Maybe AI just needed MrBeast.
Beast Industries and Google announced a multi-year partnership spanning Gemini, Google Health and Fitbit, which Google owns.
As part of the deal, MrBeast will show fans how to use AI. For example, an upcoming video follows the mega YouTuber, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, and his crew as they use Gemini to help them navigate the jungle, desert and the Arctic.
Donaldson will also appear in a new Gemini campaign, where he shows viewers how he uses the app in his stunts. He’ll also promote how Google Health and Fitbit can support people’s wellness goals.
Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. But in an interview on CNBC, Beast Industries CEO Jeffrey Housenbold said that it had “executive sponsorship all the way up to Sundar [Pichai, CEO of Google].”
Zooming out, the partnership comes as AI companies have ramped up their spending on influencer marketing.
AI and software companies drove 28.2% of influencer marketing spending between August 2025 and July 2026, according to data from fintech firm Ramp, which analyzed card and bill pay spend from over 70,000 US businesses on its platform. While that was less than for consumer brands overall (43.3%), it was ahead of all types of specific consumer brands measured. That includes those that are typically associated with creators, such as beauty and skincare or apparel and retail.
A lot of the spending by these AI companies is going to big-ticket partnerships with a smaller number of creators. Google and Microsoft, for example, have reportedly paid creators between $400,000 to $600,000 for long-term deals around their AI products.
More of these partnerships are also now being directed toward general or lifestyle influencers, rather than expert or technical ones. Microsoft, for instance, has a longstanding partnership with Alix Earle. MrBeast also previously starred in a Super Bowl campaign for Salesforce where he and contestants solved problem using Slack’s AI chatbot. (Salesforce owns Slack.)
This shift in strategy comes as these companies are trying to improve the perception of the technology and drive consumer, instead of just business, adoption of their products.
AI is no longer only an enterprise tool; consumers are using it for everything from dating and parenting advice to shopping and travel planning.
Perceptions of AI are also at an all time low, especially among young people: 55% of 18-to-29 year olds were more concerned than excited by AI, almost doubling from 2022 when ChatGPT first hit the mainstream. Other research has shown that people with more knowledge about AI tend to be slightly more optimistic about the technology. (Even so, most people’s opinions aren’t great.)
Between the lines, MrBeast’s deal with Google was also announced just days after OpenAI revealed that it has reached a $1 billion annualized revenue run rate for its advertising business, which it started testing in February. That’s a massive milestone and puts pressure on its competitors, including Google, which is the leader in the search ad market where most AI ad dollars are being siphoned from.
In many ways, there’s no better partner for Gemini than Donaldson. He’s the only creator with over 500 million YouTube subscribers, many of whom are young and still forming their tech habits and brand loyalties. Plus, what he says and does has outsized influence across the media and entertainment industries, which are also trying to figure out their AI strategies.
Still, working with AI companies can be complicated for creators. OpenAI recently took a group of creators on a lavish brand trip, which sparked major backlash online. OG YouTuber Hank Green also faced criticism and ultimately apologized after fans suspected he’d used AI to write a script.
Even Donaldson isn’t immune. In June 2025, he pulled his own YouTube thumbnail generation tool that used AI after intense criticism from creators. Last October, he also posted on X that he was worried about how the technology would impact creators’ livelihoods, calling it “scary times.”
Still, the money is hard to turn down for any creator. And many may ultimately decide that it’s worth the risk: MrBeast is doing it—and despite what they say, a lot of people are using AI anyway.
By the Numbers: $4.6 billion
That’s how much the North American box office has generated so far this summer, per Rentrak, putting it just shy of the $4.8 billion record set in summer 2013. The box office has been buoyed by several Hollywood blockbusters, including the new Spiderman and The Odyssey, both of which have grossed over $1 billion globally.
While it’s a stretch to say that creators are “saving” Hollywood, two unexpected horror hits from YouTubers, Backrooms and Obsession, have also helped get people, especially teens and young adults, back into theaters.
Still, sales growth has been driven primarily by rising movie ticket prices, rather than increased attendance, as the number of moviegoers remains below pre-pandemic levels. At the same time, there are fewer screens and fewer films premiering than ever before. That could theoretically make it easier for a single movie to score big at the box office, but with less choice, it makes it harder to get people to come back.
Either way, the success of these movies—combined with the popularity of other big monocultural moments like the World Cup and Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s wedding—suggest that people still want some shared experiences and that we may not be as different as our hyper-personalized social feeds make us think.
For more on this, as well as our conversation from the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year, tune into our latest podcast episode, out now on YouTube, Spotify, Apple, iHeart and wherever else you get your podcasts!
🐝 Brand Buzz
Move over, employee influencers. Chipotle turned 100 creators into employees for a national ad campaign that will appear on TV, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube Shorts. The creators worked alongside crew members at 50 restaurants in the US, UK and Canada, capturing more than 345 hours of footage. The videos were spliced together into ads.
ICYMI: Chipotle recently added a limited-edition “Salish Matter Order” to its app and website menu in an effort to appeal to Gen Alpha. The order? A kid’s cheese quesadilla with rice, black beans and guacamole served with chips and chocolate milk.
Sephora will launch on TikTok Shop. Every month, the retailer will unveil a selection of products on TikTok Live with a celebrity host, brand founders and creators. This is how TikTok Shop works best: Limited edition, exclusive product drops that create a sense of urgency and FOMO.
Kleenex and Recess Therapy launched the “Kleenex Emotional Support Desk,” a segment on the popular short-form video show where parents and kids call in to get advice from kids.
It’s the first time the show, which features host Julian Shapiro-Barnum interviewing kids, has brought its hotline format to a brand partnership. The timing fits well for the back-to-school season.
Instagram is tapping creators to help get more people to watch Reels on TVs together. A new campaign features several different creators using the Instagram for TV app with friends, clients and family. The living room has become the next battleground for social apps as they go after streaming ad dollars, but even one Instagram exec told us it’s not clear how many people will want to watch vertical short-form videos on horizontal TV screens.
The Round Up
New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani has an influencer group chat. Run by Emilia Rowland, director of new media and cultural communications at the NYC Office of the Mayor, the NYC Creator Announcement Signal group has roughly 200 members who receive daily updates, talking points, clips and even interview invitations, according to a new report from the Columbia Journalism Review.
The report states that influencers in the group aren’t paid by the city for their coverage. But the news has raised eyebrows and questions, particularly among right-wing media outlets and some industry watchdogs.
Everywhere, a new creator media company, launched on Wednesday. The company aims to help brands unify their creator efforts by acting as a single partner for creators across their different channels. Everywhere said it will announce the creators it is working with in the coming weeks.
Influencer marketing company Later’s affiliate network Mavely will now operate under the Later name. As part of the announcement, Later also said it has paid out over $300 million to creators. Later acquired Mavely in January 2025 for $250 million.
X will now make all of its creator payouts in the US via X Money, rather than through Stripe payments. The move comes as the company continues to try to build out its financial services product and transform into an “everything app.”
Roblox creators generated a GDP impact of $2.37 billion from 2017 to 2025 in the US, according to a new report from the company and research firm Nordicity. Economic impact reports like these have become popular among tech firms, in part as they seek to shape their perception among the public. Read our exclusive analysis of YouTube’s most recent report here.
Creator Moves
Amelia Dimoldenberg is ending her YouTube show “Chicken Shop Date” after “a few final dates.” The interview series, which has featured everyone from Jennifer Lawrence to Paul McCartney, began as a column 12 years ago. We can’t wait to hear what’s next for Dimoldenberg.
MrBeast can now add “author” to his resume. His novel “The Most Dangerous Game” with James Patterson went on sale on Tuesday. True to form, the debut was accompanied by a competition where people who buy the book can enter to win $1 million.
So far, reports on the book’s success are mixed: Semafor reported that preorders numbered in the four digits last week, but the book was No.6 on Amazon’s best-selling new releases list as of Thursday morning.
Speaking of giveaways… iShowSpeed and personal care brand Dr. Squatch announced a nine-week contest that will distribute $1 million cash prizes. Fans can enter the contest by participating in content missions on social media, finding briefcases with gold soap bars that are redeemable for cash or by buying an iShowSpeed Loot Box Bundle on TikTok Shop that may contain a scratcher.
As part of the campaign, over 4,000 Walmart stores and other retailers will have in-store displays to take shoppers to a dedicated website with a leaderboard and mission hub.
Deals, Deals, Deals
CreatorFi raised $45 million in debt and equity financing to fund more creator media businesses. The fintech company advances capital against recurring creator revenue, such as YouTube AdSense, TikTok Shop sales and Roblox earnings.
Archive, an AI creator marketing platform, raised new funding co-led by Antifund, a venture capital firm founded by Jake and Logan Paul and entrepreneur Geoffrey Woo, and Florida Funders.
Publicis Groupe acquired French influencer marketing agency Point D’Orgue, folding about 40 staff into Influential France. Publicis has been busy building out its influencer capabilities over the past few years, from acquiring Influential and Captiv8 to launching a new college sports consulting arm with Travis Kelce.
Sports Desk
🏈 TikTok and the NFL have renewed and expanded their multi-year partnership. It now includes a dedicated fan hub, new in-app experiences and year-round content across the official NFL and its international accounts.
The Athletic announced a new live YouTube show premiering on September 8, one day before the NFL season kicks off. The show will start with three livestreams per week and expand to five in late October.
🎾 The US Open may be questioning its decision to double down on creators this year. A video of an influencer using a ring light during a match before being told off by a chair umpire has gone viral, sparking criticism from the media, tennis fans and even some players.
Talent Tracker
Andrew Yaffe is stepping down as CEO of Dude Perfect. Yaffe joined the company in 2024 shortly after the company raised $100 million in funding. The former NBA executive helped scale the YouTube group’s business and build out its C-Suite, which now includes its first-ever chief content officer. We’ll have more on this in Tuesday’s newsletter.
Sophy Silver joined Steven Bartlett’s holding company Steven.com as vice president of global communications. Previously, Silver held communications roles at TikTok and Meta. Hiring in-house communications leaders may be a growing trend for top creators: Earlier this year, Beast Industries hired seasoned PR executive Gaude Lydia Paez as chief communications officer.
Catherine Valentine, head of news and politics at Substack, is leaving the company, according to business and culture newsletter Feed Me. Valentine is reportedly starting a new company with another former Substack staffer.
