As Thanksgiving approaches, Facebook has mined its mountain of data to determine which topics Americans are most thankful for. The social media network’s data scientists shared a study that shows the most-praised subjects within posts on the site.

The most popular topics are unsurprising. On the whole, Americans thanked friends, family, and health, but when Facebook broke down its data state-by-state, a few interesting trends emerged. The map pictured above shows the outliers that are disproportionately more popular in each state. As you might expect, the Bible Belt loves God and Southwesterners are grateful for the rain. For our purposes, we’re most interested in the two states that most commonly gave thanks to YouTube.

One of those states, as you might expect, is California. This should surprise nobody, since Los Angeles is the center of YouTube’s creative community and home to YouTube-centric companies like Maker Studios and Fullscreen. For the thousands of Californian denizens who make a living thanks to online video (and are therefore more likely to post about their lives on the Internet), it makes sense to give thanks to the video platform that makes it all possible.

The other state most thankful for YouTube is…Delaware? Your guess is as good as mine. Perhaps there’s a correlation between people who work at corporate headquarters and people who enjoy Let’s Play videos.

We don’t fault Delawareans for their decision to give praise to YouTube. After all, we think it’s a pretty great site. And I’d also like to kick a shout out to New Hampshire, where they are particularly thankful for Netflix. I think I know where I want to move next.

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

BitTorrent is out to prove there’s more to it than illegal downloads and questionable sharing ethics. The tech company is releasing its first original web series, titled Children of the Machine, in fall 2015.

Directed by Marco Weber (producer of The Thirteenth Floor and Unthinkable) and created by Rapid Eye Studios, Children of the Machine is a sci-fi series set in the year 2031. It chronicles a society where humans must work together to survive after androids start dominating them. Children of the Machine will be available for download exclusively on BitTorrent.

According to AdWeek, Weber chose to release his upcoming series on the data-sharing website because its male-dominated, 170+ million user base was exactly the type of audience he was looking for. “This is a science fiction show catered to the typical tech-savvy, male-dominated audience,” Weber said. “We’re not trying to launch a romantic comedy, so the concept of this show moved us toward BitTorrent.”

AdWeek reported no advertisers had been brought on board yet, but deals are currently being discussed with technology companies. “If you put a commercial in a TV pilot, you don’t get the audience as focused as you get on BitTorrent,” Weber explained.

Children of the Machine is part of BitTorrent’s mission to change its brand association with illegal downloading, which China’s Youku also attempted back in 2011. While the site contains over 2 million pieces of legal content, the site’s users still tend to correlate the name BitTorrent with its smaller portion of pirated content it can hold from places like The Pirate Bay.

“We haven’t done a great job over time of owning that brand name,” explained BitTorrent’s PR manager Kevin Fu. “It’s something that we’re working on changing.”

Six weeks after Children of the Machine debuts its pilot, the entire series will be available for download on BitTorrent at a few different price points. The pilot and ad-supported version will be free, while the ad-free eight-episode series will cost $4.96. Users who also want bonus features can shell out $9.95.

Until then, we suggest (legally) downloading some of BitTorrent’s other content (or you can make Jeff Bewkes of HBO happy by torrenting Game of Thrones).

Filed under: Articles, Channels, News, Sci-Fi by Bree Brouwer
No Comments »

Welcome to Fund This, a new column here at Tubefilter. Each week, we’ll look at a planned web series or other online video project currently in search of funding on Kickstarter, Indiegogo, or any other similar crowdfunding sites. We’ll tell you what the series is all about and explain why it is worth your money. Do you have a project that’s currently being crowdfunded? Contact us to let us know and we may feature it in upcoming installments and check out previous installments right here.

Project Name: Video Essays by Innuendo Studios

Asking For: $6,500 on Kickstarter

Amount Raised Thus Far (At Time Of Post): $3,160

Days Remaining In Campaign (At Time Of Post): 16

Description: Innuendo Studios is a “one-man media empire” run by Ian Danskin, a Boston-area college student. Danskin himself is a relative unknown, but earlier this year, one of his videos received a fair bit of viral attention. Danskin was the man behind “This Is Phil Fish“, a 19-minute YouTube “video essay” about Phil Fish, the developer of a critically-acclaimed indie game called Fez. Beyond his work as a game designer, Fish has become known for his strong opinions, which he freely voices on Twitter. Fish’s subsequent infamy in online gaming circles became the subject of Danskin’s video, which Minecraft creator Markus “Notch” Persson cited as a big influence on his decision to leave his company after selling it to Microsoft.

Danskin now wants to make more videos like “This Is Phil Fish”, so he’s taken to Kickstarter. He explains that his essays will cover a wide range of gaming-related topics. Some, like “This Is Phil Fish”, will explore gaming culture, some will discuss game design and development, and others will hone in on specific games like Broken Age and The Walking Dead.

Creator Bio: Danskin is not just a video producer; he’s also an editor, voice actor, and writer. Before “This Is Phil Fish”, he only had one video on his Innuendo Studios YouTube channel. It’s a bit weird.

Best Perk: For $150, Danskin will bake you a vegan cheesecake. On one hand, its vegan and you have to be in Massachusetts to collect it. On the other hand, cheesecake!

Why You Should Fund It: Danskin’s desire to continue his video essays comes at the right time. Thanks to Gamergate, the Internet is more interested than ever in gaming culture, and Danskin, who has already demonstrated his ability to think critically about his subjects, deserves another chance to put video games under his lens. And yes, he does plan to devote at least one episode to Gamergate lightning rod Anita Sarkeesian. I’m sure the comment section for that video will be perfectly civil and free of argument.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Fund This, Kickstarter, News by Sam Gutelle
No Comments »

YouTube’s largest charity event of the year will return in 2014, but this time, it has undergone some slight tweaks. Project 4 Awesome (P4A), the crowdsourced fundraising drive run by Vlogbrothers hosts Hank Green and John Green, will return to the Internet on December 12th.

As in previous years, Project 4 Awesome will be powered by the participation of popular YouTubers, who will make videos in support of their favorite charities. Viewers will then use their comments to “vote” for the YouTubers whose charities they support. Ultimately, the top ten charities chosen by fans will split the funds raised by a communal Indiegogo campaign that will be launched by Hank and John. Last year, this system raised $869,591, a record-breaking total that surpassed all previous P4A campaigns.

This year, a few new wrinkles will update P4A. The most visible change is the project’s date; this year, P4A will move five days earlier than its usual December 17th start date in order to accommodate John Green’s schedule. Green is currently on set for Paper Towns, an upcoming film based off his 2008 book of the same name.

A second change concerns the charities to which P4A will give. As John Green explains in an introductory vlog, three charities will be pre-selected to receive all the funds raised on P4A’s first day. While this will slightly diminish the crowdsourced nature of the campaign, the “excellent and efficient” nature of the pre-selected charities will allow P4A to more easily collect matching donations from private sources while also shining a larger spotlight on the charities rather than the YouTubers supporting them.

In order to support the second part of that goal, votes will be tallied based on comment discussions rather than the sheer mass of comments each video receives. Green hopes this will prevent viewers from focusing entirely on spamming comments for their favorite YouTubers.

From the looks of it, the Green brothers are trying to make sure that the charities are the real stars of the fundraising effort. If Green’s comments about matching donations are any indication, that will lead to another record-breaking year for P4A.

Filed under: Articles, Charity, Featured, News, Project 4 Awesome, Vlogbrothers by Sam Gutelle
No Comments »

Fans of 24-year-old Zoe Sugg (known as Zoella to the online video masses) can now pick up their copies of her book. The beauty vlogger with over 6.5 million YouTube subscribers just launched Girl Online, which is already on the top of Amazon’s “hot new releases” chart.

Zoella appeared at Penguin’s Random House offices in London for a party celebrating her book’s release. She was joined by her boyfriend and YouTuber Alfie Deyes of Pointless Blog, fellow beauty vlogger Tanya Burr, TV chef Jamie Oliver, and more UK-based celebrities. Zoella shared an Instagram video of herself and Deyes from the evening:

A photo posted by Zoe (@zozeebo) on Nov 11, 2014 at 5:00pm PST

Burr and Zoella also posed for a second shot:

A photo posted by Tanya Burr (@tanyaburr) on Nov 11, 2014 at 1:50pm PST

Burr also shared a picture of the party’s Girl Online-themed cupcakes.

A photo posted by Tanya Burr (@tanyaburr) on Nov 11, 2014 at 1:15pm PST

Girl Online is currently #1 on Amazon’s Hot New Releases for Social & Family Issues in the teen and young adult category. And before it was even published, Girl Online made it into Amazon’s top 100 bestsellers. Adele Minchin, publicity director at Penguin Random House, has high hopes the book will continue to gain momentum, as she told The London Evening Standard on November 24, “We’re expecting number one this week.”

Girl Online follows the life of Penny, a blogger who writes about her family, friends, and anxiety issues. The book is the first publication to come out of Zoella’s two-book deal with Penguin announced earlier this year. Penguin sold the US and Canadian rights to Simon & Schuster’s Atria Publishing imprint, which will distribute Girl Online in those countries via Keywords Press, the publisher that focuses on releases from digital stars. Keywords Press also has deals with Shane Dawson, iJustine, and Connor Franta.

Zoella and Penguin haven’t announced the title or release date of her second book as of yet. However, if Zoella’s Girl Online becomes as popular as it is slated to be and her fans demand more, the vlogger could find herself undertaking the next book’s production very soon.

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

Camp Takota is getting a second life on a new platform. The 95-minute film, which stars YouTubers Mamrie Hart, Hannah Hart, and Grace Helbig, will come to Netflix on December 1st.

The announcement was made via Camp Takota‘s Tumblr. The deal with Netflix has two key advantages for the film: For one, the move to a new streaming site opens up a second distribution window, which has the potential to revitalize interest in the film nine months after its Valentine’s Day release. More importantly, Netflix’s subscription-based service could bring in viewers who initially balked at the $9.99 price tag the film carried with it when it debuted on video on-demand platforms like iTunes and VHX.

The arrival of Camp Takota could be good news for Netflix, too. The film is one of the first long-form films to feature multiple YouTube stars as its headliners, and Helbig, Hart, and Hart’s fans have already shown they are willing to throw their collective weight around in order to support Camp Takota. In the days after the film’s initial release, it reached the #3 position on iTunes’ independent film charts. That audience will likely be eager to support its favorite YouTubers on Netflix, too.

This isn’t the first time Camp Takota has been linked Netflix. In 2013, the film’s initial distributor, Chill, ceased its video distribution operations, leaving Camp Takota as a free agent. At that point, several writers argued that Netflix should step in, citing the film’s large audience as a big selling point. Netflix didn’t pick up the film then, but more than a year later, it has gotten the hint. We’ll see how much of Camp Takota‘s audience will migrate to Netflix starting next week.

Photo credit: Tumblr user mckinnna

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Netflix, News, Web Series by Sam Gutelle
No Comments »

Maker Studios has just added some family-friendly entertainment to its roster of YouTube talent. The multi-channel network has picked up the toddler and family-oriented channels DisneyCarToys, HobbyKidsTV, TheEngineeringFamily, ToysReviewToys, and AllToyCollector.

The MCN will be in charge of optimizing these five channels’ content, arranging brand partnerships, and increasing their reach by syndicating their content across Maker’s platforms. According to the release, the new additions rank in the Top 40 Toy Channels across the globe and collectively garner over 300 million monthly views. And according to our Tubefilter Charts, at least one of Maker’s five new channels is in the Top 20 YouTube channels overall. DisneyCaryToys was the 18th most viewed YouTube channel in the world in September 2014.

While most of the channels cover toy unboxing and review videos, a few hold signature differences. For example, DisneyToyCars, with over 1 million subscribers, is known for making narrative stories from the perspective of toys from popular movies like Frozen (which basically makes the channel a kind of Toy Story for YouTube). The AllToyCollector channel (with over 280,000 subscribers) features toys for all ages of viewers, while TheEngineeringFamily (300,000 subsribers) tries to find toys the entire family can enjoy together.

“Our new toy channel partners are an exciting addition to our community of creators and we look forward to working with them ahead of the holiday season to offer video viewing families great information and entertainment that help guide and inform their holiday buying decisions,” said Chris M. Williams, Chief Audience Officer of Maker Studios, in the release.

The newly-signed creators are also incredibly happy to be joining the Maker brand. “We’ve always admired The Shaytards, the first family of YouTube, and their tremendous success as founding talent at Maker,” said Tennille and Ryan of HobbyKidsTV (which boasts over 270,000 subscribers). “We’re thrilled to be in the same club and are excited to work directly with Maker utilizing their expertise and resources to grow our channel and really rocket our brand to the next level.”

“Maker has really become an expert in the family space on YouTube,” added Kevin of TheEngineeringFamily. “They have an amazing track record of working with talent that have all-age audiences, particularly in the toy space and we are excited to get started.”

In March of 2014, the Walt Disney Company acquired Maker Studios for at least $500 million (possibly even up to $950 million). Despite Maker’s five new toy channels’ inclusion of Disney products, the MCN pointed out how the YouTubers were not previously affiliated with Disney before their partnership with Maker. But the fact that the creators will now have greater access to Mickey Mouse’s powerhouse brand is an exciting aspect to all of them.

“Maker is providing us the opportunity to be a part of the Disney magic in ways we could not have imagined on our own,” explained Sandra of DisneyToyCars and its sister channel ToysReviewToys (over 200,000 subscribers). “As super fans of the Disney brand we couldn’t be more excited about this partnership.”

Maker’s partnership with these five creators stems from the fact that toy channels, according to Williams, are “one of the fastest-growing genres of family programming online” (which anyone who has followed the meteoric rise of DisneyCollectorBR already knows). Like toy manufacturers have realized, Maker understands how the online video masses are quickly turning to these toy reviewers’ videos when choosing which products to purchase.

The five toy channels join 55,000 other Maker creators. The MCN currently claims over 9 billion views a month across its entire network.

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

Vine just implemented a feature familiar to any Twitter user.  The six-second video app now allows its users to select their favorite accounts and receive push notifications when those accounts post new videos (just like its parent company, Twitter, can send out push notifications whenever an account a user is following posts a new tweet).

Vine users can simply click on the “star” button in the upper right-hand corner of a profile to favorite the account. When a user’s favorite profiles post new content, a push notification will be sent to the user’s activity feed and mobile device. The app’s users can review, change, or stop their favorite accounts and push notification settings through the Settings section of the Vine app.

“We’ve been testing this feature at Vine, and it’s really helped us keep up with the people and Vines we care about most,” wrote developer Felix Fung on Vine’s official blog.

Research from Beachfront Media has shown push notifications can be instrumental in gaining views and followers, as well as building up a brand. The media company found 80% of video app users opt to keep push notifications on for content, topics, companies, and people they’re passionate about. Viners would definitely fall into that latter category for a good chunk of the video platform’s 100 million monthly viewers. And if 80% of those users keep push notifications activated for some of their favorite Vine channels, you can expect the platform’s one billion loops a month loop-count to dramatically increase in the near future.

One caveat. VentureBeat notes the new favorites feature is only available to Android and iOS users. Windows Phone owners won’t be able to favorite profiles or receive push notifications. However, the Windows users have always had the exclusive ability to save an account to their home screens and see its updates, essentially eliminating the need for a separate favorites feature and push notifications.

If you don’t already own the video app, make sure you download Vine via the iTunes app store or Google Play so you can check out its newest feature and start favoriting away.

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

The online video masses who love poking fun of glitches in Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare will have to look harder to find these videos on YouTube. Activision, the creator of the COD game franchise’s latest installment, is issuing Takedown strikes against YouTube videos which contain game glitches.

YouTube gamers whose videos have received a copyright infringement notice aren’t too happy, and neither is the gaming community in general. Gamers and YouTube creators alike are questioning Activision’s real intent with the strikes, claiming the game developer just doesn’t want people to see the flaws in its new game and is abusing its rights.

Here’s an idea for Activision. Instead of hiring people to issue copyright strikes on footage of glitches, how about you fix the glitches?

— Many A True Nerd (@ManyATrueNerd) November 21, 2014

Apparently Activision is issuing copyright strikes on channels showing glitches in CoD: AW. Is that not another abuse of the system? — Nick Reineke (@RockLeeSmile) November 21, 2014

Just got an email from Machinima warning me that AW videos showing glitches are likely to get a copyright strike. Really Activision?

— Jamie (@TheRoflRaptor) November 20, 2014

However, in a statement sent to Kotaku, Activision insists it’s merely targeting videos which expose cheats and “unfair exploits”:

We’re excited that so many fans are having fun playing the game and posting videos of their gameplay. We love watching the videos ourselves. Occasionally, some folks post videos that promote cheating and unfair exploits. As always, we keep an eye out for these videos—our level of video claims hasn’t changed. We are appreciative of the community’s support in helping to ensure that everyone has the best playing experience possible.

The multi-channel network Machinima was quick to pick up on Activision’s takedown initiative. Kotaku noted how the MCN alerted its creators to the situation to help ward off any issues with its talent getting into trouble with YouTube:

Recently Machinima notified it’s network partners that posting content about Call of Duty videos may receive a strike if flagged by Activision. Machinima was prompted to take this action in order to inform its network partners so that they would remain in good standing on YouTube. When a channel receives a certain number of strikes it is possible that they may be blocked as a YouTube partner. Machinima’s actions are to protect not only its network partners, but its publisher partners as well.

Machinima’s proactive warnings are a good move on the MCN’s part. The network showed it wants to keep its creators in the loop in a very timely fashion, as well as prohibit those creators from receiving unexpected strikes that could impact their revenue-generating, posting, and other YouTube abilities. Being removed for YouTube is a large price to pay for one game glitch. As such, creators should be wary of uploading anything Activision could consider a cheat.

The warnings Machinima issued also come in stark contrast to the gaming-oriented MCN’s (and nearly every other MCN’s) response to the wave of Takedown notices that hit YouTube back in December 2013. At that time, channel partners at multi-channel networks were ill-prepared to deal with the influx of questions stemming from the changes in YouTube’s copyright policies. Machinima, like YouTube, has learned from its mistakes.

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

Jack Conte has enabled strong revenue streams for himself and his fellow YouTube content creators by launching Patreon, but even so, turning a profit as a musician requires a constant grind. Conte, who along with Nataly Dawn makes up the musical duo Pomplamoose, has authored a blog post breaking down the expenses of his recent 28-day tour. As Conte shows, he and Dawn managed to pull in a six-figure revenue during the tour, but even that was not enough to offset the group’s expenses and turn a profit.

Pomplamoose’s tour began in Portland on September 11 and wound through the United States before concluding in the duo’s hometown of San Francisco one month later. Along the way, Conte and Dawn paid for production costs, the salaries of their band mates, gas, airfare, lodging, food, insurance, and several other costs. In total, the tour cost $147,802, and since Pomplamoose is an independent band, those funds came out of Conte and Dawn’s pockets.

Conte and Dawn did manage to recoup most of those costs. Between ticket sales, merchandise, and a sponsorship from Lenovo, they collected $135,983, which means they ultimately lost $11,819 on the tour.

Conte didn’t share his tour expenses in order to launch a Pomplamoose pity party. Instead, he is out to show that life as an independent artist is a grind–even if you’re well-regarded and blessed with a significant fan base:

“We’re entering a new era in history: the space between “starving artist” and “rich and famous” is beginning to collapse. YouTube has signed up over a million partners (people who agree to run ads over their videos to make money from their content). The “creative class” is no longer emerging: it’s here, now.

We, the creative class, are finding ways to make a living making music, drawing webcomics, writing articles, coding games, recording podcasts. Most people don’t know our names or faces. We are not on magazine covers at the grocery store. We are not rich, and we are not famous.

We are the mom and pop corner store version of “the dream.” If Lady Gaga is McDonald’s, we’re Betty’s Diner. And we’re open 24/7.”

Of course, Pomplamoose has other revenue streams that prevent Conte and Dawn from starving. Thanks to Patreon (which recently passed a seven-figure monthly payout milestone among all of its users), Pomplamoose makes more than $6,300 per video, which, combined with album sales, adds up to a monthly $2,500 salary for both Conte and Dawn. That allows them to continue creating clever music videos; their most recent effort, an ode to the Internet, arrived last month:

Conte and Dawn are lucky enough to support themselves by doing what they love, but like many other online content creators, they have little time to relax. “We have not ‘made it,'” Conte concludes. “We’re making it.”

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

Bethany Mota had a nice run on season 19 of Dancing With The Stars, but the jig is up. The YouTube beauty icon has been eliminated from ABC’s popular reality show, finishing just one place shy of the season finale.

Mota, whose participation in DWTS allowed ABC to add a fresh face and attract younger viewers, ultimately finished fourth. She was eliminated during the first night of the reality show’s two-night finale, setting up a November 26th showdown between Duck Dynasty‘s Sadie Robertson, Pretty Little Liars actress Janel Parrish, and Alfonso Ribiero, whose dancing skills should come as little surprise to Fresh Prince of Bel-Air fans.

Between their two dances of the evening, Mota and partner Derek Hough scored 76 out of a possible 80 points, including a perfect score on their second dance. Those high marks were not quite good enough, and they earned Hough a rare elimination; including this year, he has finished in the top three in seven of the past nine DWTS seasons.

Despite her elimination, Mota maintained the chipper attitude that has helped her become one of YouTube’s biggest stars. “I think I’ve improved so much. Not even in a specific dance style, but just overall as a dancer,” she said. “I feel more confident when I move than I did in week one, and I think you can really see that in the dances.”

With her appearance on DWTS completed, Mota will return to her YouTube channel, where she has more than 7.7 million subscribers.  That’s not a bad consolation prize.

Filed under: Channels by Sam Gutelle
No Comments »

Online video creators won’t have to worry about their mis-matched brand identity and YouTube URL anymore. The Google-owned video platform now allows creators with 500 subscribers or more to create custom URLs.

Previously, YouTube automatically created a URL for creators based on their usernames. YouTube’s creator blog gives the example of youtube.com/GlamLifeGuru, also known to her fans as Tati. In this case, Tati’s perceived brand name by her fans doesn’t match her YouTube URL.

“To make sure creators like Tati and all of you have a consistent place for new and existing fans to find you, we’re introducing an easier way to pick custom URLs that match your channel names and branding,” writes Laura Rapin, Product Specialist at YouTube, on the site’s blog.

In addition to having 500 subscribers, a YouTube user must also have a channel over 30 days old, and have both channel art and a channel photo/icon. When a creator meets these requirements, YouTube will start sending out emails and other notifications with suggested channel titles. These titles will be generated from the creator’s YouTube channel description, Google identity, and all associated links (like the creator’s official website).

For example, CurlybyNature21 (who just signed with StyleHaul as one of its newest creators) could now change her YouTube channel URL to her more commonly-known brand name Alyssa Forever.

In the past, YouTube used to allow all its users to set custom URLs. In a Google product forums from July 2014, a Google user was told to visit www.youtube.com/account_username to set up his custom URL. I used this URL earlier this year to create my custom URL, before YouTube changed its requirements:

Now, landing on the “account username” page shows nothing but an error message:

Keeping custom URLs for creators with 500 subscribers isn’t a bad idea, however. It ensures usernames aren’t taken by video creators who will only abandon their channels a few months or years down the road. If you’re at the 500 subscribers mark and would like a different channel address, you can read these instructions on how to pick out your custom URL and get it set up via the Creator Studio.

Filed under: Articles, Industry, News, YouTube by Bree Brouwer
1 Comment »