TOGETHER WITH

It's Tuesday and a virtual Nike x Roblox necklace just got snapped up for 20,000 real dollars. Talk about digital drip.

MRBEAST VS. T-SERIES

T-Series gets got

MrBeast #1: With a whopping 270 million subscribers, MrBeast is officially the most-subscribed channel on YouTube, beating out Indian record label T-Series.

• This takes MrBeast back to his roots: One of the biggest growth factors for his channel back in 2018 and 2019 was his support of PewDiePie, who used to have YouTube’s most-subscribed channel, and who was overtaken by T-Series after a long meme- and diss-track-filled battle.

  
  

• MrBeast’s increasingly spectacular—and expensive—stunts in support of PewDiePie (like buying ad space on every billboard in his hometown and becoming a living “Subscribe to PewDiePie” billboard at the Super Bowl) helped put him on the map as a creator to watch.
  
  

• MrBeast’s rise to reign isn’t exactly a surprise for us here at Tubefilter: As we’ve discussed in our weekly roundups of YouTube’s most-watched channels, MrBeast has been gaining subs at a faster rate than T-Series for months.

Avenged: As soon as he passed T-Series, MrBeast posted a screenshot of his subscriber count and said, “After 6 years we have finally avenged PewDiePie.”

It’s also worth noting that, while MrBeast has a massive team and his videos are major productions, he’s still an individual creator, and his passing of T-Series is the first time in nearly five years that an individual creator, rather than a company, is YouTube’s top dog.

T-Series now has 266 million subscribers, and we’re projecting MrBeast’s lead will get even bigger in the coming months.

🔆 SPONSORED 🔆

Top creators deserve top-notch support. That’s why Spotter combines invaluable data insights with the latest AI tech.

From building teams to brainstorming content, YouTubers like you do it all—which is why Spotter has invested more than $800 million to make sure creators have every possible resource at their fingertips. 

Spotter’s team provides creators access to the funding, knowledge, community, and AI-powered products they need to succeed. Now, they’re partnering with top creators and experts to develop a full suite of AI software personalized for creators. 

Here’s what two top YouTubers have to say about Spotter’s new suite of creator resources:

Dude Perfect (60M Subscribers): “We see so much promise in these tools to help us save time and increase our productivity. Our team is so thankful for these.” 

Lizzy Capri (7.4M Subscribers): “Spotter is hands-down making the best tools that we have seen, designed for YouTubers like me.”

There’s no time like the present to find out how Spotter can support you. In fact, when you join the waitlist for Spotter’s AI creative suite, you’ll receive exclusive access to expert-led creator events and upcoming AI tools. First up: Spotter’s new data-driven title generator, Title Exploder.

Ready to get started? Hit the button below to learn more. 

 ​Get started with Spotter →

HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰

• Despite trying to ban it when he was president, Donald Trump now has his very own account on TikTok. (Tubefilter)
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• VidCon wants more creator voices in its Industry track this year. So it’s tapping in Cody Ko, Questlove, and more. (Tubefilter)

• Speaking of TikTok, it’s got new legal counsel to help it fight Biden’s divest-or-ban bill. (TikTok Newsroom)
  

• Trouble at YouTube: the entire content lineup for PlayStation’s next State of Play was leaked just after the event’s videos were scheduled in YouTube’s backend, sparking concerns over whether YouTube employees are accessing—and sharing—confidential information. (Insider Gaming)

DATA • GOSPEL STATS 📈

YouTube’s Top 5 Branded Videos are in its biggest content categories

Gaming. True crime. Family content. DIY. Tech. The top videos in our latest Weekly Brand Report with data from Gospel Stats touch on some of YouTube’s top-watched categories. And these videos aren’t from MrBeast or Ryan Trahan or Veritasium—instead, we’ve got some first-timers getting big numbers on this week’s list.

🥇 LazarBeam x Gamer Supps: Bronze to Unreal Speedrun (world record)
It’s only fitting that LazarBeam teamed up with an energy brand for this video, where he goes from Fortnite’s lowest competitive rank to its highest in as little time as possible. The speedrun involves some smurfing and a little flexing on the n00bs, but that’s right in line with Gamer Supps’ other sponsorships.

🥈 Midwest Safety x SafetyVid: Triple Murder Suspect vs. New Mexico State Police
For the second week in a row, true crime channel Midwest Safety comes screeching into second place with another high-speed dash cam video, this one chronicling a chase between New Mexico police and a murder suspect. The 30-minute video is brought to YouTube by SafetyVid, a service that works to get footage of car crashes for victims and their families.

🥉 Danny Gonzalez x Opera: Recreating Insane DadToks
Former Viner Danny Gonzalez brings us to the wild world of DadTok. And we’re not talking about middle-aged men running around shouting, “Hi hungry, I’m Dad.” In this case, the DadToks in question were posted by the fathers of well-known creators, and Gonzalez is using his high-energy approach to recreate these videos in all their glory.

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.

WATCH THIS 📺

Did a “YouTuber bank” scam its user base?

The setup: Back in 2019, fintech startup Yotta pitched itself as a savings tool that let users participate in a “no-lose lottery.” It gamified savings: users who deposited certain amounts of money into their accounts would get digital lotto tickets that could reward them with more cash to put away.

The YouTubers: To promote itself, Yotta enlisted a fleet of YouTubers, including Markiplier and Graham Stephan—the latter of whom actually ended up investing an undisclosed sum of money in Yotta (and celebrating that investment with a now-deleted YouTube video where he said “I bought a bank”).

The problems: Yotta later pivoted away from gamified savings and into just games. Its site, as Coffeezilla breaks down in today’s Watch This video, now looks more like an online casino, with roulette, blackjack, and more. And, to top it all off, 85,000 Yotta customers—some of whom told Coffeezilla they signed up for Yotta explicitly because of YouTuber endorsement—have now had their funds frozen.

Check out the full story here.

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