Each week, we handpick a selection of stories to give you a snapshot of trends, updates, business moves, and more from around the creator industry.

This week, a Twitch streamer broke into the TED Talk universe, a legacy YouTube brand wants its MTV, and the Cleveland Browns asked a local creator to choose his fighter.

Creator commotion

Maya Higa is the first Twitch streamer to deliver a TED Talk. Higa adopted her typical conservationist message as she plugged her Alveus Animal Sanctuary in front of a packed house in Vancouver. After receiving a standing ovation, Higa described her TED presentation as “the most impactful experience of my life.” The animals she shelters may have their own ideas on that.

A creator may be responsible for the launch of Substack’s gardening category. In a newsletter post, the green-thumbed influencer known as Carmen in the Garden wondered why Substack didn’t have a category dedicated to gardening content. The platform’s reply was apparently “you know what? That’s a great idea,” because Substack’s home and garden vertical is now live.

An accidental demonetization gave Tiny Grandma the Streisand effect. The adorable stop-motion animation hub found itself in trouble when its videos were incorrectly flagged as AI-generated content. That saga was resolved, and Tiny Grandma is now doing better than ever. Nothing can slow down this little kimchi-toting clay figure — not even a yellow dollar sign.

Movers and shakers

Smosh looks to the world of MTV to find its first Chief Content Officer. In a newly-created role, MTV Entertainment Studios vet Cory Midgarden will oversee digital content, live events, casting, and other artistic matters for a comedy brand that has been operating on YouTube for more than 20 years. Midgarden will report to Smosh’s CEO, Alessandra Catanese.

To double down on its podcast push, beehiiv is bringing in Ainsely Rossitto. After landing roles at Paramount and NPR, Rossitto will be Head of Podcasts at a company best known for its newsletter-building tools. In a statement, beehiiv CEO Tyler Denk discussed the “huge opportunity podcasts present. “We are really putting a lot of firepower behind podcasts,” Denk said.

Shavone Charles’ post-TikTok career takes her to Nothing. Charles, an exec and creator with experience across the social media industry, left her post at TikTok last year. For her next move, she’s headed to London-based youth culture brand Nothing, where she’ll be Global Head of Communications for a company that works with tastemakers like Charli XCX.

Podcasts making waves

Dhar Mann is thinking about “what happens next” with his company’s first podcast. Mann is maintaining his typically positive tone as he talks to guests about moments in their lives when they found themselves at a crossroads. The first episode of What Happens Next is slated to premiere on May 18.

Spotify likes Apple’s podcast tech so much that it’s adopting it for its own platform. As part of Apple’s podcast push, it introduced HLS (HTTP Live Streaming) technology makes the viewership of video podcasts more seamless. Spotify is now using that tech, too. In doing so, it will help creators expand reach while making cross-platform distribution more tenable.

Spotify is driving more consumption time than YouTube on podcast episodes. That claim comes from Podstock, which shared data comparing equivalent podcast episodes across Spotify and YouTube. The Spotify uploads averaged 1.5x more consumption time, and that finding held across 95% of the surveyed episodes.

The biz

Target links up with LTK to relaunch its creator program. Target, like many brands, is setting up infrastructure that lets creators recommend items on personalized storefronts. Social shopping hub LTK is now involved with that effort, and that move could bring Target closer to the influencer recs it covets. A press release from the retailer claims that nearly 75% of U.S. consumers have purchased a product because of creator content.

Susan Wojcicki’s family is honoring her memory by launching a foundation to research and detect lung cancer. Wojcicki tragically passed away less than two years after stepping down from her role as YouTube’s CEO. By establishing the Susan Wojcicki Foundation, the exec’s family will invest in early detection initiatives, with a particular focus on nonsmokers.

Jomboy Media is the key to reaching younger baseball fans, and Under Armour is paying attention. The sportswear brand now has an official partnership with the irreverent baseball brand led by Jimmy O’Brien. As part of the deal, Under Armour will be the official sponsor of the Warehouse Games, Jomboy’s gauntlet of eclectic sports competitions.

The internet is a strange place

MatPat traveled back to the 90s to tell us who the Cleveland Browns will play next season. With each passing NFL preseason, the slate of schedule release videos gets wackier and more creative. This year, the Browns paid homage to 90s VHS videos with a schedule reveal that features Ohio native Matthew Patrick (of Game Theory fame), a gridiron take on Street Fighter, and not nearly enough sadness for a Browns-themed video.

Patreon promotes its sticker creators with a New York City scavenger hunt. Did you know there’s a thriving community of sticker creators on Patreon? To bring attention to that artistic genre, the funding hub slapped some stickers all over Brooklyn as part of a three-day event that highlights some of Patreon’s most adhesive art pieces.

Dunkin is following TikTok trends by introducing a 48-ouce “bucket” of coffee. First, TikTok told us that men are always thinking about the Roman Empire. And thanks to the app’s latest trend, you’ll be up for so long that you never stop thinking, period.

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A decade after its initial launch, StreamElements is in dire straits. The streamer platform is looking to be acquired after reports indicated that it would cease operations and shut down its website.

According to GamesBeat, a StreamElements staffer discussed the company’s flagging operations in a Discord server used to coordinate sponsorships. The staffer reported that StreamElements is preparing to “close its doors,” with its website set to remain open for the next 30 days. During that time, StreamElements users are advised to log in and save any desired assets. Outstanding sponsorship deals will be paid out.

“Thank you for all the incredible content and for being part of this community,” the staffer wrote. “If you have immediate questions regarding your active campaigns, please reach out as soon as possible.”

StreamElements got its start as one of several dashboards streamers can use to add overlays to their live broadcasts. As the company evolved, it brought brand deals to its partners while also sharing statistical insights related to streamer culture and prioritizing the enrichment of underrepresented creators.

Several funding rounds, including a $100 million Series B led by SoftBank, supported StreamElements’ expansion. It also grew through acquisitions; in 2021, it picked up the gaming multi-channel network Paragon for an undisclosed sum.

More recently, however, StreamElements struggled. It endured multiple rounds of layoffs over a seven-month span amid a broader period of belt-tightening in the tech industry. Earlier this year, Co-Founder and CEO Or Perry urged StreamElements users to “keep it live” by contributing to a fundraising event. At the time, Perry said that his company supported a user base consisting of 23 million creators.

To avert a potential shutdown, StreamElements is looking for a buyer. “We’re in positive discussions with potential acquirers and working to find the best path forward for creators, customers, and our team,” reads a tweet from the company. “We’ll share more updates soon. We’ve spent over a decade building for creators and will do everything we can to keep supporting this community.”

Whatever happens with StreamElements, creators will be left looking for answers. If the platform does shut down, many streamers will see their revenue decline as a result. Those users will be rooting for a solution that can keep the deals flowing.

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The increasing scale of creator businesses will be a prominent theme at next month’s VidCon gathering, and a new company is positioning itself in the middle of that pipeline. Volt Factor is a new creator IP company that boasts a pair of experienced co-founders and a strong roster of well-known partners.

Volt Factor plans to scale creator businesses into global brands by providing the operational infrastructure needed to pursue ambitious commercial ventures. The new company will represent its clients’ global licensing rights, pursuing projects that will maximize revenue from underdeveloped IP.

At launch, Volt Factor is working with creators who have built some of the most popular channels on platforms like YouTube and Twitch. Its partners include Alan Chikin Chow, who has parlayed his chart-topping success into a sprawling production empire; That’s Amazing, a Wisconsin fraternal duo with nearly two billion lifetime views on its primary YouTube hub; and TheBurntPeanut, a Twitch sensation who is ready for bigger things after breaking out earlier this year.

Volt Factor is hardly the first company built around the idea of scaling creator IP. Billions of dollars of venture capital have supported entities like Candle Media, which have in turn unlocked retail opportunities for internet-famous brands like CoComelon.

In a crowded field, Volt Factor’s co-founders can give it a competitive edge. Elan Freedman, one half of that duo, previously co-founded Electric Monster, a company that supercharges creator brands through IP development and other initiatives. Freedman’s partner at the top of the Volt Factor org chart is Lindsay Hampton, who spent 14 years at YouTube. Most recently, she served as the platform’s Global Head of Creator Engagement.

“Creators have built highly engaged global audiences and widely recognized IP, yet most lack the resources to fully capture the long-term value of what they’ve created,” Hampton said in a statement. “We started Volt Factor to change that. We work alongside creators and their teams, leading product strategy and execution, and managing the business backend so the brand can scale while creators focus on what they do best.”

Freedman and Hampton will get a helping hand from an advisory team filled with retail experts. That group includes former Hasbro and Nike execs, as well as Jim Lee, the President of one of the most successful creator-led retail brands: Mark Rober’s CrunchLabs.

With such a versatile brain trust in tow, Volt Factor is ready to embark on its brand-building mission. It has already picked out partners who have thrived on social media, and its next steps figure to be more lucrative than a BurntPeanut face reveal.

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Welcome to our rundown of the most-watched branded YouTube videos of the week.

We’re publishing this snippet of a larger Gospel Stats Weekly Brand Report in order to analyze sponsorship trends in the creator economy. Any video launched in tandem with an official brand partner is eligible for the ranking.

And – as the name up above would imply – all the data comes from Gospel Stats. If you’re interested in learning more about Gospel – and which brands are sponsoring what creators on YouTube – click here. You can also download our YouTube 2025 Sponsorship Landscape Report here.

Intrigued by the headline? Good. We will spoil nothing more.

See our latest Gospel Stats Weekly Brand Report right here:

#1 ACT A DAMN FOOL @c4energy #c4partner #meme #family #dad #mom #skit #funny
Channel: theplumpcover
Brand: C4 Energy
Views: 21,783,406

theplumpcover‘s videos feel like they belong to a simpler time. Full of memes and filmed largely in stop-motion, they have the vibe of your cool uncle coming by in 2006 with the latest Nintendo game, a few cans of Mountain Dew, and enough candy to make your mom regret ever giving birth to you.

In this video, though, the uncles aren’t so friendly. They throw back some swigs of sponsor C4 Energy and treat their sister’s new boyfriend to a sound (simulated) beating before he goes to meet the final boss: Dad.

We see a lot of energy brands advertising with creators. Some of them–like Gamer Supps–are even creator-founded. It makes sense; YouTubers and other busy creatives need fuel to power their projects, so energy brands jump on partnerships with them, hoping to reach audience members who want the same jolt as their favorite creator. This week, C4 paid for a total of…wait for it…..four videos, including the above, #35, #115, and #313.

#2 The Creator of Full Metal Alchemist has a new Anime on @crunchyroll! #ad #CrunchyrollPartner
Channel: Mangaka Brandon Chen
Brand: Crunchyroll
Views: 15,432,477

brb, gonna geek out for a second. Like all red-blooded weebs who grew up in the early 2000s, Fullmetal Alchemist was a staple of my media diet. It’s also widely considered one of the manga series of all time. But just like any other artist who has one massive tentpole work, creator Hiromu Arakawa has seen quieter reception for her post-FMA works.

Crunchyroll aims to fix that. Its partnership with Mangaka Brandon Chen highlights Arakawa’s most recent series, Yomi no Tsugai. The manga (written and illustrated by Arakawa) has been running since 2021, but its anime adaptation just came out–and Crunchyroll wants people to watch the show on its platform.

Yomi no Tsugai isn’t the only series getting a Crunchyroll spotlight this week. The platform also paid for video #6, which shouts out FMA‘s fellow classic One Piece.

#3 My Daughter Survives 6 Schools That Shouldn’t Exist
Channel: Jordan Matter (and Salish Matter)
Brand: Sephora
Views: 12,796,386

And I thought my high school was tough. Salish Matter‘s latest Sephora-sponsored video pits her and her teenage friends against a team of adults, with all of them attending schools that “shouldn’t exist,” according to Salish’s dad Jordan Matter.

Those schools: the “world’s strictest,” the “school with no rules,” the “world’s smartest school,” influencer school, military school, and beauty school. At each dicey education establishment, both teams will have to compete to see who’s better at getting #learned.

This video matches the Matters’ usual content, meaning it’s loud, busy, and full of smash cuts and fast action to keep viewers glued. It’s also a vehicle to promote not just Sephora (which has now rolled Salish’s skincare line Sincerely Yours out to every location in the U.S.) but the Matters’ deal with Netflix: “Our Netflix show is currently #2 IN THE WORLD!!”

#4 Blind Dating from Shortest to Tallest
Channel: David Alvareeezy
Brand: BetterHelp
Views: 10,847,522

Yeah, remember how we said theplumpcover‘s videos feel like they belong in 2006? So does this one–except it’s 2006 on MTV.

David Alvareeezy brands himself as a “short king,” but for the nth video in his blind dating series (where lots of hot girls wear lots of small dresses) he brought in a real short king. This Short is a clip from that episode, where featured bachelorette Miranda has to evaluate six guys of different heights, from a little person all the way up to a guy who’s 6’5″. The goal is for her to confirm whether or not height matters to girls when they’re searching for a partner.

That full video is sponsored by BetterHelp, and so is this Short. Obviously we can’t know the exact details of Alvareeezy x BetterHelp, but if he’s making more money by posting extra sponcon spun from the same footage, it’s a solid moneymaking (and time-saving) strat.

As usual, BetterHelp one of YouTube’s most prolific sponsors. This week, it paid for nearly 90 videos.

BONUS #662 The Insane World of Facebook Marketplace Food
Channel: Edvasian
Brand: Zocdoc
Views: 266,341

It’s Pink Sauce all over again.

It’s no secret you can find anything–and we do mean anything–on Facebook Marketplace. And hey, if you want to buy some dude’s 5-pound tub of nightcrawlers, used waterbed, or potentially haunted Chuck E. Cheese costume, that’s your prerogative. No harm, no foul. Where things get dicey is food. There’s a reason people who sell food have to be licensed, and that reason starts with E and ends with coli.

Despite the risk of potential lawsuits if unlicensed food gets someone sick or worse, people just be out here selling it willy-nilly. Edvasian has the rundown–and for those who happen to partake of any questionable Marketplace meals, his sponsor Zocdoc is a phone call away.

…and there’s a lot more data where that came from. If you like our Weekly Top 5, you’ll love everything else Gospel has to offer. Start with our newly released YouTube 2025 Sponsorship Landscape Report, which you can download right here.

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Roblox just hired its first ever Chief Growth Officer.

The platform is, as the kids say, at an inflection point: While it’s historically been known as a platform for child-friendly games, it’s now seeing significant traffic from adults. Its 18+ user base has grown 50% year over year, to the point where 26% of its U.S.-based players are 18 or older.

That’s big for Roblox’s bottom line, because 18+ players spend 50% more money in-game than their younger counterparts. Adults also generally spend more time gaming than kids, which could give Roblox even more of a bump, since it runs programmatic ads.

Obviously Roblox wants to chase adults’ disposable income and engagement; to do that, it launched a major initiative where it’ll pay developers more if they make “novel games” that have smoother graphics, strong storytelling, and compelling gaming loops.

Now, as part of this continued expansion, it’s brought in John Ciancutti. Per Business Insider, he’ll spearhead Roblox’s discovery team, aka the people responsible for its recommendation algorithm (which, by the way, just got a new shelf aimed at spotlighting novel games).

Ciancutti has an impressive pedigree. He comes to Roblox from Amazon, where he was General Manager for the company’s live radio app Amp, as well as VP of Consumer and Technology for Amazon Music. Before joining Amazon, he founded audio news service 60dB, which sold to Google in 2017. Ciancutti himself ended up at Google, working senior product and strategy roles in Search. He was also Director of Engineering at Facebook and spent 13 years at Netflix in various roles; when he left in 2012, he was VP of Product Engineering.

Ciancutti told BI that targeting older players is a focus of his. He’ll also try to push Roblox internationally and incorporate “a more diverse set of experiences on the platform,” BI reports.

He added that he wanted to join Roblox because of its strong creator ecosystem.

“What stands out to me about Roblox is the breadth of what the platform has become–for players, creators, developers, and brands alike,” he said. “I think there’s enormous potential to continue growing awareness across markets and audiences as the platform evolves.”

While neither Ciancutti nor Roblox shared more about what exactly he’ll do to accomplish growth, the goals are clear: more adults, more money, and more types of games to appeal to more players of all ages.

These ambitions do face challenges, though. Roblox recently lowered its 2026 revenue forecast as it invests in child safety improvements. Why the improvements? Well, it’s currently facing over 140 federal lawsuits, plus other state-level actions, following numerous incidents of adults preying on children within its platform.

One of the safety changes it has already implemented requires users to validate their age in order to chat; once their age is validated, they’re limited to chatting with other users in their rough age “bucket,” rather than being able to chat with everyone.

Anecdotal reports suggest age verification has had some impact on social traffic within games. Roblox’s own numbers show DAUs dropped from 144 million in Q4 2025 to 132 million in Q1 2026.

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On February 19, 2027, we will learn if the biggest family-friendly phenomenon on the internet can score a hit on the silver screen. That will be the theatrical release date for CoComelon: The Movie, an upcoming adaptation of the YouTube-born franchise that gets billions of views each month.

Moonbug, the U.K.-based company that owns the CoComelon IP, shared the upcoming film’s release date as part of a “first look” announcement. Like on the original CoComelon YouTube channel — which has tallied 221.5 billion lifetime views — the big-screen iteration of the franchise will feature a 3D animated look and a colorful cast of cherubic characters.

Rumors of a CoComelon movie first swirled in 2023, when reports suggested that Moonbug had linked up with Universal and its subsidiary DreamWorks Animation to bring a feature film adaptation of the preschool-age favorite to life. By 2025, the project was confirmed, with Moonbug stating that “fans will follow JJ and his friends on the big screen for a new adventure.”

Beyond that brief blurb, we still don’t have any clues about the plot of the upcoming picture. Moonbug is keeping those details under wraps for now, though Kat Good is on board as the film’s director, and Justin Tranter will serve as an executive music producer.

The project’s voice cast is coming into focus. SZA, Ike Barinholtz, Nicholas Hoult, Sarah Sherman, Ego Nwodim, Josh Johnson, Matt Friend, and Rhys Darby have all landed roles. Some of the kid voices have been announced as well; Connor Esterson, who started in the 2023 family-action franchise flick Spy Kids: Armageddon, will voice JJ, who has become CoComelon’s most familiar character.

The first look arrives during a busy week in the CoComelon world. Moonbug announced that its popular franchise will extend its kidswear partnership with Shein. At the same time, IATSE union members involved in the CoComelon live-action spinoff The Melon Patch went on strike, citing subpar working conditions.

Will that ordeal affect CoComelon’s popularity? Its young viewers keep tuning in week after week, and next February, Moonbug will see if it can bring those young fans into movie theater seats.

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Creators in the U.K. have asked for more professional services that can help them level up their careers. And YouTube has answered the call.

The video platform has teamed up with the BBC and the National Film and Television School (NFTS) to launch a multi-city training program catered to creators and other digital media professionals. Through a nationwide slate of workshops and events, YouTube and the Beeb are aiming to incubate a new generation of polished personalities.

The program, which kicked off in Birmingham on May 14, will begin with a cohort of 150 pupils. Not everyone taking part in the training is a digital-native creator; TV producers and journalists are also taking part.

Last year, YouTube pledged to provide more professional services for creators in the U.K. A survey conducted by Public First revealed a widespread sense of inferiority among British creators. 56% of survey respondents claimed they’re unable to have an impact on government decisions that affect their livelihood, and 43% said they felt unrecognized within the broader creative industry. Only 17% said they have enough access to skills and training, and a mere 7% said they have proper access to capital and loans.

Alison Lomax, YouTube’s Managing Director for UK and Ireland, said that the new program can address those shortcomings. “By launching this nationwide partnership, we are aiming to bridge that gap – providing the digital strategies and practical expertise needed to empower extraordinary talent in every corner of the U.K.”

Each of the partners involved in the program bring particular faculties to the table. Workshops will take place at BBC hubs in all four U.K. countries, and participants will experience the NFTS’ “world-class technical mastery” while benefitting from YouTube’s prominent position in the creator world. ScreenSkills, a professional organization for jobseekers in the digital arts, is also supporting the initiative.

The U.K. program joins a host of U.S.-based educational initiatives that also support aspiring creators. Institutions that have launched creator-facing training curricula include Syracuse University and East Carolina University.

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When the 2026 FIFA World Cup kicks off across North America in June, TikTok will be there to cover it from every angle. The app previously announced its status as a “Preferred Platform” for the quadrennial soccer tournament, and it has now revealed the creators who will represent it during that event.

Most soccer teams have a starting eleven, but TikTok has a starting 30: It is partnering with creators from four different continents, who will report directly from the World Cup as TikTok’s Creator Correspondents. The coverage provided by those correspondents will go far beyond match recaps. Creators will also attend training sessions, press conferences, and even team bus arrivals as they look to capture every angle of the beautiful game.

“Soccer culture is being shaped by a new generation of creators on TikTok, genuine fans of the sport who have built passionate communities centered on their love of the game,” said TikTok Global Head of Sport Rollo Goldstaub in a statement. “The FIFA World Cup 2026 is the biggest stage in soccer, and through both programs we are giving these emerging voices – who have spent their lives watching these leagues, athletes and teams – the opportunity to be part of telling the tournament’s story.”

TikTok is not the only Preferred Platform covering the Cup — FIFA also gave YouTube that distinction, for example — but the makeup of the Creator Correspondent shows that TikTok’s coverage of the soccer world’s biggest stage will be all-encompassing. Each of the 30 correspondents brings something unique to the table. Brazil’s Flávia Bandoni will dive into the sports marketing side of the event, American Cody Nguyen will apply his love of “kit culture” to the Cup, Mexican artist Skiper will deliver songs inspired by the action, and French creator Bass will examine the tactical side of the game.

This approach is versatile enough to be applied to future sporting events as well. TikTok has not indicated that it has any plans to join the likes of YouTube and Netflix by bidding for exclusive pro league broadcast rights. Instead, its creator-centric approach lets it operate on the periphery of the world’s biggest games. The TikTok GamePlan product suite, which is powering the app’s 2026 World Cup hub, facilitates that strategy.

The global nature of the Creator Correspondent crew also shows that TikTok is still capable of uniting its communities across multiple continents. Even after spinning off its U.S. business, TikTok has put together a cohesive soccer community that includes representatives from 11 different countries.

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Earlier this week, the streamer Jynxzi hosted a League of Legends event that got more viewership than most broadcasts from the game’s professional circuit. Or did it?

Jynxzi, whose real name is Nicholas Stewart, gathered 40 of the most popular LoL streamers for a marathon tournament that unfolded across an eight-hour stream. Data from Esports Charts shows that the stream peaked at 920,000 concurrent viewers. That was a higher sum than the combined peak viewership of three major LoL events that took place earlier this year.

Once upon a time, a broadcast of that caliber would have drawn widespread accolades and underscored the power of creator-led media. In 2026, however, the streaming community is mired in a prolonged viewbotting controversy, and that makes it hard to take big viewership numbers at face value.

The debate over the use of viewbots has been simmering for a while, but it boiled over during iShowSpeed‘s trip to the Caribbean. While broadcasting live from the Dominican Republic, Speed reached what seemed to be a record-setting traffic figure: Two million concurrent viewers.

That number turned out to be fool’s gold. Speed himself admitted that his DR viewership had been juiced by viewbotting. His fellow creator xQc theorized that it wasn’t Speed himself doing the botting, but rather fans adding artificial viewership on the streamer’s behalf.

In response to the drama, Twitch sprang into action. CEO Dan Clancy announced a new policy that caps the concurrent viewership of streamers who are accused of viewbotting.

As that policy takes hold, those of us who report on Twitch’s top draws are left with some tricky questions. How do you evaluate a stream that does massive numbers when the veracity of those numbers is constantly in doubt, even when stream hosts aren’t using bots themselves?

That brings us back to Jynxzi. The viewership volume for his LoL event is impressive, but it makes more sense to focus on the cultural impact of his escapades in the gaming world. His recent chess streams, for example, caused the game’s traffic to spike, according to Twitch Tracker data. Some of those views may have been illegitimate, but the overall trend isn’t.

Major players in the creator economy have been beating this drum for years: Viewership numbers may jump off the screen, but fan engagement is the truest indicator of an influential personality. Perhaps Twitch’s viewbot crackdown will switch up the narrative, but the platform has a long way to go.

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Stephen Curry‘s Golden State Warriors didn’t make it into this year’s playoffs, but that’s not stopping the NBA’s 3-point king from shooting his shot. Curry and Erick Payton‘s Unanimous Media is teaming up with Hard Carry Media to launch a sports content venture that will kick off with content centered around NIL athletes.

The unnamed venture will operate as a sports content platform that will support creator-driven projects. Themes like competition, personality, and culture will be featured in formats that will live across social hubs like YouTube and TikTok. Curry, who just completed his 17th NBA season, will help steer the platform’s creative direction, talent roster, and cultural focus while also appearing in some of its projects.

Curry has had an active presence in the creator world since he and Payton launched Unanimous in 2018. He headlined a YouTube original series called Ultimate Home Championship while also hosting a challenge on Snapchat’s Spotlight format.

The rise of name, image, and likeness (NIL) deals gives Curry a chance to deepen his digital presence. College letterwinners can now share their stories on digital platforms in a way that wasn’t previously permissible, and agencies have flocked to campuses to train a horde of student-athlete creators. All of a sudden, sports are the hottest thing on social media — not just in the basketball world, but in communities as disparate as golf, cycling, and tennis.

That trend has attracted the attention of Hard Carry Media, which is led by former Hartbeat President and CCO Bryan Smiley. Earlier this year, Smiley launched Hard Carry to appeal to Gen Z consumers on social media. The Unanimous partnership brings that effort into the sports arena.

“In the NIL era, fans are forming connections with athletes earlier and far more personally than ever before,” Smiley said in a statement. “That shift is creating a new kind of fandom that requires a different kind of storytelling. We’re building high-engagement formats that audiences already watch, share, and return to week after week. Sports and athletes are the entry point, but the real product is the format. That’s how you turn athletes into stars and moments into franchises.”

Specific programs that will come out of the new venture haven’t yet been announced, but sports fans should expect big things. After all, when Steph Curry takes a shot, he rarely misses.

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This year’s Brandcast truly feels like a TV upfront.

YouTube used to run Brandcast–its annual presentation wooing advertisers and providing the press/general public with updated performance metrics–during the digital-focused NewFronts. But in 2022, tracking impressive living room viewership, YouTube moved Brandcast to the week of the Upfronts, when traditional TV networks pitch their new programming lineups.

Despite the move, Brandcast’s content didn’t change much. From 2022-2025, YouTube used it to introduce ad and platform products, talk up how much watch time it generates, and hype a handful of creators as examples of content that brands’ pre- and mid-roll ads could run against.

This year was different.

YouTube marched into New York City’s David Geffen Hall with a full lineup of creator-led programming from folks like Kareem Rahma, Jesser, HopeScope, Dude Perfect, and Cleo Abram. And while YouTube isn’t house-producing the 20-odd shows it unveiled–that’s up to creators–it does have a team working to match those shows up with brands for expansive deals.

“Welcome to Brandcast, everyone, and more importantly, welcome to the YouTube era,” CEO Neal Mohan said onstage. “For decades, the entertainment industry was built on a series of bets–programming shows based on formulas and focus groups and guessing at what would make an audience show up. At YouTube, we didn’t wait for a focus group. We built the stage and empower anyone with a story to find an audience.”

Some creator shows have already found their brand partners. Others are still seeking–and hope to find their match at Brandcast.

The ideal deal here–for YouTube, the creator, and the brand–is one that includes three things: (1) sponcon integrated into the creator’s series, (2) the creator being paid to make separate ads for the brand, and (3) the brand running additional programmatic ads across the creator’s channel.

Once the series debut, they’ll get more special treatment. YouTube tells us this ad effort builds on Shows, a unique UX within the YouTube platform that gives some channels and their content a streaming-service-style glowup and extra visibility. Shows launched last August and is invite-only; if a channel is invited, their content is then boosted to 10% of YouTube users “in select countries.”

At the time, YouTube told us the goal with Shows was to “elevate the UX and discovery of Shows (i.e. playlists with a clear connection across episodes).” Basically, it wants to give creators who make high-production serial content a way to look more like a TV network producing TV programming.

And now it’s meaningfully rewarding those creators with the kind of support a TV network would offer. By doing the legwork of selling creators’ high-effort shows to marketers and finding long-term brand partners for them, YouTube is stepping up to the level of networks it already outstrips in terms of sheer watch time.

Here’s YouTube’s full programming lineup:

• Kareem Rahma‘s Keep the Meter Running, premiering May 13
  • “In each episode, Rahma hops into a yellow cab and asks the driver to take him to their favorite place – with one condition: keep the meter running. What begins as a simple fare quickly evolves into a deep dive into the driver’s world and a moving exploration of the American Dream, as Kareem asks the poignant questions he never had the chance to ask his own cabbie father.”
• Jesser
  • Jesser’s Summer of Soccer, premiering in June during the World Cup
    • “During the world’s biggest soccer moment this summer, Jesser launches an eight-episode event series packed with large competitions, fan-favorite challenges and high-energy collaborations with top soccer creators and world-class players including Gerard Piqué and Céline Dept. Each installment is a front-row seat to the skill and spectacle of soccer!”
  • Pros vs. YouTubers, premiering 2027
    • “Jesser and friends take on legendary athletes, such as Dwyane Wade, at their own sports in this new episodic series – attempting to prove that YouTubers can ball. From hardwood to turf, Jesser and friends test whether chemistry and confidence can compete with elite training and next-level talent.”
• Quen Blackwell‘s Feeding Starving Celebrities 2.0, premiering fall 2026
  • “This fast-paced, personality-driven interview series sees Quen inviting today’s biggest stars into her kitchen for a high-energy, funny and revealing experience where nothing is scripted and everything is fair game. Blending sharp humor, irreverent games and unexpected twists, each episode peels back the polished layers of today’s most talked about talent to reveal the human behind the fame… and no topic is off-limits.”
• Erling Halaand
  • Road to World Cup, premiering June 2026
    • “This new docuseries offers a raw, front-row seat to Erling Haaland – football’s greatest star – on the biggest stage of his life, as he leads Norway back to the World Cup for the first time since 1998. Viewers will witness Haaland’s rigorous training regime, deep connection to his roots and the emotional highs and lows of the tournament grind – thirty years after his father helped carry the nation to the 1994 tournament. Launching around the World Cup, the series explores family pride, legacy and the rise of a new era of Norwegian football.”
  • Erling’s Gauntlet, premiering fall 2026
    • “Global football icon Erling Haaland invites the world’s biggest stars onto the pitch to survive his very own “Gauntlet” in this new series. To celebrate the spirit of endurance and peak performance, famous guests like The Sidemen – featured in the pilot episode – step onto the pitch to face football-based challenges – testing speed, strength, skill and mentality. One competitor will conquer the Gauntlet and claim the “Haaland Hammer,” while the lowest scorer faces the ultimate forfeit. “
• Alex Cooper
  • Unwell Games, premiering late summer/fall 2026
    • “[A] high-stakes reality competition where top creators and reality stars live under one roof, battling for power and prize money by day while alliances, relationships and drama unravel by night.”
  • Pot Stirrer, premiering Thanksgiving weekend 2026
    • “Alex Cooper hosts a glamorous, chaos-fueled Thanksgiving dinner that turns into a high-stakes social experiment when two secret ‘Pot Stirrers’ are planted among a volatile group of reality stars and internet personalities – each working to sabotage the night from within for a shot at a massive cash prize.”
  • Holiday Hard Launch, premiering winter 2026
    • “When two strangers – one desperate to prove she has her life together, the other trying to get his family off his back – agree to fake a relationship for the holiday season, their perfectly staged romance quickly becomes the highlight of every party, post and family gathering. But as their ‘relationship’ starts to take on a life of its own – blurring lines between performance and reality, and drawing in friends, exes, and online attention – they find themselves risking real heartbreak for something that was never supposed to be real”
  • Before the Steps, premiering spring 2027
    • “This multi-part docuseries pulls back the velvet curtain on fashion’s most iconic night, following celebrities in the high-pressure months leading up to the Met Gala. Narrated by Alex Cooper, the series captures the chaotic, glamorous, and deeply human journey of becoming ‘Met-ready’ – from inspiration to that final, unforgettable walk up the steps.”
• Dwayne Wade‘s Fly on the Wall, season 2 premiering fall 2026
  • “3x NBA Champion and 2x Hall of Famer, Dwyane Wade lets viewers be a fly on the wall of his life. This series offers Wade’s honest window into his world. He breaks the fourth wall to share raw stories, genuine reflections and real-life lessons. It’s not just his journey – it’s an invitation to see the man behind the legend.”
• Dude Perfect‘s Squad Games, season 2 premiering 2027
  • “‘Squad Games’ returns for Season 2 with Dude Perfect leveling up the competition through a bold lineup of original games and next-level challenges. Featuring live event face-offs, an all-new batch of celebrity competitors, and surprise guests, each episode delivers high-energy showdowns where skill, creativity, and clutch performance take center stage. The new season comes on the heels of the 2026 live Squad Games Tour, and will feature epic moments and tough tests where every squad is pushed to their limits in the ultimate battle to come out on top.”
• Trevor Noah‘s Trevor Noah’s World Tour, “coming soon”
  • “Trevor Noah invites viewers along for the ultimate global hangout in this prestige travel series on YouTube – where comedy, culture and spontaneity collide as he journeys from city to city on his world tour – with friends, collaborators and surprise guests joining the fun. Each episode blends Trevor’s signature humor with authentic, on-the-ground experiences that spotlight local people, food, and culture.”
• Julian Shapiro-Barnum
  • Celebrity Substitute, season 3 premiering June 2
    • “In Julian Shapiro-Barnum’s ‘Celebrity Substitute,’ a world-famous actor, athlete, or musician walks into a public school classroom to teach their craft, and discovers that a room full of elementary school kids may be their toughest crowd yet – proving that the real stars were the teachers all along.”
  • Outside Tonight with Julian Shapiro-Barnum, premiering June 17
    • “Shot at iconic New York City landmarks, parks and street corners, ‘Outside Tonight with Julian Shapiro-Barnum’ turns public spaces into the studio itself. Through interviews, games, musical performances and comedic moments, the series features creators, celebrities, and passersby alike.”
• Cleo Abram‘s HUGE* If True, new episodes premiering spring/summer 2026
  • “In new episodes of her series, ‘HUGE* If True,’ journalist and YouTube creator Cleo Abram explores Antarctica, becoming one of fewer than 5,000 people allowed to conduct research on the continent this year.”
• Johnny Harris‘s The Human Element, premiering fall 2026
  • “Emmy-winning journalist and filmmaker Johnny Harris launches ‘The Human Element,’ a new cinematic six-episode documentary series that journeys to the heart of the world’s most important stories. The forces shaping our lives can often feel distant, abstract, and impossible to grasp — but through adventure, investigation, and deeply human storytelling, The Human Element inspires a sense of hope and connection.”
• Morgan Jay‘s Music Therapy, premiering fall 2026
  • “This digital-first interview series sees comedian and creator Morgan Jay using his music and humor to guide celebrity guests through light-hearted therapy sessions – blending improv, vulnerability and live songwriting into one seamless format. “
• HopeScope‘s I Acted in a Microdrama, premiering fall 2026
  • “As the creator, director and actor in a series of 60-second Shorts featuring the fast filming pace, dramatic ‘slap’ scenes and intense scripts this genre is known for, Hope sees if she has what it takes to be a mobile-screen star. She will also give her 8M+ YouTube subscribers an inside look at the world of microdramas with a full-length video.”

YouTube also announced a couple of sports shows that aren’t creator-led:

• We Are Osos, premiering summer 2026
  • “Every pro athlete thinks they could run a team – now NFL and NBA stars Ryan Kalil, Blake Griffin, Christian McCaffrey, George Kittle, Luke Kuechly, Sam Darnold, and Greg Olsen get their chance, taking over a pro football team in Monterrey, Mexico. “We Are Osos” follows the team’s season under new ownership, as competitive instincts collide with the realities of an upstart league – one in which players leave their families behind, work second jobs, and chase one last shot at the dream.”
• Caddie & The Kid, premiering May 14 & June 25
  • “In this globe-trotting golf series that goes beyond the fairway, MLB Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr. and comedian-golf personality Michael Collins team up to explore iconic courses, vibrant cultures and unforgettable local experiences. Each episode follows the duo and their celebrity friends as they travel to legendary golf destinations, teeing it up for a little competition while diving into bucket-list adventures both on and off the course.”

(Descriptions provided by YouTube.)

“None of this happened by accident,” Mohan said, speaking about creators’ dominance in entertainment. “For more than two decades, we focused on staying one step ahead of how the world watches us. Years ago, we predicted that people would want to watch on the biggest screen in their homes, so we invested in the TV-watching experience. Today, we’ve been #1 in streaming watch time for three years.”

Of course, with all this talk of YouTube selling ads on creators’ content, it followed up with key ad announcements.

Creators are “redefining entertainment,” Mohan added, and “this new era is creating unprecedented opportunities for advertisers.”

First, YouTube is introducing a new masthead product that “allows advertisers to showcase their core hero creative alongside a custom-curated shelf of videos, enabling them to build tailored, immersive campaigns that elevate their brand’s moments,” per YouTube.

It cited Adelaide data that showed in the U.S., the YouTube masthead ad inventory is 46.6% more likely to capture attention than similar premium ad placements across other platforms and sites.

Also announced: “Custom Sponsorships,” an AI ad product YouTube says “dynamically curates themed content packages for brands to align with at scale.”

YouTube is pumping up CTV ads too: Its new “Buy with Google Pay” system lets CTV viewers who see an ad on their TV buy from it directly on their screen. Or, as Sean Downey, Google‘s President of the Americas & Global Partners, put it onstage, “the biggest screen in the house just became a storefront for instant checkout.”

YouTube has obviously been focused on optimizing CTV ads for a while, but this new development follows a 200% increase in CTV ad conversions from Q1 2025 to Q1 2026, the platform said.

Also along those lines, YouTube debuted an “Affiliate Partnership Boost” where creator-made videos that include products and link out to them can get more exposure “to drive incremental affiliate sales and creator earnings from YouTube Shopping commission.”

Both the Buy with Google Pay and the affiliate features play into YouTube’s growing ecommerce ambitions, as it finds more ways to compete with the behemoth that is TikTok Shop.

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It’s hard to imagine what BuzzFeed looks like without Jonah Peretti at the helm, but we’re about to find out.

Peretti’s tenure as the CEO of the Millennial-coded media company he co-founded has come to an end. Byron Allen, a comedian-turned-media mogul whose holdings include The Weather Channel and a multitude of local TV stations, will be the next exec to steer the BuzzFeed ship.

Allen Family Digital, an arm of Allen’s sprawling media empire, has acquired a controlling stake in BuzzFeed. Allen will pay $120 million to pick up 52% of the 19-year-old company. Peretti will stay on board as BuzzFeed’s President of Artificial Intelligence.

BuzzFeed was once a leading brand on the internet, pioneering concepts like listicles, viral marketing, and digital publishing. The media company was once so powerful that it reportedly received a $650 million acquisition offer from Disney, which Peretti turned down.

That, however, was a different time. Amid an increasingly competitive media environment, BuzzFeed has endured multiple rounds of layoffs while also watching its roster of in-house talent winnow.

To stay afloat, BuzzFeed jettisoned several of its subsidiaries. NTWRK paid $108 million to buy the pop culture publication Complex, and Hot Ones home First We Feast sold for $82.5 million. The latest deal will help BuzzFeed negotiate its debt while giving Allen another property he can mold into a multiplatform entertainment and news brand.

Allen plans to turn BuzzFeed into a player in fields like streaming, user-generated content, and (through its subsidiary HuffPost) local news. “As of this moment, BuzzFeed is officially chasing YouTube and the other big tech platforms,” Allen said on a conference call.

When Allen is done refashioning BuzzFeed as a YouTube competitor, will it still resemble its most famous incarnation? And does that even matter? Under Peretti’s leadership, BuzzFeed developed a production style everybody wanted to mimic and built a talent roster everybody wanted to hire. Without those idiosyncrasies in place, BuzzFeed looks indistinguishable from any other generic media company.

Perhaps Peretti himself can provide the spark that will help Allen achieve his goals for BuzzFeed. As President of Artificial Intelligence, Peretti will be able to continue developing the AI-powered games and love stories that have served as the latest chapters in BuzzFeed’s offbeat history.

Some of Peretti’s more eccentric ideas may end up falling by the wayside. But if Allen wants to get the most out of his new acquisition, he should consider its legacy — and the man who built it.

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