass doors, falling off stages, or creating memes that would go on to inspire today’s cultural lexicon, was beyond fitting for an artist shaped by the internet as much as he has been,” reads a Slate review.

Maybe Bieber just needed a little break in the middle of his set. No matter the reason why he pulled up YouTube, the decision resonated with many. Many musicians design their live shows to be marketable on short-form platforms, but Bieber went one step further. He brought the short-form world directly to his fans.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Homepage Feature, Music, News by Sam Gutelle
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The spending spree on YouTube soccer content shows no signs of abating. The latest injection of capital comes from The Overlap, a media company led by former footballer and current pundit Gary Neville. The Manchester United legend has acquired the YouTube channels run by Mark Goldbridge, a creator known for his soccer video game content and his Man U fandom.

Goldbridge counts nearly four million subscribers across his two channels The United Stand and That’s Football. Across more than a decade of activity, Goldbridge has become a go-to source for commentary and gameplay footage in franchises like EA’s FIFA.

Post-acquisition, Goldbridge will continue to host his channels, but The Overlap will also add new programming, much of which will center around Manchester United. “For the last four years, I’ve felt there’s an issue with wanting to be the best community, but also running a business,” Goldbridge said during a live stream. “We were looking for expansion. We were looking for a partner to take this whole thing forward. The Overlap were doing the same thing.”

The mutual expansion Goldbridge speaks of has been catalyzed by the upcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup. Ahead of the tournament’s return to North America, both platforms and media companies have struck deals to put creator voices closer to the action. That’s how we’ve ended up with broadcasts on TikTok, coverage on YouTube, and officially-licensed soccer games on Roblox. Individual creators like Brazil’s CazéTV have also secured broadcast rights for tournament matches.

The Overlap has capitalized on that gold rush. Powered by a slate of podcasts, which feature famous players and pundits like Neville, the media company secured a big investment from commercial radio firm Global.

Podcasts are nice, but companies like The Overlap can’t ignore the growing role creators play in contemporary soccer discourse. The Mark Goldbridges of the world already get millions of views each week, and those numbers will only go up once World Cup mania descends on North America in June. Through The United Stand and That’s Football, The Overlap has acquired jumping-off points it can use to buy into the YouTube soccer world.

Of course, there are still some loose ends to tie up. Years ago, Neville said he would not invite Goldbridge to join him on an episode of the Overlap podcast. Given recent developments, I think Neville owes his fellow Man U superfan an apology — and a guest spot on his show.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Homepage Feature, News, Sports by Sam Gutelle
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The United States doesn’t participate in the Eurovision Song Contest, but it now boasts two official distributors for the annual continental festivities. Peacock has streamed both the semifinals and finals of Eurovision since 2021, and this year, it will share that duty with YouTube.

At the StreamTV Europe conference in Lisbon, European Broadcasting Union Commercial Director Jurian Van Der Meer revealed distribution details for the upcoming contest, which will kick off on May 12. The EBU, which organizes Eurovision, has tapped YouTube to offer a free stream that will cover all three nights of competition. Peacock’s subscriber-only stream will continue to serve as a paywalled alternative.

Van Der Meer said that YouTube already streamed Eurovision last year, but the deal was not widely publicized. This time out, as the EBC looks to “have a strategy for distributing our content” long-term, YouTube’s stream will be available across the globe. In some regions, like the U.K. and Australia, the YouTube stream will go dark due to the demands of local broadcasters.

Deals like this one are key for YouTube as the Google-affiliated hub looks to increase its already commanding viewership share on TV screens. One way YouTube attracts viewers is by providing live coverage of events that are typically limited to paying customers. That’s what it did with the NFL, it’s what it will likely do with the Oscars, and it’s applying the same strategy to Eurovision.

The 70-year-old European tradition is a smart addition to YouTube’s expanding broadcast lineup. Eurovision clips tend to go viral on YouTube after the contest’s conclusion. That phenomenon dates back before Peacock began streaming the event, and Eurovision’s YouTube numbers have continued to rise in recent years. 2025’s biggest Eurovision hits helped the contest’s official channel add 360,000 new subscribers in the week following the finals.

YouTube’s Eurovision broadcast won’t come without complications. Several longtime participants, including Spain, Ireland, and the Netherlands, have chosen to boycott the 2026 event due to Israel’s continued inclusion in the Eurovision lineup.

That controversy will blunt the excitement surrounding Eurovision, but even so, YouTube’s distribution of the contest just makes sense. If creators can compete for the Eurovision title, then it only makes sense that the home of creators plays a role, too.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Homepage Feature, Live Streaming, News by Sam Gutelle
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You might want to sit down for this news. YouTube is rolling out updates for livestreams that will result in fewer ads for viewers.

Yes, you heard right: YouTube is finding ways to have fewer ads.

That might come as a shock, considering YouTube has spent the past couple of years pushing more, longer ads–especially on TV screens. YouTube also just bumped up the price of Premium, its monthly subscription service where the biggest perk is no ads on videos. (The cheaper version of Premium got a bump, too, bringing it to $8.99/month.)

But YouTube seems willing to sacrifice a battalion of the Adageddon (not to be confused with the Adpocalypse) if it means getting more creators and viewers to engage with livestreams.

YouTube has not historically put a lot of focus on livestreams; its bread and butter is long-form VODs and Shorts. That’s resulted in competitors like Twitch pulling ahead of its livestream capabilities and traffic.

These new features might help sharpen its edge, though. Both updates revolve around pausing ads for certain scenarios.

1. When a viewer sends in a Super Chat, Super Sticker, or virtual gift, YouTube will pause ads specifically for that viewer. That way, if the creator says thank you, the viewer won’t miss it because an ad break is busy showing them KFC’s new bucket meals.
2. YouTube’s system “now recognizes when Live Chat engagement is at its peak and automatically holds back ads for everyone.” The goal here is to help creators “keep the momentum going for the whole community,” it said in a company blog post.

Basically, if a viewer is willing to support a creator with their wallet, YouTube will reward them with a temporary period of no ads. (We’re not sure how long that period is.) And, if a creator is seeing lots of activity, everyone in chat gets rewarded with no ads.

Both are fresh entrants to the livestreaming space. On Twitch, for example, viewers must be subscribed to a creator’s channel or pay for Twitch Turbo to avoid ads; just giving Bits or gifting a sub isn’t enough. And while streamers and their mods can choose to skip a scheduled ad break if something important is going on, Twitch only allows three skips per stream, and doesn’t automatically turn off ads if a stream is poppin’.

The only concern here is whether creators’ earnings might dip because fewer ads are being shown. That shouldn’t be a problem with update #1, since viewers have to unlock personal ad-free-ness by directly paying the streamer with Chats and Stickers, but with update #2, will temporary ad pauses be frequent and/or long enough to result in revenue cuts?

We’ll keep an eye out on creator feedback as these features go live.

Filed under: Homepage Feature by James Hale
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In 2024, during Jacksepticeye‘s annual Thankmas fundraising stream, a viewer asked him what he was working on outside of his YouTube videos.

He told them he was working on something he couldn’t talk about yet. Something he wasn’t sure would even be greenlit. But if it went forward, he said, it would be the biggest accomplishment of his career.

Well, it went forward.

And it is a Bloodborne movie.

FromSoftware‘s iconic 2015 RPG is frequently cited as one of the best video games of all time. It’s set in the fog-drenched fantasy city of Yharnam and follows a Hunter seeking the cure to a mysterious illness warping people into beasts. Inspired by H.P. Lovecraft and done up in FromSoft’s signature grotesque, Gothic style, Bloodborne is the favorite title of many a gamer–including Jacksepticeye.

“I can’t believe I get to say the words that are gonna come out of my mouth,” he told viewers in an April 14 upload. “I get to produce an R-rated Bloodborne animated feature film.”

His personal announcement was preceded by an April 13 CinemaCon reveal from Sony Pictures, which is financing and distributing the film. Jack (aka Seán McLoughlin) will produce alongside PlayStation Productions and Lyrical Animation.

While he’s not the film’s writer or director (those haven’t yet been announced), McLoughlin is a Bloodborne lore encyclopedia, and promised he’ll do everything in his power as a producer to make sure Bloodborne fans don’t suffer the same fate as Silent Hill enthusiasts.

“This is literally the dream project that I’ve always wanted to be able to work on, and I never thought that it would actually happen,” he said. “I live and breathe FromSoftware games, but Bloodborne specifically is my top-tier highest echelon of game. […] Bloodborne is like the thing I wake up and play video games for. It is the top of the top.”

Tearing up, he added, “I feel like this is what I was put on this Earth to do. This is my North Star. This is what everything I’ve been doing has led towards, to try and get to this place.”

Onstage at CinemaCon, Sony Pictures President Sanford Panitch said the adaptation will be “very true” to Bloodborne‘s origins–which is why it’s already rated R.

Sony is also producing a number of other gaming-related films, including Helldivers and a Legend of Zelda film with Benjamin Evan Ainsworth and Bo Bragason starring as Link and Zelda, respectively.

A24, meanwhile, is producing a live-action version of FromSoft’s 2022 masterpiece Elden Ring.

As Markiplier‘s adaptation of Iron Lung proved, there’s a lot to be gained when creators who are also truly passionate fans get to helm game-to-screen adaptations. McLoughlin has spent years hyping FromSoft games on YouTube. He knows them, he loves them, and he shares them with his audience. He knows what fans want to see on the big screen, because he knows what he wants to see. Not getting him involved would’ve been a major loss for the project–but thankfully, we’re in a different dream.

Filed under: Homepage Feature by James Hale
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Roblox is launching a new monthly subscription program that gives players discounts on in-game purchases–but it’s introducing new creator-specific benefits to ensure developers still get their full payouts.

Well, some developers.

On April 30, Roblox will roll out Roblox Plus, a $4.99/month subscription that will be available to players around the world. This is replacing Roblox Premium, the previous three-tier subscription that cost $4.99, $9.99, or $19.99/month, depending on the tier.

Premium also offered perks like discounts on in-game purchases, but its main draw was that, depending on what tier you subscribed to, it gave you a certain number of free Robux per month.

Plus is a more streamlined version of the program. It doesn’t give Robux–at least, not by default. Roblox says that “soon” after launch, it’ll add bundles where Plus subscribers can pay extra to get 500, 1,000, or 2,000 Robux delivered to their accounts each month. What it does offer is a steep 20% discount on in-game purchases (after three consecutive months of subscribing), as well as free access to private servers (more on that below) and the ability to transfer Robux to other players with no fee.

What really matters for the Tubefilter audience, though, is that Roblox says Plus was designed “to benefit the entire Roblox platform, including our creators.”

Unlike how things were under Premium, with Plus, asset developers/creators will not see a dip in earnings, even if a user buys their items from Roblox’s Catalog under a Plus discount.

“While subscribers receive a 10% (or 20%) discount on in-game items, avatars, and other Robux purchases, Roblox will cover the discounts—meaning creators will continue to earn the same amount as they do today on any individual purchase,” Roblox said in a company blog post about Plus. “This also enables subscribers to spread the same number of Robux across more items, allowing creators to earn more.”

Basically, Roblox will eat the cost of the discount in order to ensure developers keep their max earnings. This is a smart move, since Fortnite has long paid developers for their Island engagement, and now Grand Theft Auto/Red Dead Redemption developer Rockstar is looking at implementing more creator-friendly practices to raise its profile as a “virtual sandbox” for roleplayers, indicating potential financial upsides for creators in the future.

Another component of Roblox Plus will reward some developers for how much time Plus subscribers spend playing their games.

“Since one of the features of Roblox Plus is that subscribers receive free, unlimited access to paid private servers, we also want to reward creators for supporting this. Creators can earn up to 100 Robux for every Roblox Plus subscriber who spends 60 or more cumulative minutes in a game’s paid private server over the course of 30 days,” it said.

There’s some surprisingly complicated components to this. First, you need to know that not all games on Roblox are free, and even within some games that are free, it costs money to make a private instance for you and your friends. These instances are called paid private servers. With Plus, Roblox made the decision to remove paywalls for subscribers–meaning if someone subscribes to Plus, developers can’t charge them for access to private games/worlds.

This could result in a loss of revenue for paid game owners. That’s why Roblox is offering to reward paid server owners with 100 Robux/60 mins of gameplay. But this bonus will not go to every paid private server–just five per month, the ones with the most playtime.

One last element of Plus is for every developer, however.

If developers are willing to hawk Plus within their games by implementing a little popup that asks players to subscribe, they can earn a commission of up to 750 Robux/month for each new signup. So, folks who want to support developers and their games can kick ’em some cash by signing up directly through one of their games instead of through Roblox’s default platform. (It’s giving Fortnite creator code vibes…)

As usual, all Robux developers earn can be cashed out into actual currency at a rate of $0.0038/1 Robux, or about $114 per $30,000 Robux.

“Our goal is to provide a recurring revenue stream for creators,” Roblox said. “More and more creators are building businesses on Roblox, growing their teams, and developing games that expand what’s possible on the platform.”

That being said, every person who wants to publish in-game items on the Marketplace (or trade them with other users) will have to buy a Plus subscription–so any creators/developers should weigh that cost as an automatic deduction from potential earnings.

Considering Roblox paid out a whopping $1.5 billion to developers in 2025, I suspect some people see five bucks a month as a worthy investment.

Filed under: Homepage Feature, Roblox by James Hale
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Where do Gen Z students look when searching for scholarships they can apply for? According to a new study, TikTok has become an important resource for many of those high achievers.

The study in question comes from Sallie, the educational services company and student loan provider also known as Sallie Mae. To characterize the evolution of the scholarship hunt, Sallie surveyed 274 U.S. college students and recent graduates.

That research produced results that wouldn’t have been possible a generation ago. 22% of respondents said that they searched on TikTok to find applicable scholarships. That made the app a more common resource than school guidance counselors (19%).

To be clear, TikTok is not the most-used resource for scholarship hunters. That distinction belongs to school websites (44%), scholarship-specific discovery hubs (42%), and traditional search engines like Google (38%). And the students who do take a more modern approach don’t always find the results they’re looking for. 34% of students who searched for scholarships on TikTok encountered misinformation, with hidden fees, fake programs, and misleading eligibility info serving as three of the most commonly encountered issues.

At the same time, TikTok offers a peer-to-peer form of scholarship hunting that isn’t as readily available through a school website or a guidance counselor’s office. About 60% of TikTok scholarship searchers put their trust in current college students, valuing personal success stories over more generalized info dumps.

Given the current state of college-set content, the preference for that peer-to-peer approach isn’t too surprising. Skipping higher ed is a common choice among aspiring creators, but others see universities as a location where they can hone their content, personality, and brand. After all, would Alix Earle be Alix Earle without her time at Miami University? Would the Bama Rush girls have been able to secure so many followers without sharing their sorority experiences on TikTok? And would college athletes have such seemless transitions to creator careers without benefiting from NIL deals?

The answer to all of those questions is no, which is why so many people are now hunting for the same scholarship opportunities that helped their favorite creators get ahead in a crowded field. And in many cases, Gen Z’s TikTok scholarship searchers are striking paydirt. Sallie reported that 62% of that group discovered new opportunities on the app, while about 9% successfully earned at least one of the scholarships they discovered through TikTok.

College may be the land of opportunity for young Gen Z creators, but that means it’s also a place where those neophytes can be taken advantage of. TikTok can definitely be a useful scholarship resource, but Gen Z will want to make sure to read the fine print. Sallie’s survey found that only 27% of students always verify TikTok scholarship info before applying.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Homepage Feature, News, TikTok 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. 👇

MrBeast is on top of our weekly subscriber chart for the second week in a row. The North Carolina-based YouTube star sits atop the Global Sub Top 50 after adding two million weekly subscribers.

Six other channels (including two from Brazil) added at least one million new subscribers during the week that was, but none of them could come close to MrBeast. The most-followed creator on YouTube now has more than 477 million subscribers who hang onto every upload he puts out.

Could two Mexican stars unite to form the ultimate couple channel?

Last November, Ricky Limon and Daniela Arredondo got engaged. The two Mexican creators are high school sweethearts who have been dating for more than seven years, and their engagement confirmed their status as one of YouTube’s premier power couples.

Both Limon and Arredondo have been active on YouTube Shorts for years, but their union happened to coincide with an uptick of couple content across short-form formats. Last year, Australian pairs Cadel and Mia and Jasmin and James became hot stuff on Shorts, with their shared Double Date channel occasionally ranking as the most-watched channel on YouTube.

Flash forward a few months, and both of those couples are still in the mix in our viewership charts, though their shared channel has fallen out of the Top 50. Thanks to trends like Roblox and phonk music, Latin America has become an epicenter for short-form content, and that shift presents Limon and Arredondo with a palpable opportunity.

In particular, Arredondo is poised for big gains in the coming months. She just entered the Global Sub Top 50 for the first time after getting 300,000 new subscribers during the second full week of April. Her frequent co-star, who she sometimes refers to as “big Rick,” helped her haul in those massive gains.

Limon is such a big draw that Arredondo added nearly ten times as many subscribers this week as she did last week. She’s now closing in on one billion lifetime YouTube views and three million subscribers, even though her channel only dates back to 2020.

We shouldn’t suggest that this couple’s growth outcomes are a one-way street. Arredondo is also a frequent co-star on her partner’s channel, and her growth is lifting his hub as well. After hitting a high point around the start of the new year, Limon has watched his weekly traffic climb slowly but surely, and he just collected 100 million weekly views. That total goes along with 500,000 weekly subscribers, a tally that was high enough to push Limon up to 15th place in the Global Sub Top 50.

Data via Gospel Stats

Arredondo and Limon are applying a lot of the same principles that vaulted channels like Cadel and Mia to YouTube stardom. The Mexican lovebirds have a positive outlook, they’re not afraid to embrace the silliness of their relationship, and after so much time together, they’re extremely comfortable with one another in front of the camera.

This might only be the beginning for them. Limon has started producing music videos alongside other Mexican creators like GONZOK, so he and his boo are ready to become mainstream stars whose mutual love and influence extends far beyond YouTube Shorts.

Channel Distribution

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

• United States: 9
• Brazil: 7
• India: 6
• Mexico: 4
• Japan: 3
• Argentina, Hong Kong, Russia, and Ukraine: 2
• Australia, Canada, Indonesia, Pakistan, Singapore, Taiwan, and Vietnam: 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, 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. 👇

When did BabyBillion become the most prominent channel on YouTube? Though the kid-friendly hub has been a factor in our charts for years, it had never reached the #1 spot in the Global Top 50 until the first week of March. Since then, BabyBillion has led each week’s ranking of the most-watched YouTube channels in the world.

This week, the channel with the most #1 finishes in our viewership chart came close to knocking BabyBillion off its perch. T-Series got 919.5 million weekly views to vault up to second place in the ranking, but BabyBillion remained undefeated in May thanks to its 1.15 billion weekly views.

If your family’s maxed out but you need more views, just add a pet

For years, a statement about our weekly charts has held true: If you want to crack the Top 50, the best way to do so is to be a family from India.

South Asian family hubs have achieved an unprecedented degree of dominance in the Global Top 50. This week, 29 channels — nearly 60% of all chart entrants — are representing India in our viewership ranking. And a significant number of those channels, including regulars like BabyBillion, Anaya Kandhal, and KL Bro Biju Rithvik, make videos for YouTube’s youngest viewers.

Indian kids’ hubs have become so numerous that some of those creators are bucking familiar trends and adding fresh spins to the family formula. For several of those channels, the secret to success involves one of the only categories that rivals children’s content in terms of YouTube traffic. I’m talking, of course, about animal videos.

The days of dogs on skateboards may be behind us, but cute animals are still a dependable source of viewership for many YouTube channels, especially those that operate primarily on Shorts. And if you can offer your viewers both cute kids and cute pets, viewership can go even higher. That’s why the hero image for The Shine Family depicts the channel’s three most important characters: Two boys and one dog.

This week, the Shine Family cracked the Global Top 50 after picking up 293.9 million weekly views. That sum was good for a 70% week-over-week increase, and it brought The Shine Family’s lifetime tally up above 7.4 billion views.

A family pet can be both a lovely companion and a valuable asset for an accompanying YouTube channel, but creators don’t even need to own a pet themselves to benefit from the animal kingdom bump. We saw evidence of that idea last week, when The BN Brothers mixed in cat videos to claim a spot in the Global Top 50.

In the wake of that channel’s upward move, we’ve noticed several other Indian family channels that have added animalistic representations to their videos. The Useless Cousin is a channel with a mean name and a focus on family-friendly hijinks. Recently, it added a yellow dog mascot as well, and that decision helped the Indian hub collect 297.1 million weekly views. The 41st-place represents a new high-water mark for The Useless Cousin.

Data via Gospel Stats

So if I were an adult in charge of a family YouTube channel, I’d start diversifying the costumes on display. Brothers, mothers, sons, daughters, cousins, and other family members are often titular figures in top Indian channels, but the animal companions are providing a competitive edge.

And if animal dress-up is on the table, maybe it’s time to get some American college mascots on Shorts. I feel like this guy from the University of Maryland – Baltimore County could really rack up the views.

Channel Distribution

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

• India: 29
• United States: 5
• Canada: 3
• Indonesia and Vietnam: 2
• Argentina, Australia, Bangladesh, China, Germany, Pakistan, Russia, South Korea, Spain, and Taiwan: 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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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. You can also download our YouTube 2025 Sponsorship Landscape Report here.

Mo’ MrBeast, mo’ money. As usual, he has top spot, but is also in spot #2 this week. Both videos have very similar titles–and the same sponsor. 👀

As for the rest of this week, it’s celebs, the military, and a little “Can you hear me now?”

Check it all out below…

#1 Press This Button To Win $250,000
Channel: MrBeast Gaming
Brand: Moose Toys
Views: 16,205,686

MrBeast has been doing a lot of splashy stuff with streamers lately, and this video is no different. What sets it apart from MrBeast’s average-person/man on the street challenges (like the one in spot #2 this week) is that streamers typically get the big cash prizes for their fans, not for themselves.

In this 20-minute upload on MrBeast’s side Gaming channel, Pokimane, ExtraEmily, and ElAbrahaham compete in rounds of Minecraft challenges for the chance to win $250K–all earmarked for their fans. This is a win for MrBeast, who gets ~16 million views and a sponsorship from Moose Toys (the producer behind his MrBeast Lab toys); it’s also a win for the victorious creator. How? We won’t give spoilers, but we will say MrBeast announces the winner’s plans to go live and give the $250K away on a special stream.

Engagement all around.

#2 Bring Me A Glass Of Water = Win $10,000
Channel: MrBeast
Brand: MrBeast Lab aka Moose Toys
Views: 15,020,106

If some random dude walked up to you and offered you $10K to fill a glass, you might be a little suspicious. But since MrBeast is the face of YouTube’s current era, most people trust that when he says he’s got $10K, he’s got $10K.

This 40-second video follows one man’s heart-pounding, sidewalk-jogging journey to find enough water to fill a single glass in just 120 seconds. MrBeast doesn’t make it too hard: “I think there’s a restaurant over there,” he tosses out.

Of course, the entire challenge is just because he needs water to show off his new line of MrBeast Labs toys–which, when dunked in water, shake off a coating of “rust” and reveal underlying colors.

#3 Inside a Marine Expeditionary Operation: From Sea to Shore
Channel: Unconventional, Newsweek, 2nd Marine Division
Brand: Jeep
Views: 10,734,482

Newsweek is doing some interesting stuff on YouTube. Its series Unconventional partners with branches of the American military for a variety of coverage. Sometimes it’s racing a car against an F-16. And sometimes, like in this week’s video, it’s following the full scale of a military operation.

Obviously this episode isn’t revealing any top-secret secrets, but it is hosted by someone who used to know them. Newsweek tapped former American spy turned journalist Naveed Jamali to take viewers through the minutiae of a day in the military–all supported by the series’ partner Jeep.

#4 Wait, Preston!
Channel: Preston
Brand: Verizon
Views: 8,303,816

What if you could walk into a Verizon store and come face to face with Preston?

Well, YouTube is making that happen. The platform has a long-ongoing association with Verizon that mainly centers on promoting YouTube TV and the NFL Sunday Ticket. Now YouTube’s also pumping Premium, with Preston’s help.

This 28-second clip honestly reads closer to a made-for-TV ad than most YouTube sponsor spots. We follow an enthusiastic cameraperson sa they run into Preston, who turns, raises his voice, and begins telling viewers all about the benefits of YouTube Premium…which just so happens to be cheaper (but not free!) for Verizon customers. Oh, and fans can catch him in Verizon stores across the country, thanks to new interactive displays.

YouTube is starting to do more in-house-produced content with creators again, so maybe we’ll see more of this kinda thing in the coming months…

BONUS #1,755 Ranking Celebrity Frozen Meals
Channel: Peebs
Brand: Azuna
Views: 111,590

Gordon Ramsay talks a lot of smack about frozen food on Kitchen Nightmares. We’re talking restaurant after restaurant getting reamed for flying in frozen appys and pastas instead of making everything in-house. I’m not saying I disagree with Ramsay here (especially in the Age of Sysco), but it is a little strange for his next biz move to be, well, a frozen food line.

But it’s cool: Peebs‘ deep dive into Ramsay–and other celebrities’–microwave meals is sponsored by New York-based air freshener co Azuna, so if anything stinks up the house, he’s got it covered.

…and there’s a lot more data where that came from. If you like our Weekly Top 5, you’ll love everything else Gospel has to offer. Start with our newly released YouTube 2025 Sponsorship Landscape Report, which you can download right here.

Filed under: Articles, Brands, Featured, Homepage Feature, News by James Hale
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Hey YouTubers! Do you want to be rid of the pesky chore of actually appearing in your own videos? Well, good news: YouTube‘s latest AI feature is just for you!

A few months ago we covered that Google, which is absolutely determined to make fat dolla dolla bills before the gen AI bubble bursts, was experimenting with a fan-facing feature called Portraits. That feature, it said, would “let viewers conversationally interact with AI representations of participating creators.”

Basically, creators would no longer have to endure engaging with their adoring fans. Because who would want that?

Now YouTube is taking things a step further. Its next big idea is to have creators deepfake themselves so they never have to be on camera again.

Instead, their “AI avatars” will host videos for them.

“An avatar builds on existing ingredients-to-video features in YouTube’s creation tools, making it easier and more accurate to add yourself into your videos,” the platform explains in a YouTube Help Center post. “Avatars create a digital version of yourself so you can generate videos that look and sound like you, safely and securely.”

This feature is already rolling out to creators 18 and older around the world (except in Europe, possibly due to its more stringent regulations on both data privacy and generative AI). To make an avatar of themself, a creator has to enter the “AI Playground” section of YouTube’s app, then record a “live selfie” that will serve as training material for replicating their face and voice.

Once the avatar is done, creators can make Shorts with it or inject it into other people’s videos via Shorts’ Remix feature. All they have to do is type in a prompt explaining what they want the avatar to do and say. No one else will be able to use the creator’s avatar in their videos, and the creator can delete it at any time.

YouTube–which, by the way, is already under fire for the amount of AI slop it spits out at viewers—told 9to5Google that AI avatars “gives users an easier way to include themselves safely and securely in videos.”

Yes, we suppose it is easier to type a few words in a prompt box. But are viewers actually going to be into videos that are the YouTuber equivalent of ChatGPT holding up a life-size cardboard Mandalorian cutout, wiggling it around, and pretending to be Pedro Pascal?

Either way, they’ll at least know when a creator has used their deepfake instead of doing the work: YouTube says all videos generated with avatars will have YouTube’s standard AI disclosure, plus will “include visible watermarks and digital labels like SynthID and C2PA to disclose AI-generated content.”

9to5Google reports AI avatar clips are restricted to eight seconds long, but there’s no limit to how many individual eight-second clips creators can record and then sew together into one longer video.

What else is there to say here? For a platform that keeps insisting creators are its primary concern and AI should amplify human creativity, YouTube is sure bent on giving creators ways to remove themselves from the creative process–not to mention ways to automate their connections with fans.

Do creators actually want this? Do viewers? We’ll be keeping an eye on feedback as this feature goes out to more channels in the coming weeks.

Filed under: Homepage Feature, YouTube by James Hale
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Each week, we handpick a selection of stories to give you a snapshot of trends, updates, business moves, and more from around the creator industry.

This week, an esteemed video essayist is saying goodbye to his channel, a family-friendly educator is getting her kicks, and change is coming to TikTok’s ad division.

Creator commotion

Happy trails to the Gaming Historian. For more than 15 years, Norman Caruso has published video essays that tell the stories of the most iconic franchises in the gaming world. Now, as burnout takes its toll, Caruso is saying goodbye to his Gaming Historian persona. He left his million-plus subscribers with one last factoid: A run-through of the 1984 legal battle between Universal Studios and Nintendo.

iShowSpeed is set for his pro wrestling debut. At WrestleMania 42, the man who was born to be a heel will step into the squared circle for his official WWE debut. The event kicks off on April 18; will Speed’s Monkey D. Luffy-inspired stretchy arms be ready in time?

Is Manchester the U.K.’s hot new influencer hub? Inspired by pioneering creators like Molly-Mae Hague and Zoella, influencers have started filling up high-rise apartments in the third-most populous urban area in the U.K. This is your regular reminder that cities with less-expensive costs of living tend to find themselves on creators’ radars.

The biz

For Ms. Rachel, it’s gotta be the shoes. The kind-hearted educator, who shepherds a massive audience of “littles” on YouTube and Netflix, has announced her first shoe deal. Stride Rite shoppers can pick up the colorful, intricate designs for their own littles. The line will roll out across two waves: One in the spring and one in the fall.

Alix Earle needed no time at all to sell out her latest skincare drop. The TikToker’s newest product is Reale Actives, a product collection focused around acne. Within five minutes of the initial launch, Reale Actives had racked up $1 million in sales. Seven digits is no problem at all when you’re one of the internet’s favorite it-girls.

Movers and shakers

TikTok’s Khartoon Weiss is moving on to pursue “a new opportunity.” Weiss, who was TikTok’s top ad exec in North America, hasn’t yet revealed what her next move will be. Thanks to her departure, TikTok will have to replace the operative who spearheaded the app’s recent presentation at the NewFronts.

An expert in influencer campaigns is venturing into the Open World. At gaming consultancy Open World, which is affiliated with talent firm Loaded, StreamHatchet and BENlabs vet Justin Smith has joined as the SVP of Marketing. Smith wrote about his excitement regarding “the future of consumer marketing in gaming,” which he is now in position to unlock.

Tuma Basa’s eight-year stint at YouTube is coming to an end. Basa joined the platform in 2018 as its Director of Black Culture and Music. Now, he’s ready to confront “my next chapter” as he closes the book on his YouTube tenure. Basa’s previous work experience included stints at MTV and Spotify.

Games and sports

MLB is inviting the next generation of fans to step into the Clubhouse. With a youth-focused YouTube channel, the MLB wants to turn more kids into diehard baseball fans. If the MLB finds a way to bring Scooter back, it will be moving The Clubhouse in the right direction.

Jynxzi’s budding chess career is bringing him to PogChamps. After getting tutelage from GothamChess, the Rainbox Six Siege streamer has thrown himself into the next edition of Chess.com’s creator tournament. The upcoming PogChamps is titled “6-7,” so I’m going to need to check my analysis engine to determine whether that name is a blunder.

Pop culture minute

Exit 8 has gone from streamer favorite to cinematic smash. The reviews for the new video game adaptation have characterized it as a shining example of its genre. The success of Exit 8 puts a little more pressure on the upcoming Backrooms adaptation, which will need to up the ante in terms of liminality and vibes.

Comedian Mark Normand is staging some Human Trials on YouTube. Normand’s upcoming show will put comedians in front of niche audiences like clowns or bald men. It’s not exactly a MrBeast-level challenge, but there’s an idea: What if Normand made his guest perform in front of 50 people who look like MrBeast?

The internet is a strange place

Are TikToker’s “catholicmaxxing” now? A recent trend piece claimed that the For You Page has filled up with videos that pay tribute to the father, son, and holy spirit. I would say the Pope is a little more likely to bless this trend than he is to publicly validate looksmaxxing.

Law and Order: SVU did a VTuber storyline. The long-running procedural loves its “ripped from the headlines” scenarios, and an episode centered around a VTuber who confesses an assault to her fans certainly fits that description. The SVU produces went deep into the VTuber world to pull off this plot, so let’s give them a (virtual) round of applause to commend them for their research.

The Bunch of Friends channel will end when one of its hosts get married. I do hope one of the friends finds love before any two of the hosts have a falling-out, because if not, this setup could turn 90-Day Fiancee real quick.

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