Today's News

❤️ Couple channels climb the global YouTube charts
💰 Could Trump's new sovereign wealth fund buy TikTok?
🐝 Balls, bees, and Marques Brownlee top the branded ranking
🃏 YouTubers wow viewers with slick card tricks

GLOBAL TOP 50 📈

Love is conquering the worldwide YouTube charts one couple channel at a time

The trend: Couple channels have enjoyed sustained popularity on YouTube since the introduction of Shorts over three years go. In that time, several creator pairings have become standout stars (including, Pink Shirt Couple, who built such loyal followings that even a breakup couldn't stunt their individual growth).

With so many channels producing videos in the same genre, couple content may seem like an impossible category to break into. Four creators, however, have found a simple way to stand out from the competition: instead of featuring just one couple, the Double Date channel focuses on two.

Double Date has seen a major rise since leaning into couple content. Data from Gospel Stats.

The channel: Of the two pairs featured on Double Date, Jasmin and James are by far the couple with the largest following. The duo—who rose to fame by performing lip-synced dances to a German tongue-twister song—initially kickstarted the channel in February 2023 with fellow creator Cadel. The final member of Double Date didn't formally appear on the channel until just under a month ago, when Mia made her debut as one-half of Cadel and Mia.

Since then, Double Date's pivot to become a two-couple channel has proven to be a stroke of genius. The hub scored 316.6 million views during the week of February 2, a 55% week-over-week viewership bump that sent it skyrocketing to 29th place in the Global Top 50 chart.

HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰

Donald Trump has suggested that the U.S. sovereign wealth fund—which he signed into being yesterday via an executive order—could be used to buy TikTok. (TechCrunch)
According to a Pew Research study, only 33% of U.S. teens use Facebook. Can Mark Zuckerberg's plan to bring back "OG Facebook" turn things around? (Fast Company)
Instagram's upcoming Edits app will reportedly allow creators to "capture video up to ten minutes," save drafts, "edit via a playback timeline," view video analytics, and search for inspiration. (Social Media Today)
Pokimane has responded to online criticism after commenters objected to the presence of social media influencers at the 2025 Grammy Awards. (Dextero)

GOSPEL STATS 🏍️

Top Branded Videos of the Week: Bees, balls, and Marques Brownlee

There's something unusual about Gospel Stats' latest Brand Report. For the most part, the creators who produce YouTube's most-watched branded videos have 5+ million subscribers—if not tens or hundreds of millions. This week's chart-topper is different: while the #2, #3, and #4 videos come from YouTube's upper echelon, James Bruton breezed past them all with just over 1.3 million subscribers.

🥇 #1. James Bruton x PCBWay: I built an Omni-Directional Ball-Wheeled Bike (5.8M views)
So, what innovation sent Bruton soaring to the top of Gospel's weekly report? The former toy designer and current engineer handily defeated one of YouTube's top tech reviewers—aka Marques Brownlee—by building an omnidirectional bike that uses balls instead of tires. Given that Bruton's last video with 5+ million views is over a decade old, that jolt of virality was probably a welcome surprise for sponsor PCBWay.

🥈 #2. Marques Brownlee x dbrand: Samsung Galaxy S25/Ultra Impressions: What Happened? (5M views)
Brownlee's latest review was likely a far less pleasant surprise for Samsung. The tech creator was less than impressed by the corporation's latest smartphone (aka the Samsung Galaxy S25), which he dissected in a video sponsored by device customization company dbrand.

🔎 #4. Veritasium x OnShape: Why Is MIT Making Robot Insects? (4.2M views)
Further down the list is a video featuring yet another tech innovation—but the subject of this one is far smaller than either a ball-powered bike or an iffy smartphone. Veritasium's 21-minute investigation into MIT's tiny mechanical bees offers viewers a fascinating window into the world of engineering. And if that video inspires you to come up with your own minuscule invention, sponsor OnShape has everything needed to develop your idea "from conception to invention."

Check out the full branded ranking here or head over to Gospel Stats for more YouTube sponsorship insights.

WATCH THIS 📺

There's nothing Shorts viewers love more than a good card trick and a hit of schadenfreude

The trend: It's safe to say that YouTube Shorts viewers enjoy magic tricks in any form. Sleight-of-hand has helped Justin Flom become a regular chart-topper, while MasomkaMagic has used colorful illusions to become one of the most popular creators on YouTube over the last six months.

The up-and-comer: Now, another creator is combining classic card tricks with schadenfreude-infused storytelling. In his recent Shorts uploads, ED stacks Uno decks to stage the most dramatic losses possible. Those kinds of "bad beat" videos helped the creator rise to #10 in our latest U.S. Top 100 chart by adding more than 1.5 million new subscribers in January 2025 alone—a 76% increase from the month before.

Check out one of ED's latest UNO battles here.

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