It’s Tuesday, and between a YouTube reality show, shoppable content, and a runway graced by digital stars, the creator economy was at the center of this year’s Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show.

BACK TO SCHOOL

The cohort: Alex Cooper’s Unwell has announced its latest cohort for Unwell University, a collective of college students who share their experiences on social media.

Unwell University has existed in its current capacity since 2024, shortly after the official launch of Cooper’s media company. Participants receive a number of perks, including mentorship and the ability to participate in events led by Cooper herself, including the Unwell Spring Break and The Unwell Tour.

The latest Unwell University class showcases the initiative’s mission to “foster a diverse community of college creators who champion the Unwell brand through
relatable content, shared experiences, and genuine connection.”

Members include Kaiden Kilpatrick of the University of Alabama, Sharlize True Trujillo of UCLA, Matty Weisholtz of Syracuse University, Kiki Winchell of the University of Western Ontario, Julieanna Downes of North Carolina A&T State, and Crishawn Willingham of the University of South Florida, among others.

The context: The creators enrolled in Unwell University have a median reach of about 31,000 followers. Participating in the program will give those burgeoning stars an opportunity to evolve from campus icons into nationally known names—and in exchange for that exposure, Unwell connects itself to the next generation of collegiate voices.

Since its inception, Cooper’s network has aligned itself with creators who rose up while they were still in school. Unwell’s marquee launch partners, Alix Earle and Pretty Lonesome host Madeline Argy, both fit that description (although Earle is no longer affiliated with the company).

Unwell University also strengthens the network’s ties to Greek life content, which has exploded in popularity on TikTok. According to Unwell, 45 members of its latest University cohort are involved in Greek life, while 18 participate in campus athletics and 12 are in student government.

HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰

GOSPEL STATS 📈

Gospel Stats’ latest Weekly Brand Report is a sign of the times, with tried-and-true YouTube formats (including wacky engineering feats and retail sneak-ins) battling AI-powered content for dominance in the charts.

🥇 #1. Prop Department x Bambu Lab: I Built the WIDEST Street Legal Car (21.1M views)
Tyler Fever—a self-described “aspiring mad scientist learning engineering with no degree”—frequently pushes the limits of creativity with robots, props, and extreme vehicles. His latest build mashes together several Ford Festivas into one 10-foot-wide monstrosity. The video evidence of that feat was sponsored by Bambu Lab, a 3D printer maker with a solid chance of appealing to Fever’s audience of DIY and engineering enthusiasts.

🥈 #2. Serena Neel x Five Below: Some say the slinky door is still shaking 🫨👻🦖 @fivebelow #FiveBelowPartner (18.4M views)
“Sneaking” into stores after hours is a time-honored content category on YouTube, and Serena Neel found a cheeky way to turn the format into a Five Below promo. The creator set the scene by ‘finding’ a spare set of keys in the Five Below parking lot, before letting herself in for an unsupervised overnight adventure.

🎰 #5,577. ForgeCore x ChatGPT: I made an Automatic stoplight for introverts CHATGPT #ChatGPT_Partner (9.6M views)
Tired of chatty coworkers interrupting your flow? ForgeCore thinks AI can solve that problem. In a 23-second video, the creator used ChatGPT’s Codex vibe coder tool to generate instructions that make a desktop traffic light turn green, yellow, or red based on his facial expressions.

OpenAI paid for around a dozen videos this week, including ForgeCore’s. Maybe it’s hoping a charm offensive will distract from current news…

Head over to Gospel Stats for more YouTube sponsorship insights.

GLOBAL TOP 50

The YouTube trend: All over YouTube, creators are assembling dishes that contain thousands of food items. That trend might remind you of a classic Mitch Hedberg line (“rice is great if you’re really hungry and want to eat two thousand of something”), but Shorts creators have taken the joke far beyond grains of rice.

Take Tade Vlogs. The #3 channel in our latest ranking of the Top 50 Most-Subscribed YouTube Channels received over 64 million views by introducing fans to the thousand-layer Oreo. Tade has since upped the ante by fitting 10,000 Oreos into a single video—a stunt that helped him attract one million new subscribers during the second full week of October.

The popularity of Tade’s outrageous dishes unites two prevailing YouTube trends. On one hand, we have MrBeast’s law of large numbers. The most successful YouTuber in the world likes to put a round number in his video titles, and Tade’s Shorts show that strategy in action. At the same time, the Spanish creator is tapping into the power of ragebait. Angry comments are still engagement, and Tade’s over-the-top creations have a way of attracting indignant viewers.

The spin-off: Shunkiwii has found similar success by putting his own spin on Tade’s “more is more” approach. Instead of trying to eat thousands of food items, he presents a single snack and hits it with a hammer thousands of times. Whether he’s bashing noodles or Oreos, Shunkiwii’s smashing videos collect millions of views—and floods of angry comments.

All that engagement helped the rage bait master snag one million new subs during the second week of October, putting him just slightly ahead of Tade in our global ranking. Talk about two sides of the same coin.

WATCH THIS 👀

The plan: Jeenie Weenie is on a mission to “take a million dollars from TikTok” (by earning big on TikTok Shop).

In a new YouTube video, the creator explains that while she’s accumulated more than 16 billion views on TikTok, she hasn’t actually made money from any of them. That’s because, for the majority of her digital career, Jeenie lived in Canada (a country excluded from TikTok’s creator program and TikTok Shop).

Recently, however, the creator moved to the U.S.—and promptly took up residence on TikTok Shop. That move paid off almost immediately; in one month, Jeenie says she earned over $89,000 through brand deals, commissions, and retainers.

The problem? Within that same month, she was also banned three times, impersonated, and tricked by a brand. It’s safe to say Jeenie doesn’t plan on letting that happen again—and she wants to help other creators learn the ropes, too.

That’s why she plans to share the ins and outs of her Shop journey in future uploads. Check out her first video on the subject here.

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