Machinima has gained a new sponsor. The self-described “many-2-many” (M2M) YouTube network has partnered with Honda for the DC Comics-based web series Justice League: Gods and Monsters Chronicles, which will debut on June 8, 2015.

Honda’s intentions with the Gods and Monsters Chronicles sponsorship are to promote its new hybrid vehicle, the HR-V. However, no product placements or even an animated version of the automobile will appear in the three-part web series, which is a digital companion to the film Justice League: Gods and Monsters set for home video release on July 28.

“Given the launch of the all-new Honda HR-V, Machinima offers an ideal platform to reach younger auto buyers,” said Phil Hruska, Honda and Acura’s Media Strategy Manager, to Adweek.

While on the surface it might seem like Machinima’s audience is too young to be purchasing cars, the network’s CRO Jamie Weissenborn believes otherwise. “Our sweet spot is in the 18 to 34 [demo], but we believe our community as a whole is more than 70 percent over the age of 21,” Weissenborn explained. “This is a generation of people in their 40s. They show up to Comic Con. It’s sort of the thread of Americana.”

Part of the other reason Honda was so attracted to Machinima’s upcoming DC series was because of how active the network’s users are on social media outlets, which aligns well with Honda’s social strategy for the HR-V.

“Our audience is known for being overly social,” Weissenborn explained about the fan and gaming-focused network. “This is really a great discovery vehicle because so many people share and comment on the content. On YouTube, they’re more social in the Machinima community than any other community.”

Weissenborn believes Gods and Monsters Chronicles, which was announced back in September 2014, will garner a lot of attention from fans. Each episode will revolve around one superhero (Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman), and could potentially attract one million views per episode.

On the whole, Machinima currently reaches over 170 million global viewers every month.

Filed under: Articles, Branded Entertainment, Machinima.com, News by Bree Brouwer
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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, Danny and Michael Philippou define the old adage, “boys will be boys.” The Aussie brothers have been making videos since childhood, when they entertained themselves with dangerous and hilarious stunts. Years later, the Philippou brothers have transitioned to a YouTube channel called Racka Racka, where they work with friends and collaborators to create action-packed videos filled with choreographed fight scenes, comic violence, and pop culture references. These videos have proven quite popular and have propelled the Racka Racka boys above one million subscribers. Here’s what they had to say about their successes:

Tubefilter: How does it feel to reach one million subscribers? What do you have to say to your fans?

Racka Racka: We’re so excited, we’ve got a car named “Bunky” that we roll every time we hit a subscriber milestone and now that we’ve reach the ultimate milestone we literally blew it up and danced in the ashes. Some of us were naked.

We couldn’t be more grateful! We want to say thank-you, we’d be nothing without you!

TF: Why did you decide to start a YouTube channel, and where does your name come from?

RR: We were all about Facebook back in the day, we only started RackaRacka because people kept stealing and re-uploading our videos. It’s funny how the tables changed, YouTube was always a backup and now it’s the main focus.

RackaRacka is a polysemy. There’s about 5 meanings to the name. I’ll give you one meaning; the double “Racka” represents my brother and I (we’re twins).

TF: You guys started doing dangerous stunts and crazy videos when you were very young. Did you ever get hurt and what did your parents think?

RR: Of course we got hurt. We were constantly trying to out-hardcore each other. We were incredibly violent kids and were pretty lucky to escape with just cuts and bruises…and broken bones and stitches.

Our parents never really knew what was going on, they saw us running around with the camera and thought we were just 12-year-old boys being cute. Little did they know!

TF: What does it take to make one of your popular action videos? What’s the process like?

RR: The whole process is chaos, throwing around ideas with my twin-clone,  bin-diving and garage surfing for props, two to three phone calls from the police, stunts that are probably too dangerous to be attempting on our own and a house that takes a good 24 hours to patch and tidy up.

TF: Your most popular video of all time on YouTube is the “Harry Potter vs. Star Wars” deathmatch. Why do you think that one went viral?

RR: I think the video is just relatable to such a wide range of people. Just about everybody is either a Potter fan or a Star Wars fan, it’s hard to find someone that hates both.

TF: What is one video you haven’t made yet which you really want to?

RR: I’ve got the ULTIMATE Versus video in mind but it’s way too big to pull off right now. It’s impossible. It’s literally triple the scale of our latest Versus videos. Huge! One day though…

TF: How often do collaborate with other YouTubers? Who would you want to collaborate with next?

RR: We like to collaborate as much as we can, we’d be open to work with anyone if the idea is right!

TF: What would you tell an action fan if he/she wanted to start a YouTube channel?

RR: Never stop making stuff, always keep shooting! You’ll learn from every video you make, you’ll learn from every mistake.

And remember, never ask for permission and always be 15 😉

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

RR: We’ve got about 15 videos written out, we’ve just got to figure out how to pull each one off. We want to start uploading bi-weekly but we’ll see.

Racka Racka is represented by Lennon Management.

On Deck (channels that will soon reach one million subscribers): Jannine Weigel, Evelina, Jelly

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Millionaires, News, RackaRacka by Sam Gutelle
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David Letterman was one of the few late night network TV hosts without a YouTube presence, but now that he has retired, it’s time for a change. Stephen Colbert is taking over the reins of The Late Show, and the three months left before his CBS debut are a perfect time period in which he can introduce himself to the YouTube audience.

Sure enough, he’s doing exactly that. “Good news,” says the former Colbert Report host in the first ever video on his Late Show YouTube channel, “I still exist.”

In his maiden YouTube video, Colbert addresses the topic that has defined him since he hosted his final Colbert Report episode on December 18th: His beard. One hair at a time, Colbert shaves the beard into a variety of shapes. He eventually shaves it off entirely, but not before we get to meet “The Un-Hitler,” “The Amish,” and “The Half-Wolverine.” If you ask me, that last one should actually be called “The Batting Helmet.”

The new video doesn’t just kick off Colbert’s Late Show channel; it also gives us a taste of what his late night persona may look like. “The Colbeard” is a far cry from, say, the stage-centric YouTube presence of Jimmy Fallon, and by establishing a YouTube hub months before his first episode, Colbert can help himself dig out a fresh niche in the crowded world of late night network talk shows.

CBS Colbert is very different Colbert from Comedy Central Colbert, and he’ll take some getting used to. Luckily, there will be plenty of YouTube videos to help us get acclimated. One day after his first video, Colbert posted his second, in which he introduced his band leader, Jon Batiste. It looks like it will be a busy three months.

Filed under: Articles, Channels, Featured, News by Sam Gutelle
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AOL has debuted an episode of one of its original series, but not on its own site. The media publishing giant released the first episode of Park Bench with Steve Buscemi exclusively on Roku platforms on June 4, 2015.

Roku users can watch the first episode of Park Bench season two through the AOL On Roku streaming channel. The AOL On Roku channel, which is free from the Roku Channel store under the Web Video category, is available to all Roku player and Roku TV owners. AOL’s Park Bench season two episode serves as a preview for the rest of the series, which will debut on multiple platforms two weeks from now on June 18.

“We’re committed to making our content accessible to consumers to view on connected, over-the-top devices and screens of all sizes,” said Dermot McCormack, President of AOL Video & Studios, in a release. “AOL video views have more than doubled across over-the-top devices compared to last year at this time and since Roku is a leading streaming platform with millions of customers, it is a natural fit for us to deliver an exclusive experience for Roku customers around our Emmy-nominated series.”

Park Bench was created by and stars actor Steve Buscemi. The series finds Buscemi meeting with his celebrity friends at various benches across New York City to discuss the city’s people, culture, and spirit. In season two, which was announced in April 2015, Buscemi will interview stars like musician Elvis Costello, filmmaker Jim Jarmusch, actor Paul Sparks, comedian John Oliver, actress Amber Tamblyn, and comedian Robert Smigel as Triumph the Insult Comic Dog.

Season two of Park Bench with Steve Buscemi will officially arrive on June 18, 2015.

Filed under: Articles, Channels, Devices, News, Web Series by Bree Brouwer
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YouTube may have delayed its upcoming Music Key service by a few months, but the site is still rolling out other features for melodically-oriented users. On June 3, 2015, Google’s online video site unveiled the Music Insights tool within its YouTube for Artists hub.

YouTube’s Artists hub, which was introduced in March 2015, is similar to the YouTube Creator Hub in that it helps a specific set of users (the ones with musical talents and interests) into a profitable YouTube career. The new Music Insights tool is a part of this program, and gives users more information, available in 22 different languages, on key areas of their YouTube presence.

For starters, Music Insights data tells artists which cities they’re most popular in; YouTube’s official blog post explains how an American band may actually get more views from São Paulo, Brazil, than from any cities Stateside. Additionally, Music Insights allows artists to see which of their songs are most popular, fan uploads claimed with Content ID, and views from official music videos.

YouTube’s blog post explains how the Music Insights data could help aspiring musicians. In some instances, these creators could take data from their channel to show radio stations just how popular their music is in order to earn airwave play time. And the geographical element of the analytics means artists can plan to visit the cities around the world where they’re most adored.

“Knowledge is power,” wrote YouTube for Artists Product Manager Michael Cumberbatch. “The more information you have in your hands, the easier it is to bring your music to the people who love it the most.”

YouTube’s blog post notes more than 10,000 popular musicians on YouTube and Google now have access to the Music Insights tool. The online video site expects to add more artists in the future.

Filed under: Articles, News, YouTube by Bree Brouwer
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Jerry Seinfeld’s Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee has moved into its sixth season, and in order to kick off his latest round of candid celebrity conversations, he turned to an old pal who co-starred alongside him on the show that bears his name. Julia-Louis Dreyfus, the woman behind Seinfeld’s Elaine Benes and the star of HBO’s Veep, joins Seinfeld in a new Comedians in Cars episode available via distributor Crackle.

Seinfeld picks up Dreyfus in a 1964 Aston Martin ripped straight out of a James Bond film. The two comedians then set off in search of cappuccino, all while having the sort of ambling, witty chitchat for which Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee has become known.

With Dreyfus’ appearance on Comedians In Cars, all four primary cast members of Seinfeld have now joined Jerry on his web series. A season one episode featuring Michael Richards helped put the series on the map thanks to its discussion of Richards’ infamous incident at the Laugh Factory. Then, in 2014, Seinfeld met Jason Alexander at Seinfeld’s famous Tom’s Restaurant location; that episode was preceded by a promotional short that aired during the Super Bowl.

Dreyfus kicks off a star-studded sixth season of Comedians in Cars. The other five guests who will join Seinfeld during this fresh batch of episodes are Stephen Colbert, Bill Maher, Trevor Noah, Jim Carrey, and Steve Harvey. Keep an eye on the series’ website to catch new installments as they arrive. If the first episode has you hankering for some Seinfeld reruns, the Internet will soon have you covered on that front, too. The sitcom’s entire library will become available on Hulu on June 24th.

Filed under: Articles, Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, Featured, News by Sam Gutelle
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Wesley Chan, Ted Fu, and Philip Wang have been releasing short films on YouTube for nearly a decade, and now, thanks to an assist from their fans, they have debuted their first ever feature-length production. The filmmaking team collectively known as Wong Fu Productions has made the romantic drama film Everything Before Us available on Vimeo On Demand.

Everything Before Us follows the stories of two couples who live in a world where all relationships are strictly monitored by a government agency. One of the couples is just beginning its romance, while the other is falling apart. The strong cast includes Ki Hong Lee (Dong in Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt) and Randall Park (Kim Jong-un in The Interview).

In order to finance their film, Wong Fu headed to Indiegogo, where they raised more than $358,000 early in 2014. By securing so much money through their fans, they were able to retain complete creative control over a project that has been on their minds for several years. “We just thought now was the right time to give the fans something different,” Wang told Tubefilter in an April 2015 interview. “We really need to show that we’re trying to advance ourselves as artists and as a channel and as a company.”

Wong Fu brought the completed project to Vimeo On Demand, where it joins a number of other films with ties to the YouTube community (including the recently-released Man Up). Renting the film costs $4.99, while purchasing it will run you $14.99. Check it out, and stay tuned to the film’s official Twitter feed for any updates.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, News, Production Companies, Vimeo by Sam Gutelle
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Welcome to the Fund This column! Each week, we’ll look at a planned web series or other online video project currently in search of funding on 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: Wish It Inc Season Two

Asking For: $70,000 on Indiegogo

Amount Raised Thus Far (At Time Of Post): $1,356

Days Remaining In Campaign (At Time Of Post): 29

Description: If you close your eyes and wish for what you want, you may be able to make your dreams come true…so long as you can get past the secretary. That cheeky premise sums up Wish It Inc., a web series currently seeking funds on Indiegogo in order to support its second season.

Wish It Inc. centers on a wish granting agency where a Fairy Godmother (portrayed by Ellen McLain, the voice of Portal‘s GLaDOS) commands an office full of employees who make magical thinking come to life. The titular corporation is filled will a delightful mix of characters, whose personalities range from syrupy sweet to bitingly sardonic.

The production team at Synthetic PictureHaus released the first season of Wish It Inc. in January 2014; now, they’re back for a second season, and should they meet their funding goal, they plan to create something “bigger and better and more-er” than what they accomplished their first time around.

Creator Bio: Synthetic PictureHaus’ web series often take on fantastical subject matter. It followed up Wish It Inc. with Fairy Tale Therapy, in which well known folktale heroes sit down with their shrinks.

Best Perk: The $75 perk provides a “tete-a-tete” with the Wish It Inc cast. I bet, if you asked her nicely enough, McLain will even sing for you.

Why You Should Fund It: Unlike other series we feature in this column, we don’t need to speculate about Wish It Inc. The show’s first season charmed us; after spotlighting it upon its release, I noted it again when it came time to decide my favorite indie web series of 2014.

Wish It Inc. is, quite simply, delightful. It’s characters are great fun, and beneath its shimmering surface, it also possesses a highly-polished level of technical execution. The first season was truly a complete package, with strong acting, sharp writing, and smooth production, and if Synthetic PictureHaus can truly up the ante with season two, it will result in a superb series. Wish hard, donate a little money, and it might just happen.

Got a crowdfunding campaign you’d like to see featured in Fund This? Be sure to contact us here.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Fund This, Indiegogo, News by Sam Gutelle
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Netflix will soon have even more children’s programming to choose from among its already-expansive and impressive kids’ library of titles. The streaming video service has picked up four new animated series from studios around the world, aimed at kids and preschoolers alike.

The first new series on Netflix’s programming slate is Cirque du Soleil – Luna Petunia from Saban Brands and Cirque du Soleil Media. The preschool-aged series will release 11 episodes surrounding the titular character Luna, who lives in the real world but plays and does the impossible in an otherworldly dreamland.

Netflix’s other preschool series is Puffin Rock from Penguin Random House, Dog Ears, and Cartoon Saloon; the 13 episodes of Puffin follow the bird Oona and her brother Baba as they explore nature in their native Irish island.

Up next is a series from 41 Entertainment and executive producer Avi Arad called Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan and Jane. A modern adaptation of Burroughs’ Tarzan stories, the Netflix eight-episode series will follow Tarzan as he returns to a London boarding school from Africa, meets Jane, and solves puzzles and mysteries with her.

Finally, Netflix will debut 13 episodes of the show Kulipari: An Army of Frogs. The series was inspired by a trilogy of books from American football player Trevor Pryce, who was afraid of frogs when he was younger. Produced by Splash Entertainment and Outlook Company, the 13 episodes of Kulipari tells the story of three separate armies (poisonous frogs, scorpions, and spiders) who must fight to save their ways of life.

“We couldn’’t be more excited to be partnering with such a diverse group of creative talent on these new Netflix series for kids,” said Erik Barmack, Netflix’s VP of Global Independent Content, in a release. ““The flexibility of our platform allows us to continually bring the best TV shows from around the world to our members, and these titles compliment and extend what we currently offer – particularly for preschoolers and grade school adventure fans.””

Cirque du Soleil – Luna Petunia, Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan and Jane, and Kulipari will all debut some time in 2016. Puffin Rock is set for release on September 1, 2015.

Filed under: Articles, Netflix, News by Bree Brouwer
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Starting a business without funding from investors is no easy task. And no one knows this better than Ross Resnick, the founder and CEO of food truck service and app Roaming Hunger.

Resnick told Business Insider in an interview how when he was younger, he traveled to Bangkok and tasted some of the cheap yet high-quality food from the local truck vendors. Resnick wondered why no one in America was doing the same thing.

By 2009, the food truck craze had just begun. Resnick decided to start raising awareness for the movement by starting Roaming Hunger, using nothing but his own money and a lot of long nights and hard work. Roaming Hunger eventually made money through software agreements with other companies, and helping get food trucks set up as vendors for large events.

Now, Roaming Hunger’s smartphone app and website databases contain links to over 6,000 food trucks across America. The company has coordinated food truck catering at events for massive corporations, including BMW, Google, Facebook, Nike, and Target. Roaming Hunger can also run hyper-local marketing campaigns, and has worked with national brands like Capital One, Warner Bros., and Anheuser Busch.

You can hear Resnick talk about his bootstrapping experience with Roaming Hunger during a panel at Social Media Week Los Angeles on June 9, 2015. From 3:45 to 4:45 PM PST, Resnick will discuss his belief that sometimes it’s best to take startup money from no one but yourself. The Roaming Hunger founder and CEO will also talk about the drawbacks and benefits of starting a business without venture capital funding, and how independent companies can continue to work on their own without financial aid.

If you haven’t already, you can purchase your ticket to SMWLA on the event’s site. A complete schedule is also available for your planning needs.

Filed under: #SMWLA Previews, Articles, News by Bree Brouwer
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J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books and their accompanying movies are arguably some of the most prominent pieces of media to dominate this century. And now we have further proof of how impactful the series truly was. According to Fortune, the Daily Prophet newspaper in the Harry Potter films was the inspiration behind the design of Facebook’s auto-play video feature.

Chris Cox, Chief Product Officer at Facebook, explained to Fortune in an interview how in 2013, a “new ideas” team of engineers were trying to figure out why people weren’t clicking videos in users’ feeds. Cox, who joined the Facebook team after dropping out of his master’s program at Stanford, said this team’s conclusion was that video thumbnails weren’t compelling enough for people to want to click them, and that even if people did click them, they didn’t wait for a video to load.

Then someone remembered the Daily Prophet from the Harry Potter films, and how the fictional newspaper’s photos were animated and full of looping movement as readers perused the page, all thanks to magic. Cox told Fortune it was one of those “aha” moments: “News Feed clearly should be alive and move in your hands on smartphones.”

So the engineering and product teams started implementing the Daily Prophet’s magical feature on Facebook videos by making them auto-play. After a period of testing and adjustments (like turning off auto-play sound and accounting for some users’ slow internet connections), Facebook released the beta video player to a select group of test users.

Now, nearly two years later, Facebook has become an online video powerhouse. Fortune notes video views of the ALS Ice Bucket challenge topped ten billion in 2014, a good ten times greater than YouTube’s claim to one billion views on videos of the same challenge. Additionally, in the same year, users uploaded 75% more videos than they had in 2013.

Facebook recently revealed its site now attracts over four billion video views per day, with 75% of those views stemming from mobile. The social media site is also on track to earn $3.8 billion from its video ad initiatives by 2017.

“There wasn’t some grand plan to become a video juggernaut,” Cox said. “It was just an experiment that actually, surprisingly, worked.”

Filed under: Articles, Facebook, News by Bree Brouwer
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The NFL is notably stingy when it comes to its broadcast rights, but later this year, the nation’s top football league will expand its distribution network onto at least one new platform. On October 25th, the Buffalo Bills and Jacksonville Jaguars will face each other in London as part of the NFL’s International Series, and Yahoo will live stream the game across four different properties.

Broadcast networks like CBS, FOX, and NBC have already provided free live streams for important games like the Super Bowl, but this will be the first time a digital video site airs an NFL game. Beginning at 9:30 AM EST, viewers who navigate to Yahoo, Yahoo Screen, Yahoo Sports, and Yahoo-owned Tumblr will be able to watch the game live.

The early start time is likely a critical part of the NFL’s decision to lend some broadcast rights to Yahoo. The league has deals in place with CBS and FOX that allows them to broadcast Sunday games in 1 PM EST and 4 PM EST slots, but the International Series games, which start early due to the time difference between the US and UK, live outside of that schedule. Therefore, the October 25th matchup will only air on terrestrial TV in Buffalo and Jacksonville; fans outside of those areas will have to head online to view it, which is where Yahoo enters the equation.

“The NFL has always been committed to being at the forefront of media innovation,” said NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. “Through this partnership with Yahoo—one of the world’s most recognizable digital brands—we are taking another important step in that direction as we continue to closely monitor the rapidly evolving digital media landscape.”

Yahoo may be the first digital media company to snag a piece of NFL action, but several other platforms have attempted to get into the game as well. Google once hinted at the possibility of streaming the NFL Sunday Ticket package online, though that deal never came to fruition. More recently, the NFL struck video deals with YouTube and Facebook that included in-game footage. The Yahoo deal is the latest example of the league’s softening stance on online content, and it’s a big win for football fans who want to spend an even larger larger portion of their Sundays glued to the screen.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, News, Yahoo! by Sam Gutelle
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