| | It's Tuesday and if you're looking for a festive fit, Microsoft's got your back with ugly holiday sweaters dedicated to Clippy, Internet Explorer, and other nostalgic icons. | | Today's News | 🗓️ YouTube looks back on 2025 🪦 MKBHD's wallpaper app shuts down 💸 Opportunities grow for U.K. podcasters 🛍️ Kim Kardashian comes to TikTok Shop 🍗 Sean Evans talks 10 years of Hot Ones
|
|
| | 2025 IN REVIEW |  | "KPop Demon Hunters" fueled many of the year's top YouTube videos |
| Want to find the top YouTube videos of the year? Look on Shorts. | The old guard: Every December, YouTube ranks the most popular videos, creators, and songs of the year through a series of 'top ten' lists. Over the last half-decade, those lists have established a few general mainstays: MrBeast has held court as YouTube's #1 creator throughout the 2020s, gaming content has endured as a top category, and young viewers continue to drive platform-wide trends. | Much of that remains unchanged in 2025. MrBeast still ranks as the top creator on the list, The Joe Rogan Experience has sustained its multi-year run as YouTube's top podcast, and Squid Game endured as one of 2025's top trending topics. | The Shorts shift: Halfway through the 2020s, however, YouTube culture is noticeably shifting—and Shorts is at the center of that evolution. The four(ish)-year-old video format has become the primary force pushing top creators, videos, and trends into YouTube's year-end recap. | As MrBeast's short-form viewership surpasses his long-form tally, for instance, the top star is sharing space with a handful of Shorts standouts. The #2 creator on the list, CaylusBlox, represents a Roblox community that exploded on Shorts in 2025, while Double Date (#4) and Cadel and Mia (#5) have harnessed the power of Shorts to achieve repeated high finishes in our Global Top 50 charts. | YouTube's 2025 song ranking alludes to another major Shorts sensation: KPop Demon Hunters. Four tracks from either HUNTR/X or the Saja Boys cracked the top ten amidst a flurry of relevant Shorts content. | The takeaways get wrapped: At the end of the day, YouTube's 2025 rundown gives creators a good idea of what to do in 2026 (hint: keep it short). | As for fans, the platform's new Recap feature offers viewers the opportunity to explore "a personalized, shareable highlight reel of your 2025 watch history highlighting your top channels, interests, personality type, and more." It's like a Spotify Wrapped for YouTube that shows your annual viewership summed up into up to 12 different cards. Considering Spotify's version has been lauded as a genius marketing play for years, it's about time YouTube rolled out a version of its own. | | HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰 | | | | POD PEOPLE | | Acast and Little Dot Studios want a bigger piece of the YouTube podcast biz | The program: In the US, podcast ad revenue is projected to soar to $2.5 billion this year. Meanwhile, across the pond, "the world's largest independent podcast company" is launching a U.K.-based program designed to dramatically increase ad opportunities for YouTube podcasters. | In partnership with Little Dot Studios, Acast—which serves 40,000 podcasts and 3,300 advertisers through its ad marketplace—will work with high-profile show hosts to unlock new revenue streams and closer ties to advertisers. When the beta version of the program launches in January, it will unite video podcast sponsors with a cohort of U.K. creators that collectively earns 45 million monthly plays. | Launch partners for the program include both traditional celebrities (such as former footballer Peter Crouch and presenter Fearne Cotton), and pro creators like Abroad in Japan and Tristan Hughes. Acast plans to expand the program to cover all eligible U.K.-based creators later in 2026, and expansions to other markets are also on the horizon. | "We've built the UK's most technologically-advanced and valuable marketplace for podcast advertising. Now, by unifying our premium audio inventory with immense video scale, Acast has created the definitive, single-point solution for brands and creators seeking measurable impact." | | | | - Josh Woodhouse, Acast Managing Director of UK and Ireland |
|
| The context: Little Dot, which operates over 135 social channels, will provide the inventory needed to scale up Acast's YouTube-based program. Both partners are looking to capitalize on the ongoing video podcast surge that has transformed YouTube into one of the industry's major players. The platform's ten-digit podcast audience is one of the most lucrative assets in the biz. Now, Little Dot and Acast's new accelerator program will bring U.K.-based creators closer to those viewers. | | MERRY KIMSMAS | | Kim Kardashian will host a shoppable holiday special on TikTok | The live special: Kim Kardashian is bringing the holiday spirit to TikTok Shop. On December 3, the entrepreneur and socialite will host Kimsmas Live! to promote her luxury apparel brand, Skims. | Kardashian's 45-minute live special is set to kick off at 9:30 ET and will feature an array of yet-to-be-announced celebrity guests—as well as a plethora of limited-edition Skims bundles, deals, and giveaways. The variety show is being produced in tandem with OBB Media, a multimedia production company that previously worked with stars like Sabrina Carpenter and iShowSpeed. | During Kimsmas Live!, viewers will have a chance to browse through Skims' holiday collection. The shoppable aspect of that event is bound to give Shop a bit of a traffic boost, since Kardashian's apparel brand has grown popular enough to secure a $5 billion valuation. | The context: Kimsmas Live! comes at a key moment for Shop. The holiday season has been a pivotal time for TikTok's ecommerce operation ever since its 2022 arrival in the United States. As part of its Christmastime strategy, the platform has helped brands (including Skims) set up storefronts on its app, while also leaning on its creator community for some influencer endorsements. | Now, to make this year's holiday season its biggest one yet, TikTok has shifted its strategy to highlight more luxurious goods. So if you want a Hermes handbag, a Nike sneaker drop, or a limited-edition Skims bundle, Shop is the place to go. | | WATCH THIS 👀 | | Sean Evans turned up the heat at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade | The parade cameo: The 2025 edition of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade channeled internet culture in a big way. In between a performance from the stars of Netflix's KPop Demon Hunters and social media coverage by Taylen Biggs, fans watching the parade on TV likely spotted another familiar face on-screen: Sean Evans. | The Hot Ones host recounted his appearance at the parade—of which he's apparently a long-time superfan—on a recent episode of TODAY with Jenna & Friends. Check it out here to get the full scoop on Evans' parade experience, as well as his reflections on the last ten years of his iconic YouTube interview series. | | Want to introduce your brand to Tubefilter's audience? Sponsor the newsletter. | Was this email forwarded to you? Subscribe here. | | Today's newsletter is from: Emily Burton, Drew Baldwin, Sam Gutelle, James Hale, and Josh Cohen. |
|
