YouTube Millionaires: For All Def Digital, “It’s All About The Grind”

By 11/05/2015
YouTube Millionaires: For All Def Digital, “It’s All About The Grind”

Welcome to YouTube Millionaires, where we profile channels that have recently crossed the one million subscriber mark. There are channels crossing this threshold every week, and each has a story to tell about YouTube success. Read previous installments of YouTube Millionaires here.

On YouTube, Russell Simmons is All Def, all the time. In 2013, the businessman best known as the co-founder of Def Jam Recordings, bolstered his digital presence with a new channel called All Def Digital (ADD), and two years later, that channel has become an unqualified success. ADD’s content runs the gamut from music to comedy to unscripted news programming, all featuring a network of talented partners. No matter which ADD video you choose, you’ll encounter an urban sensibility the channel has trademarked as its signature style. ADD just passed one million subscribers, so we talked to its CEO, Sanjay Sharma, to find out what him and his team are all about.

Tubefilter: How does it feel to have one million subs?  What do you have to say to the ADD fans?

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All Def Digital: It feels great and we have the squADD to thank for it.  The squADD is our community, it’s our fans, it’s our talent, it’s our employees. We worked together this year to make ADD the fastest and most dynamic destination for hip hop-infused programming, from social video to sketch comedy, from stand-up to spoken word, from digital series to premium television.

TF: What would you say is one theme that unites all the content within the ADD network?

ADD: Authentic collisions.  We love real comedy, real language, real music, real artists, and we love embracing a new generation – both creators and fans – who remix and juxtapose, who aren’t easy to define or put into the so-called ‘urban’ box.  We love the collaborations and collisions that emerge from within the hip hop millennial world and the potential for breakout that comes with it.

TF: How has Russell Simmons’ influence helped you build ADD into the network it is today?

ADD: He’s the heart and soul and the creative inspiration.  He has made All Def a multi-platform universe. The revolution and movement he started is at the core of our vision for the future: from Def Jam in music to Phat Farm in fashion, to Def Comedy Jam and Def Poetry Jam, into premium television programming that puts a spotlight on artistry that had been unseen by mainstream America.  He comes to work everyday and he is so intellectually curious and honest. He is a true visionary who has had such a profound impact on culture over so many decades.

TF: What has been the biggest surprise you’ve encountered since launching ADD?

ADD: The pent-up demand from advertisers.  We have been working with forward-looking marketers, brands and agencies who have immediately grasped the power of what we’re building, and the need to organically and authentically connect with this massive audience through content and other multi-faceted approaches that traditional players don’t offer.  They get there’s an audience here that’s not simply the ‘urban’ market of days past, and that it’s not easy to reach in resonant ways.  

We like coming up with organic and creative integrations that solve that, whether through large-scale bespoke solutions, branded content, live events, or frankly clever and creative Vine activations.  We’re still very early in our evolution and have focused this year on building our programming slate and fan base, but we’re catching up quickly to advertiser demand for our offerings.

TF: What methods do you use to uncover new talent for the ADD network?

ADD:  We use our creative instincts, and a whole lot of data.  Our network is highly curated and invite-only; we aren’t a mass aggregator and don’t focus on tonnage.  We look at a lot of signals through our own data and analytics team and mining efforts, as well as through partners like Tubular Labs.

But because we’re a creative hub and engine and an original programming brand that plays across digital, tv, film, recorded music and live events, we have a unique platform to discover new voices. What we are looking for is real talent who we think can pop off a digitally native platform and who has interests in other professional paths and in other media formats. We can take a star from one of our series and later cast them in a movie or a television show. We are looking for talent that has the range and versatility to transcend any single medium.

TF: On a similar note, why do you think aspiring, talented creators should team with you?  What do you offer that other networks do not?

ADD:  While we offer all the core functions a creator needs (channel optimization, reporting and analysis, etc), what we offer that’s unique is two-fold.  First is a home in a consumer brand that means something.  We aren’t broadcasters or aggregators and care only about our vertical.

Second, and most importantly, we offer a creative platform with direct touch points across digital and up into premium traditional media.  For example, through our first-look deal for television with HBO, we offer a very unique and premium path for the right creators and projects.  Any network or agency can say they can help you set up a show, but we actually do it and if we love the show you will have Russell Simmons and our Head of Programming (who used to run drama at NBC) in your corner helping you shape your pitch to take into a network.  

Similarly, through a partnership with Universal Music Group, the largest music publisher in the world, we can take a select set of the right talent into the biggest labels in the world.  And we’re just getting started.

TF: What do you think makes YouTube a great platform for urban creators?

ADD: I think it’s what makes the platform great for creators of all kinds, but especially those we are interested in which is the new face of urban.  African-American for sure, but also Asian, Latino/Latina, white, Indian, Jewish, LGBT, anyone that is part of or has been influenced by the hip-hop movement.  

For all these creators, YouTube gives them an opportunity to do two things: One, go around traditional gatekeepers and reach an audience directly (our own channel now offers a pretty compelling vehicle to do that too for up and coming creators), and two, over-serve under-served markets.  YouTube as a social video network is allowing all these amazing voices (including the creators in our network) to emerge and thrive.

TF: What excites you most about your partnership with World Star Hip Hop?

ADD: We’ve always been fans of what Q has built at World Star: the largest urban video portal outside of YouTube.  He’s just announced an amazing partnership with Fullscreen (now owned by AT&T/Chernin), one of the first large-scale and world class MCNs, so we’re thrilled for both of them on that front.  

For us, we have a couple of great original projects – a feature film and a comedic web series that already has generated millions of views online – and we’re excited about both of those in 2016.

TF: What’s next for the ADD channel? Any fun plans?

ADD:  We’ve got so much planned it’s hard to start.  We’re already expanding into music programming.   Our flagship music discovery series The Signal was featured by YouTube in its YouTube for Artists documentary, created alongside Vice and unveiled at Midem in Cannes this year.   We’ve just launched a political show, The Firing squADD with Maronzio Vance, a standup comic who has also played our live comedy night – illustrating the cross-platform engine we’re building.  

We’ll take a moment to celebrate at a VIP event in Hollywood with some amazing talent performing, including a live taping of one of our new music shows.  We’ve already developed new programming in sports and we have a lot that we are continually exploring and developing. But it’s all about the grind – we’re working everyday to build a big platform where we see a massive white space.

On Deck (channels that will soon reach one million subscribers): DreamWorksTV, Sophia Grace BrownleeSkyVSGaming

Photo caption: A still from The Drop, a series on All Def Digital.

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