Top Brands Spending on YouTube This Week (Oct 19-25, 2026)
Kalshi took #1 with 285 paid videos, PrizePicks nearly doubled, and Indeed's jump from 19 to 160 looks crazy until you see the trend. Here's the full board: 2,169 paid sponsorships across 172 brands.
Last week Kalshi sat 5 videos behind FanDuel. This week it finished 51 ahead.
We analyzed 2,169 paid YouTube sponsorships from Oct 19-25 across the 172 brands we track in the Scout sponsor index. Here is the full board.
TLDR
- Kalshi took #1 with 285 paid videos, up from 194.
- Kalshi, PrizePicks and FanDuel ran 756 of the week's 2,169 paid videos (35%).
- Indeed went from 19 to 160 (+742%), the biggest gain on the board. That puts it back above its usual pace, a median of 96 a week before the drop.
- Shopify (28 to 17) and BetterHelp (48 to 41) had the biggest drops.
Last Week's Calls, Checked
- We said Kalshi was 5 videos behind FanDuel. It passed it: 285 to 234.
- We read Indeed's -81% as a flight ending, not Indeed leaving YouTube. It's back: 19 to 160, above its pre-drop median of 96.
- BetterHelp's drop wasn't only timing. After 123 to 48 last week, it fell again to 41.
Who Grew and Who Pulled Back
Indeed added 141 paid videos, more than any brand on the board, but it's a rebound, not a new buyer. Three of the top five gainers are sports betting and prediction markets.
Up this week:
| Brand | This wk | Prev wk | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Indeed | 160 | 19 | +141 | +742% |
| PrizePicks | 237 | 120 | +117 | +98% |
| Kalshi | 285 | 194 | +91 | +47% |
| FanDuel | 234 | 199 | +35 | +18% |
| Mint Mobile | 39 | 23 | +16 | +70% |
Down this week:
| Brand | This wk | Prev wk | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shopify* | 17 | 28 | -11 | -39% |
| BetterHelp | 41 | 48 | -7 | -15% |
| Factor* | 15 | 21 | -6 | -29% |
| Zocdoc | 34 | 38 | -4 | -11% |
| Monarch Money* | 10 | 14 | -4 | -29% |
*Outside the top 20; included here for the movement. Movers shown are the ones whose change also holds on total brand mentions, not just paid.
Ranked: Top Brands by Paid Videos
The top 20 ran 1,591 of the week's 2,169 paid videos (73%). The chart shows the top 10. The table below has all 20, and each linked brand opens its full creator list, the actual channels running paid reads for it.
| # | Brand | This wk | Prev wk* | Δ | Last 30d | All-time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kalshi | 285 | 194 | +91 | 780 | 1,521 |
| 2 | PrizePicks | 237 | 120 | +117 | 641 | 2,179 |
| 3 | FanDuel | 234 | 199 | +35 | 778 | 2,408 |
| 4 | Indeed | 160 | 19 | +141 | 411 | 1,470 |
| 5 | ButcherBox | 126 | 67 | +59 | 310 | 693 |
| 6 | Quince | 73 | 69 | +4 | 299 | 3,912 |
| 7 | NordVPN | 44 | 24 | +20 | 135 | 1,479 |
| 8 | BetterHelp | 41 | 48 | -7 | 334 | 2,991 |
| 9 | Ground News | 40 | 13 | +27 | 88 | 5,716 |
| 10 | Mint Mobile | 39 | 23 | +16 | 109 | 11,322 |
| 11 | Helix Sleep | 38 | 32 | +6 | 121 | 6,663 |
| 12 | Hostinger | 36 | 22 | +14 | 89 | 772 |
| 13 | Aura | 35 | 25 | +10 | 168 | 1,368 |
| 14 | Zocdoc | 34 | 38 | -4 | 135 | 1,108 |
| 15 | DraftKings | 32 | 19 | +13 | 91 | 422 |
| 16 | Incogni | 29 | 26 | +3 | 131 | 1,059 |
| 17 | DeleteMe | 28 | 28 | 0 | 106 | 1,192 |
| 18 | AG1 | 28 | 28 | 0 | 120 | 881 |
| 19 | SeatGeek | 27 | 30 | -3 | 131 | 733 |
| 20 | Surfshark | 25 | 20 | +5 | 102 | 1,344 |
*Prev wk recounted from the same Nov 3 pull. Method in the FAQ.
How Recent Is Each Brand's Spend
Kalshi ran 780 of its 1,521 all-time paid videos in the last 30 days (51%), the newest money on the board. Mint Mobile, the deepest all-time spender here, ran 109 of 11,322 (1.0%). Up and to the left means a brand is spending most of what it's ever spent right now.
Kalshi Took #1, and Indeed Came Back
This chart plots this week's paid videos against the change from last week. Brands to the right ran more paid videos, brands higher up grew faster.
Prediction markets now lead the board. Kalshi ran 285 paid videos, 48 more than anyone else. Sportsbooks are still close behind: PrizePicks and FanDuel finished 3 paid videos apart.
Indeed's +742% looks crazy until you see the trend. In the 9 weeks before last week's drop it ran a median of 96 paid videos a week, then fell to 19. This week it ran 160, about two-thirds above its normal week and now #4 on the board. We can see the videos, not the contracts, so read this as a flight schedule rather than a new strategy.
Mint Mobile (11,322) and Helix Sleep (6,663) still have the deepest all-time numbers on the board. Case studies: Mint Mobile YouTube sponsorships, Quince's YouTube playbook.
Want the channels behind any brand on this board? Look up who a brand sponsors, free.
Who's Buying More This Week
For creators and talent managers, the brands worth pitching are the ones spreading paid reads across independent channels. This week: NordVPN ran 44 paid videos across 23 channels, BetterHelp 41 across 32, and Mint Mobile grew 23 to 39 on paid and on total mentions, so the gain looks real.
These brands are buying creator sponsorships this week. Claim your free Scout creator profile so they can find you, or read the two-minute walkthrough first. New to this? How to get sponsored on YouTube. Managing a roster? List it in the Scout Talent Network. No fees, no cut of your deals.
Related Reads
- Last week's board: Oct 12-18, 2026
- Brands sponsoring personal-finance YouTubers in 2026: sportsbooks, prediction markets, trading apps and budgeting tools.
- How to sponsor YouTubers: the playbook: if you're a brand looking to build what the top of this leaderboard runs every week.
- YouTube sponsorship rates in 2026: what the deals on this board actually cost, by creator size.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is this report?
- A weekly ranking of the brands running the most paid sponsorships on YouTube. Each issue covers one 7-day window: the top 20, the biggest movers, and what the numbers say.
- How often does it come out?
- Every week. Each issue goes out after its window closes, once most of that week's videos have been classified.
- Can I get it in my inbox?
- Yes. Subscribe and each new board lands in your inbox.
- What counts as a paid video?
- Scout counts a video as paid when the brand mention is Dedicated (the whole video is the sponsorship), Integrated (a scripted segment inside a longer video), or Affiliate (a creator link with a trackable code or URL). Organic mentions, where a creator talks about a brand without a deal, don't count.
- Is this dollar spend?
- No. It counts paid videos, not dollars. A 60-second read on a small channel and a dedicated video on a huge one each count once. For what the deals actually cost, see YouTube sponsorship rates in 2026.
- Which brands are tracked?
- 172 brands across sportsbooks, prediction markets, fantasy, VPNs and privacy tools, DTC health, supplements, meal kits, finance apps, creator tools, AI tools, software, mattresses, telecoms, and more. If a brand you track isn't on the list, let us know and we'll add it.
- How is the prev wk column counted?
- Prev wk is Oct 12-18, recounted from the same pull as this week. Scout keeps classifying videos for a few weeks after they publish, so past weeks get revised each issue. This week was pulled Nov 3, and Oct 25 is still filling in, so treat this week's counts as a floor.
- Why are so many brands up this week?
- Scout's sponsor classifier was upgraded on Oct 19 and now catches more paid reads, so paid counts rose about 25% across the board while total brand mentions rose under 2%. The movers above only include brands whose total mentions moved the same way as their paid count.
- Can I see the creators behind a brand?
- Yes. Every linked brand in the top 20 opens its creator list. For any other brand, look up who it sponsors, free.
- What is Scout?
- Scout is Babbl Labs' creator-marketing platform. It indexes 100,000+ YouTube channels, their audiences, and the brands that sponsor them. This leaderboard runs on the same data.
