Facebook is closing down a division that produced a handful of interesting app ideas. The social media giant’s Creative Labs, which developed mobile-centric projects like Paper, Slingshot, and Riff, has been closed down, according to CNet.
Facebook launched the Creative Labs in January 2014. At the time, TechCrunch described the new initiative as a way for Facebook to “move fast like a startup” and generate a lot of app ideas. Ultimately, several of the Labs’ projects did come to fruition. Paper, a mobile reader, arrived shortly after the launch of the Labs; Slingshot, which debuted later in 2014, was seen by some reviewers as Facebook’s answer to Snapchat; Riff, which emerged onto our radar in April 2015, was partially inspired by the “Ice Bucket Challenge” fad.
While all of these projects did go public, none of them captured large user bases, and it’s not hard to understand why Facebook chose to shut its Creative Labs down. The unit’s output ultimately didn’t amount to much (beyond a handful of underwhelming Snapchat competitors) and between its own growing video operation and its ownership of Instagram, Facebook still has plenty of mobile-friendly video platforms it can build around.
A Facebook spokesperson confirmed CNet’s report and offered a simple comment. “Since their launches, we’ve incorporated elements of Slingshot, Riff and Rooms into the Facebook for iOS and Android apps,” she said.
A new study believes advertisers will continue to put more cash towards digital advertising compared to TV spots over the next few years. Marketing consulting and investing firm Magna Global’s newest study found digital advertising revenue will beat out traditional television advertising revenue globally by the year 2017. And in the U.S. alone, Magna Global projects digital advertising will completely overtake TV ad spend by 2016.
Magna Global reports total ad revenue in the U.S. grew 2.1% in 2015 to hit $167 billion. However, in 2016, the industry will more than double in growth at 5.2%, with digital leading the way at $68 billion in revenue compared to TV’s $66 billion. According to Magna Global, ad sales will grow 4.6% globally to hit $526 billion in 2016. Another recent study from ZenithOptimedia supports Magna’s findings. That firm believes total advertising spend around the world will increase 4.7%, topping out at roughly $579 billion, and that digital advertising will beat out TV ad spend by 2018.
In either case, Magna Global predicts digital ad spend will be predominantly responsible for the advertising industry’s growth in 2016. With the increasing adoption of cord-cutting and streaming video services, the TV industry has been losing both broadcast and cable viewers, and marketers are following suit by shifting ad dollars to digital platforms. Magna Global points out how TV ad spend fell 0.1% in 2015 to $193 billion, the first time the industry didn’t grow in a non-recession economy.
“TV global growth is diminishing,” said Vincent Letang, the Head of Global Forecasting at Magna Global, as reported by The New York Times. “In most major developed markets, TV growth is slowing and in some cases stagnating. Over the last year or so, that’s really been the first time we’ve seen money specifically coming out of TV and going onto digital. We’ve been hearing about the loss of revenue from TV to digital for a long time, but the last year has been when it’s been fairly visible.”
What’s Up Moms will now be seen on your television as well as your smaller screens. The family-centric YouTube channel, co-founded by Elle Walker and Meg Resnikoff, partnered with Viacom to release a series of three branded advertising videos to air on the media company’s linear networks and digital verticals.
What’s Up Moms, which boasts over 800,000 subscribers and more than 203 million views on its channel, worked with the branded content division Viacom Velocity on the three TV and digital ads. The first spot was inspired by the Mom Hacks series from popular YouTube channel. For the spot, Viacom and What’s Up Moms teamed with Hershey’s to create a quick instructional clip on how to integrate Hershey’s chocolate into your holiday preparations. The content debuted on the linear TV Land and Nick at Nite channels on December 7, 2015. An extended version of the Hershey’s hack video will live on TVLand.com through December 9, before moving to WhatsUpMoms.com.
“That was important to us, for it to live on both places,” explained What’s Up Moms’ recently-hired president and COO Liane Mullin, as reported by AdWeek. “Part of what we’re trying to do is create something that draws our audience to their channel and their audience to ours.” Mullins also noted it was the “right time” to expand the What’s Up Moms brand outside of YouTube, considering getting on TV was one of the channel’s goals.
Viacom Velocity originally reached out to What’s Up Moms because the YouTube channel matched the kind of content and voice the brand was looking for. “Millennials are such a big audience, and now those millennials are moms as well,” said Niels Schuurmans, EVP of Creative at Viacom Velocity. “They’ve grown up with us, they’ve grown up through our brands, we have good relationships with them, so we’re always looking at new, authentic ways to connect with them across all platforms. It’s an important consumer base. We really wanted to pull them out and make sure we we’re talking to them in a unique way.”
The two final pieces of branded content from Viacom and What’s Up Moms won’t go live until 2016. That content will feature marketing partners other than Hershey’s, and could end up on other Viacom linear networks (and not just on TV Land and Nick at Nite). Both Schuurmans and Mullin believe the partnership with What’s Up moms will extend beyond just the three videos.
“We’ve invested a lot in data, which is very important for us. So really our plan is to identify where the millennial moms live, and then we’ll create content for them across all brands,” Schuurmans said. “We’re looking at Viacom as a whole, and where millennial moms are engaging with our content.”
Street Fighter: Resurrection is a sequel to Machinima’s 2014 web series Street Fighter: Assassin’s Fist, which was based on Capcom’s Street Fighter video game series. Assassin’s Fist managed to pull in over 17 million views in aggregate across the series’ 12 episodes. Machinima’s five-part Resurrection mini-series will be set ten years after Assassin’s Fist, and star Alain Moussi (Suicide Squad, Pacific Rim) as iconic Street Fighter Charlie Nash. It’s unclear whether or not Resurrection is meant to serve as the previously-announced sequel to Assassin’s Fist, or if the go90 series is an all-new addition to Machinima’s Street Fighter franchise.
Regardless, Machinima will bring back Assassin’s Fist director and writer Joey Ansah for the new go90 series, as well as producers Jacqueline Quella and Mark Wooding. Actors Mike Moh (Empire) and Christian Howard (The World’s End) will also return to reprise their respective roles as Ryu and Ken, who must team up to take on the presumed-dead Charlie Nash. Machinima will produce Resurrection alongside Capcom, Content Media, and Ansah and Quella.
More than two years after it was acquired by Twitter, Vine is still a significant player within the online video industry. At the same time, there is now ample evidence that the momentum of the six-second video capture app has slowed. Most recently, Adweek has reported data from Tubular Labs that paint a picture of Vine’s declining popularity among brands. For example, according to one of Tubular’s statistics, only 4% of the digital videos posted by 40 major brands over the past three months landed on Vine.
The brands Tubular measured shared just 113 videos on Vine between September and November. In comparison, the same brands shared nearly 2,500 videos on other platforms, including YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and Vine. Only 13 of Tubular’s 40 brands posted on Vine at all during the third quarter of 2015; by comparison, 21 of them used Vine during the first quarter of the year.
Vine’s popularity exploded in 2013, and its rising tide brought a lot of brands to its shores. Now, however, those same advertisers are eschewing the Twitter-owned app, and Adweek has a few ideas why. For starters, Vine has no advertising infrastructure, which makes it an unappealing choice compared to Instagram and Snapchat, which have both developed the ad tech they need to support their brand partners. Twitter also now seems more focused on other platforms; it is paying particular attention to Periscope, a live-streaming app it acquired in March 2015.
Despite the downward trend, branded content on Vine still exists. Adweek cited a recent partnership between Dunkin Donuts and social media star Logan Paul, which highlights the increasingly influencer-driven nature of brand interactions on Vine. Stars like Paul, however, are becoming more platform-agnostic, and they’re developing large followings across multiple social media sites.
Vine clearly needs a face lift if it’s going to become more appealing to brands, but such changes may not be in the cards. If Twitter wants to focus its efforts elsewhere, Vine will fall into a role as a home for user-generated content. It may turn out that Vine’s window as a brand platform will be, like the runtime of its six-second videos, short-lived.
VEVO has announced a deal that may forecast its upcoming content plans. The multi-channel network best known for distributing music videos has acquired ShowYou, which specializes in social media aggregation and subscription-based video.
ShowYou launched in 2011 as a tool that lets its users bring together multiple social media feeds. In 2014, the company’s focus shifted, as it announced its place to introduce subscription-based channels from producers like Above Average and Indieflix. It is that part of ShowYou’s business that likely appeals to VEVO. TechCrunch, for example, suggests that VEVO could leverage ShowYou to launch a subscription service capable of competing with the likes of YouTube Red and Spotify Premium.
Such a service could make use of VEVO’s content library, which has expanded over the past few years. At the most recent Newfronts, VEVO–led by new CEO Erik Huggers–discussed several original programs created for and by music fans.
VEVO’s acquisition of ShowYou comes one week after Andy Forssell, who moved from Hulu to become ShowYou’s CEO late in 2014, began a new position at Fullscreen. “With the streaming media segment still very much in its infancy I believe we have a tremendous leadership opportunity in front of us as we combine forces and become part of Vevo,” said Mark Hall, ShowYou’s Founder and President, in a release. “Showyou’s capabilities, combined with the breadth and scale of the Vevo platform, will enable us to create an exciting new class of products that should delight both music fans and artists.”
Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
[Editor’s Note: Tubefilter Charts is a weekly 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 time frame. Check out all of our Tubefilter Charts with new installments every week right here.]
Scroll down for this week’s Tubefilter Chart.
It’s another installment of the weekly Tubefilter Chart of the Top 50 Most Viewed YouTube Channels Worldwide and Justin Bieber is still on an incredible tear.
Chart Toppers
Justin Bieber held onto his #1 spot on the worldwide chart for another week, and did so in commanding fashion. The 21-year-old pop star’s November 13, 2015 release of his fourth studio album Purpose and its associated music videos have performed incredibly well online, giving Bieb’s YouTube channel almost 192.9 million views in this last week alone. In an increasingly distant second place is Adele. The British musician back from a three-or-so-year hiatus with a smash hit ‘Hello‘ dipped down 10% in views, but still amassed almost 126.4 million of them in the week.
RyanToysReview is up next in the #3 spot. The family-friendly channel dedicated to Ryan and the toys with which he plays dropped 2% in views to bottom out at a still-very-impressive 111.3 million. LittleBabyBum is next up in fourth place. The British YouTube channel that’s home to music videos featuring songs every English-speaking toddler in the Western world knows and loves ended the week just shy of 98.6 million views.
And rounding out the Top 5 FunToyzCollector. The channel formerly known as DisneyCollectorBR unboxed and opened its way to just about 94.8 million views in the last seven days.
Top Gainers
The honor of one of our Top Gainers this week goes to Jimmy Kimmel Live.
The YouTube repository for clips from ABC’s late night player is certainly benefitting from its parent company’s assets. Here’s how it works:
Disney owns ABC. Disney also owns Marvel (and the movie rights to the vast majority of Marvel properties). Jimmy Kimmel Live airs on ABC. So, Jimmy Kimmel’s eponymous talk show is a natural place for Disney to promote entertainment properties from its entire portfolio. And that did wonders for the view count on Jimmy Kimmel Live‘s YouTube channel this week as it was the home to the world premiere of the trailer for the next big Marvel feature film Captain America: Civil War.
The preview quickly racked up tens of millions of views and gave Jimmy Kimmel Live‘s channel a 155% week-over-week increase in views, almost 56 million views on the week, and the #26 spot on the worldwide chart.
Distribution
All in all, the top 50 most viewed YouTube channels accounted for 3,344,339,332 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 Justin Bieber at #1.
Maker Studios: 4 channels in the Top 50, with TheDiamondMinecart at #8.
AIR, BuzzFeed, XMediaDigital: 2 channels each in the Top 50, with AIR’s Miss Katy at #21, BuzzFeed’s BuzzFeed Video at #16, and XMediaDigital’s mashamedvedtv at #11.
And here’s the distribution of the this week’s Top 50 YouTube channels by country of origin:
United States: 25 channels in the Top 50.
Great Britain: 5 channels in the Top 50.
Canada, India: 3 channels each in the Top 50.
Russia, Thailand, Ukraine: 2 channels each in the Top 50.
Argentina, Ireland, Netherlands, Philippines, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Turkey: 1 channel each in the Top 50.
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.
Smosh’s “Netflix Conscience” spoofs the song “Guilty Conscience” from rapper Eminem and fellow musician Dr. Dre. That song is told from the perspective of a man’s conscience as he debates internally whether or not he should rob a liquor store. For their parody, Hecox and Padilla rap as opposing sides of various Netflix users’ consciences. In one scene, the Smosh duo tries to convince an 18-year-old college kid to either binge a show on Netflix or just go to bed and be ready for school in the morning.
“Netflix Conscience” is just one of the songs included on Smosh’s upcoming comedy pop album Shut Up! And Listen. The 16-track album will include four never-before released songs, as well as three remixes of past popular tracks from Smosh, including “Smash Rap,” “The Real Party Song,” and “My Bathroom Disaster.” The entire Shut Up! And Listen album will debut on December 10, 2015 via iTunes, Amazon, Google Play, and Apple Music. Shut Up! And Listen will be Smosh’s fifth release; the YouTube comedy team released The Sweet Sound of Smosh last year just before Christmas, as well.
You can pre-order Shut Up! And Listen for $9.99 by visiting the iTunes Store.
We receive a ton of tips every day from independent creators, unaffiliated with any major motion picture studios, television networks, new media studios, or other well-funded online video entities. The Indie Spotlight is where we’ll write about and shout out to a select few of them and bring you up to speed on the great (and sometimes not-so-great) attention-grabbing series you probably haven’t heard about until now. Read previous installments here.
Move over Drunk History–there’s a boozy new web series in town. Emboldened by the success of a viral video they released two years ago, a group of Portland-area filmmakers have launched The Drunk Series, which is composed of six episodes written and acted out by heavily-intoxicated writers and performers.
The first video in The Drunk Series, titled “Star Drunk,” came out in 2013 and received more than 1.4 million views. The formula is simple: Take Star Trek, add in a massive amount of alcohol, and film the results. If you missed “Star Drunk” the first time around, you should check it out; you will not be disappointed.
More recently, five more episodes of The Drunk Series have rolled out on YouTube channel of production company Ganglebot Films. Each one takes on a different genre, ranging from medical drama to romance to superhero saga. The main consistency between the episodes is the intense inebriation of the writers and stars. As a behind-the-scenes video shows, there was a lot of alcohol on set.
The only sober people in the equation were the crew members. “If they weren’t, nothing would have been completed,” said series director Chris Wilson. “It was like herding drunken goats as it was.” The sobriety of the crew actually makes The Drunk Series funnier. The show is shot so well and so earnestly, but the drunk performers turn it all into a mockery. The result is a web series that is basically just one long joke, but hey–it’s a really funny joke.
OTHER UNDER-THE-RADAR SERIES TO CHECK OUT
Unsingle. A trio of female friends, all of whom are in relationships, take all their filters off.
Laid Out. Three friends explore the big city in their own ridiculous ways.
My Lengua. A young Latino man tries to learn Spanish for the first time in his life.
Got a series you’d like to see featured in the Indie Spotlight? Be sure to contact us here. For best coverage, please include a full episode in your e-mail.
Labelle, who has enjoyed a six-decade music career in the R&B and soul genres, is a regular presence on the Cooking Channel thanks to her show Patti Labelle’s Place. For the holiday edition of the show, which will air on December 16th, Chanel will join Labelle in the kitchen. They’ll cook up all sorts of Yuletide treats, including (of course) sweet potato pie.
The special will be the latest collaboration between Labelle and her biggest fan. On Thanksgiving, Labelle invited Chanel to her home, where they danced together and sang a duet. They both have a lot to be thankful for: Chanel got to meet his idol, and thanks to his viral video, Labelle’s pies sold out at Walmart.
Their partnership won’t end on the Cooking Channel, either; as Labelle told People, they’re also planning a concert together. “We’re going to perform in more ways than one,” she said. “He can be my lead singer and I’ll be his background singer.”
This Christmas, Judy and Benji Travis are using their digital stardom for good. The YouTube couple behind the popular family-centric channel ItsJudysLife and ItsJudysTime (which collectively boast over 2.4 million subscribers) have launched the month-long “Dancember” charity drive in order to bring food to hungry children around the world.
“Dancember” is an annual, dance-themed event spearheaded by the Travises to benefit a charity of their choice. This year, the YouTube couple chose to partner with Convoy of Hope, an organization which helps feed impoverished children in countries like the Philippines. In order to raise money for Convoy of Hope, the Travises have set up a dedicated Prizeo page for donations through the end of 2015. “Dancember” will also feature a day-long live stream on December 18, 2015 featuring plenty of dancing with fellow YouTubers and guest stars Promise Phan, Mike Tompkins, and Laura Vitale.
Additionally, the Travises have provided a great incentive for people to donate to “Dancember.” Anyone who donates to the campaign will be entered into a raffle for a chance to win a VIP trip to VidCon 2016 in Anaheim, California. The selected winner and one guest will receive VidCon tickets, round-trip airfare, a two-night hotel stay, and a private lunch with the Travises.
“Last year, Dancember raised more than $200,000 for the fight against human-trafficking and other humanitarian causes,” said Benji Travis in a release. “This year, Convoy of Hope’s Children’s Feeding Initiative, which feeds nearly 150,000 children in 10 countries, will be the main beneficiary.”
“We’re honored to partner with Benji and Judy for Dancember,” says Kirk Noonan, Vice President of Creative Communications for Convoy of Hope. “Being exposed to their extensive YouTube and social media audiences will allow us to continue to improve the lives of children and families throughout the world.”
If you’d like to participate in “Dancember,” you can donate to the cause via Prizeo and tune in to the live stream on December 18 starting at 3 PM PST. And thanks to this nifty tool, you can also change your Facebook and Twitter profile pictures to a “Dancember”-themed image to show your support.
[Editor’s Note: Tubefilter Charts is a weekly 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 time frame. Check out all of our Tubefilter Charts with new installments every week right here.]
Scroll down for this week’s Tubefilter Chart.
It’s another installment of the weeklyTubefilter Chartof theTop 50 Most Viewed U.S. YouTube Channelsand you can’t shake a particular 21-year-old pop star from the very top spot.
Chart Toppers
Justin Bieber maintained his YouTube dominance yet again. The international pop star stayed in top spot on the U.S. chart for the fourth week in a row thanks to an onslaught of new music video releases from his latest studio album. The uploads contributed to the Bieb’s channel’s more than 187.3 million views in the week. In a far off second place is Ryan ToysReview. One of the world’s biggest unboxing channels for kids increased its view count by 13% to end the week just shy of 113.9 million views.
The Ellen Show is next up in the #3 spot. The YouTube home of Ellen DeGeneres’ eponymous daytime syndicated talk show closed out the week staying relatively constant with just about 102.2 million views. WWE is up next in fourth place. The YouTube home for clips and highlights from World Wrestling Entertainment dipped 7% in views to bottom out at more than 92.3 million views on the week.
And rounding out the Top 5 is FamilyFunPack. The family-friendly channel that’s home to the home video collection of Alyssa, David, Zac & Chris, and Michael (and that also recently signed with Collective Digital Studio)saw a 4% increase in its view count to amass more than 91.4 million views during the week.
Top Gainers
The honor of one of our Top Gainers in the U.S. this week goes to Saturday Night Live.
Saturday Night Live may be more than partially responsible for YouTube’s mainstream adoption, but the classic NBC sketch comedy show and prominent piece of American pop culture hasn’t had a big YouTube hit in a while. That changed this week thanks to Thanksgiving, family members with incredibly disparate believes, and Adele. The SNL cast showed how the 25-year-old British pop star’s latest hit can bring even the most dysfunctional of relatives together. “A Thanksgiving Miracle” helped SNL‘s YouTube channel to a 72% week-over-week increase in views, nearly 27.9 million views on the week, and the #43 spot on the worldwide chart.
Channel Distribution
The top 50 most viewed U.S. YouTube channels this week amassed a total of 2,498,138,586 views. Here’s the distribution of a few of those channels by multi-channel network:
VEVO: 18 channels in the U.S. Top 50, with Justin Bieber the highest-ranked channel of the network at #1.
Maker Studios: 5 channels in the Top 50, with DisneyCarToys at #12.
BuzzFeed, MovieClips, NBCU, OhMyGenius: 2 channels each in the Top 50, with BuzzFeed’s BuzzFeed Video at #8, Movieclips’ Movieclips Trailers at #16, NBCU’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at #13, and OhMyGenius’ Kids Channel at #31.
OpenSlate is a video content analytics platform that tracks more than 250,000 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.
