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.
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Welcome back to our Gospel Stats Weekly Brand Report, where we go from South Korea to math to tech to Disney cruises, all sponsored by some of the biggest brands paying YouTubers to do what they love. Every week, we see one-off, big-money sponsors who pay for just a single video (like last week, with T-Mobile sponsoring MrBeast) as well as smaller sponsors who pay creators making content related to their retail niches. But the biggest force in sponsorship remains broad-appeal companies like Ground News, which sponsored 65 videos this week from a variety of creators, and Squarespace, which sponsored 54.
Check it all out below:
#1 SOUTH KOREA IS OVER
Channel: Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell
Brand: Ground News
Views: 9,946,046
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Starting things off on a somewhat dire note is Kurzgesagt, consistently one of YouTube‘s top-performing science/life curiosity channels. In this video, like many others, he introduces a big and clickbaity concept, only to break it down into digestible factual information. SOUTH KOREA IS OVER is an eye-popping title, but the actual video, sponsored by unbiased news org Ground News, talks about the country’s ongoing fertility crisis, global warming, cultural erosion, and disenchantment with the military. And many of these issues aren’t relegated to just South Korea, which makes this 14-minute video a potential peek at what countries all around the world may face as our world gets hotter–in more ways than one.
#2 The Man Who Almost Broke Math (And Himself…)
Channel: Veritasium
Brand: Brilliant
Views: 7,422,849
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German logician and mathematician Ernst Zermelo had one heck of a life, but he’s perhaps most known for formulating the axiom of choice in 1904. Bear with us here, because we’re very much not math experts, so we’re not going to explain what that axiom means. We’re going to leave that to Veritasium–who, like Kurzgesagt, is a curiosity creator who consistently makes top 5 in our Weekly Brand Reports, proving there’s viewer hunger for education. But we will say this 33-minute deep dive follows mathematical innovation to its dark side. Which means we should just stop looking at numbers altogether, right? Right.
#3 Nintendo Switch 2 Impressions: One Big Asterisk!
Channel: Marques Brownlee
Brand: dbrand
Views: 5,858,011
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The second iteration of Nintendo‘s Switch console has been one of the most anticipated releases in video gaming pretty much since the OG Switch came out in 2017. But now that it’s finally here, was it worth the wait? For tech reviewer Marques Brownlee, it’s a case of wait and see–not because he thinks the console won’t perform well (he’s impressed by the specs) or because the unit itself is overly expensive ($449 compared the original’s $300), but because Nintendo is taking this opportunity to hike its game prices to $80 base for a digital copy. Eesh. Luckily, after people shell out all those dolla dolla bills, they might be able to snag a case for their new console from Brownlee’s sponsor dbrand, which also paid for videos from Linus Tech Tips and Phil DeFranco this week.
#4 I Spent 24 Hours With Real Criminals
Channel: Law by Mike
Brand: PDS Debt
Views: 4,948,612
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On YouTube, outlets like Insider and WIRED have become known for interviewing criminal experts, getting them to break down movie scenes to show how realistic they are (or not), and talking about the nitty-gritty of how common crimes are committed. Sometimes those experts are lawyers or investigators–and sometimes, they’re former criminals. That’s the tack attorney Michael Mandell took in his most recent video, where he interviewed a pickpocket, a burglar, a hacker, a credit card skimmer, and even a former FBI’s Most Wanted lister. His hard time is sponsored by debt relief company PDS Debt–we guess with the goal of steering indebted potential criminals away from skimming and toward more legal solutions?
BONUS #975 We Try all the Food on Disney’s BRAND NEW CRUISE SHIP!
Channel: Cruise With Ben and David
Brand: Squarespace
Views: 92,625
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Disney has a massive presence on YouTube. There are thousands of channels that cover the House of Mouse’s every new update, from future attractions to ride refurbishings, pinboard notices (did you know you can trade employees for Disney pins at locations within each park?), ticket price shifts, and menu changes. Some of these channels focus exclusively on Disney Cruise Line–channels like Cruise with Ben and David, which recently got to check out the newest lady in Disney’s fleet, the Treasure. Like most things Disney, time on the Treasure can cost an eye-watering amount of cash. But what culinary bang for their buck will seafarers get? Ben and David are here to investigat–backed by website builder Squarespace.
…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.
