New media studio DECA launched its YouTube original network of mom-centric programming called KinCommunity earlier this week. Some of the top female parents in female parent-oriented internet entertainment are sure to make appearances (DECA’s worked with names like Dooce, Soleil Moon Frye, and Daphne Brogdon on other projects), but two notable ladies with relatively new children who you won’t see on Kin are 1) Kourtney Kardashian (her mommy show is on on E! Online) and 2) Nadya Suleman aka Octomom (because her show is headed to Ustream).

TMZ reports the mother of 14(!!!) signed a six-figure deal with an unnamed production company to star in her own weekly original web series dubbed OctoTV. The program will be streamed live every Sunday from in and around Suleman’s house and will feature one of the world’s most famous moms discussing topics like “parenting, fitness, diet, nutrition, shopping on a budget and all those crazy rumors.” A trailer of sorts hit the internet on December 8, while the online original is officially set to launch before the end of the year.

The last time we’ve seen Suleman on any screen for any significant amount of time was back in August of 2009. That’s when the two-hour documentary Octomom: The Incredible Unseen Footage aired on Fox. Suleman also told Oprah in 2010 she will never do a reality television show.

Suleman’s brood of octuplets – Noah, Maliyah, Isaiah, Nariya, Jonah, Josiah, Jeremiah, and Makai – will be three years old on January 26, 2012.

Filed under: Articles, Documentary, Featured, Live Streaming, News by Joshua Cohen
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Today popular animated series form Mondo Media Happy Tree Friends returns with original Christmas episode “Clause For Concern.”

“Clause For Concern” marks Happy Tree Friends‘ 5th official Christmas-themed episode. The episode features the adorable father-son duo Pop and Cub, who set out to get into the holiday spirit with the best of intentions, until something goes horribly, horribly wrong.

“We wanted to surprise our fans with this new Christmas-themed episode,” Mondo Media CEO John Evershed told Tubefilter. “They have been asking about it and we are happy to spread some Happy Tree Friends holiday cheer.”

The series, created by Kenn Navarro and Rhode Montijo, generates over 22 million views per month on Mondo Media’s YouTube channel, Mondo Mini Shows, a top 20 YouTube channel that recently passed the 1 billion-view mark.

Mondo Media was one of the nearly 100 YouTube Original Channels announced at the end of October as a part of a $100 million premium content initiative. The new channel, New Animators, will focus on Mondo Media’s core audience of teens and young adults.

“In the coming months as we start taking full advantage of the YouTube redesign, and our new channel offerings,” Evershed told Tubefilter, “Happy Tree Friends fans will have more to look forward to.”

Filed under: Articles, Comedy, Featured, Industry, News, Web Series, YouTube by Drew Baldwin
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Jordan Mathewson, a.k.a. Kootra, one of Machinima Network‘s Respawn Directors, just earned his crown as the latest King of the Web.

You may remember King of the Web from our last Tubefilter Meetup: Do Cheaters Never Prosper? Gaming the System In Online Video – they were our sponsor. King of the Web holds regular online competitions for fans to vote for who and what is awesome on the web.

Kootra, the latest King of the Web, is part of the Creature Hub, and is a Machinima Director as well as a Creature gamer who commentates over video games. Kootra started making machinima with Call of Duty 4 in 2008. He now specializes in live gameplay commentaries on YouTube. Some of his notable work includes the music video for The Crystal Method’s Play for Real, the Minecraft machinima Craft Spice, as well as being the cinematic designer for the Gears of War 3 unofficial trailer What Have I Become.

Filed under: Articles, Comedy, Featured, Industry, News, Web Series, YouTube by Drew Baldwin
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Today Clevver Media launched its new fashion-oriented CleverStyle channel, its second YouTube Original Channel, which follows ClevverTeve‘s launch last month.

ClevverStyle taps into the billion dollar fashion industry, targeting a female audience looking for beauty and style news. Clevver is developing a slate of programs for the new channel including celebrity style interviews, how-to shows with professional makeup artists and fashion stylists, and event coverage.

“Through ClevverStyle, we are able to put our own unique spin on YouTube’s emerging fashion and beauty content category, Michael Palmer, Clevver Media’s Co-Founder, told Tubefilter. “This is such a vast industry and people are hungry for high-quality and relevant content, which is why we have been working hard to create a slate of fun and fashion-filled shows to launch this month and throughout the New Year. Our company has had so much success targeting niche audiences that we are very excited to take on fashion and beauty to expand our content offering, and therefore our audience.”

ClevverStyle will initially launch a slate of three new shows, which includes:

• Daily Style – A daily news show highlighting up-to-the-minute style happenings
• Nikki’s Closet – YouTuber and fashion and beauty guru Nikki Phillippi shows viewers how to get celebrity looks for less
• RED – A daily show that examines celebrity red carpet looks

Last month Clevver launched ClevverTeVe, its all-Spanish channel designed to tap into the rapidly growing Latino market. The new channel includes three original series Teve Hollywood, Radar Latino, and Teve Moda.

Clevver scored three YouTube Original Channels—the most number of channels awarded to any single producer—as part of YouTube’s $100 million premium content initiative. This winter, Clevver will launch its third new channel ClevverNews, a daily, up-to-the-minute entertainment news channel.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Hosted, Industry, News, Web Series, YouTube by Drew Baldwin
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Funny Or Die is launching new comedy series First Dates With Toby Harris starring Seth Morris and premiering on the recently revamped Yahoo! Screen in Spring 2012.

“The series will follow the first dates of a typical LA based single guy who has several first dates,” Dick Glover, CEO of Funny or Die, told Tubefilter. “Through these dates we will get a humorous look at various dating issues, and a different perspectives on life and situations and the funny ways the sexes interact in 2012.”

First Dates With Toby Harris promises to “take viewers on a journey of ill fated first dates with the lovable (sometimes deplorable) and always single Toby Harris. Set with Los Angeles as a back drop, each episode centers around a different woman and issue that will leave the audience bickering amongst themselves who was right and who was wrong, and how they would have handled it better! Love him or hate him, a date with Toby is a date you will always remember.”

First Dates With Toby Harris joins Funny Or Die’s expanding content slate popping up on multiple platforms beyond Funny Or Die itself.

“Funny or Die is a multi-platform, vertical integrated comedy studio so we are happy to partner with online portals, cable TV networks, broadcast networks and other distributors who are capable of bringing our work to the largest possible audiences.” Glover told Tubefilter. “Yahoo fits that bill to a “t” and is a fantastic partner for us on a project like this and, we are sure, many others in the weeks and months to come.”

Billy On The Street, starring comedian Billy Eichner, is the third of a series of shows distributed off-net, joining HBO series Funny Or Die Presents and Comedy Central’s Jon Benjamin Has a Van. Billy On The Street premieres on Fuse December 22.

Filed under: Articles, Comedy, Funny Or Die, Industry, News, Web Series by Drew Baldwin
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The first installment of the animated web series based on YouTube star Lucas Cruikshank’s high-pitched, hyperactive, and lovelorn Fred Figglehorn went live on the internet today. It’s Fred’s premiere episode – ‘Fred Gets Adopted’ – features our protagonists’s familiar face in cartooned form scheming for the affection of his classmate Judy.

That premise is nothing new. Fred fans have seen it dozens of times before. Cartooned Fred breaking the fourth wall and talking directly into the camera at the viewers is nothing new either. That’s a staple of online video programming that’s been the basis of Cruickshank’s character since his first video. But what is different about the cartoon version of Fred is that those individuals that find the Chipmunk-frequency of the main character’s voice annoying, the Micro Machine Guy pace of his speech aggravating, and the show’s level of success uncanny may actually like this series.

As a cartoon, Fred works.

That may have something to do with the aniamted Fred’s pedigree.

It’s Fred was developed and written by Kate Boutilier and Eryk Casemiro. They were the showrunners on the classic cartoon programs The Rugrats and The Wild Thornberries and have a keen sense of how to tell stories with wacky human forms that embark on fanciful and realistic adventures in unrealistic and creative ways. Those who are turned off by how weird it may be for a live-action teenager to pretend to be a six-year-old will have trouble feeling weirded out by the animated iteration. In fact, as abnormal as the original Fred series may appear, It’s Fred isn’t even remotely weird by cartoon standards (Read: This isn’t Sponge Bob Squarepants or Powerpuff Girls).

The Collective Digital Studio produced nine episodes of It’s Fred, all of which will follow “the trials and tribulations of the classic Fred characters: Fred, Judy, Fred’s Mom, Kevin and many new characters.” The program stars the voices of Cruikshank as Fred, Jake Weary, Taryn Southern, and Loraine Newman.

New episodes debut each Thursday on Fred’s YouTube channel. You should watch them.

Filed under: Animated, Articles, Comedy, Featured, Fred, News, Web Series, YouTube by Joshua Cohen
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Start spreading the news. YouTube isn’t the only company investing heavily in original programming. Another online destination with over 173 million unique monthly visitors in the US alone is building its own new studio in New York City to facilitate the creation of online originals.

Gerog Szalai at the Hollywood Reporter writes Yahoo! is in the midst of converting roughly 5,000 square feet of “gutted former conference room” space at the corner of 40th Street and Sixth Avenue in Manhattan into “two sets, seven edit rooms, a state-of-the-art control room and a green room.”

Once complete in mid-March, the studio will be Yahoo’s first filming facility on the East Coast. The multinational internet corporation already has studios in both Sunnyvale and Santa Monica, California, where it shoots some of its most popular internally-produced programming, like omg Now, Prime Time in No Time, and Odd News.

Yahoo will use the studio in NYC to shoot East Coast programs already in production (including Trending Now, Daily Ticker, and Breakout) and add to its already extensive slate of original web series. Michael Manas, Head of Production Supervision at Yahoo! Studios New York, told Szalai the new facility will be used by every Yahoo vertical. That includes finance, sports, entertainment, women, men, fashion, and more.

In addition to quality in-house productions, Yahoo is distributing a handful of quality online original series filmed outside the company’s studio spaces. Shows like Morgan Spurlock’s Failure Club recently debuted on Yahoo’s recently revamped hub for video – Yahoo! Screen – and Fishbowl Media Worldwide’s Ultimate Proposal is doing quite well, racking up millions of views.

Filed under: Articles, Industry, News by Joshua Cohen
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This week DECA, the company behind Momversation and CoolMom, announced four new series as a part of its YouTube Original Channel KinCommunity.

Four series launched on KinCommunity Monday night:

• KinEats featuring simple everyday recipes from a variety of sources including bloggers, influencers as well as real women from the KinCommunity
• KinStyle featuring fashion bloggers and affordable clothing (each featured look will never cost more than $100) for every size and shape told via quirky sets and playful commentary
• KinParents, a humorous take on parenthood
• KinStory, a daily, docu-reality series

Deca is planning to crank out at least 13 episodes each week.

“We are thrilled to partner with YouTube to build a truly unique women’s brand. Our deep understanding of female audiences, track record of creating high-quality, social and interactive content and the success of our network of sites are a great foundation for launching KinCommunity,” said Michael Wayne, Co-Founder & CEO of DECA. “KinCommunity further advances DECA’s content mission to inform and entertain women everywhere.”

According to a new study by Nielsen released this month, “Women are the world’s most powerful single demographic. They control the majority of household spending decisions, their influence is growing, and they are increasingly exercising this new-found power in a variety of ways.” DECA has been a pioneer in the women’s digital media industry, and has been producing original content focused on women, like Momversation.

“As a mom, I visit many sites targeting women like me, but when I look at the actual programming, I often feel it speaks to women as moms first and women second,” said Beth Le Manach, Vice President, Programming for DECA. “With KinCommunity, we wanted to speak differently to the multi-dimensional aspects of today’s woman who is constantly balancing the tensions between caring for everyone else and caring for herself.”

Filed under: Articles, Deca, Featured, Industry, News, Web Series, YouTube by Drew Baldwin
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Ludo Baby Bites for Bugaboo: Chef Ludo Lefebvre Trades His F Bombs for a Stroller and Baby Food Adventures

Bugaboo is the Rolls Royce of baby strollers. It’s billed as the one and only stroller you will need from birth through toddlerhood. The Bugaboo company is known for catering to parents who care about good looking things that last a long time and transport their precious cargo in style and/or live in Park Slope or Manhattan’s Upper East and West Sides.

Now, with the launch of their new rotating stroller snack tray, the Bugaboo company is also continuing their relationship with celebrity chef Ludo Lefebvre and his wife Krissy. The company just launched the 12-part web series Ludo Baby Bites, where Ludo learns to make what little kids can eat.

Ludo and Krissy have twin seven-month-olds and are determined to serve their family a healthy meal that they can eat together each night. And you better believe if Ludo is going to make macaroni and cheese and  chicken tenders they aren’t going to be anything like what you’d get from Gerber.

Tubefilter went down to Bugaboo headquarters in El Segundo for the launch party of Ludo Baby Bites. After a screening of the first episode and lunch from the LudoTruck, (It’s a tough job, we know) we sat down with the pop-up restaurant master, Ludo Lefebvre, and President of Bugaboo Americas, Kari Boiler, to find out how this pint-sized cooking collaboration came about.

Tubefilter: Ludo, how did you originally meet the Bugaboo people?

Ludo Lefebvre: A lot of my friends knew I had twins coming. I friend of mine, Mark said, “I know the people at Bugaboo if you need a stroller.” So I said, “Yeah, I’ll take it.” I needed help, I needed someone to tell me what to buy for twin babies. So I came here to Bugaboo and picked my Donkey.

Kari Boiler: That’s what the stroller is called.

LL: I really love my Donkey. It is so cool and I love Bugaboo. It was a lot of inspiration for me to choose the color. It is so simple but so useful. I like the look. I like everything.

TF: So you picked out your stroller, then you started to think about what you would feed your kids?

LL: At our baby shower we played a game, a blind tasting of baby food. I was shocked how the food was not tasting how it supposed to taste. I decided I needed to do something about food for kids. That’s pretty scary to think about my kid eating that baby food. They were going to have the wrong idea about the taste of a carrot. If it’s not the real color and flavor of a carrot. I realized as a chef and as a parent I need to be responsible about what I feed to my kids. I need to teach them how to eat. I want to eat a carrot that tastes like a carrot. So I was talking to my friend Mark and then we talked with Kari about that. I cook all the time for adults I don’t want to forget about the kids.

TF: How did the idea of making videos on this topic come about?

KB: We met and talked and one thing led to another. When we talked about cooking for kids, Ludo said, “I’ve never cooked for a kid before.” We realized, there’s an idea here. You spend time in the market, pushing your kids in their stroller. Let’s follow you. Let’s be with you on this journey going to the market, exploring, getting in your car, puting a stroller in your car. It was just that simple. Video was the perfect medium to express this idea and get the word out there.

LL: That’s a great message- to help teach parents what to do with food and try to give them inspiration. To show them you still can cook good food, but fresh and fast.

TF: How do you shoot the videos? 

LL:  Someone follows me in the market. After I decide what I want to make. They we shoot the recipe and voila I do my thing in the kitchen. I also had a nutritionist working with me. Before this I knew nothing about cooking for kids. That’s pretty scary. I did not realize kids should not eat salt until they are one years old. It’s crazy I did not know that. No citrus. Citrus is one of my favorite things to eat. I love citrus. No citrus until one years old. And no honey.

Tubefilter: And no eggs? No peaniuts?

LL: Yes, you need to know these things.

TF: What are the goals of the videos?

KB: I hope we offer something to all consumers. The idea that these are possibly the busiest new parents- and with twins- that are out there. They are showing that they continue to be as mobile as they are and make good choices to cook simple meals. They have to eat too. We all have to eat. Let’s try to figure out how to be efficient and do it really well. So every Tuesday with a new video, we hope to offer you something exciting every week.

Tubefilter: How much was healthy eating part of the goals of Bugaboo before your association with Ludo and Krissy?

KB: Here at Bugaboo we give 1% to the (RED) Foundation to the Global Fund. This about connecting with the idea of what we define as, mobile modern parenting. We all love the idea that we make our products to last through all children and then they get passed on. There is a sustainable message in our products. They last you forever, you don’t need to buy ten strollers. The average parent buys five, but you only need to buy one. Sustainability is in out DNA in the sense of how we want to be a part of it and what Ludo brings is a new message to it which is about healthy eating and family and family time. Those are values that we at Bugaboo certainly have.

LL: Just like you only need to make one meal. You don’t need to make ten meals. My kids are only seven months old right now, but I can make for all of us salmon with carrots. That’s it. I really want to help people to give them inspiration what to do for their kids together,

The series is worth watching, if for nothing more than to see Chef Ludo trade the famous profanity-laden outbursts seen on Top Chef Masters and Ludo Bites America for rolling his new twin babies around town in their Donkey. His shopping for colorful vegetables and fruit (instead of his signature squid with black ash or foie gras many many ways) is also a nice respite from the fancy pants cuisine we’re accustomed to on so many cooking shows.

We predict everyone will wish they had a cool tattooed French dad who cooks up a storm like Ludo.

Filed under: Articles, Branded Entertainment, Featured, News, Web Series by Julie Wolfson
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Despite getting three new YouTube Original Channels as part of YouTube’s $100 million premium content initiative launched in November, web video giant Maker Studios has launched another channel: mini-network Animonster featuring online stars Ray William Johnson, Timothy DeLaGhetto and Pee Dee Flo, and Totally Sketch and Steve Greene.

This weekend Maker launched a new animation vertical, with three new animated series featuring creators Ray William Johnson, the Guiness Book of World Records holder for “most-subscribed” on the YouTube platform (over 9 Million people across three channels as of December 2011), urban Asian online comedy sensation Timothy “DeLaGhetto,” Hispanic YouTube star Pee Dee Flo, popular Youtuber comic Steve Greene and prolific online comedy director Michael Gallagher (creator of Totally Sketch and one of YouTube’s Most Subscribed of All Time).

Maker’s Head of Animation is none other than South Park veteran Glasgow Phillips, who developed Animonster‘s animation shows:

• Your Favorite Martian (currently #1 animated channel and series on YouTube, averaging 9 million views per episode and 30 million monthly views)
• Dino Yacht Club, Gallagher and Greene’s elite squad of British dinosaurs
•  Powerhouse, the urban-infected comedy from the real-life best pals DeLaGhetto & PeeDeeFlo

“This is just the beginning.” Phillips said. “We’re looking to premiere and program many more shows, created by and featuring many more of everyone’s favorite YouTube stars.” Tubefilter got word of a new kids’ animation hub Cartoonium! from beloved YouTube personalities ShayCarl and Nice Peter.

Animonster follows Maker’s Orignal YouTube Original Channels Maker Music Network, The Mom’s View and Tutele, the first global online bilingual/hispanic original series programming network.

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Filed under: Animated, Articles, Comedy, Featured, Industry, News, Web Series, YouTube by Drew Baldwin
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What’s Trending wasn’t the first original web series based on the premise of “Let’s talk about whatever’s hot on the internet!” but it’s probably one of the best.

Conceived of and executive produced by Damon Berger and ubiquitous online video personality Shira Lazar and produced by their independent outfit Disrupt/Group, What’s Trending launched on May 17, 2011. It’s a daily news source and live, weekly, interactive program hosted by Lazar that discusses exactly what the title would suggest. What’s trending on the internet and in social media.

But where similar programs would comb Fark and Google Trends for talking points to recite in front of a camera, Lazar brings a background well versed in online news and online video that make the program not only great for news discussion, but newsworthy in and of itself.

And What’s Trending definitely has been newsworthy. Sometimes because of controversial interviews (like when Lupe Fiasco told Lazar “Obama is the biggest terrorist in America”) and sometimes because of preemptive announcements (like when the What’s Trending twitter account posted news of the death of Steve Jobs almost a month before the Apple CEO passed away).

That latter example of newsworthiness came with consequences. A day after the the tweet hit the web the program lost its distribution deal with CBS. But What’s Trending’s been able to forge on. The show sees over 84,000 weekly video views and has amassed over 30 million twitter impressions. A lot of that activity is based on the show’s high-quality production and Lazar’s ability to discuss interesting topics intelligently with a number of guests. A lot of it also has to do with the program’s ability to wrangle those guests. Adam Carolla, Brittany Snow, Cenk Uygur, Chris Hardwick, Drew Carey, Felicia Day, Kevin Smith, Lisa Kudrow, Mark Cuban, Morgan Spurlock, Rick Fox, Snoop Dogg, Terrell Owens, Will.I.Am and more have all appeared on the show.

As What’s Trending winds down for the end of 2011 (it’s last live episode airs today), I caught up with Lazar to ask her a few questions about the ups and downs of the past year and what’s in store for 2012.

Tubefilter: What can we expect from What’s Trending in 2012?

Shira Lazar: More live shows, more effort on YouTube and daily segments, as well as activity on the site whatstrending.com. We are going to be building a more robust site and show to further grow our community and own the mindshare around what’s trending online with editorial layered on top of that.

We also look forward to creating more verticals. Politics is going to be huge with the 2012 Presidential election coming up. Why not use our platform and format to build a weekly discussion focused on those stories, with influencers and celebs who are passionate around those topics. We want to continue to empower and inform people while being entertaining. One of our viewers called us “CNN Meets MTV”. We definitely feel like we’re filling a gap for the digital age, and the sky is the limit.

TF: Where is the show at in terms of sponsorship? Who’s sponsoring the show now and who will be sponsoring in 2012?

SL: We’re in talks with distributors, brands and investors right now. We’ll be announcing something shortly! In the meantime, our #Influencer segments and musical performances will be available to watch on Virgin America’s backseat entertainment “Best of The Web” in February.

TF: What’s been you favorite moment in the past year?

SL: We’ve had so many memorable and fun moments. Definitely one of my favorite guests was Snoop Dogg. He was so thoughtful and just a pleasure to be around. He literally hung out at the studio for an hour after we were live. We put on Sam Cook and he was just dancing in the studio. We also had his 12-year old daughter on to perform for the first time ever. It was a very special show on and off camera. Those moments make everyone realize how special what we’re doing is right now.

TF: The show’s obviously had a couple of setbacks over the past year. What’s been the biggest lesson learned?

SL: Have a staff that is reliable and passionate. We couldn’t have done what we’ve done thus far without an incredible team! Work hard, perfect your craft, be grateful and fight for what you believe in. We wouldn’t be able to continue and grow without our community, audience and great partnerships, which allow us to constantly connect with new audiences. We are always experimenting with new models, social media and interactivity. Be open to ideas and have fun. Passion goes a long way and I really believe that it comes through in our work.

Tune into What’s Trending at Whatstrending.com.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, News, News-Current Events, Production Companies by Joshua Cohen
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A new series from Streamy Award-Nominee Tina Cesa Ward (who, along with Susan Miller, brought you the hit independent drama web series Anyone But Me) explores the concept of commitment and marriage on the day New York passed the Equal Marriage Bill.

Good People in Love focuses on two couples, one heterosexual and one homosexual, to explore the challenges and fears of being in a committed relationship. Two characters, Sarah (Streamy Award Winner Rachael Hip-Flores) and Scott (Jesse Wakeman), use the two couples and the idiosyncrasies of their relationships to prove their different points of view during a small engagement party.

“I think with six very distinct characters that all have their own fears, ambitions and ideas about love and marriage the audience should find someone to connect with and recognize the situations these couples face on a personal level,” said Tina Cesa Ward over email.

To say the series is high on dramatic tension would be an understatement, as the characters fears and issues clash and the engagement party takes an ugly turn. Good People in Love goes for the jugular right off the bat, rarely showing any niceties. When discussing their different points of view to one another, Scott and Sarah at times talk directly to the audience. Breaking the fourth wall is a risky tactic and it will be up to each individual viewer to decide if it works, but Ward is trying to make a statement designed to engage the audience.

Good People in Love was a challenge for Ward, who decided to try a different kind of project after Anyone But Me. “There’s always a great debate in the web industry in regards to budget.  I have colleagues that have been telling me you can make projects for practically nothing,” said Ward when discussing the challenges she faced during production. “I’ve never really believed them honestly, but I decided to put that idea to the test.”

With a smaller budget comes compromises, but Good People in Love is a solid show that fans of dramatic web series will enjoy. Ward does take some chances in how she attempts to speak to her viewers and experiments with other visual elements both inside and outside that fourth wall, but the positives far outweigh the negatives.

If you are a fan of Anyone But Me, or just want a new series to watch, check out Good People in Love at Blip.tv.

Filed under: Anyone But Me, Articles, Drama, Featured, News, Web Series by Chris Landa
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