It’s Tech Tuesday and Roblox says its new chat translator is so fast players won’t even notice their online friends are speaking a different language.

GIVING BACK

The MrBallen Foundation has now donated over $1 million to support victims of violent crime

YouTube’s king of the “strange, dark, and mysterious” is bringing a little light into the lives of those affected by violent crime.

The background: In 2022, former Navy SEAL and true crime YouTuber John Allen—aka MrBallen—founded the MrBallen Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that awards honor grants of up to $25,000 to organizations supporting victims of violent crimes and their families.

• In addition to offering on-the-ground aid and training, the MrBallen Foundation has now provided grants to the LOVE>hate Project, the Children’s Bereavement Center of South Texas, DeafHope, Free to Thrive, Experience Camps, OneStar, Men Stopping Violence, Homicide Survivors Inc, A21, End Violence Against Women International, and Angels in the Outfield.
  
  

• The MrBallen Foundation has also provided emergency aid funding following mass tragedies, including $192,000 given to those impacted by 2023 tragedies like the Allen, Texas mall shooting and The Covenant School shooting in Nashville.

The announcement: Now, after just two years in operation, Allen says the MrBallen Foundation has donated a total of $1,042,000 to support victims of violent crimes and their families.

The context: Since the 2010s, the rising popularity of murder-focused podcasts and YouTube channels has sparked an ongoing conversation about the ethics of true crime entertainment.

• While some creators and channels have raised alarms among viewers concerned about sensationalism and exploitation, the MrBallen Foundation demonstrates the good that can be accomplished when a true crime creator prioritizes “healing and restoration” by giving “back to survivors a portion of the money he earns by telling their stories.”

HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰

• YouTube has unveiled a new channel section that allows creators to “feature top community clips publicly on their channel page.” (Tubefilter)
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• Snap—aka Snapchat’s parent company—has confirmed lay-offs affecting 10% of its total workforce, or roughly 540 staff members. (Engadget)
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• YouTube reportedly plans to develop a native app for the Apple Vision Pro (despite asserting just last month that it had no such project in the works). (Engadget)
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• Mark Zuckerberg told investors that Instagram and Facebook’s collection of public posts is estimated to be “greater than the Common Crawl dataset,” a massive internet database popularly used for AI training. (Gizmodo)

DATA • GOSPEL STATS 📈

Top 3 Branded Videos: Travis Kelce is ready for a Super Bowl win

MrBeast is kicking off February at the top of our latest Gospel Stats Weekly Brand Report. This time around, YouTube’s most-followed creator shared the spotlight with a prankster and a pair of podcasters that have earned the attention of millions of Swifties.

🥇 MrBeast x Stumble Guys: $1 vs $250,000,000 Private Island! (110.4M Views)
Jimmy Donaldson (aka MrBeast) has topped Gospel’s list of most-viewed branded videos every week since the start of 2024. The latest rankings are no exception: in total, the YouTuber’s rundown of cheap and pricy private islands produced 110.4M views (and plenty of buzz for battle royal game Stumble Guys).

🥈 Danny Duncan x PrizePicks: They Called The Cops On Me And Gail Lewis! (3.5M Views)
PrizePicks isn’t letting a little thing like brand safety stand in the way of a viral success story. The fantasy sports company lent its financial support to Danny Duncan’s latest adventure, which saw him stir up trouble alongside former Walmart employee and TikTok sensation Gail Lewis.

🥉 New Heights x Experian, PrizePicks, Buffalo Wild Wings, Accelerator Active Energy, Etsy, Farmer’s Dog: Travis Wins on the Road, Jason Celebrates Shirtless and Full Divisional Round Recap | Ep 75 (3.1M Views)
Taylor Swift’s fanbase is sticking it out through armpit stains and Super Bowl deep-dives. Since rumors emerged about the pop star’s relationship with a certain Chiefs tight end, the podcast hosted by Travis Kelce and his brother (Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce) has grown from 20 million weekly views to roughly 80 million.

FYI: Our weekly brand report is just a sneak peek at Gospel Stats’ in-depth analysis of YouTube sponsorships and creators. Check out the full site for more info.

WATCH THIS 📺

Miley Cyrus just took home two Grammy Awards for her viral TikTok hit

Miley’s big win: Last spring, Miley Cyrus’ ‘Flowers’ took TikTok by storm and soared to the top of the YouTube Music charts. By mid-March, the song had appeared in nearly 600,000 Shorts; by November, TikTok was celebrating Cyrus’ Grammy nominations as a sign of its own rising influence in the music industry.

• ‘Flowers’ has now completed its journey from short-form stardom to mainstream acclaim. Cyrus took home two awards (“Record of the Year” and “Best Pop Solo Performance”) at the 2024 Grammys—and luckily for TikTok, the ‘Flowers’ singer isn’t currently signed to Universal Music Group.

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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.