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.
Subscribe for daily Tubefilter Top Stories
After taking a week off from the #1 spot in our Weekly Brand Report, MrBeast has returned to familiar territory. Meanwhile, a mobile game with a significant marketing budget is involved with two different creators near the top of the ranking. Those are two of the top stories from our latest rundown of notable YouTube campaigns.
#1 World’s Deadliest Obstacle Course!
Channel: MrBeast
Brand: Cirkul
MrBeast threw us a curveball last week. Instead of providing the #1 video in the Weekly Brand Report, he showed up as a guest star in the #1 video in the Weekly Brand Report. His Airrack gym rat collab was great, but this week, Jimmy Donaldson reminded us how he became YouTube’s biggest creators: By perfectly executing large-scale videos with sponsorships seamlessly layered in. He brought back longtime partner Cirkul as the sponsor of a clip that features an extravagant obstacle course. Let’s just say there’s a reason MrBeast’s face shows up when you arrive on the Cirkul website.
#2 I Stayed in Secret Hotels
Channel: Ryan Trahan
Brand: Squad Busters
Ryan Trahan‘s latest adventure was a hit among his 16 million subscribers. The creator who is best known for his own collab with MrBeast (the penny challenge) didn’t need to share the spotlight as his video about secret hotels went gangbusters for sponsor Squad Busters. If Ryan Trahan does want to check out the Supercell-published game he stumped for, he may need to form a party of his own. Perhaps he can ask MrBeast and Airrack to join his squad. In total, Squad Busters-sponsored videos appear twice in this week’s Brand Report.
#3 CHEERLEADER Falls In Love With NERD | Dhar Mann Studios
Channel: Dhar Mann Studios
Brand: Dragon City
Squad Busters isn’t the only casual game to earn a prominent mention in this week’s Brand Report. Dragon City, a social network game that has appeared in our rankings in the past, is back at it as the sponsor of Dhar Mann‘s latest moralistic tale. The clip is vintage Mann: There’s a cool kid who learns that there’s more to life than being popular, a nerd who is rewarded for his kindness, and plenty of work for Mann’s recurring stable of actors. What does this have to do with a game that asks its players to tend to dragon eggs? The connection is a bit of a stretch, but that’s part of the Dragon City gameplan.
#4 Ghost Hunting at Haunted Insane Asylum (ft. Jake & Johnnie)
Channel: Sam and Colby
Brand: Dragon City
Dragon City is the latest game to run a marketing blitz on YouTube. In addition to its sponsorship of Dhar Mann’s #3-ranked video, it also supported the Sam and Colby clip that sits in fourth place. Overall, four Dragon City-sponsored videos hit YouTube this week, and they have all received at least 350,000 views so far. Sam and Colby’s contribution to this mobile game marketing blitz is above five million views on its own, and it’s providing the all-American summertime scares we’ll be missing without a new season of Stranger Things.
BONUS #1,745 She Almost Died Today
Channel: The Sargi Family
Brand: Casetify
The clickbait title of this Sargi Family video doesn’t refer to any of the dropped phones that appear in the vlog, but it might as well. The family channel supported everyone’s favorite hub for new phone cases — i.e. Casetify — by rolling through old video footage that shows various family members’ fallen phones. We previously found Casetify near the top of our Weekly Brand Report, but in our latest data, we can see that the retailer has connections with YouTube creators of all shapes and sizes.
…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.
