TOGETHER WITH

It's Tuesday and the real stars of this year’s Met Gala might be the AI deepfakes we met along the way. (But TikTok CEO Shou Chew is a close second.)

CONSCIOUS UNCOUPLING

MrBeast’s exclusive relationship with Night might be over (but that doesn’t mean they can’t be friends)

The decision: After five years, MrBeast is reportedly breaking off his exclusive relationship with Austin-based management company Night.

• According to two people familiar with the matter, MrBeast (aka Jimmy Donaldson) recently informed Night that it will no longer be his primary manager (per Semafor).
  
  

• That doesn’t mean the two are cutting ties altogether; Night told Semafor it still expects to have an ongoing relationship with Donaldson.

The context: That shift to non-exclusivity may be the result of tensions between Donaldson and Reed Duchscher. The Night founder/CEO began working with MrBeast nearly a year before his 2019 signing, and later played a key role in the development of Donaldson’s Feastables snack brand and MrBeast Burger, a ghost kitchen delivery venture launched in 2020 with Virtual Dining Concepts.

• Both brands have since changed shape. Donaldson is currently suing Virtual Dining Concepts over allegations that it failed to ensure quality control—an issue Duchscher described in 2021 as an expected (and seemingly acceptable) result of the team’s mission to “create a spectacle.”
  
  

• According to Semafor‘s sources, Duchscher’s handling of Feastables and his refusal to move Night’s operations to Donaldson’s hometown of Greenville, North Carolina may also have triggered the creator’s pivot to non-exclusivity.

The consequences: Donaldson’s quest to take “increasingly personal control of his business” could have major implications for Night’s bottom line (per Semafor).

• The creator told TIME in February that his annual business dealings add up to roughly $600-700 million. Night now stands to lose both its historic share of that revenue and a valuable bargaining chip that has helped it sign top creators like Ryan Trahan, Safiya Nygaard, Kai Cenat, Unspeakable, and ZHC.

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HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰

• Issa Rae’s new management company, Ensemble, aims to connect rising creators like Drew Afualo, Leo González, and Mark Phillips with major brands. (Tubefilter)
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• Bluesky has announced that it is “searching for a new board member” following Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey’s abrupt departure from its board of directors. (Gizmodo)

• Sykkuno surprised fans by going live on Twitch this week following the conclusion of his exclusive two-year contract with YouTube. (Dextero)
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• Stack Overflow is joining forces with OpenAI to give ChatGPT users “easy access to trusted, attributed, accurate, and highly technical knowledge.” (The Verge)

COLUMNS • GOSPEL STATS 📈

Top 3 Branded Videos: YouTube has the meats

From YouTube-sponsored jerky to exploding cash, the final week of April took viewers for a wild ride. Read on to get a sneak peek at Gospel Stats’ latest ranking of most-watched branded videos:

🥇 MrBeast x T-Mobile: 10 Minutes To Escape Or This Room Explodes!
MrBeast isn’t afraid to shop around when it comes to tech-focused brand partners. One week after linking up with Samsung, the creator dropped his “first-ever real-time shoot”: a high-stakes, T-Mobile-sponsored challenge that rounded up more than 75 million views.

🥈 Max the Meat Guy x YouTube: Thor’s hammer cooked in fire salt…
Would you buy creator-branded beef jerky on YouTube? Max the Meat Guy teamed up with the video platform to find out—and gave viewers a chance to satisfy their carnivorous cravings in the process. While YouTube promoted its latest ecommerce tools, fans scored a discount simply by engaging with shoppable links in Max’s meat-themed video.

🥉 Mat Armstrong x carVertical: ROLLS ROYCE HELP ME REBUILD MARCUS RASHFORDS WRAITH
Mat Armstrong is on a roll. After appealing to Marcus Rashford’s fanbase in an earlier viral video, Armstrong set out to transform the soccer star’s wrecked car with a little help from Rolls Royce. That harried repair job served as a potent reminder for viewers to research accident reports before buying their next car—a task easily accomplished via carVertical.

FYI: This Weekly Brand Report represents a tiny fraction of the data available on Gospel Stats. Check out the full site here for in-depth info on branded partnerships, rising creators, and more.

WATCH THIS 📺

These animal-themed Shorts might traumatize you (but they’re worth it)

The channel: Natural Habitat Shorts doesn’t beat around the bush. Since hitting YouTube in 2021, the multiplatform animation hub has simultaneously charmed and traumatized viewers with clips highlighting the darker side of the animal kingdom.

• Would we normally tune into nature documentaries starring maimed axolotls and skin-eating lizards? Maybe not—but throw in some dry humor and high-quality animation, and we’re hooked.

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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.