TOGETHER WITH

It's Tuesday and an experimental new YouTube feature challenges everyday viewers to become note-taking investigators. So, what do you think: can you ferret out fake news?

ALL ABOUT AI

TikTok is assembling a task force of generative AI avengers

The board: TikTok isn’t confronting the future of AI marketing without plenty of backup. The platform’s slate of Cannes Lions announcement included the reveal of Symphony Collective, a new board that will spearhead “discussions around the development and responsible use of AI in creative marketing.”

The members: According to TikTok, the Symphony Collective will include creators like David Ma, reps from agencies like OMD, Tinuiti, and VaynerMedia, and “thought leaders” affiliated with brands like Mondelez, Wendy’s, and the NBA. 

• The board itself is named for TikTok’s suite of AI products; in the future, new additions to that toolkit will be tested and honed by Symphony Collective members.

The features: The Symphony Collective’s deliberations are unlikely to slow TikTok’s rapid exploration of AI-driven marketing. At Cannes Lions, TikTok announced a new, YouTube-style AI dubbing feature and the development of “generative AI avatars of real people.”

• The latter feature, called Symphony Digital Avatars, will allow brands to deploy campaigns featuring either fully licensed Stock Avatars or Custom Avatars designed in partnership with human creators.

The context: All three of TikTok’s recent revelations mirror the efforts of other platforms. YouTube has already assembled its own group of AI-conscious creators, while Meta has experimented with chatbots modeled after prominent influencers. 

• Together, Meta and TikTok’s attempts to develop AI creators embody a trend that may be concerning to some viewers. While deploying AI iterations of themselves will likely lighten creators’ workloads and help them reach broader audiences, the trend threatens to eradicate the type of personal creator/fan engagement that have long differentiated digital creators from traditional celebrities.

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HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰

• U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy says warning labels should be added to social media apps to help curb the youth mental health crisis. (Tubefilter)
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• After studying more than 8,000 ads with AI, Google found that campaigns centered around self-expression, community, and fantasy are on the rise. (Think with Google)

• A former Kick employee says she felt compelled to quit her job at the up-and-coming streaming platform after witnessing repeated instances of transphobia, racism, and ableism. (Dextero)
  
  

• Billie Eilish is now one of only three artists to reach 100 million monthly listeners on Spotify. At 22 years old, she’s also the youngest. (The Hollywood Reporter)

DATA • GOSPEL STATS 📈

Two of your favorite creators just got hella ripped. (The other one made a scooter-powered car.)

A fresh contender took the lead in Gospel Stats’ latest Weekly Brand Report, but the rankings’ usual chart-topper—the one and only MrBeast—wasn’t far from the action. While Airrack and MrBeast became absolute machines, this week’s other top branded videos turned their attention to less fleshy forms of machinery.

Here’s how the final rankings shook out:

🥇 Airrack x SoFi: My 600 Day Transformation Against MrBeast
A 600-day fitness challenge might sound extreme, but ridiculously intense competitions have become run-of-the-mill for Airrack and MrBeast. The former creator holds the record for making the world’s largest pizza, while the second has survived being buried alive for 50 hours straight.

• That competitive history drew plenty of eyeballs to the duo’s recent bodybuilding collab, which also served to educate 7.2 million viewers about SoFi’s online banking offerings.

🥈 Michael Reeves x Odoo: I Built a Car out of Scooters
Michael Reeves set out to complete a very different challenge: crafting a working automobile out of Lime scooters. The end result is technically operational, but viewers who prefer “simple” and “efficient” mechanisms are more likely to take Odoo’s business management platform for a spin.

🥉 neo x Ground News: Inside Air Force One During 9/11
The last member of this week’s Top 3 Most-Viewed Branded Videos took a more sober approach to transportation. With financial backing from Ground News, the creator walked viewers through the events of September 11, 2001 as it was experienced by the president and others aboard Air Force One.

FYI: This Weekly Brand Report is only a snapshot of everything Gospel Stats has to offer. Check out the full site here for more data on influencer marketing partnerships, rising creators, and emerging YouTube trends.

WATCH THIS 📺

Kai Cenat celebrated Father’s Day with a family reunion

The celebration: It was an eventful Father’s Day weekend for Kai Cenat. Fresh off a viral collab with comedian Kevin Hart, the record-breaking Twitch streamer treated viewers to a ‘dad reveal’ by reuniting with his father on stream.

• A resulting VOD—which has so far collected more than 1 million views on YouTube—is full of father/son bonding and general chaos. Check out the full video 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.