A big part of YouTube’s international expansion centers around the production spaces it opens for international creators. In 2015, the world’s biggest video site has opened new facilities in Berlin and Paris, while also announcing a space in Rio de Janeiro that will open in time for the 2016 Olympics. Now, it has shared more details about a creator hub in Mumbai, which will serve a meeting place for its Indian community.
YouTube has often teamed up with local organizations for its creator spaces. Its Berlin facility, for example, is hosted by an institute called Met Film School. Other spaces, such as the American ones in Los Angeles and New York, are operated by YouTube alone.
In Mumbai, local creators will be able to network with one another, make use of production stages, and attend events catered to the online video community. YouTube is very popular in India; a “Fan Fest” event in Mumbai drew thousands of attendees earlier this year.
According to Raghavan, YouTube Space Mumbai will open “next week.”
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.
A bizarre suburban neighborhood serves as the setting for a unique new web series. The neighborhood, and the series itself, is called The Shades, and its residents practice an eclectic range of alternative religions.
Many of the characters in The Shades are total weirdos, but the two recurring protagonists are a fairly ordinary married couple named John and Hayley. Over the first few installments, they serve as the straight man and woman as they witness a number of unusual religious practices. In one episode, a Buddhist man is so shabby and humble that they mistake him for a homeless man. In another, they encounter the Satanist bros who live down the street. The pilot, however, takes place at a neighbor’s Easter celebration, which includes a hilarious, Pagan twist.
The Shades features commentary on the world’s religions, but it does not skimp on the comedy. Instead, the series features a dry, subtle sense of humor that provides laughs without being too loud. “Religion is something that governs and shapes so many lives. To limit discussion on it is outrageous,” said creator Kevin Davis in a press release.“Looking at issues through a comedic lens allows The Shades to make points and create humor in new ways.” To see how Davis lives up to his words, check out The Shades on YouTube.
OTHER UNDER-THE-RADAR SERIES TO CHECK OUT
Hart of America. Archer’s Amber Nash takes the central role in this comedy series.
I Gotta Be Me. A washed up soap actor heads overseas to be part of a tribute to the Rat Pack.
Girl Night Stand. A woman deals with the awkwardness of her first lesbian sexual experience.
Talkin’ Black(ness). This series attempts to look at some interesting examples of the black experience.
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.
Earlier this year, YouTube celebrated its 10th birthday. Now, a few months later, one of the video site’s most resilient channels has reached that milestone as well. Smosh, the digital home of Ian Hecox and Anthony Padilla, just turned ten–and its stars celebrated by remaking one of their first videos.
Ten years ago, Hecox and Padilla made their YouTube debut with a lip sync video set to the Power Rangers theme song. Five months after that, they released the first of their “Smosh shorts.” It was a brief sketch called “Dolls,” and to commemorate a decade of silliness, Hecox and Padilla remade it. The new version is just like the old one, except the Smosh guys have much better haircuts now.
Smosh’s 10th birthday celebration doesn’t end with the “Dolls” remake. The channel also posted a video in which Smosh’s fans, along with fellow YouTube stars like Rhett and Link, Benny Fine, and Jenna Marbles, congratulate the comedy duo on their extended success. Included in the video is a married couple who met thanks to their shared interest in Smosh videos.
The celebration is one part of an exciting November for Smosh. Earlier in the month, the channel shared the trailer for Part Timers, an upcoming web series set in a Chuck E. Cheese-esque establishment. Hecox and Padilla also participated in the fourth season of the web series Prank It Fwd, through which they got a chance to hang out with Jennifer Lawrence and other members of the Hunger Games cast. Finally, shortly after sharing their birthday videos, the Smosh guys brought viewers the tenth installment of their Food Battle series. Even though Smosh has been a part of the YouTube community for longer than almost all of their contemporaries, it’s safe to say the channel is as popular as ever, and it seems to be aging like a fine wine.
Millennials are taking their sweet time before watching new TV shows from fall 2015. According to a study from data technology and research firm Symphony Advanced Media (SymphonyAM), adults aged 18 to 34 are more likely to watch their favorite fall shows on time-shifting platforms like Hulu instead of tuning in to watch the same show’s episodes live on linear TV.
SymphonyAM’s study analyzed data from several networks’ fall TV series, like ABC’s Quantico and CW’s Arrow, from September 21 through November 1, 2015. The research firm found millennials only watch live TV 30% of the time. An additional 30% of millennials’ TV-viewing time occurred via over-the-top and video-on-demand platforms more than three days after an episode’s linear debut, and via DVR more than seven days after an episode’s TV premiere. Out of the top 20 episodes millennials viewed during Symphony AM’s study, the audience rating for those episodes across all platforms increased an average of 38% by the seventh day after an episode’s linear premiere.
Additionally, SymphonyAM found that out of all the streaming video options available to them, millennials prefer Hulu outside of live and DVR TV viewing. This is because Hulu boasts new, time-shifted network programming, whereas competitors like Netflix and Amazon don’t have current-season episodes. Hulu was also responsible for helping CBS’s app and website gain about double the viewing duration of competitor networks’ streaming sites. That’s because CBS doesn’t air shows on Hulu and the TV network instead directs viewers to CBS’s fully owned and operated streaming properties.
“Consumer behavior shifted significantly during the 2015 fall season, confirming that the viewing of TV and video today is officially disconnected from the Live+7 currency,” said Charles Buchwalter, President and CEO of SymphonyAM, in a release. “Consumers watch programs across multiple platforms and devices beyond the seven-day viewing window, and this trend is accelerating. Armed with this data, networks and advertisers can now engage consumers in novel ways.”
Jukin Media has a new online destination for all of its latest fails, wins, and other online video ephemera that’s just starting to gain traction with audiences online. The viral video licensing company and owner of the FailArmy YouTube channel has released The Wire, an online resource for the viewing and discovery of pre-viral, trending, and post-viral clips.
The Wire hosts all of Jukin’s most recent curated and approved user-generated video content (UGC) in one convenient location. New videos are added in real-time as YouTube embeds after they’ve been vetted for quality and given Jukin’s stamp of approval. Originally created as an internal tool for Jukin’s team to stay up-to-date on current clips, The Wire was relaunched as a public resource thanks to high demand from Jukin’s partners, clients, and online video viewers at large.
The Wire is well-suited to meet the UGC video content needs of various companies and communities. Bloggers, for example, now have a place to turn to when they need to find story ledes and viral videos to embed within those stories (the views of which help to add to Jukin’s more than one billion annual views on its owned content). Additionally, The Wire helps licensing partners immediately see what videos are available for legal use in the media and across digital and linear platforms (like local and nationally syndicated talk shows and newscasts).
“The Wire is an incredibly powerful, convenient, and timesaving tool for anyone looking to utilize UGC videos,” said Jonathan Skogmo, Founder and CEO of Jukin Media, in a release (perhaps before or after he shouted a line like this from the hit HBO series that shares a name with his latest initiative).
The series will be called To The Beat with Kurt Hugo Schneider, and it will blend live music performances with celebrity interviews. Schneider as hosts, will sit down with Sony Music artists and listen in as they perform some of their songs.
“I’m thrilled to be working with Sony Music on this unique project,” said Schneider. “As a producer on YouTube, my goal is to create great content that showcases performers. I’m excited to be working with Sony’s awesome performers.”
Sony Music, which is affiliated with labels like RCA, Columbia, and Epic, is regarded as one of the “Big Three” record companies, alongside Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group. It has experimented with digital content before, specifically with a Streamy-nominated web series called Thank You And Sorry.
No release date for To The Beat has yet been announced.
Machinima has a new original series set for release just days before Thanksgiving. The self-described “many-2-many” network will launch the Minecraft-themed The Bacca Chronicles, starring popular YouTube gamer JeromeASF, on November 23, 2015.
Sponsored by Verizon’s mobile video service go90 (but released on JeromeASF’s YouTube channel) The Bacca Chronicles follows the adventures of animated characters Kyle, Bacca, Allison, and Mod Gary who work as a part of a security force tasked with maintaining fair play and justice on a Minecraft server. In addition to keeping the peace, the four friends must deal with an evil general and his army of one-eyed “Peeper” clones, battle their own boss known as “The Wass,” and ultimately learn to handle their interpersonal conflicts.
The ten-episode animated series stars JeromeASF (who boasts over 3.8 million subscribers on his channel) as the voice of Bacca. Fellow gamer and digital star ChimneySwift11 (1.9 million subscribers) plays Kyle, and TheZombiUnicorn (190,000 subscribers) voices Allison. Comedian and actor Eddie Pepitone (of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia fame) lends his vocal talents to character Mod Gary. Other acting talent on The Bacca Chronicles includes YouTube stars Gizzy Gazza and Logdotzip.
You can catch all episodes of The Bacca Chronicles on JeromeASF and Machinima’s YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter accounts starting November 23. Show extras and bonus content will also live on these channels, with all episodes and content running through December 31.
Elliott Morgan, who has recently been the man of a thousand hosting gigs, is getting ready to release his own stand-up comedy spectacular. Morgan, who’s showed up everywhere from SourceFed to Mental Floss to Mashable to Buzzr over the past year and a half, has made his special Premature available for preorder through Vimeo On Demand.
Premature, which was first announced back in August, was filmed at Los Angeles’ El Cid bar. It contains some of Morgan’s recent material and a professional polish. “For one whole hour, I told jokes I’ve been working on for the past few years, and dare I say, I changed the life of every single audience member there,” said Morgan in a press release. “But seriously, this was an amazing experience and I’m excited to be bringing my comedy into a different medium than people are used to seeing.”
For many online video aficionados, Morgan is best known as one of the hosts of SourceFed, where he spent two years as an on-screen host. With his comedy special, however, he can show he’s got plenty of jokes that don’t involve offbeat news. Premature will be available for download on December 10th, but if you’d like to stake your claim to it sooner than that, you can preorder a copy right now for $5.99.
Thanks to a new deal, Collective Digital Studio (CDS) now has some sizable family programming on its talent roster. The multi-channel network has officially signed the YouTube channel Family Fun Pack.
Family Fun Pack, which started in 2011 and was previously a part of the Fullscreen network, follows the daily shenanigans of a five kids named Alyssa, David, Zac, Chris, and Michael. The filmed familial exploits of these young stars have turned their family’s YouTube channel into a video-views powerhouse. Family Fun Pack’s toy, kid, and family-skewing content claims over 930,000 subscribers and routinely pulls in an average of 300 million video views per month. Those kinds of numbers lands the channel on the top-viewedU.S. and global channel charts week after week. Overall, Family Fun Pack boasts a whopping 2 billion total video views.
“Family Fun Pack has gained a massive number of views for content that is fun and playful while showing a real family making the most of everyday together,” said Dan Weinstein, President of CDS, in a release. “We think there is tremendous demand for family friendly content and we look forward to working with them to create new opportunities to extend their reach.”
“We are thrilled to share our family and all of the fun that goes with it with others and look forward to working with Collective Digital Studio to not only create new content, but also expand opportunities to reach our audience through new distribution platforms,” added Kristine, mom of the Family Fun Pack kids.
The Family Fun Pack channel joins several other popular digital names in the CDS network. In February 2015, CDS boosted its talent roster with several additions, including FouseyTUBE, PAINT, and Whatever. A month after that, both comedienne GloZell Green and beauty vlogger Meredith Foster joined CDS.
CDS currently boasts over 1,000 talent partners and more than 2.5 billion video views per month.
In 2014, as part of her efforts to expand her personal brand beyond the YouTube channel for which she is best known, Olga Kay launched MooshWalks, a line of colorful socks emblazoned with cute characters and ornamented with ear attachments. MooshWalks have generated some excitement, and Kay has decided to deliver them to her fans in a new way. She has partnered with NailSnaps to launch a line of nail art designs that feature MooshWalks characters.
At launch, Kay’s NailSnaps line includes three designs: One each featuring the characters Fred and Lola, and a third that includes the entire MooshWalks family. Purchasing an individual set of 20 nail wraps and a small file will run you $19.
“NailSnaps is the most innovative company I came across,” said Kay in an email to Tubefilter. “It’s an app that turns your art into nail decoration. I can now match my nails to my favorite dress pattern. Most importantly my fans can now match their nails to their favorite MooshWalks character.” She added that she feels like a “proud mom” when she sees people wearing her MooshWalks designs, and the NailSnaps line will allow more of her fans to connect with her. “Expanding my brand into a nail community is also huge for me,” she said, “you might not be into high socks but you are into nail art.”
Kay also discussed NailSnaps in a new video on her YouTube channel:
Kay noted that more MooshWalks nail art variations will arrive at a later date. She’s also expanding her brand onto another decorative item: She is one of the digital media stars partnered with Throwboy for a line of throw pillows featuring her designs.
Vice partnered with consumer goods company Unilever to sponsor A Day With. Each episode of the branded web series features women in roles and workplaces traditionally saved for men. In the debut episode of A Day With, viewers are introduced to Denisse Aranda, a Venezuelan woman who loves sports cars and who works as one of NASA’s top engineers.
“At Broadly, we’re committed to covering issues that our audience cares about, from their point of view,” said creative director Amel Monsur, as reported by Adweek. “Our new profile series, A Day With, does just that, spotlighting the unsung yet inspiring women from all over the world who navigate not only their careers, but everything in life with purpose.”
As part of its multi-year partnership with Unilever, Vice’s in-house agency Virtue Worldwide teamed with the corporation to create a campaign surrounding Unilever’s TRESemmé hair products brand. The campaign, dubbed “TRESemmé Guide to Power Posing,” instructs women on how to strike power poses like “The Wing” or “The Commander-in-Chief” to boost their confidence at work. The TRESemmé campaign will run as a pre-roll ad on A Day With.
“TRESemmé believes that Broadly can drive purposeful and authentic conversations with our consumers, particularly the community of young women who now engage with content that focuses on what matters most to them,” explained Rob Candelino, VP of Marketing at Unilever. “That includes having the confidence and presence to succeed in the workplace.”
Vice originally announced Broadly back in February 2015. The media company, known for its audacious reporting aimed at millennials, then launched the female-skewing network in August. Adweek reports Broadly’s launch was the “most successful” out of all 11 networks Vice has launched over the years, even beating out the popular Vice News network.
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.
Last year, DreamWorks Animation launched DreamWorksTV, a new digital destination aimed at young viewers. It is safe to say the channel has been a success. A little more than a year into its run, it already has surpassed one million subscribers, and perhaps more importantly, it has outpaced the official YouTube hubs of most other prominent kids’ content producers, including Nickelodeon, the Disney Channel, and Cartoon Network. How has DreamWorksTV accomplished its strong growth? We got some answers from its head executive, Birk Rawlings.
Tubefilter: How does it feel to have 1 million subscribers? What do you want to say to your fans?
DreamWorksTV: Pretty darn good. And Thanks!
TF: Why does DreamWorksTV feel having a digital presence is important, especially as it pertains to reaching your target audience?
DW: Digital/Mobile platforms are where our audience spends most of their viewing time, so building a digital native presence wasn’t really a choice as much as an imperative.
TF: How has DreamWorksTV’s YouTube channel supplemented its other digital, TV, and film efforts?
DW: Our primary mission is to create fun, original content for our target audience and we bring that spirit to how we support our parent company’s film & TV properties. While we still support traditional approaches such as clips and trailers we also look at each property and come up with custom content that is built from the ground up with our specific platforms and audience in mind. My favorite example is a short series of DIY videos we called Dragon Style that was produced to support the DWA/Netflix series Dragons: Race To The Edge and features YouTubers demonstrating how fans can bring How To Train Your Dragon fashion and style home with them.
TF: How has creating digital-first original content, instead of simply re-purposing DreamWorks properties, helped DreamWorksTV grow its channel?
DW: To put it simply, original digital-first content has been the difference between linear growth seen on most media company’s YouTube channels and the exponential growth that we’ve seen since launching DreamWorksTV on YouTube. Shows that are custom built for the platform and for our target audience like Life Hacks for Kids and Songs That Stick drive more subscribers and views than any of the myriad of awesome traditional media properties from DreamWorks Animation.
TF: Not all of the content on DreamWorksTV’s channel is from the brand’s own animators. How do you choose which creators to work with and who should have content on your channel?
DW: We’re open to working with talented creators of all stripes. We’ve seen success with talent from YouTube natives to experienced TV & Feature writers, directors & artists. Contributions have come from Los Angeles, California to Maroubra, New South Wales and all sorts of cool locales in between. If we think our audience will like it, we’ll say yes to just about anything that can be produced on digital-friendly budgets.
TF: What kind of content has worked well on the DreamWorksTV channel (i.e. trailers, original series, reviews, etc.)? What do you think wasn’t as great a success?
DW: We’ve seen a lot of success with YouTube native formats like crafting in I <3 DIY, unboxing in UnBox It! and gameplay in League of Let’s Play. Some of our more traditional narrative content has struggled to make it through the YT algorithm, but that challenge isn’t going to stop us from producing character-driven content.
TF: What’s next for your channel? Anything fun?
DW: Always. We publish new, original content every single day.
On Deck (channels that will soon reach one million subscribers): YAPYAP, Telemundo, Drift0r
