The social video
intelligence company

YouTube in particular has been a gold mine for cooks: Monthly uploads of food and drink videos have shot up from 171,000 in January 2024 to 315,000 in June 2025, according to analytics firm Tubular Labs Inc. And in a 2023 post on its Culture & Trends channel, YouTube attributed 80 billion views in the first 11 months of the year to videos from street food heavyweights such as Roy Choi of Los Angeles-based Kogi BBQ. YouTube has become an increasingly useful resource for professional chefs who know what to look for. In recent years, it’s also helped skilled amateurs earn culinary reputations and even open their own restaurants.

There was a party at the convent. One break dancer who introduced himself as the Wizard was doing backflips. Another was spinning on his back. There were spotlights, a rapper, two cameramen and a Chevy lowrider with a sound system in the trunk and the bass turned up. In the middle of it all were Sister Marizele Rego and Sister Marisa Neves — Brazil’s sudden star nuns — and their cluster of backup dancers in habits, crosses and veils. The nuns were recording the music video for their new song, “Vocation,” which had become a hit since Sister Marizele sang the catchy hook and beatboxed as Sister Marisa danced in sync on a Brazilian Catholic television show three weeks earlier.

A generation that grew up watching YouTubers on tablets and phones have migrated to TVs, and Hollywood is losing ground.