For the third week in a row, DisneyCollectorBR is #1 on the worldwide chart. The premiere online video destination for videos of adults playing with children’s toys took a 13% hit in views on the week, but still ended the seven-day stretch with more than 88.7 million views.

Taylor Swift held her ground in second place for the second week in a row. The twentysomething pop star’s latest album 1989 is still getting plays and helped Swift’s channel amass more than 87.6 million views on the week. One Direction is up next in third place. The British boyband’s music video for its latest single “Night Changes” pushed Harry, Zayn, Niall, Liam, and Louis’ channel up 52% in views to top out at almost 76.6 million.

Felix Kjellberg‘s PewDiePie is next up in the very unfamiliar fourth place position. The Let’s Play gaming channel dipped 19% in views to score more than 65.4 million views on the week.

And rounding out the Top 5 is Jimmy Kimmel Live. ABC’s late night talk show program broke into the top of the charts this week with more than 64 million views thanks to the eighth installment of its “Celebrities Read Mean Tweets” series.

Top Gainers

The honor of one our Top Gainers this week goes to Beyoncé.

The 33-year-old international pop star whose fans can’t even witnessed a massive 5,116% week-over-week increase in views thanks to the release of “7/11“. The music video featuring choreographed home video footage of Mrs. Carter quickly amassed an eight-figure view count and pushed her channel up to the #37 spot on the chart with more than 30.3 million views.

Distribution

All in all, the top 50 most viewed YouTube channels accounted for 1,969,134,272 views last week. Here’s the distribution of a few of those channels by multi-channel network:

• VEVO: 12 channels in the Top 50, with Taylor Swift at #2.
• Maker Studios: 6 channels in the Top 50, with PewDiePie at #4.
• BuzzFeed, XMediaDigital: 2 channels each in the Top 50, with BuzzFeed’s BuzzFeed Video at #19 and XMediaDigital’s getmovies at #13.

And here’s the distribution of the this week’s Top 50 YouTube channels by country of origin:

• United States: 29 channels in the Top 50.
• Great Britain: 5 channels in the Top 50.
• Canada: 3 channels in the Top 50.
• India, Russia, Spain, Thailand: 2 channels each in the Top 50.
• Ireland, Netherlands, South Korea, Sweden, Turkey: 1 channel each in the Top 50.

As always, keep up to speed with the latest Tubefilter Charts and all of our news at Tubefilter by following us on Twitter, becoming a fan on Facebook, and watching our videos on YouTube.

OpenSlate is a video content analytics platform that tracks more than 225,000 YouTube video channels and measures their ability to attract, engage and influence an audience. By providing one consistent measure of quality – the SlateScore™ – OpenSlate helps marketers, producers and agencies hone their online video marketing strategy.

Filed under: Articles, News, statistics, Statistics, YouTube, Youtube Chart by Joshua Cohen
No Comments »

Disney may be trying pull a Jedi mind trick in the marketing of its latest Star Wars flick or the Mouse House Jar-Jar Binksed its release of Episode VII‘s teaser trailer. Regardless, the online masses certainly don’t seem happy about it. After several botched attempts at releasing the Star Wars: The Force Awakens teaser trailer on other platforms, the clip is finally available to view on YouTube.

Initially, Disney partnered with Regal Cinemas to release the much-anticipated 88-seconde clip for The Force Awakens. However, the catch was that Regal would only debut the footage from November 28-30 in theaters in nine different U.S. locations. Only a few hours after Regal’s exclusive “world premiere” announcement, the theater chain updated its list to include 21 more locations where the Star Wars trailer would debut across the United States, for a total of 30 theatrers in all. Fans who weren’t able to make it to one of the theaters were presumably going to be left in the dark on the new Star Wars teaser until it was released online.

Here’s where the teaser trailer release turns into something more akin to an epic fail. While many devoted Star Wars fans tweeted their plans to drive hours to see the trailer, others expressed their displeasure at Disney’s out-of-date and short-sighted marketing plan. One Twitter user explained his frustration particularly well, eliciting responses from other fans who said they were “livid” at Disney’s “messed up” debut of the Star Wars trailer.

Terribly lame, greedy business move on the part of Lucasfilm/Disney/Regal. http://t.co/biNY6pvz3P

— Chris Welch (@chriswelch) November 24, 2014

News broke on November 28 that Disney was releasing the Force Awakens trailer on Apple’s iTunes Movie Trailers site. Unfortunately, when most internet users tried to view the teaser, they weren’t shown the clip and were instead asked to download Quicktime even if the software was already installed on their computers.

A few hours later, several media outlets announced the Star Wars trailer was finally available on YouTube via the MOVIECLIPS Trailers channel, a popular destination (boasting 5.7+ million subscribers) for internet users to view movie trailers.

The video also finally appeared on Disney’s Official Star Wars channel.

If the entire Star Wars: The Force Awakens teaser trailer release tells us anything, it’s that movie trailers can’t (and aren’t) released the way they used to be.

The online video masses simply expect teasers and full-length trailers to be released online along with their theatrical releases. It makes marketing and financial sense to do so from the perspective of studios, too. It’s too easy for individuals to upload bootlegged or leaked footage that can soon exist on thousands of channels all around the web. For major events (like the release of the first new footage from a live-action Star Wars film in nearly a decade), why not focus all of that viewership onto a studio or film’s very own YouTube channel? Internet users, after all, tend to default to YouTube for their trailer needs and iTunes Movie Trailers is no longer the #1 go-to destination it once was. The music industry’s figured out owning as much viewership and developed tactics to keep viewers on their own channels. You’d think Disney would’ve adopted the strategy, too (especially considering its successful release of the most recent Avengers teaser trailer on Marvel‘s YouTube channel).

But even studios are’t going to drive fans to their own YouTube channels, they should at least get those fans to click over to their owned and operated destination sites. HBO used Twitter Video in its recent debut of the Game of Thrones season five trailer to push viewers to ThreeEyedRaven.com. Given these kinds of innovative strategies studios are not utilizing in the market, it’s odd Disney would revert to a site that’s no longer synonymous with only video to debut the most important 88 seconds of footage in the company’s recent history. Plus, the fact that Disney owns Maker Studios, one of the biggest YouTube-based multi-channel networks around, makes the company’s decisions even more baffling. You would think they would understand the power of digital media by now.

Maybe Disney’s marketing and PR employees were temporarily distracted by some kind of dark side. Hopefully they’ll see the light and learn from their mistakes by the time Star Wars: Episode VIII comes around.

Filed under: Articles, Disney, News, Star Wars by Bree Brouwer
No Comments »

Jerry Seinfeld may think twice about asking famous YouTube comedians to appear on Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee (though not really). The most recent episode of his original Crackle web series, featuring the incredibly awkward YouTube personality Miranda Sings, debuted on November 27, 2014.

Miranda is the alter-ego of one Colleen Ballinger, and she is the first digital media star to sit across from Seinfeld and sip coffee in Comedians in Cars. One of the world’s most famous comedic personalities discovered Ballinger via his 13-year-old daughter, who is a big fan of the YouTube star and one of her more than 2.6 million subscribers. Seinfeld then announced in September 2014 he would introduce Miranda to the rest of America by having her as a guest on his show.

For the newest episode of the series, Ballinger plays her usual somewhat paranoid, kinda rude, and definitely nasal-y character Miranda. The moment Seinfeld picks her up at her apartment, she starts in on the verbal insults, comparing his 1960’s car to dinosaurs and accusing Seinfeld of trying to kill her when he goes over a speed bump. And their “meal” at a diner (which ironically contains no coffee thanks to Miranda’s refusal to order any) doesn’t go over much better.

Ballinger and Seinfeld talked to Vulture about how they prepared for the installment. “It was surreal for me because I grew up watching him. I’ve seen every episode of Seinfeld,” Ballinger said. “I was like, ‘He must just want me to promote it or something.’ I did not think he actually wanted me on the show. So when he called me and actually asked me to be on it, I was just over the moon. I was really excited because I’ve looked up to him my whole life.

Seinfeld noted how he met with Ballinger the night before to calm her nerves and help her realize “she could do this.” “We got together the night before at Jerry’s Deli in Studio City, and we just hung out and we had coffee,” he explained. “We just talked, and then we kicked around some ideas of what we could do. I wanted her to feel comfortable insulting me because I knew that would be funny if Miranda was hostile to me. I said, ‘I just want you to come on the show, take over, and completely treat me like garbage.’”

And treat him like garbage she does. Seinfeld noted how incredible the episode turned out because of the chemistry between the two comedians. “When you take away everything we did that didn’t work and you just leave what did work, it’s just amazing. You can’t believe it’s not scripted.”

Check out Miranda’s pre-Comedians promotional video below where she tries to teach Seinfeld and her viewers how to be famous. Then visit ComediansinCarsGettingCoffee.com to watch her harass Seinfeld even more and get frustrated about the extra gravy their waitress gives them with their turkey platter. You may even laugh enough to burn off some of those post-Thanksgiving calories.

Filed under: Articles, Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, MirandaSings, News by Bree Brouwer
No Comments »

[Editor’s Note: Tubefilter Charts is a new weekly and monthly rankings column from Tubefilter with data provided by OpenSlate. It’s exactly what it sounds like; a top number ranking of YouTube channels based on statistics collected within a given timeframe. You can check out all of our Tubefilter Charts – with new installments every Friday – here.] 

Scroll down for the Tubefilter Chart.

It’s time for another installment of our monthly Tubefilter Top 100 Most Viewed YouTube Channels Chart and we may have just entered a new era of YouTube.

Chart Toppers

For the first time in seven months, Felix Kjellberg‘s PewDiePie channel is not in the #1 spot on the worldwide monthly chart. The twenty-five-year-old gamer’s prolific online video library of Let’s Play videos, charitable campaigns, and personal vlogs scored nearly 352 million views in the month of October. But that was still almost 50 million views shy of DisneyCollectorBR.

The internets’s top destination for videos of adults playing with children’s toys has been on a tear in the last four weeks. The channel witnessed a 28% month-over-month increase in views to top out just shy of 400 million at 399.9 million views in the 31 days of the month.

Spinnin Records is next up in third place. The self-described “World’s #1 Dance Music Channel” received more than 191.8 million views during the month, a 13% increase over the month prior. Up next in the #4 spot is another top YouTube destination for adult’s playing with children’s toys. Blucollection saw a 31% uptick in views to end the month with almost 190.2 million of them.

And rounding out the Top 5 is every toddler’s favorite online video music destination. LittleBabyBum has all the hits, from “Wheels On The Bus” to “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”. The catalog received nearly 189.3 million plays in October.

Top Gainers

The honor of one of our Top Gainers this month goes to Comedy Central.

The Viacom-owned cable network owes its 132% month-over-month increase in views in October thanks to return of Key & Peele. Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele’s sketch comedy show had a handful of online video hits on the month (including “Quarterback Concussion” and “Text Message Confusion“) that greatly contributed to Comedy Central’s YouTube’s channel more than 104.3 million views and the #40 spot on the chart.

Channel Distribution

The Top 100 Most Viewed YouTube channels this month amassed in aggregate a total of 10,802,913,582 views. Here’s a look at the distribution of those channels broken down by the most-represented YouTube Multi-Channel Networks on the chart:

• VEVO: 22 channels in the Top 100. Enrique Iglesias is the network’s highest ranking channel at #6.
• Maker Studios: 13 channels in the Top 100, with PewDiePie at #2.
• Disney, WMG, XMediaDigital: 3 channels each in the Top 100, with Disney’s Marvel at #77, WMG’s Jason Derulo at #51, and XMediaDigital’s mashamedvedtv at #13.
• BuzzFeed, Collective Digital Studio, Fullscreen, Machinima, Movieclips: 2 channels each in the Top 100, with BuzzFeed’s BuzzFeed video at #14, CDS’ Good Mythical Morning at #82, Fullscreen’s PopularMMOs at #18, Machinima’s VanossGaming at #16, and Movieclips’ MovieclipsTrailers at #24.

And here’s a look into the distribution of the this month’s Top 100 by country of origin:

• The United States: 52 channels in the Top 100.
• Great Britain: 12 channels in the Top 100.
• Russia, Spain: 5 channels each in the Top 100.
• India: 4 channels in the Top 100.
• Canada, Japan, South Korea: 3 channels each in the Top 100.
• Thailand: 1 channels in the Top 100.
• Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, France, Ireland, Israel, Mexico, Netherlands, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Sweden: 1 channel each in the Top 100.

As always, keep up to speed with the latest Tubefilter Charts and all of our news at Tubefilter by following us on Twitter, becoming a fan on Facebook, and watching our videos on YouTube.

OpenSlate is a video content analytics platform that tracks more than 220,000 YouTube video channels and measures their ability to attract, engage and influence an audience. By providing one consistent measure of quality – the SlateScore™ – OpenSlate helps marketers, producers and agencies hone their online video marketing strategy.

Filed under: Articles, News, statistics, Statistics, YouTube, Youtube Chart by Joshua Cohen
No Comments »

Thanksgiving has arrived, and in addition to family, football, and ungodly amounts of food, we here at Tubefilter are thankful for YouTube (I got your back, California and Delaware.) In anticipation of the US’ biggest fall holiday, YouTube creators took to their channels to create relevant videos. Here are seven that caught our eyes.

7. Seth Rogen’s Jewish-Canadian-American Thanksgiving by Funny or Die

Embedding disabled. Watch it here via Funny or Die’s YouTybe channel.

Consider this fun little animation, which brings Rogen’s experience as a misled Canadian Jew to life, as an appetizer for our countdown. It won’t fill you up, but it’s good for a chuckle or two.

6. 10 Thanksgiving Facts That Can’t Be True by CollegeHumor

During the holidays, list-based articles and videos run rampant (you’re reading one right now.) CollegeHumor has sent up those click-baiting spectacles with a video in the spirit of Tim And Eric. It’s not for everybody, but its heart is at least in the right place.

5. Thanksgiving Voltron by Epic Meal Time

It wouldn’t be Thanksgiving on YouTube without a meaty monstrosity from Epic Meal Time. This is the holiday that first launched the Canadian super-sizers to online stardom, and in the year when they made their TV debut, they are giving thanks to their fans by assembling a meat Voltron out of several different animals.

4. 5 Genius Thanksgiving Leftover Hacks by BuzzFeed Video

Once you’ve had your fill of Thanksgiving Voltron (you are planning to prepare your own Voltron, right?), you’re going to have a lot of leftovers. BuzzFeed has cooked up some tasty suggestions for those extra eats in order to ensure that eating unhealthy Thanksgiving food outlasts the holiday itself. Alternatively, you could make turkey pho.

3. “All About That Baste” by The Holderness Family

Hey, it’s these guys again! We saw them last Christmas and now they’re here for Thanksgiving with a Meghan Trainor parody. The kids are still cute and the father is still pushing toward maximum levels of dorky dad. I hope the Holderness clan turns these videos into a holiday tradition.

2. All Protein Thanksgiving by BroScienceLife

For Thanksgiving, Dom Mazzetti has taken his BroScience shtick out of the gym and into the kitchen. While preparing his all-protein Thanksgiving, Dom dishes out some fascinating Turkey Day facts. I can’t believe I never knew all chickens are just baby turkeys. He also employs a few dizzying instances of logical deduction that must make Newton roll around in his grave. Deal with it, Isaac.

 1. ‘Twas The Night Before Thanksgiving by Captain Morgan USA

Putting a branded video in the top spot feels a bit wrong, but Captain Morgan’s poetic remembrance of Wednesdays-before-Thanksgiving-past is too good to belong anywhere else. It’s directed by JASH, it stars Jenna Marbles as that girl you had a crush on in high school, and it features plenty of clever turns of phrase. It will leave you thankful for your hometown and may cause you to crave some rum at the same time.

Do you agree with these choices? Let us know in the comments and check out previous Countdowns here.

Filed under: Articles, Countdown, Featured, News by Sam Gutelle
No Comments »

In June, popular YouTube content creators Dan Howell and Phil Lester (AKA Danisnotonfire and AmazingPhil, respectively) uploaded videos where they took part in an “Oreo lick race,” through which they determined which one of them could eat an Oreo cookie the fastest.

The video came and went without much hubbub, but now, a UK watchdog is using it as Exhibit A in its battle against unclear advertisements on YouTube. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has ruled that YouTubers must include proper disclaimers for videos that are “obviously identifiable as marketing communications.”

The ASA investigated Howell and Lester’s video, as well as several others from YouTubers like Emma Blackery and TomSka, after receiving a complaint from a BBC journalist. Sure enough, the YouTubers in question were paid by Oreo owner Mondelez (formerly Kraft Foods), which sponsors a lot of branded content on YouTube. (More recently, Mondelez agreed to a massive upfront deal with YouTube, though these videos went up long before that deal was signed.)

Howell and Lester’s Oreo videos are still up, though they are now marked with an annotation that states “This is a paid for advertisement.” In addition, the ASA told Mondelez “to ensure that future ads in this medium made their commercial intent clear prior to consumer engagement.”

Will the ASA’s ruling have a major effect on the relationship between brands and YouTubers? The Guardian cites “one media law expert [who] believes such overt signalling of commercial messages may make the use of vloggers less popular to advertisers.”

At the same time, the ASA does not tend to look into these matters unless prompted by a complaint. “Obviously we have to manage our resources and look into adverts that people are complaining about,” an ASA spokesman told Gamespot. “There are millions of adverts published each year and we need to be on-hands in dealing with the ones people are complaining about.”

Most viewers understand that videos like the Oreo lick race are paid for, and while Lester’s narration may not explicitly state that Mondelez paid him for the spot, it is clear that he worked with the company while creating his video. Fans understand that it is extremely difficult to make money on YouTube, and as a result, they do not tend to begrudge YouTubers who cut deals with brands. Therefore, don’t expect too many of these complaints to surface, and as a result, don’t expect ASA rulings to diminish the amount of branded content on YouTube.

Filed under: Articles, Branded Entertainment, Featured, News by Sam Gutelle
No Comments »

A new teaser trailer is out for Game of Thrones season 5, but it didn’t debut on YouTube, HBO’s website, or another online video destination that you might expect. Instead, the ten-second clip was released via Twitter’s native video player in a tweet from the official Game of Thrones account.

The video was tweeted on November 25, 2014, with some cryptic messaging about a raven bringing “The Sight.”

The raven brings #TheSight. Receive the power at: http://t.co/9fNrrJIGHG https://t.co/LknnRX0f4D

— Game Of Thrones (@GameOfThrones) November 25, 2014

The link included in the tweet sends fans to a promotional website called ThreeEyedRaven.com. On the site, Game of Thrones fans can sign up to receive visions of the future about the show (aka “The Sight”) via Twitter or SMS. While the video pointing to the equivocal website destination is throwing GoT fans into a tizzy, we’re more fascinated with the clip’s delivery method.

Recently, Twitter announced it would introduce its native video player sometime in 2015, a move that only makes sense since the company has seen such success from Vine, the six-second social video app the company purchased back in 2012. We’re obviously still a few weeks shy of 2015, so it’s clear Twitter is testing its native video player with some key partners (like Game of Thrones) in advance of opening up the capability to all (or at least a large subset of) its users. 

In addition to the GoT season five teaser trailer, we noticed the new video format on some other Twitter accounts, as well. For example, we saw one of Michelle Phan’s more recent tweets include a native Twitter video. Note the typical “YouTube” or “Vine” labels usually seen when a Twitter user links to a video on one of those platforms are nowhere to be found.

I still believe in magic because of you… pic.twitter.com/y6Fn9TgOdi

— Michelle Ph∆n (@MichellePhan) November 26, 2014

We’ll be curious to see what other brands and personalities start using Twitter’s native video feature the closer we get to 2015. Until then, be prepared. Winter is coming.

Filed under: Articles, Game of Thrones, News, Twitter by Bree Brouwer
No Comments »

Last year, the crew of British gamers over at Yogscast raised nearly $1.1 million for charity through Jingle Jam, their annual fundraising drive. This year, on December 1st, Jingle Jam will return, and Yogscast is hoping its fans can top 2013’s record-breaking total.

Jingle Jam runs for the entirety of December, with most of the action occurring over at Yogscast’s Twitch channel. Each day, at least one member of the team will stream live in hopes of raising funds for five charities pre-selected by the Yogscast community: Mind, Doctors Without Borders/MSF, Flora & Fauna International, Special Effect, and End Polio Now.

In return for their charitable support, Yogscast has teamed up with Humble Bundle to offer its fans a collection of games; the particular entries in the bundle will be curated by the Yogscast team, who will pick out specific games featured on their YouTube channel. Yogscast already operates a store, also powered by Humble Bundle, through which fans can purchase games like 5 Nights At Freddy’s, The Walking Dead, and Alien: Isolation. All the proceeds from those sales also go toward charities.

“We were blown away by the support we had from the audience last year – both the people who tuned in to watch us every night and the amount they donated,” said Yogscast co-founder Lewis Brindley. “All we do is turn up and do silly stuff on camera – and we have lots of new fun stuff lined up for this year – it’s the people who donate who make a difference to these fantastic charities.”

The selections for the Humble Bundle will be announced when Jingle Jam launches on December 1st.

Filed under: Articles, Channels, Featured, News by Sam Gutelle
No Comments »

Darth Vader fighting Batman is one of the coolest, most epic match-ups of all time, or so Machinima thought. The multi-channel network’s latest installment of its popular Super Power Beat Down series pits the iconic Star Wars villain against DC Comics’ Dark Knight.

In the “Batman vs. Darth Vader” episode, Gotham’s superhero flies all the way to the Death Star to save his colleague Superman, who’s been taken captive by Darth Vader. With the victor determined by over 250,000 fans on SPBD’s home page, the showdown of a lifetime ends in tragedy for one of the caped men in black:

The “Batman vs. Darth Vader” episode was directed by filmmaker Aaron Shoenke, who’s already well-known for his Batman fan films. Kevin Porter reprised his role as the Dark Knight, having already played Batman in a number of shorts (as well the Punisher in a previous SPBD episode).

This is the third time Batman has appeared in a SPBD episode, previously taking down Deadpool but losing to Wolverine. Darth Vader’s returning for his second appearance after defeating Gandalf back in a 2012 episode. Past installments of SPBD have seen other power-wielding names battle it out: Superman has taken on Thor, Wolverine crossed claws with a Predator, and The Power Rangers’ White Ranger dueled Mortal Kombat’s Scorpion.

Super Power Beat Down is one of Machinima’s most popular series with over 1.8 million views per episode. We’ll have to see if all those viewers agree with the ending of this latest installment, or if they’ll want an alternative ending.

Filed under: Articles, Machinima Prime, News, Web Series by Bree Brouwer
No Comments »

Michelle Phan may be known as a beauty guru, but she’s also one of YouTube’s most prolific and successful entrepreneurs. And she just announced her newest venture: three new web series created with her fashion-focused For All Women Network (FAWN) and Endemol Beyond.

Trend Report is one of Phan’s new series. The first episode debuted on the vlogger’s personal channel on November 25, 2014. The show covers Phan’s favorite beauty, style, tech, and entertainment trends and (as Phan says in the installment) is in a test-run for the next four weeks. The series will also have a “subset” of episodes on FAWN’s channel called Trend Report How To, where popular bloggers and video creators cover style, tech, and DIY topics.

One How To episode is already available on FAWN’s YouTube channel, all about mixing sparkle into your casual wardrobe. And true to Phan’s goal of partnering with and showcasing the talents of lesser-known, but no-less-talented fashion and beauty personalities, the episode features Grasie Mercedes:

Additionally, Phan has launched two history-focused (yet still 100% lifestyle-oriented) series. The first is Fascinating Women, which covers the lives of influential women in history such as journalists, stylists, and pilots. Phan says it’s a show for “all you career girls out there inspiring to do great things.”

The YouTube vlogger and entreprenuer’s final show, Look #TBT, investigates the history behind popular fashion trends (like military jackets and the matte-brown lip color) in past and recent eras. Phan collaborated with some of her friends for the show, such as fellow beauty vlogger Kandee Johnson (aka Conde Nast Entertainment’s latest partner), who makes an appearance in Phan’s announcement video for the new shows.

Earlier this year, Phan joined Endemol Beyond’s talent network, bringing her FAWN network along for the ride. Part of her pact with Endemol included turning FAWN into the official lifestyle branch of the larger MCN, and these web series are only a small part of the “building out” Endemol Beyond’s President Will Keenan has planned for the fashion network.

Phan’s new web series with FAWN and Endemol will join other titles recently announced by some of Endemol’s partners. Pitbull is launching two web series of his own, one called Gentlemen’s Code about the male lifestyle and one called The Most Bad Ones about his six backup dancers. Additionally, Endemol plans to premiere Drea de Matteo’s The #Muthaship (about the actress’s daily life and struggles) on its BeyondReality vertical on December 1.

Watch the first episode of Phan’s Trend Report here, and make sure to tune in to FAWN’s YouTube channel to catch the debut of her other upcoming series.

Filed under: Articles, Channels, Endemol Beyond, News by Bree Brouwer
No Comments »

As the final month of 2014 approaches, two companies with close ties to the Internet are looking to discover the topics that most energized fans this past year. Online video network Maker Studios has teamed up with pop culture encyclopedia Wikia for The 2014 Year In Fandom, which will explore the most popular cultural phenomena of the past 12 months.

In order to select the subjects it would feature in Year Of Fandom, Wikia ranked its database through its Wikia Activity Metric, which measures “total audience, size/complexion of the body of content, and usage momentum” for all of the topics on the site.

Once the top subjects were selected, Wikia turned to Maker Gen partners like Noodlerella, JakeMcCoyNetwork, and ThatWasHistory, who will reenact the best moments in a series of videos that will be released on Wikia, Maker.TV, and the YouTube channels of both Maker Gen and Wikia.

“Video is such an integral part of storytelling for today’s fans and by partnering with Maker, we’re really able to deliver together two very passionate audiences to create content we know will be engaging,” stated Eric Moro, Wikia’s Director of Programming for Entertainment, in a statement.“The opportunity alone for Wikia collaborators and Maker Gen talent to raise their profiles among today’s millennials is exciting in and of itself.”

A visit to Year of Fandom‘s official site reveals five categories that will each house their own videos. The first six of those videos, which will cover topics like The Lego Movie, Star Wars, and Titanfall, will debut on December 1st.

Filed under: Articles, Channels, Featured, Maker Studios, News by Sam Gutelle
No Comments »

Hulu has become a digital rescue shelter for an abandoned TV series. The streaming video service will run the six unaired episodes of ABC’s recently-canceled Selfie.

Selfie stars Karen Gillan and John Cho in a modern interpretation of My Fair Lady (based on the classic play Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw). The comedy series was created by writer Emily Kapnek, who’s previously written for shows like Parks & Recreation and Suburgatory. ABC canceled the show when it failed to attract a large audience and respectable ratings.

The first of the remaining Selfie episodes debuted on Hulu and Hulu Plus on Tuesday, November 25. The following five episodes will be released one at a time each week for the next five weeks.

Hulu doesn’t yet plan to renew the series, unlike its competitors Netflix and Yahoo tend to do with the series they save. Netflix revived Fox’s hit comedy Arrested Development for a fourth season, and Yahoo is starting production on the online-only sixth season of Community, snagged from NBC.

If you want to watch the last six episodes of Selfie, sign into your Hulu or Hulu Plus account and stream away.

Filed under: Articles, Hulu, News by Bree Brouwer
No Comments »