Spurned on by the launch of its own multi-channel network, international production company Endemol has created a large amount of interesting web content. Now, it has announced a new subject, and a look inside a futuristic industry: Endemol will create multiplatform videos about holograms.
The videos are born out of a content deal between Endemol and Hologram USA, which burst onto the scene three years ago when its Tupac Shakur hologram appeared on stage at Coachella. Since then, Hologram USA has created more holographic images of famous performers, and through its partnership with Endemol’s Just Entertainment studio, it will share its work.
“Hologram USA has proven to be the world’s leader in this space and we’re truly excited by the myriad options that both their technology and celebrity relationships offer us in developing unprecedented TV programming with the team at Just Entertainment,” said Endemol Shine COO Ben Samek in a press release reported by StreamDaily.
The content created out of the deal between Endemol and Hologram USA will see release on both traditional and digital platforms, including FilmOn. More details about the programs we’ll see will be available at a later date.
Marvel Entertainment has a new series to help inform the uninitiated about the brand’s roster of super-powered characters. The Disney-owned comic book entertainment company launched the web series Marvel 101 on November 23, 2015.
Marvel 101 helps viewers understand the current state of the comic book versions of several top-tier Marvel characters. The 20-episode series of shorts highlight superheroes audiences may already be familiar with (thanks to Marvel’s yearly slate of hit films and TV shows), but aims to provide context and a deeper level of understanding about the cast of superhuman characters. Marvel 101 episodes currently feature Ant-Man, Avengers, Black Panther, Black Widow, Captain America (Steve Rogers), Captain America (Sam Wilson), Captain Marvel, Daredevil, Doctor Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy, Hulk, Iron Man, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Ms. Marvel, Nova, S.H.I.E.L.D., Scarlet Witch, Spider-Man and Thor.
Marvel is not the only brand working on a digital series related to its owned characters. Maker Studios, which is also owned by Disney, recently announced a Marvel-themed show for release on Verizon’s go90 mobile video service. That project, titled Marvel’s Off the Rack, features various celebrities exploring the world and history of Marvel characters through discussions and re-enactments.
You can catch all episodes of Marvel 101 on the entertainment company’s official YouTube channel.
As thousands of adoring nerds will be happy to tell you, Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K) is coming back. The long-running cult TV show recently launched a Kickstarter campaign, and its fans were quick to support it; with 17 days to go, the campaign has raised more than $2.6 million and ensured a new three-episode season.
With funding secured, fans began to wonder about the cast of the upcoming MST3K season. As creator Joel Hodgson explained, most of the show’s original cast decided not to reprise their roles. That left a lot of open positions, and in filling them, Hodgson has delivered an exciting bit of casting news: Felicia Day, known for her roles in web programs like The Guild and Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, will play the mad scientist who serves as MST3K’s primary antagonist.
The plot of MST3K, for those who are unfamiliar with it, is explained in the show’s theme song: A mad scientist kidnaps a janitor and shoots him into space, where he must watch and comment on terrible movies while accompanied by his snarky robot sidekicks. The janitor, played by Hodgson in the original version of the show, will now be portrayed by Jonah Ray of the Nerdist network. Both Nerdist and Day’s Geek & Sundry network are owned by Legendary, and in a tweet, Day said she “will terrorize the hell out of Jonah Ray.”
[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.]if
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 the internet is still full of Beliebers.
Chart Toppers
Justin Bieber maintained his #1 spot on the worldwide chart this week. The 21-year-old Canadian pop star’s November 13, 2015 release of his fourth studio album (and its associated music videos) have been on a tear in terms of YouTube views. The lyric and music videos associated with singles from Purposehelped the Biebs’ YouTube channel to more than 163.1 million views on the week. PewDiePie is next up in second place. Felix Kjellberg’s repository of Let’s Play videos scored nearly 143.8 million views during the week.
Adele is up next in the #3 spot. The British musician back from a three-or-so-year hiatus continues to rack up tens of millions of views with her latest single ‘Hello‘ and the release of her latest album, 25. Her YouTube channel ended the week with almost 122.3 million views. A Russian channel devoted to kids’ cartoons is in fourth place. GetMovies closed out the week with more than 116.2 million views.
And rounding out the Top 5 is The Ellen Show. The YouTube home of Ellen DeGeneres’ eponymous daytime syndicated talk show racked up more than 102.8 million views in the week.
Top Gainers
The honor of one of our Top Gainers this week goes to the aforementioned The Ellen Show.
The YouTube repository for clips from Ellen DeGeneres’ daytime talk show always does well in terms of views, but this week was special because of One Direction and a game of Never Have I Ever. The remaining four members of the British boy band – Harry, Liam, Louis, and Niall – played the party game with Ellen, revealing skinny-dipping, sexting-gone-wrong, and other postpubescent escapades to the delight of millions of viewers. That video (along with other clips from the band’s appearance on the show) helped Ellen’s YouTube channel to a 25% week-over-week increase in views, more than 102.8 million views on the week and the #5 spot on the worldwide chart.
Distribution
All in all, the top 50 most viewed YouTube channels accounted for 3,373,191,748 views last week. Here’s the distribution of a few of those channels by multi-channel network:
Vevo: 14 channels in the Top 50, with Justin Bieber at #1.
Maker Studios: 5 channels in the Top 50, with PewDiePie at #2.
AIR, BuzzFeed, Machinima, XMediaDigital: 2 channels each in the Top 50, with AIR’s Miss Katy at #25, BuzzFeed’s BuzzFeed Video at #16, Machinima’s VanossGaming at #17, and XMediaDigital’smashamedvedtv at #10.
And here’s the distribution of the this week’s Top 50 YouTube channels by country of origin:
United States: 26 channels in the Top 50.
Canada, Great Britain: 5 channels in the Top 50.
Canada: 4 channels in the Top 50.
India, Russia, Thailand, Ukraine: 2 channels each in the Top 50.
Ireland, Netherlands, Philippines, South Korea, Sweden, Spain, 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.
Netflix is expanding its roster of original movie titles. The streaming video-on-demand platform has picked up two different indie films, Girlfriend’s Day and Mercy, for both digital and theatrical releases.
The first indie feature Netflix acquired is the comedy Girlfriend’s Day, starring Bob Odenkirk (of Better Call Saul fame) as a struggling greeting card writer who must clear his name after he’s framed for murder. Odenkirk, who just released a sketch series W/ Bob & David on Netflix with David Cross, co-wrote and is producing the indie flick. Girlfriend’s Day is directed by Michael Stephenson (of Best Worst Movie) and co-stars Amber Tamblyn. Netflix is planning a limited theatrical release for Girlfriend’s Day alongside its streaming debut.
Additionally, Netflix has picked up the home invasion thriller Mercy from writer-director Chris Sparling (Buried, The Sea of Trees). Starring James Wolk and Caitlin FitzGerald, Mercy tells the story of four estranged brothers who return home to be with their dying mother and must deal with old family secrets which surface. The indie film is produced by Kyle Franke and Nick Spicer of XYZ Productions alongside Robyn Bennett and Uncorked Productions’ Andrew D. Corkin. Netflix will release Mercy in select theaters before premiering it on the streaming platform.
“We’re excited to expand our independent film slate and work hand-in-hand with some of today’s great creators,” says Netflix CCO Ted Sarandos, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter. “Given our global scale, Netflix is uniquely positioned to allow these high-quality, niche titles to be viewed and enjoyed by the biggest possible audience around the world.”
When James Wright posted a YouTube video detailing his reaction to a new food item, he probably didn’t think he was about to cause a supply shortage at a major retailer, but that’s exactly what he did. Wright’s hysterical reaction to the Patti Labelle-brand sweet potato pie has caused a sellout at Walmart, with the nationwide chain rushing to restock its shelves.
In his video, Wright tries out the sweet potato pie and begins singing its praises–as well as a few of Labelle’s songs–once he tastes it. In less than two weeks, Wright’s antics have rolled up more than three million views on YouTube. If you haven’t seen his fine work yet, consider adding to his impressive view count; I don’t think you’ll be disappointed:
In response to the video, consumers have flocked to Walmart (where the Labelle-brand pies are sold) to uncover the truth about Wright’s review. As a result, the digital listing for the pie is currently listed as out of stock. At the same time, Walmart is “working as hard as possible” to get the pies back on its stores’ shelves. “We need something like 2 million pounds of sweet potatoes, and that’s not something easy to get,” said a company spokesperson.
Wright’s video, which has created an incredible sales lift, is a reminder of the power of digital media sponsorships. At the same time, Wright’s video is almost certainly not branded by Walmart, Patti Labelle, or anyone in between, and that gives it a charming, authentic quality. Good for Wright, and congrats to Walmart, which seems to have moved quite a large number of sweet potato pies.
With over 100 million active monthly users, ephemeral messaging app Snapchat generates a massive amount of text and video content every single day. Unfortunately, not all of that content can be selected for inclusion in Snapchat Live Stories, which are curated presentations surrounding a geographical location, news story, or current event (like March Madness or New Year’s Eve). Now, Snapchat has a way for users to discover the user-generated content it passes over for Stories, and the new feature is called Story Explorer.
According to a company blog post, Snapchat’s new Story Explorer feature “relies on technology developed by our research team to provide more depth to every Snap in a story.” Essentially, when app users are interested in seeing more snaps like the one they’re viewing in a Live Story, those users can swipe up to see other photos and videos from more users that captured the same moment. For example, if Snapchat’s curating team were to put together a Live Story based on the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade, Snapchat users could swipe up to find more snaps from different angles and perspectives of the same event which weren’t included in the Story itself.
Story Explorer is just one of the most recent features Snapchat has added in recent months. Back in September 2015, the disappearing messages app introduced the ability for users to add filter-style Lenses to their snaps, Trophies for performing certain actions on the app, and replays of snaps for $1 each. Snapchat now has an official store where users can buy Lenses to permanently add to their collections.
Story Explorer is currently available for Los Angeles and New York City Live Stories. Snapchat noted the new UGC-discovery feature will be available for Live Stories in other cities in the future.
Otter Media, the joint venture founded by the Chernin Group and telecom giant AT&T, has decided to deepen its investment within a property it owns. It has announced a $22 million investment in Crunchyroll, a service that delivers Japanese anime to Western fans.
Among anime fans, Crunchyroll’s premium subscription service–which costs $6.95 per month and grants streaming access to dozens of series the day after they air–is quite popular. The site claims to have 20 million users, including 750,000 paying subscribers, and 80% of those subscribers live in the US. According to TechCrunch, Crunchyroll’s users watch more than 1.5 billion minutes of video per month.
Crunchyroll plans to use a big chunk of the funding it receives from Otter Media to develop its own library of original content. As TheVideoInk notes, Crunchyroll hired Branon Coluccio as its head of original content in April 2015, but viewers haven’t seen many results from the site’s production team thus far.
The investment is directed through Ellation, a brand Otter Media launched earlier in 2015. Chernin Group already owns a majority stake in Crunchyroll, but will its recent investment, it is expanding its relationship with the anime streamer. “We’re like any other startup in the Valley,” Ellation CEO Tom Pickett told TechCrunch. “We just happen to get our capital from Otter Media. We need to raise money like anyone else; we just have a more predictable path to funds going forward.”
Beyond Crunchyroll, other companies included under the Ellation umbrella include a number of niche video services, including arts-and-crafts destination Creativebug.
Snapchat has some new branded content on its Discover platform. The messaging app, which boasts disappearing texts and videos, added Vox as a new publishing partner on November 23, 2015.
On Discover, Vox will adapt its popular explainer articles, known as “card stacks,” into shortened, more consumable versions (e.g. charts, maps, and videos) surrounding a central theme. For example, Vox recently created a series of ten-second clips featuring various first-person accounts with homelessness in San Francisco, as well as several infographics on a rotating, ten-second loop explaining gun control issues. Vox’s launch advertiser is Starbucks Doubleshot, which will run its logo at the top of Vox’s main Snapchat stories as well as three video advertisements spread throughout all of Vox’s content on Discover.
“We had to be very realistic. People have a short attention span when they’re on their mobile device,” said Allison Rockey, Vox.com’s Engagement Editor, as reported by Digiday. “People think people are going to spend a lot of time reading articles and watching videos on the mobile device. In some cases, you do. But when you’re in an app like Snapchat, you know the way people are using it is when they’re standing at the bus stop. Having that constraint makes us cut out the fat.”
RocketJump: The Show is less than two weeks away from premiering on Hulu, and after previewing it with a production update, a teaser, and multiple vlogs, the studio co-founded by YouTube star Freddie Wong has given fans one final look at its upcoming series. On the RocketJump YouTube channel, viewers can find a trailer that includes some clips from the Hulu program.
Many of the shots in the trailer relate to previously-known information about RocketJump: The Show: It will chronicle the production process behind eight of the studio’s productions (one per episode), it will feature frequent RocketJump collaborations like Ashly Burch, and it will be both a profile of an independent studio as well as an exhibition of its biggest, loudest, most exciting videos thus far. The most interesting new wrinkle revealed by latest trailer is the show’s sentimentality. From the looks of it, we’re going to see a lot of RocketJump’s struggles before we see its successes.
From November 30 through December 11, 2015, leaders from around the world will gather in Paris for the United Nations’ COP21 conference on global climate change. While delegates discuss climate issues in-person at COP21, YouTube is encouraging its community to talk about the matter online, as well. Google’s video site has launched the #OursToLose campaign to spur discussion around and help raise awareness for the effects of climate change.
The #OursToLose campaign debuts with a promotional video featuring a variety of top YouTube creators and their concerns with climate changes. Stars Casey Neistat, Blogilates, Finn Harries, Flavia Calina, FunForLouis, Marques Brownlee, SORTEDfood, Golden Moustache, DeevaJessica, Jamie’s World, and It’s Okay To Be Smart explain what they love about our planet and what we stand to lose if rising temperatures go unchecked (besides, of course, human life itself). SORTEDfood noted, for example, chocolate will become more expensive as hotter weather will make it more difficult for cocoa farmers in West Africa to properly grow beans.
Online video fans can do several things to join in on the climate change discussion. First, YouTube is encouraging #OursToLose viewers to sign the Avaaz petition, a campaign aimed at implementing clean energy around the world by 2050 (the petition currently boasts 3.1 million signatures). Concerned citizens can also create their own videos about how climate will affect the things they love, and upload them to YouTube using the #OursToLose hashtag.
“The YouTube community can empower tremendous collaboration, advocacy, and creativity,” wrote YouTube Programming Coordinator Marc Hertz and Associate Product Marketing Manager Aaron Taylor in a blog post. “Through #OursToLose, we hope to continue helping people to broadcast their message, empower their communities, and even catalyze a global movement to further action on climate change.”
YouTube also put together a special playlist for the #OursToLose campaign, featuring several educational videos about how the climate is changing the world around us. You can view the “We’re All in This Together” playlist here.
Google has a new way to get movie aficionados excited for the upcoming Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The Alphabet-owned internet giant has launched a campaign dubbed #ChooseYourSide, which adds subtle Star Wars-themed changes to YouTube and other Google properties.
Star Wars fans can visit google.com/starwars to get the process started. After logging in with a Gmail account, fans are given the option to #ChooseYourSide, and given the option of whether to be part of the light or dark side of the Force. Once a side is selected, Google will work some behind-the-scenes magic to apply a Star Wars-influenced theme to YouTube. The changes are minimal, but fans will notice the progress, volume, and page-loading bars on the online video site turn into glowing lightsabers.
The #ChooseYourSide campaign also alters the look of other Google properties like Chrome and Google Maps. Fans can choose to install the Awaken the Force Within Chrome app to see a new Force Awakaens-themed browser wallpaper every time they open a new tab. Google Maps turns its little Street View man into a stormtrooper (at least, it did for me when I chose the dark side’s black-and-red color scheme). Plus, fans who download the official Star Wars app will automatically get an Android Wear theme for their smartwatches, as well as various Star Wars events added to their calendars.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens hits theaters on December 18, 2015. Until that highly-anticipated date, you can enjoy touches of Star Wars during your everyday internet experiences by visiting google.com/starwars. So now the question is which side will you choose?
