JacksGap Provides New Hub For Fans With Official Website

Jack and Finn Harries, the twin sons of notable British TV producer Andy Harries, have used their combination of charm, vlogging skills, and adorable Britishness to accrue more than 2.3 million YouTube subscribers. However, like so many other top creators, the twins don’t want to rely on YouTube alone; that’s why they have launched JacksGap.com, a new digital hub where the duo’s fans can find JacksGap content along with forums, blogs, and merch created by Jack and Finn.

The videos on JacksGap.com are hosted on Blip rather than YouTube. Like many other creators, Jack and Finn are using their new domain to establish an alternative revenue stream, but unlike some others, the brothers are less interested in sticking it to YouTube and more interested in not putting too many eggs in any one basket.

“The ad rates are better but that wasn’t the reason for using [Blip],” Finn told Tubefilter. “The reason being is because we want JacksGap to span across multiple media platforms. I think it is dangerous for our brand/content to rely on the fate of one platform. With all the changes YouTube are making we feel a bit on edge. I also like the fact that Blip is a platform that focuses on curated premium content, so I’m keen to support that.”

Creating a website may seem as easy as registering a URL and picking out a snappy skin, but the creative history behind JacksGap.com proves it is often much trickier than that. Finn noted that the site almost never happened due to a crisis two months after it was conceived:

“We came up with the idea to start building a web site about 9 months ago. We had a nightmare 2 months in, we began working with a design agency and then out of nowhere they shut down and stopped work on the site. They charged us for 50% of the agreed sum and gave us the work they’d done. It was so useless that we had to delete it and start again. We decided to reach out to a really awesome design agency called Simple As Milk. They were brilliant. It took a couple of months to design and then even longer to develop because we wanted it to be responsive on all devices. Overall, the current website took about 6 months to build.”

Yikes. Still, the Harries’ decision to stick with their website has already paid off, as JacksGap.com has gained thousands of members just one day after going live. “Having seen the reaction to the community and how many people have signed up to it in the last 24 hours, I’m kind of blown away,” said Finn. “JacksGap seems to of turned into a mini social network over night. I think the forums really help bring our community closer together and that really excites me.”

Even if you’re not yet a JacksGap fan yet, their website–which also serves as a Buzzfeed-like content aggregator–is worth checking out. Stick around, and within a few hours you’ll be signing up, clicking that subscribe button, and anxiously awaiting the next British Invasion.