It’s Wednesday and Meta’s new Muse image model will allow creators to generate AI likenesses of fellow Instagram users simply by tagging them

Today’s News

🔎 Google debuts “platform properties”
🎮 Creators gamify YouTube
📈 This week on the branded charts…
🎬 TikTok helps brands with microdramas
⭐ State Farm recruits top stars

SEARCH RESULTS

Google is lending its arsenal of data to creators.

Google’s “platform properties” turn search data into an asset for creators

The update: Google is putting its treasure trove of statistical data to work. The tech giant has announced that creators can now use the Google Search Console to analyze “platform properties,” a term that encompasses profiles on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and X.

The Google Search Console lets users track the search terms that bring the most traffic to their webpages. With the introduction of platform properties, the same approach will be applied to social media channels.

By adding their accounts to their Search Console hubs, creators can measure their overall Google Search traffic, identify the videos that show up most often on results pages, and review impression and click data for that content. Impressions measure the number of times a particular piece of content shows up on Google Search, while clicks measure the number of times that content is accessed via search.

The context: The arrival of platform properties is the latest step in Google’s mission to turn Search into a creator-friendly hub. As TikTok began challenging Google’s supremacy in the world of search, the team in Mountain View made its results pages more dynamic and filled them with creator content.

Google ramped up those efforts last month with the introduction of search profiles that give creators a strong presence on the results pages most relevant to their work. Now, the tech giant is taking another step to pass on the benefits of its deep reserve of search data to the creator community.

HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰

Mario Kart fans are gamifying YouTube videos. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)

A playable version of Rainbow Road has come to YouTube. Thanks to two gaming fans, the Mario Kart level is featured in a video that utilizes YouTube’s 360° format to turn its video player into an interactive experience. (Tubefilter)
A bug in Discord’s AI moderation system resulted in the wrongful banning of over 8,000 users in the last two months. (TechCrunch)
A social media addiction lawsuit brought against Meta by the states of California, New Jersey, Kentucky, and Colorado is seeking a total of $1.4 trillion in damages. (Gizmodo)
X has announced the launch of a “brand new Video Editor and Recorder” that will allow iOS users to add custom backgrounds to videos and overlay captions in multiple languages. (TechCrunch)

GOSPEL STATS 📈

YouTube and FIFA are making the most of creator influence.

Top Branded Videos: A clean sweep from FIFA

The World Cup is officially upon us, and considering YouTube is an official “Preferred Platform” for FIFA’s 2026 competition, we’re not surprised to see the international soccer org tapping into the power of content creators.

Three of the top videos in Gospel Stats’ latest Weekly Brand Report are YouTube x FIFA creator partnerships—but even the world’s biggest sport can’t topple MrBeast from slot #1.

🥇 #1. MrBeast x Motrin: 50 YouTube Legends Fight for $1,000,000 (70.7M views)
Cash-fueled creator competitions have become a mainstay on MrBeast’s channel, and this video is no exception. The main difference between this chart-topper and other recent MrBeast hits is its sponsorship from Motrin, which appears to be a first for the Beast Man.

🥈 #2. Jenny Hoyos x YouTube and FIFA: I Got a Package from FIFA x YouTube #ad @YouTube @fifa #FIFAWorldCup (65.2M views)
Jenny Hoyos is one of several creators in YouTube’s World Cup group, and fans seem hyped to follow her journey. 65 million viewers tuned in to watch Hoyos open her invite box from YouTube and FIFA—enough to put her 35-second Short in sneezing distance of MrBeast’s 32-minute challenge.

The close race between those two videos says a lot about the success of YouTube and FIFA’s creator collabs, especially since one vid features Hoyos sitting alone in a room and the other required coordination from hundreds of people.

🎰 #3. Jenny Hoyos x YouTube and FIFA: GRWM for the FIFA World Cup #ad @YouTube @fifa #FIFAWorldCup (43.3M views)
Hoyos followed up her FIFA/YouTube unboxing Short with another classic video format. GRWMs are nothing new, but the timekeeper icon for Hoyos’ high-ranking World Cup-themed video isn’t YouTube’s usual red dot; it’s a soccer ball.

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

MONEY MOVES

TikTok wants brands to buy into microdramas. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images.)

TikTok’s new ad product helps brands distribute and scale their microdramas

The microdrama tool: As more advertisers leverage the hype surrounding minidramas, TikTok is unveiling a tool to make those videos more efficient and scalable.

TikTok Growth Max, a scaling solution designed for “content partners and advertisers in high-engagement verticals,” is now available on the videos TikTok calls Mini Dramas. As TikTok explained in a recent post, “Growth Max supercharges Mini Dramas by leveraging advertising automation and onsite signals to reach high-intent audiences and drive more revenue and better ad performance.”

“By combining episodic content, built-in monetization, and performance powered by TikTok Growth Max, Mini Dramas helps brands connect with engaged audiences and drive growth.”

- TikTok

The context: TikTok Growth Max arrives amid a pivotal moment for the microdrama community. In addition to generating enough hype to spur the development of dedicated apps, product innovations, and film festivals, microdramas have become a trendy marketing tactic for several major brands. Crocs launched one of the first branded microdramas, and Marc Jacobs went big by casting actor Rachel Sennott as the lead in its microdrama.

Even as those investments pour in, the history of digital short-form fads casts a long shadow over the growing success of microdramas. Will the format stay hot, or will it fall victim to the same issues that plagued Vine, Go90, and Quibi?

While that question has yet to be answered, TikTok is doing its part to make microdramas sustainable. A TikTok Minis Center increases the visibility of microdramas by turning the For You Page and search bar into discovery tools, while the TikTok Drama Center adds more monetization into the mix.

WATCH THIS 👀

Is your favorite streamer getting in on the action?

State Farm is back on Twitch with IShowSpeed, Emiru, and Cinna

The creator competition: State Farm’s Gamerhood competition show is back for a fifth season—and this year’s lineup is as star-studded as ever. Alongside the unforgettable Jake from State Farm, a new teaser confirms that IShowSpeed, PlaqueBoyMax, Cinna, Marlon, JasonTheWeen, and Emiru will go head-to-head in Season Five.

A newsroom post from State Farm describes the new season as an “every-player-for-themselves, free-for-all competition” in which “players will face off in popular video games and IRL physical arena challenges — all vying for a massive prize pool of 100,000 gifted subs.”

This year’s edition of Gamerhood kicks off on July 31, with new episodes hitting State Farm’s Twitch and YouTube channels every Friday in August. Check out a trailer for Season Five here.