It’s Tuesday and CEO Steve O’Donnell is determined to get NASCAR back on track. The racing brand chief has a plan—and YouTube is at the center of it all.

MONEY MOVES

The rumored tools: If AI chatbots are going to remain a relevant touchpoint for marketers, then brands will need access to the same analytics they use in other campaigns.

According to Marketplace Pulse founder Juozas Kaziukėnas, OpenAI may be developing the tools to help advertisers on ChatGPT do just that.

On LinkedIn, Kaziukėnas posted a screenshot that shows a prompt to “claim your business in ChatGPT.” Among other perks, those who stake their claims will be able to track how often ChatGPT mentions their business within its replies.

Kaziukėnas said that he first noticed the claiming option in August, but he now believes it is close to launching. Multiple sources told Digiday that the business tracker will plot mentions and clicks on a dashboard depicting day-to-day metrics.

That may be a rudimentary level of analytics from a marketing standpoint, but it will nevertheless give brands evidence of tangible results—something that could prove invaluable as answer engine optimization becomes an increasingly prominent marketing category.

The context: If ChatGPT’s brand dashboard is indeed a play for AEO dollars, it will help answer a question that has followed the chatbot since its 2023 ascension. What is the best way for OpenAI to monetize its prized technology?

Despite early experiments like the GPT Store, ChatGPT’s share of the LLM market has been shrinking. To bring in more revenue, OpenAI started running ads for lower-tier ChatGPT users, even though CEO Sam Altman previously expressed his distaste for that format. Now, the rise of AEO offers a fresh opportunity for the company to snag marketing dollars—and OpenAI is jumping on it while the iron is still hot.

HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰

GOSPEL STATS 📈

Gospel Stats’ latest ranking of most-viewed branded YouTube videos is all about the love of the game. Three out of this week’s top four videos revolve around sports, while gaming content makes an appearance further down the rankings.

🥇 #1. Zack D. Films x DAZN: The Boy Who Punched Back 💪🏼 (13.6M views)
Zack D. Films’ DAZN promo shines a spotlight on boxer Canelo Álvarez, who hopes to reclaim the title of World Boxing Council super middleweight champion in an upcoming match against Christian Mbilli.

That match, of course, can only be watched on DAZN, a sports-specific streamer that has operated in the creator economy since the Logan Paul vs KSI days.

🥈 #2. Fore Play Golf, Bob Does Sports, Barstool Sports, Internet Invitational x Reese’s, DraftKings, Dunkin, ZYRTEC: 64 Golfers Compete For 4 Million Dollars | Internet Invitational Episode 1 (12.1M views)
Fore Play Golf, Bob Does Sports, and Barstool Sports recruited 64 creator golfers to compete in the Internet Invitational, which kicked off with a five-hour-long episode sponsored by a mishmash of brands.

DraftKings is the most expected of the bunch, having paid for over 80 YouTube videos this week alone. But the presence of Zyrtec, Dunkin, and Reese’s further demonstrates that major brands are firmly committed to spending their marketing budgets on creators.

🎰 #5,029. OSK Gaming x Idle Obelisk Miner: I Played Skyrim as a Lore Accurate Vampire (124.6K views)
OSK pulls double duty in his latest video by hiking across Skyrim while Idle Obelisk Miner runs in the background. As you may expect from the name, IOM is an idle title that allows players to set up and then just check in on things every once in a while. What you might not expect is that one game title would sponsor a video about another completely unrelated game. But here we are.

Head over to Gospel Stats for more YouTube sponsorship insights.

CREATOR HEALTH

The campaign: Log on to your local Apex Legends, Call of Duty, or League of Legends lobby, and you’ll realize quickly that online multiplayer gamers face genuine psychological warfare. That’s why Twitch, its parent Amazon, and a new organization called GamerCounsel are hoping to change the messaging gamers see from “git gud” to “u gud?”

Timed for Movember (a month dedicated to the need for compassionate healthcare for men), the Squad Support campaign taps Australian Twitch streamers Bajo, Crayator, Jack Buzza, and Midbeast to promote checking in on your gamer buds and getting help from licensed professionals—particularly those from GamerCounsel.

The resources: The service launched in 2026, and says it brings “professional counseling and psychotherapy into gaming and interactive online spaces.”

Just like an IRL mental health office, GamerCounsel intakes clients and matches them with qualified therapists for solo and/or group therapy sessions. The twist is that GamerCounsel appointments take place on gaming platforms where therapists and clients can button-mash together. The org’s website recommends games like Minecraft, Roblox, Fortnite, Rocket League, Stardew Valley, Among Us, Animal Crossing, Mario Kart, Fall Guys, and Destiny, but says its services extend to the thousands of other games on Steam, too.

According to ContentGrip, GamerCounsel is allotting 500 hours of support time to people who see the Squad Support campaign and submit applications. Folks who want access to free help from GamerCounsel must be 18+ and located in Australia.

The Squad Support campaign is going out through Amazon Ads, and includes Twitch components like a new “U GUD?” emote, interactive polls, fundraising tools, and use of Twitch’s Stream Together feature.

WATCH THIS 👀

The modern twist: Over twenty years ago, the combination of Diet Coke and Mentos produced a viral online video trend. Millions of viewers tuned in to watch amateur scientists turn ordinary soda bottles into foamy explosives.

Now, in the era of YouTube Shorts, creators have found another way to produce chemical reactions. By injecting water directly into packages of ENO tablets (which are effervescent antacids similar to Alka-Seltzer), some Indian creators have discovered that they can cause the packets to explode after a few seconds.

Those experiments have proved to be a major boost for channels like Danka Fun, which climbed to #6 in our latest Global Top 50 Sub chart after adding 815,000 subscribers in a single week.

Subs and views aren’t the only benefits encouraging hubs like Danka Fun to experiment with ENO tablets, either. They can also profit directly by including shoppable links that viewers can use to pick up the tablets for themselves. Those commercial ties give the ENO trend legs in a way that wouldn’t have been achievable when Diet Coke and Mentos was the go-to combo for viral explosions.

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Today's newsletter is from: Emily Burton, Sam Gutelle, and Josh Cohen.