The NFL meets The Sims 🏈

Neal Mohan has a message for the Television Academy.

TOGETHER WITH

It's Tuesday and as Bitcoin Pizza Day approaches, we’re feeling a whole lot about indulging in the occasional splurge. After all, what’s an extra streaming subscription compared to spending the equivalent of $650 million on pizza?

TEE TIME

Marques Brownlee will compete for $100,000 in a creator golf tournament

The competition: It’s almost tee time for one of YouTube’s top tech reviewers. Come June 18, Marques Brownlee will hit the course at French Lick Golf to compete against Los Angeles Lakers sharpshooter Austin Reaves—plus a host of other creators and golfing pros.

  • Good Good’s upcoming Midwest Open will bring online stars like Brownlee and Paige Spiranac to rural Indiana for a “two-person scramble” that pairs non-golfer partners with seasoned professionals. The prize: $100,000 split between the winning pair.

  • Good Good is getting in on the action, too. The content hub’s own Garrett Clark will join the Midwest Open, which is set to take place in front of a live audience. The tournament’s Eventbrite page indicates that ticket prices begin at $20, with food trucks, merch, and live music adding to the excitement.

The context: The Midwest Open isn’t Good Good’s first creator-focused rodeo. The YouTube channel previously treated its 1.5 million subscribers to the Desert Open, a competition that attracted a 50-player field and drew more than 100,000 peak concurrent viewers (per Dexerto).

The big picture: While Good Good intends to reward the winners of its tournament with $100,000, fellow sports stars have demonstrated the philanthropic potential of similar athletic events. Last year’s annual Sidemen charity soccer match raised a whopping £2.4 million sum for various causes, while the 2023 edition of Ian “iDubbbz” Jomha’s Creator Clash gathered funds for organizations like The Longest Day.

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HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰

  • OpenAI has disabled a ChatGPT voice called ‘Sky’ following allegations that it was purposefully designed to sound like actress Scarlett Johansson. (CNN)
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  • Can achievement badges reverse the steady decline of user engagement? Instagram’s gamified milestones offer a partial answer. (Business Insider)

COLUMNS ‱ GOSPEL STATS 📈

Top 3 Branded Videos: MrBeast’s only close rival is MrBeast

Big-budget MrBeast productions made up two-thirds of this week’s Top 3 Branded Videos. Only Vogue managed to steal some of the YouTube star’s spotlight—and even then, the magazine’s Met Gala livestream came in 44 million views behind MrBeast’s #2 clip.

đŸ„‡ MrBeast x Bloons TD 6: Protect The Yacht, Keep It!
MrBeast (aka Jimmy Donaldson) is doubling down on his habit of partnering with social media-savvy mobile games. For his latest pyrotechnic quest, the creator teamed up with Bloons TD 6 to fund the attempted destruction of a shiny new yacht.

Seeing a yacht become cannon fodder is hard to watch, but we can’t look away.

đŸ„ˆ MrBeast x Feastables: Ages 1-100 Try My Chocolate
Companies of all kinds have vied for a coveted sponsorship on MrBeast’s channel—but as the creator’s latest video demonstrates, some brands have a better chance than others. Donaldson’s own candy company, Feastables, often serves as a sponsor for his videos (especially when the clips in question promote the brand’s reformulated chocolate bars).

đŸ„‰ Vogue x eBay, Porsche: Live at Met Gala 2024 With Vogue
Vogue was the only channel to join MrBeast in this week’s Branded Top 3. That accomplishment signals both the popularity of Anna Wintour’s annual event and Vogue’s mission to drive online traffic by investing in YouTube as a Met Gala distributor. The result: eBay and Porsche scored the attention of 13 million viewers—including fans eager to emulate their favorite stars by purchasing rare accessories and fancy cars.

FYI: This Weekly Brand Report is only a brief look at everything Gospel Stats has to offer. Check out the full site here for more data on rising stars, creator/brand partnerships, and the latest marketing trends.

RIGHT ON SCHEDULE

This year’s NFL schedule release day was a meme-driven touchdown for YouTube

The tradition: Over the last few years, the NFL‘s schedule release day has evolved into far more than an opportunity for teams to announce the dates of their next season’s games.

  • Meme-filled release videos have turned the occasion into a social media showdown, with posts generating tens of millions of views across YouTube and other platforms.

  • This year, all 32 NFL teams are getting in on the action. The Chargers alone have racked up over 240,000 views since dropping their The Sims-themed video last week, while other teams have channeled ASMR staples like hydraulic presses (the Chiefs and the Houston Texans), tapped into meme go-tos like Parks and Rec (Bills), and resurrected the “is it cake?” trend (Washington Commanders).

  • The result is a PR dream: according to the NFL’s official YouTube playlist, this year’s schedule release videos have already generated more than 1.2 million collective views.

The context: Football fans and savvy NFL reps aren’t the only ones hyping up this year’s viral release videos. The league has found another devoted supporter in YouTube, which has taken to promoting its 2024 releases with dogged enthusiasm.

  • That support doesn’t stem entirely from the YouTube team’s love of sports. The platform likely hopes that building excitement around release videos will encourage viewers to subscribe to NFL Sunday Ticket—a package YouTube dropped $14 billion on in 2022, when it secured seven years of exclusive rights.

WATCH THIS đŸ“ș

Who knew dino nuggets could be gourmet ?

The duet: We love homemade sourdough and made-from-scratch recipes as much as the next TikTok viewer—but sometimes, a busy weeknight calls for something a little more convenient.

  • Gabriela Danelle gets it. The food creator’s latest series teaches viewers how to make the most of her favorite frozen ingredient: dino nuggets.

  • Craving chicken parmesan? Smother nuggets in tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese. Need pizza STAT? Grab your dough and slice up some nugs. It doesn’t get easier (or more nostalgic) than that.

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Today's newsletter is from: Emily Burton, Sam Gutelle, and Josh Cohen. Drew Baldwin helped edit, too. It's a team effort.