Hulu has added a new original title to its roster of programming. The streaming video-on-demand service just made a straight-to-series order for Amy Poehler’s Difficult People.

The half-hour comedy is co-created by Billy Eichner (from Funny or Die’s Fuze TV show Billy on the Street) and Julie Klausner (the head writer for Billy on the Street). The two will also star in the series as best friends from New York City who often find themselves in inconvenient situations because of their typical, disdainful attitudes.

In addition to her starring role, Klausner also wrote the show’s pilot, which was originally filmed for the USA Network. She is also playing the role of Executive Producer of Difficult People alongside Dave Becky (of Louie fame) and Poehler. The program comes from Universal Cable Productions and is the first collaboration between Hulu and the production company.

“I tend to enjoy funny people creating and starring in comedy programs,” said Poehler in the release. “And Julie and Billy are the funniest around.”

Difficult People is the latest entertainment project from the Saturday Night Live alum, who is quite a busy lady these days. Poehler also produces Comedy Central’s Broad City and produces and stars in NBC’s Parks & Recreation, which is entering its final season soon. (Eichner has appeared in previous seasons of Parks, so it’s likely he’ll return for its conclusion.) Finally, Poehler’s Smart Girls at the Party online video brand was just acquired by Legendary Entertainment.

“Amy Poehler, Billy Eichner, and Julie Klausner are a dream team of comedic possibilities,” said Craig Erwich, Senior VP and Head of Content at Hulu, in the release. “We look forward to bringing this hilarious view of the world to Hulu with our partners at Universal Cable Productions.”

Difficult People joins another comedy Hulu recently announced from Jason Reitman called CASUAL. Production on Difficult People is set to begin in early 2015.

Filed under: Articles, Hulu, News by Bree Brouwer
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Patreon has crossed the seven-digit mark. According to an October post on the crowdfunding site’s official blog, it has now surpassed $1 million in monthly payouts to its creative partners.

Creators who use Patreon set up their own pages where their fans can become “patrons” by giving a monthly donation. Patrons receive perks in return, with different rewards scaled to specific donation levels. This system has attracted more than 125,000 creators to Patreon, many of whom make far more money from their backers than they make from YouTube ad revenue.

In the post, Patreon contended that its latest milestone is an example of shifting tides in the online media world. “This announcement is our happiest yet! But it’s more than just happy – it confirms a massive cultural shift that we all felt but had trouble describing,” reads the post. “It’s a restless movement, developing simultaneously right now in arts communities around the world: The public is demanding to pay creators.”

Patreon, which was co-founded by YouTuber Jack Conte of Pomplamoose, first launched in 2013, when it raised $2.1 million in venture capital. By February 2014, it had more than 30,000 users, and in June, it scooped up another $15 million in funding, which it has used to improve its services.

“One of the first questions people ask us is how we’ve grown so quickly,” Conte told Tubefilter after we asked him the same question given the aforementioned numbers. “We don’t have a marketing or PR team yet, so the short answer is that the old system of making money from digital media was entirely, utterly, painfully broken. Running ads in front of a video is one way to make money as a video creator, but it’s not the best. And it’s not even a good way. There are some Patreon creators that are making over 100x what they make through ad revenue on YouTube. I think that’s why it’s grown so quickly.”

Notable creators who raise thousands of dollars per month on Patreon include Pentatonix, CGP Grey, and Smooth McGroove. Given the company’s trajectory, expect to see some more names on that list in the near future.

Filed under: 2013 In Review, Articles, Featured, News, Patreon by Sam Gutelle
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Earlier this fall, AwesomenessTV announced it would open a physical store for holiday shoppers in Los Angeles called Scene@AwesomenessTV. The retail pop-up shop had its grand opening on November 15, 2014, complete with merchandise from some of the multi-channel network’s top creators like Teala Dunn and Sawyer Hartman.

StreamDaily filmed the grand opening of Scene@AwesomenessTV for the benefit of fans and interesting parteid who haven’t yet made it to the actual location. The video shows off the store’s products for sale (some which come from the MCN’s new movie Expelled), and includes interviews with Dunn, Hartman, AwesomenessTV’s co-founder Joe Davola, and the MCN’s Global Head of Consumer Products and Retail Jim Fielding.

“I would say about half the product in the store is either Awesomeness-branded or Awesomeness talent-branded,” Fielding said. He talked about how all the creators met with Awesomeness during the merchandise creation process. The YouTube and social media stars provided their own sketches of ideas or photos of items they liked and worked together with the team at Awesomeness to design the final products. “I’ve always loved fashion,” said Dunn. “The opportunity came about and so I was just like, ‘I can’t say no, obviously.’”

“We’re able to use all that [YouTube] talent to let them put their lines in [the store], which I think is great,” said Davola. “It’s a new form, short-form retailing. We’re bringing it to the fans. They’re able to meet their stars and friends and stuff like that they watch on YouTube, so I think it’s a great thing.”

When asked why AwesomenessTV didn’t open the store elsewhere, Fielding said it’s not easy to find temporary real estate. “We love Fairfax,” he said. “We love the attitude and energy of Fairfax, and then when we found this space, we fell in love with it. We loved the fact that it was an art gallery. I mean, if you look at the floor in there, a lot of the artists’ art is still on the floor. And we just love the visibility of this street.”

You can check out which creators will appear at Scene@AwesomenessTV on its website. But take note: the store will only be open through December 31. So if you live in the Los Angeles area, make sure to head on over to 428 N. Fairfax to grab some products and meet your favorite stars before the temporary store closes its doors.

Filed under: Articles, AwesomenessTV, News by Bree Brouwer
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Zoella, Alfie Deyes (aka Pointless Blog), and Joe Sugg (YouTube’s ThatcherJoe) are already familiar names in the online video world, but they’re about to be known in the music industry, too. The UK-based YouTube celebrities recently participated in a recording of the Band Aid 30 song “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”

The trio of vloggers was invited by Sir Bob Geldof to join a larger group of English and Irish musicians known collectively as the charity supergroup Band Aid 30. The name honors the 1984 Band Aid, a collection of around 40 musicians who came together three decades ago to record the original version of “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” Band Aid’s initial goal was to help combat poverty in Africa, so this year, Band Aid 30’s aims to sell the re-recorded single to raise money to combat the Ebola crisis.

Zoella, Deyes, and Sugg joined some of the biggest British names in music to record the classic Christmas song, including Bono, Coldplay’s Chris Martin, Ellie Goulding, Rita Ora, One Direction, Emeli Sande, Sam Smith, Bastille, and Ed Sheeran (many of whom cancelled prior commitments to participate). The three YouTube stars felt honored to help with such an important cause, regardless of whether or not they were “real” singers.

“If you were asked to help raise awareness and money for Ebola by Bob Geldof would you seriously say no?” tweeted Zoella to a fan who questioned her involvement with the project. Deyes also expressed his surprise about being asked to join Band Aid 30 in a video he filmed hours before the YouTubers recorded the song:

However, he later tweeted about how “surreal” his day had been and how grateful he was to be a part of the project:

I’m so thankful to be involved with @BandAid30! Let’s make a real change x

— Alfie Deyes (@PointlessBlog) November 15, 2014

Sugg also expressed his gratitude in a tweet after the recording:

Well.. Today has been eventful! But AMAZING! Feeling so grateful for all the amazing opportunities that have come my way 🙂 night everyone x — Joe Sugg (@Joe_Sugg) November 15, 2014

The three YouTube vloggers only sang in the choir, but they became the first non-musicians to take part in the Band Aid movement. Zoella, Deyes, and Sugg’s involvement will hopefully help younger generations realize they can make a difference in the world.

And if their followers are as dedicated as they seem, the trio of vloggers may be able to raise a substantial amount of funds to fight Ebola (despite today’s streaming-obsessed culture). According to New Media Rockstars, Band Aid 30’s version of “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” won’t appear on Spotify until after the holidays to encourage listeners to purchase the track instead of just streaming it for free (or downloading it illegally).

Fortunately, Band Aid 30’s charity work is off to a good start. The group’s song debuted on the UK’s X Factor on November 17, 2014, and has already made £1 million, according to the Independent. The original Band Aid recording raised over £8 million for poverty.

Want to help Zoella, Deyes, Sugg, and the UK musicians beat the old record? You can purchase “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” for $1.29 on Google Play or from iTunes. All proceeds will go to the UK’s Band Aid trust to fight Ebola.

Filed under: Articles, Celebrity, Channels, News, PointlessBlog by Bree Brouwer
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Vimeo continues to build up its library of premium, on demand content, and for its latest release, it has turned to one of the strongest comedy networks on the Internet. JASH is behind Rubberhead, a variety show hosted by Sarah Silverman.

Rubberhead, which was conceived during the spring and filmed in July, is a 45-minute comedy showcase featuring more than 25 performers. According to a release, Silverman hand-picked the comedians who took part in the event. “The people you think are funny?” reads the release, “This is who they think are funny.” The special was initially planned for release through Xbox Entertainment Studios, though it moved to Vimeo after Xbox’s video platform shuttered in July.

“The idea behind Rubberhead is a new type of comedy experience— a no holds-barred show without the middleman,” said creator and executive producer Daniel Kellison. “What you see is the comedy created wholly by the artist, without interference from executives or networks or standards and practices. We put our full trust in our artist partners. Nothing is off-limits.”

So who can viewers expect to see in Rubberhead? The release lists the following names: 2Chainz, Nathan Barnatt, Derrick Beckles, Michael Cassady, David Dineen-Porter, Kyle Dunnigan, Shelby Fero, Nathan Fielder, Brett Gelman, Todd Glass, John Hartman, Key & Peele, Lauren Lapkus, Natasha Leggero, Courtney Love, Tig Notaro, Tim Heidecker & Eric Wareheim, John C Reilly, Seth Rogen, Paul Rust, Sarah Silverman, Bobb’e J Thompson, Kulap Vilaysack, Harris Wittels and Charlyne Yi. JASH also provided some information about individual sketches, including a fake commercial featuring 2Chainz and Key & Peele, which should be worth the price of admission on its own.

JASH Presents RUBBERHEAD – Trailer from JASH on Vimeo.

That price is $4.99, which provides viewers with instant access to the comedy show. Other live programs distributed by Vimeo’s pay-to-view platform including Philip DeFranco’s DeFranco Does LA; it has also served as a home for web series like Wedlock and High Maintenance. If you think the price is right, you can download Rubberhead from Vimeo On Demand.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, JASH, News, Vimeo by Sam Gutelle
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Jerry Seinfeld isn’t the only person showing off classic cars on YouTube. Ken Block, the co-founder of DC Shoes and a professional rally car racer, has returned with the seventh installment of his Gymkhana series, in which he stunt-drives his way through Los Angeles in a customized 1965 Ford Mustang.

The Gymkhana videos always carry brand partners in tow, and this time, Block’s apparel company, Hoonigan, has partnered with Ford and Need for Speed: No Limits, an upcoming installment in the long-running video game franchise.

This time around, the video is themed around notable Los Angeles landmarks. Block drives donuts around Randy’s Donuts, snakes his way through Chinatown, pays homage to the OJ Simpson chase, and finishes his run with a drive past the Hollywood sign. The most notable feature of LA to not be included in “Gymkhana Seven” is the traffic; Block pulls his drifting stunts through carless streets in what must have been a blissful driving experience.

Gymkhana videos have always drawn millions of views, and the seventh installment is no different. Just one day after it arrived on YouTube, it has already drawn 5.6 million views and accrued more than 65,000 likes. The most popular installment of the Gymkhana series is its fifth episode, which has more than 68 million views on DC Shoes’ official YouTube channel (Block has since sold his ownership of DC.)

“Gymkhana Seven” is essentially more of the same from Block. The Gymkhana videos garner their massive view counts for a reason; we’re already looking forward to number eight, whenever it may arrive.

Filed under: Articles, Branded Entertainment, Featured, News, Web Series by Sam Gutelle
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The NFL season is in full swing, and a new web series is taking a behind-the-scenes look at some of the league’s players. Mobile video company Torrential is distributing Digital Diaries, a series that follows the off-the-fiend lives of NFL pros.

The first guest on Digital Diaries is Justin Tuck of the Oakland Raiders, who shows off the workout routine that has allowed him to put together a ten-year NFL career. While the video isn’t particularly browser friendly (that’s the point), it can be viewed from Torrential’s main video platform, Torrential.TV.

There are a lot of companies involved in Digital Diaries. Torrential, which brands itself as “tomorrow’s broadcast television, for a mobile-first world,” has partnered with Horizon Media and Mandt Bros. Productions for the series. Mandt Bros. is also known for its other sports-related productions, such as Million Dollar Arm. Geico is also on board as Digital Diaries’ main sponsor, and the series will be distributed across Torrential’s mobile partners, including Cinesport, Dailymotion Sports,Men’s Health, Men’s Fitness, MSN and Sporting News.

For most NFL fans, Digital Diaries is a quick hitter to watch while on the go. For Oaklanders, it doubles as a less dismaying viewing experience than Raiders football.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, News, Studios by Sam Gutelle
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StyleHaul is adding to its talented roster of fashion and beauty content creators. The multi-channel network (which recently hired a new head of consumer products) has signed YouTube vloggers Alyssa Wallace (aka Alyssa Forever/CurlyByNature21) and Raye Boyce (aka ItsMyRayeRaye).

Both Wallace and Boyce are both popular for their makeup and hair tutorials, coverage of fashion trends, product highlights, and more. Boyce has over 600,000 subscribers with 1.5 million views a month, while Wallace currently boasts more than 245,000 subscribers and 1.1 million views a month. Wallace was also awarded the title of Beauty Blogger of the Year by Allure Magazine in 2014.

“This is very exciting for StyleHaul and the industry as a whole,” wrote a StyleHaul rep in the release. “Curly By Nature (Alyssa Forever) and Raye are ‘it girls in the fashion and beauty space and create innovative and inspiring content for their millions of fans across all of the social platforms.”

StyleHaul is already home to many top-level beauty and fashion creators from YouTube, including Zoella and Dulce Candy. Recently, Europe’s RTL Group acquired a controlling stake in the beauty MCN for a reported price of $107 million, bringing the network’s total valuation to about $150 million.

The MCN now boasts over 5,000 different content creators with roughly 200 million combined subscribers.

Filed under: Articles, News, StyleHaul by Bree Brouwer
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Break.com‘s parade of positive pranks has returned for a second round. Prank It FWD, which drew millions of views when it debuted as Break’s contribution to April Fool’s Day 2014, has returned to the humor website’s official channel.

The first new Prank It FWD video comes from practical joker Greg Benson, who runs the Mediocre Films channel. Benson partnered with Break and Barefoot Wine to pull a heartwarming “prank” on a housekeeper named Cara Simmons. Simmons is sent to a house, where she must taste a gourmet meal, receive a massage, and complete other unusual “chores.” Once she completes her tasks, she learns that the house is actually hers to keep, and she and Benson share some wine to celebrate.

Benson’s prank is only the first of a series of positive practical jokes that will feature creators from the DEFY Media network (which also owns Break). Smosh will make an appearance, as will LAHWF, JSTUStudios, and Tom Mabe.

Prank It FWD‘s first iteration, which began on March 31st, drew tens of millions of views. The series’ most popular entry, which provided a waitress with her best shift ever, scored 8.4 million views on its own. “April’s Prank it FWD delivered above and beyond anything we could have expected,” said Barry Blumberg, Head of Content at DEFY Media, in a release. “This time around we challenged ourselves to go bigger, and what better time than the holiday season to share more good and prank-filled surprises? The results will undoubtedly bring cheer to everyone that watches.”

Keep an eye on Break’s channel for new Prank It FWD videos throughout the week. Tune in, and be sure to use the hashtag #PrankItFWD on social media; for each view and each mention, Break will donate a dollar to DoSomething.org.

Filed under: Articles, Channels, Featured, News, Web Series by Sam Gutelle
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As its speculated launch draws nearer, we continue learn more details about Vessel, the online video platform started by former Hulu CEO Jason Kilar. The latest report on the stealth startup comes from AdAge, which has outlined Vessel’s apparent strategy of 72-hour exclusive windows for content from prominent YouTube creators.

At the same time, multiple sources have told Tubefilter that Vessel is offering the most high-profile YouTube stars $2 to $4 million guarantees for 72-hour exclusive windows on videos they upload over a period of 18 to 36 months.

Vessel has approached the top 100 to 200 content creators on YouTube with a deal that would guarantee serious revenue in exchange for a three-day exclusive on all of a creators’ videos (except for any videos that are commissioned directly by Google. Vessel’s reportedly okay with those hitting YouTube first). The company’s big guarantees are initially made possible by it’s massive $75 million funding round and will ideally become sustainable by way of three reported revenue streams: At the center will be pre-roll ads, which could offer a $25 CPM that would outstrip YouTube’s average rate. Vessel is also likely to give its partners a bigger cut of that ad revenue. Unlike YouTube, which takes 45% of ad revenue generated on its site, sources tell us Vessel’s ad revenue split is 70% / 30% in favor of the creator.

Vessel will also offer a premium service believed to be similar to Hulu Plus, and we’re told the site’s creative partners will receive a combined 60% of the revenue generated from that subscription service. Each creator will then receive a cut of that 60% commensurate with the size and consumption of his or her audience. Finally, creators who generated new users to pony up for a subscription to the premium service will receive a “bounty” said to be worth between $7 and $15 per subscriber.

On the technical side of things, Kilar and his team have apparently designed Vessel to look a lot like Hulu, which features a sleek aesthetic and allows users to choose the ads they wish to see before viewing their content (an online video advertising concept that Hulu popularized several years ago). The layout will be mobile-friendly, thus appeasing the increasing number of viewers who watch online video content on smartphones and tablets.

Of course, there are few potential drawbacks to Vessel’s plan and its big-money guarantees. It’s unclear how many YouTube viewers will be interested in sitting through Vessel’s ads or subscribing to its premium service instead of just waiting three days to watch the very same content on YouTube. Plus, Vessel needs the programming from a critical mass of top YouTube stars to substantiate the fee for the site’s premium offerings, and at least some of the 100 to 200 creators the company has targeted have already turned Vessel down.

At the same time, this seems like a strategy that could really work. It runs on the same principle as YouTube’s Google Preferred program: Advertisers will be willing to spend more money if they know their spots will be attached to high-quality content. And since all of Vessel’s content will come from top creators, it will eliminate the problem of massive supply that has plagued YouTube’s ad rates. Even if Vessel only attracts the top 10% of YouTube superfans, that will still bring millions of viewers (and dollars) to the new video platform.

Vessel’s intriguing approach will be put to the test whenever the platform officially debuts. While an exact launch date is unknown, AdAge suggests the public could get a look at Vessel sometime in December 2014.

We reached out to Vessel for comment on all of the above, but they didn’t respond before the time of this writing. We’ll update this story (or write a new one) if and when we hear back. Stay tuned.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, News, Vessel by Sam Gutelle
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YouTuber Joseph Costello of the channel QuietAssassins (which currently claims more than 350,000 subscribers) typically likes pranking innocent bystanders and performing some ridiculous social experiments in and around the city of Austin, Texas. But for his newest video, he gave his camera to a homeless man named Sandy so he could film a day in his life.

Costello and Sandy met and became friends while the YouTuber was filming his regularly scheduled programming. The two even collaborated on some of Costello’s prank videos. In the description of one of such upload, Costello writes how Sandy has “such a high spirit and is one of the kindest people I have ever met.” With that sentiment in mind, Costello wanted to give Sandy a helping hand and decided it was time his audience saw the circumstances he has to deal with each day.

The video published on November 16, 2014, starts with Costello handing off the camera to Sandy, who then takes viewers on a journey through a typical day in his life. In a series of disheartening clips, he reveals his pile of dry clothes (hidden so no one steals them), shows where he usually sleeps, and introduces viewers to a fellow homeless friend:

Sandy is careful to explain he doesn’t have addictions, but became homeless due to leaving a mind-controlling and very un-Christian-like church. Despite holding a computer science degree, he still isn’t able to obtain a job in the city. He doesn’t let this limitation inhibit his growth, though, as he regularly visits the library to use the internet and stay up-to-date on current events.

Costello has set up a fund so viewers can help Sandy get home to Michigan where he’ll stay with his family and look for employment. The QuietAssassins prankster isn’t the only prankster with a penchant for charity, as earlier this year Magic of Rahat raised $44,000 to furnish and rent a home for his homeless friend Eric.

You can visit Sandy’s Go Fund Me page to donate.

Filed under: Articles, News, QuietAssassins by Bree Brouwer
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Like stories of greed, rivalry, and sexual intrigue? Then you’ll love the official trailer Netflix just dropped for its upcoming historical epic Marco Polo.

Starring newcomer Lorenzo Richelmy as the famous Venetian merchant traveler and namesake to a popular children’s poolside game, the ten-episode original series will cover the adventures of Marco Polo in Kublai Khan’s court in Mongol China during the 13th century. The official trailer expands on the brief and rather unrevealing teaser trailer Netflix released in October, showing Polo meeting Khan, being betrayed by his father, training as a fighter, falling for a woman, and more of the usual stuff for which programming on premium subscription-based services is known.

Produced in conjunction with the Weinstein Company, Netflix filmed Marco Polo in Italy, Kazakhstan, and Malaysia. Audiences in all Netflix territories can watch the first season of Marco Polo when it debuts on December 12, 2014.

Marco Polo is just one of many original series recently announced by Netflix. The streaming video-on-demand company has several children’s series underway, including Lemony Snicket’s Series of Unfortunate Events and DreamWork’s All Hail King Julien. Netflix is also working on another historical drama called The Crown, based on the life and times of Queen Elizabeth II of England.

With all these titles in the works and more, Netflix audiences have plenty to look forward to in the coming months.

Filed under: Articles, Netflix, News by Bree Brouwer
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