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It's Tuesday and the battle for TikTok’s future has begun. Could three federal judges be all that stand between the app and a national ban?

Today’s News

THE LUNCH BUNCH

MrBeast, Logan Paul, and KSI want Lunchly to be the hottest thing in the school cafeteria

The context: MrBeast’s Prime and Logan Paul and KSI’s Feastables are joining forces to take over lunchtime. The two creator-owned brands have launched Lunchly, a “better-for-you” alternative to cafeteria classics that will offer grab-and-go lunchboxes like “Turkey Stack ‘Ems,” “The Pizza,” and “Fiesta Nachos.” Each box will include a Feastables bar and a Prime Hydration drink.

The context: Prime and Feastables both experienced early successes in the consumables market, which in turn kicked off a wave of “cleaner” creator snack brands like Ryan Trahan’s Joyride and Danny Duncan’s Matador Energy. Despite triggering a flood of better-for-you creator products, however, Prime’s own claims of high nutritional value have been challenged by authorities, and the brand has been hit with numerous lawsuits in recent months.

Lunchly’s ultimate consumers—kids—will likely relish the chance to chow down on MrBeast’s reformulated Feastables bars with a side of Prime, but their parents will need to look past the recent controversy at MrBeast HQ and allegations surrounding alleged “forever chemicals” in Prime packaging if the brand hopes to thrive.

🔆 SPONSORED 🔆

Top creators deserve top-notch support. That’s why Spotter is launching a cutting-edge creative partner tailored to your channel.

From brainstorming content to designing thumbnails, YouTube creators like you do it all—which is why Spotter is making it easier for you to save time and streamline your workflow. 

After working alongside top stars like Kinigra Deon, Rebecca Zamolo, Jordan Matter, Jay Alto, and Hayden Hillier-Smith, Spotter has launched Spotter Studio: an integrated brainstorm partner, project manager, and research assistant.

Creators found that videos made with Spotter Studio got 49% more views in their first seven days compared to those made without.

Here’s what top creators have to say about Spotter Studio:

Colin & Samir: “Using Spotter Studio is like adding another team member. We use it to refine our ideas, plan and research videos, and increase our efficiency.”

Coby Cotton (Dude Perfect): “Ideas that used to be scattered across phones, whiteboards, and sticky notes are now organized in one place, accessible to the entire DP team from ideation through post-production. Spotter Studio is our new home base.”

Whether you’re looking to enhance your video titles, generate video concepts, or simply get organized, Spotter Studio offers a comprehensive solution personalized to your unique creative style.

YouTubers have already netted 844M views using Spotter Studio. Ready to start leveling up your creative process?

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HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰

• T-Series—aka the most-watched channel in YouTube history—snagged a spot at #1 in this week’s global ranking of Top 50 Most Viewed YouTube Channels. The record label’s seven-day total: 790.7 million views. (Tubefilter)
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• Meta says it will ban Russian state media outlets like Rossiya Segodnya and RT from Facebook and Instagram over concerns regarding “foreign interference activity.” (Engadget)

• Brazil has seized $3.3 million from Starlink and X in order to cover fines levied against Elon Musk’s social media platform. (Ars Technica)
  
  

• Instagram appears to be testing a new feature that would allow users to cross-post their comments to Meta’s X rival, Threads. (The Verge)

DATA • GOSPEL STATS 📈

Top 3 Branded Videos of the Week: MrBeast and the podcasters

The old guard is back on top. After a week of science-fueled rankings, the usual suspects—aka MrBeast and two of YouTube’s favorite podcasters—have returned to rule over Gospel Stats’ branded charts.

Check out this week’s Top 3 Branded Videos for more details:

🥇 MrBeast x Dude Wipes: Men Vs Women Survive The Wilderness For $500,000 (93.3M views)
Between co-launching a new consumables brand and navigating allegations, it’s been a busy time for the MrBeast team. The crew’s flagship YouTube channel has experienced a downturn in the wake of the aforementioned controversies—but even that hasn’t done much to displace MrBeast (aka Jimmy Donaldson) from the top of the charts. Despite dropping from 2.5 billion views in July to 1.9 billion views in August (and to just over 1 billion views so far this month), the creator still outpaces all competitors by tens of millions of views. That staying power is exactly what keeps brands like Dude Wipes—and the competitors who take part in MrBeast’s massive challenges—coming back for more.

🥈 Kill Tony x Hims: KT #680 – MADISON SQUARE GARDEN (NIGHT ONE) – JOE ROGAN + SHANE GILLIS (5.5M views)
Kill Tony is no stranger to Gospel’s Top 5, but the live comedy podcast’s latest video marks one of its biggest milestones of all time. Hosts Tony Hinchcliffe and Brian Redban’s Madison Square Garden premiere featured nearly 20 guest stars, including fellow podcasters Joe Rogan and Shane Gillis, and sold out to almost 20,000 live audience members. Add in 5.5 million online views, and it’s safe to say the event was a solid success for Kill Tony’s latest sponsor, men’s telehealth service Hims.

🥉 Theo Von x PrizePicks, Boot Barn, Manscaped: Post Malone | This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von #529 (4.1M views)
Another YouTube-favorite podcaster and former chart-topper snagged a spot at #3 in Gospel’s branded rankings. Theo Von chatted it up with singer/songwriter/producer Post Malone for a viral episode of his long-running show This Past Weekend. That interview clocked in at roughly two hours, giving over 4 million viewers time to familiarize themselves with sponsors like PrizePicks, Boot Barn, and Manscaped.

Check out our full article here to learn about lucky video #4—or head over to Gospel Stats for more YouTube data insights.

BIG INVESTMENTS

Yahoo! Finance is buying into the power of #FinTok creators

The content slate: Yahoo! Finance is betting big on #FinTok. The 27-year-old digital hub is rolling out at least four original series and podcasts as part of partnerships with eight financial creators. Here’s a quick look at that upcoming content slate:

• “Budgetnista” Tiffany Aliche (pictured above) is tackling oft-heard mantras like “save money to make money” in a new series called Money Glow Up.
  

• The Debt-Free Guys will tell stories about scrimping and saving in their series Living Not So Fabulously.
  

• Bob Powell of Retirement Daily is set to helm an original show called Decoding Retirement.
  

• Longtime NYSE operative Kenny Polcari will cover all things Wall Street.
  

• And politician Patrick Murphy will focus on financial affairs for veterans.

The context: Yahoo! foreshadowed its upcoming slate of creator-led content earlier this year, when it announced a partnership with Ross Mac, a former Morgan Stanley sales analyst who added his insights to Yahoo!’s premium subscription content. The platform described that pact (which brought Mac’s Financial Freestyle to Yahoo!) as the first of many creator partnerships.

Making good on that promise is a smart move. A 2022 survey revealed that Gen Z respondents are more likely to trust TikTok and YouTube for monetary advice, and financial content has already brought bank sponsorships to streaming content and spawned investment opportunities for creators. Now, the power of #FinTok will give Yahoo! a boost as it evolves to meet the shifting demands of digital media.

WATCH THIS 📺

The second GeoGuessr World Cup is a wrap

The phenomenon: GeoGuessr just wrapped up its second-ever World Cup with a peak of 254,918 concurrent viewers. That total adds up to more than triple the viewership of last year’s inaugural global face-off—a massive year-over-year boost that points to the cultural sway of gaming streamers.

The creator: We attribute the sudden growth of GeoGuessr’s community to creators like Rainbolt, whose mastery of the location guessing game (which drops players in a random location on Google Street View and challenges them to quickly identify where they are) has earned him a following of over 1.6 million YouTube subscribers.

Check out one of Rainbolt’s latest videos to get a closer look at the viral game.

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