It's Tuesday, and a suit filed by rapper RBX against Spotify raises a fair question: Is anyone actually listening to Drake songs for 23 hours a day? (And if so, are they okay?)

Today’s News

GAME ON

Kick is leveling up its dev relationships with Drops

The feature: What if you could earn in-game rewards without actually having to play to unlock them? That’s the crux of Kick’s new on-platform Drops function. Watch your favorite streamers, and you can earn in-game rewards just by tuning into streams of particular games for a certain amount of time. 

The first title to offer Kick Drops is Rust, a survival game with a strong following on Steam. Beginning November 13, Rust‘s audience of Kick viewers will have access to exclusive skins and items, including a Kick–themed Hazmat suit (pictured above). That suit already made an appearance at the DreamHack Atlanta convention, when streaming mega-star xQc wore an IRL version of the skin to help Kick announce Drops during an introductory event.

The context: Kick’s upcoming Drops feature isn’t exactly a revolutionary concept. Twitch viewers have been claiming Drops for more than a decade, and Discord has also gotten in on the fun with Quests. Nevertheless, the debut of Kick Drops is a clear sign that the platform is expanding the scope of its business partners.

Kick has already signed big-name streamers while simultaneously helping smaller channels grow. Now, by working with Rust dev Facepunch Studios to bring its first Drops to life, the platform is showing developers that it has something to offer them, too. In a press release, it noted that publishers can benefit from a “highly effective channel for launching new content, driving sales, and encouraging long-term player retention by distributing rare digital assets.”

HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰

• Australian couple channel Double Date retained its place at #1 in our latest ranking of Top 50 Most Viewed YouTube Channels after scoring over 1.9 billion weekly views. (Tubefilter)
  
  

• TikTok has announced the TikTok Awards, which will “be presented in front of a live audience of hundreds of creators” at the Hollywood Palladium on December 18. (TikTok)
  ​

• Amazon Web Services has unveiled “a multi-year, strategic partnership” with OpenAI that will see the ChatGPT developer pay $38 billion for “access to AWS’s world-class infrastructure.” (Amazon)
  
  

• A new Facebook Groups update will allow admins to change groups from private to public while ensuring that past content remains visible only to admins, moderators, and pre-existing members. (Meta)

GOSPEL STATS 📈

Top Branded Videos of the Week: MrBeast, Feastables, and 3D-printed nuggs

It’s been a hot minute since a video not sponsored by Feastables topped Gospel Stats‘ Weekly Brand Report—but here we are. Of course, that drop from the top doesn’t mean MrBeast’s snack brand was totally MIA this week: while Lowe’s sponsored the #1 most-viewed branded YouTube video, Feastables still made an appearance in the Top 3.

🥇 #1. MrBeast x Lowe’s: I Saved 1,000 Animals from Dying (80.2M views)
In this video sponsored by Lowe’s, MrBeast (aka Jimmy Donaldson) worked with nearly 20 organizations to help save 1,000 at-risk animals. Among those partners was Alveus Sanctuary, a Texas-based rehab and rescue/education org founded and run by streamer Maya Higa.

Donaldson’s latest charitable endeavor makes it clear that he’s still willing to partner with companies outside his own empire—but as the next video shows, he’s also taking care to keep his brands front-and-center for the holiday season.

🥈 #2. MrBeast 2 x Feastables: I Built a Giant Feastables Jack-O-Lantern (21.9M views)
Feastables maintained a spot in Gospel’s Top 3 ranking by sponsoring a viral short-form video on MrBeast’s secondary channel. As usual, the brand was the star of that Short, which followed the beast gang as they carved a 2,000-pound pumpkin in honor of Feastables’ latest candy.

🎰 #11. The Sip with Ryland Adams and Lizze Gordon x Zocdoc, SeatGeek, Factor, Squarespace: Investigating The ARBY’S 3D Printed Steak Nuggets Conspiracy Theory with Shane and Spencer!! (237.3K views)
Back in 2019, Shane Dawson lit up the ‘net by alleging that Chuck E. Cheese “recycles” uneaten slices of pizza by reassembling them into new pies for unsuspecting customers. Six years later, the creator has served up another conspiracy while appearing on an episode of husband Ryland Adams‘ multi-brand-sponsored podcast.

Check out the full branded ranking here and head over to Gospel Stats for more YouTube sponsorship insights.

INDUSTRY POV

The Next Wave of Fandom: Meeting Fans Where They Are

The industry expert: As a long-time entrepreneur and the CEO of UPROXX Studios, Jarret Myer has “spent years watching how fans move culture.” Now, he’s come to a clear conclusion: “…the smartest brands don’t treat fandom as a gamble. They treat it as infrastructure.”

Here’s why Myer says it’s time for brands to “step into fans’ worlds”:

1. Fans run culture now.
According to Meyer, “fans don’t wait for anyone to tell them what’s cool…They clip, share, and remix faster than any algorithm can predict. We can see who shows up, what they care about, how they spend, even what they snack on. That’s why ‘meeting fans where they are’ isn’t just smart. It’s the only move left.”

2. Today’s stars step directly into fan culture.
For her latest album release, Cardi B voiced NYC subway announcements, staged a Guinness World Record drop at Walmart, announced a tour, and turned memes into cover art. The results, Myer says, were “staggering”: +1,306% daily U.S. channel-view growth, +484% YouTube views, and 1.8M new TikTok followers.

Daft Punk applied the same strategy to virtual reality with a Fortnite experience that bridged generations. The impact: +25.9% Spotify listener growth, +41% YouTube lift, +84% TikTok likes, and +312% Google searches (per Myer).

3. Brands succeed when they tap into community.
Myer cites UPROXX and Sparkling Ice’s Sparkling Sessions 2.0 tour as an example of how brands can embrace fan culture. The tour, which tapped stars like headliner Adrien Nunez, recently brought fans to an Austin club for a “fan-built experience” that “blurred the lines between concert and community.”

The takeaway of all this, Myer says, is simple: by meeting fans where they are, “you’re not just showing up in the culture—you’re part of the reason it moves.”

LISTEN UP🎙️

Last week on the podcast…

Special guests at Adobe Max: On the latest episode of Creator Upload, hosts Joshua Cohen and Lauren Schnipper bring the show to Adobe MAX 2025 to break down a series of game-changing industry announcements—with the help of a legendary guest lineup.

Tune in to hear Mark Rober reveal his $55 million secret project, get Cleo Abram’s POV on editorial freedom, and gain an inside look at Adobe's YouTube partnership from Adobe GM of Creators Mike Polner.

It’s all right here on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Want to introduce your brand to Tubefilter’s audience? Sponsor the newsletter.

Was this email forwarded to you? Subscribe here.​

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