TOGETHER WITH

It's Tuesday and artificial intelligence is harking back to the Bronze Age. For a recent study, researchers pitted two AIs against each other to see if they could solve the mystery of an ancient board game.

Today's News

💸 Beast Industries acquires Step
💑 Couple channels dominate YouTube
📈 This week on the branded charts…
🤝 Lenovo pairs up creators
🦔 Sonic has a YouTube fanbase

BIG ACQUISITIONS

MrBeast (seen here safeguarding cash) wants you to bank with him.

Is MrBeast's latest acquisition the start of his financial services empire?

The acquisition: Beast Industries has acquired Step, a financial services app that appeals primarily to kids, teens, and young adults. MrBeast (aka Jimmy Donaldson) announced his company's big purchase in an X post uploaded Monday:

"Nobody taught me about investing, building credit, or managing money when I was growing up. That's exactly why we're joining forces with Step! I want to give millions of young people the financial foundation I never had."

- MrBeast via X

Last year, Donaldson obtained a trademark for the phrase "MrBeast Financial." That move gives us an idea of how Beast Industries plans to leverage its latest acquisition. According to Donaldson's filings with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, MrBeast Financial will offer a broad range of monetary services. Essentially, it would be an investment bank, an advisory firm, and a crypto exchange all rolled into one.

The context: Donaldson has long advocated for firms that promote financial literacy. His ongoing relationship with Current included a 2021 investment in the fintech company, and he joined forces with MoneyLion to power a multi-million-dollar giveaway in 2024.

Since rebranding his personal company to Beast Industries, Donaldson has looked to reduce reliance on external partnerships by building more in-house units. Based on info presented in Beast Industries pitch decks, the creator aims to rein in resources for expensive projects (like YouTube videos) and spend to build potential moneymakers (like financial services, mobile phone companies, and influencer marketing platforms).

That's where neobank Step comes in. In 2020, the app made another big-time creator, Charli D'Amelio, the face of its company. With a direct appeal to Gen Z, Step showed its willingness to cater to the next generation of money managers. Now that the company is under the banner of MrBeast, Step looks poised to supercharge its strategy of onboarding younger users by pairing financial tools and accounts with a creator who has one of the largest distribution engines on the planet.

🌟 SPONSORED 🌟

This month, MIP LONDON will debut its first-ever dedicated brand entertainment lineup

From February 22-24, MIP LONDON will partner with BCMA and UNXNOWN to present the 2026 Brand Entertainment Summit. Here's a sneak peek:

1. On Sunday afternoon, expert-led panels will delve into innovative productions, including…

Brabus: One Second Wow: Streaming soon on Prime Video, this docu-reality series was produced by LEONINE Studios (i&u Studios) in co-production with high-performance luxury mobility brand BRABUS.
Dinner Is Scrapped: A genre-bending culinary competition series created in partnership with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and produced by Park Village.
Building Stories That Move You: An exploration of how BBC Studios and Expedia Group Advertising have architected a modern storytelling‑to‑action ecosystem.

2. Later that evening, MIP LONDON will host a Q&A and special screening of Because I'm Worth It.
A collaboration between L'Oréal Paris, McCann Worldgroup, and TRAVERSE32, the short was directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker Ben Proudfoot and tells the story of Ilon Specht, the McCann copywriter who composed L'Oréal Paris' iconic tagline.

3. On Monday, industry leaders will unite for Brand Entertainment Summit Roundtables.
UNXNOWN Co-Founder Doug Scott will kick things off with a keynote before uniting experts from Dentsu, WeTransfer, Publicis Rebels, Virtue Europe, VICE Media, and WPP Media for discussions on partnership models, financing, distribution, and more.

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HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰

Notwithstanding the occasional boosted brand, couples channels are still dominating the YouTube Charts.

Couple channels are topping the YouTube charts. Jasmin and James gained 1.3 million subscribers in our latest seven-day measurement period, sending their shared hub to #1 in the Global Sub Top 50. (Tubefilter)
Bluesky has announced the launch of Drafts, a feature that will make its user experience more comparable to rivals like Threads and X. (TechCrunch)
HBO Max is crossing the pond. Subscriptions will be available to consumers in the U.K. and Ireland beginning March 26. (Engadget)
Snapchat is beefing up its safety features with the introduction of Arrival Notifications, a "simple, automatic way" for users "to share when they've arrived where they are going." (Snap)

GOSPEL STATS 📈

Lenovo's new matchmaker network pairs up creators who want to use AI

The AI push: Lenovo is firmly on the AI bandwagon. Last April, chairman and CEO Yang Yuanqing deemed the next 10 years the tech company's "AI decade," with a central focus on "making AI accessible and beneficial to every enterprise and individual."

That game plan seems to be working out. In recent quarterly earnings, Lenovo said AI-related sales now account for 30% of its total revenue, and that revenue overall rose 15% year-over-year.

One of the company's biggest AI moves in 2025 was to bring an "every enterprise and individual" approach to creators by launching Make Space, a "URL and IRL platform aimed at bringing the creative community together to discover new opportunities, possibilities and forms of expression with AI, powered by Lenovo Yoga."

Make Space launched in February 2025 with a splashy celebration that brought together artists and creators like Rebecca Black, Doss, Osean, Yehwan Song, Nicola Formichetti, and EricDoesVFX. Then, in December, it launched the Make Space Network in partnership with creative studio Sounds Fun. Their goal is to host an "AI-powered, digital third space [that] brings people together for potential connections, unconventional projects, and novel partnerships."

The platform: Make Space Network is essentially a platform where creators who want to use AI can meet other like-minded people and plan collaborations. After answering a series of questions, new users are paired up with a potential creative partner, who they can then choose to continue chatting with over email (per Dazed).

It's not clear yet if the Make Space Network will offer anything other than creative matches (creator makerspace Lighthouse, for example, offers career development and education/mentorship from experts and executives).

As of now, Lenovo says the Make Space initiative overall will result in online and offline "cultural collaborations with digital pioneers, publishers and platforms, crafted thought leadership, and brand experiences."

WATCH THIS 👀

Sonic (and - as noted above, too) couples channels are booming.

'90s nostalgia is alive and well on YouTube Shorts

The Sonic strategy: It's no secret that Gen Z loves the 90s, but based on our latest YouTube Shorts rankings, it looks like Gen Alpha may have its own affinity for 90s and 00s cultural touchstones.

This week, one nostalgic IP in particular made appearances on several channels across our YouTube Top 50 viewership charts: Sonic the Hedgehog. The little blue guy who wants to go fast starred in video games and cartoons in the 90s, and his cinematic revival in the 2020s has clearly given short-form creators new ideas.

Enter Sonic 2025. With over-the-top skits and movie references that tie into 90s culture, the costume-fueled channel (which finished at #40 in this week's Global Top 50) crafts a multigenerational approach. Its most popular videos ultimately have little to do with the titular hedgehog—but without that namecheck, would the channel still draw millions of viewers?

Maybe, maybe not—but either way, Sonic 2025 claimed a whopping 420.2 million views in the first week of February. Check out one of the channel's latest viral hits here.

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