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As YouTube continues to grow, it also enters the Primetime Emmy consideration space in a huge way. Below, Variety breaks down some of the biggest creators driving global conversation to keep an eye out for this FYC
season. Brittany Broski Variety series Before she was Lady Brittany of House Broski, she was a Texas bank employee posting videos on TikTok to make her friends laugh. In August 2019, a 21-second clip of Broski tasting kombucha for the first time racked up more than 40 million views and turned her into one of the defining memes of the decade. What followed was a steady, self-willed expansion from meme to media personality. She launched “The Broski Report” in May 2023 and two months later debuted “Royal Court” on YouTube. Each episode sees Broski putting celebrity guests through a series of tests to determine whether they are worthy of getting “knighted” onto her small council. Those tests include answering questions under a sudden, blinding interrogation light (a bit that reliably catches her guests off guard) and sketching a personal family crest mid-conversation. Guests have included Charli xcx, Hannah Einbinder and Harry Styles. The channel has over 1 million subscribers and the show is entirely self-funded by Broski and filmed at OBB Studios in West Hollywood — a one-woman operation that continues to land A-list royalty. Kareem Rahma Short form comedy, drama or variety series The premise of Rahma’s “Subway Takes” is almost insultingly simple: the comedian and media personality boards a New York City subway car, holds up a microphone clipped to a MetroCard and asks strangers (and the occasional celebrity) one question. “So what’s your take?” What they say next, and how hard Rahma agrees or disagrees with it, is the whole show. Launched in 2023 almost as a whim alongside co-founder Andrew Kuo, “Subway Takes” turned out to be one of the more brilliant formats on the internet, nearing one million subscribers on YouTube. Guests range from ordinary commuters to figures like Cate Blanchett and Julian Casablancas, all subject to the same fluorescent lighting and ambient subway screech. The format’s genius lies in its simplicity. His bar for booking is equally unfiltered — is he entertained? If yes, success. His other franchise, “Keep the Meter Running,” changes the transportation mode as Rahma rides through New York with a cab driver, turning the back seat into a long-form interview. Together, the two shows have made Rahma one of the foremost architects of the urban interview, capturing something in a moving vehicle that most late-night sets cannot. Michelle Khare Hosted nonfiction series or special Khare might just be the Tom Cruise of YouTube. She does all her own stunts and, in 2025, even became the second person to pull off Cruise’s infamous “Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation” plane hang, documenting the entire process in an episode of “Challenge Accepted,” her YouTube series that sees Khare train with elite professionals to complete extreme challenges. She’s documented everything from FBI simulations to Olympic-level athletic training for her 5.4 million subscribers. Most recently, she embarked on her biggest challenge yet, competing in the Great World Race, which entails running seven marathons across seven continents in seven days. The Dartmouth College alum cut her teeth as a video producer at BuzzFeed in the mid-2010s, where she directed, edited and starred in hundreds of videos. She’s also a former college national champion cyclist who also competed professionally, and her experiences flying across the country for races while working at the company inspired “Challenge Accepted.” Khare has been full-time on YouTube for a decade and is proving that there’s a major place in entertainment for herself as “YouTube’s daredevil.” Cleo Abram Short form nonfiction or reality series Abram is HUGE. Just across Instagram and TikTok alone, the video journalist has amassed more than five million followers; she boasts 7.8 million subscribers on YouTube, where she has shot to popularity thanks to her optimistic science and technology explainer web show “HUGE* If True.” Described as an “antidote to the doom and gloom,” Abram’s content is defined by her signature high-energy personality. In each episode of the series, she goes well beyond the surface of future-shaping innovations, from humanoid robots at Boston Dynamics to supersonic planes at NASA to quantum computers at IBM. Since she began the series in 2022, she’s sat down with the biggest names in science and tech, including Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, ChatGPT’s Sam Altman, “Project Hail Mary” author Andy Weir, Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis and NASA engineer Mark Rober. Before Abram took her talents to social media, she worked as a video producer at Vox, where she hosted their daily show “Answered.” Additionally, she directed for “Explained” on Netflix and co-hosted YouTube Originals show “Glad You Asked.” Sean Evans Variety series Being in the hot seat has a whole new meaning thanks to Evans, co-creator and host of “Hot Ones.” Launched with co-creator Chris Schonberger as a unique way to take on the classic celebrity interview, “Hot Ones” invites guests onto the YouTube show to eat 10 chicken wings, each prepared with a progressively hotter hot sauce. As the wings become more intense, sliding up the Scoville scale, so does the topic of conversation. Questions go from casual and conversational to hard-hitting, well-researched and deeply personal. While celebrities tend to promote their upcoming projects, at its core, the show is a lighthearted conversation that has inspired viral memes and GIFs. Tears, flushed cheeks, glasses of milk: all are guest stars on the show that has hosted hundreds of celebrities. And for those who fail to finish their assortment? Welcome to the Hall of Shame! Julian Shapiro-Barnum Short form nonfiction or reality series There’s no quicker way to be humbled than by a child — or a classroom full of them. Shapiro-Barnum’s “Celebrity Substitute” invites stars to step in as substitute teachers, leading real classrooms in New York City public schools. Shapiro-Barnum, who has a BFA in acting and a background in sketch comedy, comes armed with the ability to create humorous and well-placed questions, setting the scene for his famous guests to be endearingly disarmed by the kids. Notable recent episodes include A$AP Rocky teaching rap, Lea Michele and Jonathan Groff coaching kids for a talent show and Gigi Hadid advising the class on how to unlock their inner confidence. Shapiro-Barnum first rose to fame with “Recess Therapy,” a viral YouTube series built on quick, candid interviews with elementary-school kids during their recess. Many of his young subjects became fan-favorites, while the series amassed over a million subscribers and set the stage for Shapiro-Barnum to expand. The fast-paced environment of “Celebrity Substitute,” combined with the unfiltered, brutal honesty of grade-school children, often produce some of the most unique celebrity interviews. After all, who else would ask Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai “Why are you so important?,” causing the 28-year-old to reply: “Oh my goodness, I think I’m having an existential crisis right now.” Jeenie Weenie Short form nonfiction or reality series Sandra Jeenie Kwon, better known as Jeenie Weenie, has no intention of stepping back from the skies. A former flight attendant, Kwon became popular for her comedic skits on what she refers to as “Jeenie Air,” where the content creator pulls inspiration from her previous experiences in the industry and memorable passenger encounters. Viewers often also get insider tips and behind-the-scenes secrets to implement on their next flight. Kwon’s scripted YouTube series, “Cabin Pressure,” where she often plays multiple roles, continues the aerial theme, following the misadventures of an eccentric flight attendant crew and their quippy passengers locked in an aircraft at 30,000 feet and fighting for survival.
