The show stands as Hulu’s most prestigious offering to date is still three months away from its premiere date, but we have already received a first look. The streaming video platform has dropped a teaser for 11.22.63, a historical drama adapted from a Stephen King novel, produced by Warner Bros. Television and J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot Productions, and starring James Franco.
The novel on which 11.22.63 is based follows a high school teacher named Jake Epping, who must go back in time to 1960 and prevent the assassination of President John F. Kennedy three years later. As is often the case with time travel stories, Epping’s journey creates a ripple effect that changes US history.
Hulu announced 11.22.63 in September 2014. While the video platform has recently increased its investment in original programming, 11.22.63 represents a big leap forward. It will be one of the first dramas in an original series library filled with comedies, and it boasts high production values and big-name actors among its cast. The new teaser gives us a small taste of those production values, without giving too much away.
YouTube has a new way for creators’ videos to reach a more global audience. The Google-owned online video site, which now has an ad-free subscription option, is working on a translation marketplace tool where creators can order professional translations of their videos.
In a company blog post, YouTube notes that an average of 60% of a channel’s views come from a country outside of its creator’s home country. In order to reach more viewers in languages familiar to a global audience, YouTube launched the translation marketplace (currently in beta), accessible directly from the Video Manager section in a creator’s account. Once a creator selects and pays for a preferred language translation through the marketplace, YouTube will auto-publish the content and send a confirmation email to the creator.
YouTube already allows creators to add translated titles and descriptions to their videos, but the translation marketplace feature makes it that much easier for creators to connect with fans outside of their home countries. And the language-based tool has already proven its worth for some of YouTube’s content partner. Vice, for example, doubled the daily watchtime on videos translated into Spanish and Portuguese.
“These new features have the potential to fundamentally change the way VICE distributes its YouTube content on a global scale,” said Jordan DeBor, Video Partnerships Manager at VICE. “By removing the language barrier, YouTube delivers the opportunity to build new audiences in local markets and expand in our existing ones.”
Additionally, conference organization TED used YouTube’s new translation marketplace to add translated captions to more than 2,000 videos with previously-translated titles and descriptions in over 11 different languages. The results were impressive: the TED channel’s localized watchtime increased 15% overall, and in some cases even spiked at 60%.
“For more than five years, we’ve been working to remove the barrier of language from TED’s mission in spreading ideas throughout the world,” says Kristin Windbigler, Director of TED’s Open Translation Project. “As one of our most important partners, YouTube has pushed the boundaries in making our videos not only accessible but also discoverable for viewers around the world.”
In addition to its translation options, YouTube has another tool available to creators to help boost their global reach. For a while now, Google’s online video site has boasted support for subtitles and closed captions. YouTube even allows community members to help contribute to these text-based additions on creators’ videos. Some YouTube stars have already taken advantage of the site’s closed captioning feature. Back in January 2015, Tyler Oakley added captions to his videos because he wanted all his fans, even those who are hard-of-hearing or who prefer to read text, to consume his content.
Felix “PewDiePie” Kjellberg is on top of the YouTube world, and he owes much of his fame to his histrionic reaction to horror video games. Whether he’s playing Amnesia, Slender, or Five Nights At Freddy’s, PewDiePie responds to scary moments with a combination of terrified yells and Swedish curse words–and his fans love it.
Soon, those fans will have another chance to watch PewDiePie get freaked out by some scary thrills. The Swedish YouTube star will take the lead in Scare PewDiePie, a web series that will be released on YouTube’s new subscription service, YouTube Red.
In Scare PewDiePie, Kjellberg will enter a host of horror movie scenarios, all designed for the express purpose of scaring the living daylights out of him. The premise sounds similar to a brand campaign PewDiePie participated in last year, when he entered a haunted house to drum up support for the film As Above, So Below. This time, he’s working with Skybound Entertainment, the studio behind The Walking Dead.
Scare PewDiePie doesn’t have a confirmed release date yet, but when it does arrive it will be one of the first series to premiere on YouTube Red, which YouTube launched in October as a home for premium content from its community of homegrown stars. “This has been a huge opportunity for me, and it really means a lot that you bros support it as well, and i really think you’re going to enjoy it,” said PewDiePie in a video introducing the Scare PewDiePie teaser.
Despite his foray into premium programming, PewDiePie will continue to provide free entertainment for his YouTube subscribers. At the time of this post, he has more than 40 million fans, making him YouTube’s most popular personality.
[Editor’s Note: Tubefilter Charts is a weekly and monthly 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 timeframe. You can check out all of our Tubefilter Charts with new installments every weekby clicking right here.]
It’s time for another monthly installment of our Tubefilter Top 100 Most Viewed YouTube Gaming Channels Chart and British gamer is in the top spot.
Chart Toppers
The world’s most viewed gaming channel in October 2015 hails from Great Britain. TheDiamondMinecart and its steady stream of daily Minecraft videos stayed relatively constant in its view count, scoring just about 259.7 million views during the month. JackSepticEye is next up in second place. The Irish gamer who boasts about being “The most energetic videogame commentator on YouTube,” was up 8% in views in the 31 days of October, to close out the month with almost 227.1 million of them.
PopularMMOs is up next in its usual third-place spot. The top gaming channel from the U.S. ended the month with nearly 226.3 million views. In fourth place is VanossGaming. The other gaming channel towards the top of the chart that calls North America home saw a 14% uptick in views to take home close to 198.3 million views on the month.
And rounding out the Top 5 is markiplierGAME. The second U.S.-based gamer in the Top 100 took a 5% hit in views, but still amassed almost 168.1 million views in the month.
Top Gainers
The honor of one of our Top Gainers this month goes to LoL Esports.
For the uninitiated, LoL Esports doesn’t refer to comedic athletic videos, but is the online video repository of all gameplay footage, ancillary clips, and more from League of Legends Championship Series. The YouTube home for all things about the main sporting event focused on Riot Games’ incredibly popular video game franchise had a great month on YouTube. A steady supply of archived videos from the annual LoL championships helped the channel to a 169% month-over-month increase in views, almost 33.8 million views on the month, and the #68 spot on the worldwide gaming chart.
Channel Distribution
The Top 100 Most Viewed YouTube Gaming Channels this month amassed in aggregate a total of 5,928,606,502. Here’s a look at the distribution of those channels broken down by the most-represented YouTube Multi-Channel Networks on the chart:
Maker Studios:25 channels in the Top 100, with TheDiamondMinecart at #1.
Machinima:15 channels in the Top 100, with VanossGaming at #4.
BroadbandTV: 8 channels in the Top 100, with fernanfloo at #7.
OmniaMediaCo: 7 channels in the Top 100, with TheAtlanticCraft at #16.
Fullscreen: 6 channels in the Top 100, with popularmmos at #3
Divimove: 4 channels in the Top 100, with elrubiusOMG at #8.
VSP: 3 channels in the Top 100, with В Гостях У FrostA at #24.
IDG, Rooster Teeth, XMediaDigital: 2 channels each in the Top 100, with IDG’s PietSmiet at #79, and XMediaDigital’s TheBrainDit at #28.
And here’s a look into the distribution of this month’s Top 100 by country of origin:
United States: 34 channels in the Top 100.
Great Britain: 12 channels in the Top 100.
Brazil: 8 channels in the Top 100..
Japan, Spain: 6 channels each in the Top 100.
Canada: 5 channels in the Top 100.
Russia: 4 channels in the Top 100.
Denmark, Ireland, Netherlands, Ukraine: 3 channels each in the Top 100.
Chile, Italy: 2 channels each in the Top 100.
Australia, El Salvador, Finland, France, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Vietnam:1 channel each in the Top 100.
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.
Tiltify is the first online platform created to allow gamers to crowdfund for the charity of their choice using their favorite games.
One of the most complex and common legal battles on YouTube concerns the doctrine of fair use, which allows content creators to re-purpose copyrighted material for the sake of commenting on it, criticizing it, or parodying it. Many creators whose videos get targeted by rights holders turn to fair use as a defense, and a select few of those creators will now have support from YouTube. The video site has pledged legal aid to some creators whose videos have been subject to takedown notices, so long as those videos serve as examples of fair use.
YouTube’s legal support will come in three forms: The video site will allow the creators it assists to keep contested videos online despite any claims against them, will cover legal fees for any court cases that arise from ensuing copyright disputes, and will share the videos it defends at its Copyright Center, where it will hold them up as shining examples of fair use.
“We’re doing this because we recognize that creators can be intimidated by the DMCA’s counter notification process, and the potential for litigation that comes with it (for more background on the DMCA and copyright law see check out this Copyright Basics video),” reads a blog post from YouTube. “In addition to protecting the individual creator, this program could, over time, create a “demo reel” that will help the YouTube community and copyright owners alike better understand what fair use looks like online and develop best practices as a community.”
YouTube won’t offer its legal support to any creator who claims fair use. Instead, it is initially backing just four creators, including a pro-choice organization and a man named Constantine Guiliotis, who debunks UFO sightings on his channel. Guiliotis incorporates clips of proclaimed UFO sightings into his videos, and has received multiple takedown notices as a result, but since he comments and criticizes the clips, he is protected under fair use.
If you believe you’re being unfairly targeted for a video that falls under fair use, there’s a chance YouTube will support you, as the video site said it may expand its new legal program in the future. In the meantime, feel free to read up on fair use, so that you can understand which videos qualify for it.
One of the executives at the forefront of Vimeo‘s charge into the world of original content is departing the company. Greg Clayman, who spent two years at Vimeo and helped build up the video platform’s Vimeo On Demand service, will move on to pursue new opportunities at the end of the year, according to Variety.
Clayman’s official title was General Manager of Audience Networks, but his most notable work at Vimeo concerned the video site’s On Demand selling platform, which launched in 2013 as a way for independent filmmakers to profit from their work. Vimeo On Demand quickly picked up steam in the months after its launch, with high-profile directors like Spike Lee and Joss Whedon releasing films on it. It also emerged as a home for web series, films, and live shows created by YouTube stars. More recently, Vimeo began funding projects for its On Demand platform; it announced its first slate of original programs in October 2015.
With Clayman exiting Vimeo, there will be a new man in charge of Vimeo On Demand. Sam Toles, Vimeo’s head of global content acquisitions and distribution, will take over Clayman’s previous duties. Toles, who has spent nearly 20 years in the entertainment industry, joined Vimeo in 2014.
Vimeo confirmed Variety’s report, though the video site didn’t offer up much information about where Clayman would head next. Vimeo CEO Kerry Trainor said Clayman will “explore new entrepreneurial opportunities.” “It’s been a great run with Vimeo and I’m really proud of the platform we’ve built,” added Clayman. “I have a number of interesting opportunities before me and look forward to continuing to partner with Vimeo in the future, but for now my focus is in ensuring a smooth transition.”
On November 12, social media-savvy production company Astronauts Wanted announced a new season of the travel show HeyUSA. This time around, a few things about the show are set to change: Thanks to a distribution deal, the new episodes will arrive on Verizon’s mobile-friendly Go90 platform before they head anywhere else. In addition, the new season is actually a spin-0off series called HeyUSA_X, and it will focus on extreme sports challenges.
The final change concerns the show’s hosts. Grace Helbig and Mamrie Hart, who served as two of HeyUSA’s resident travelers over the show’s first two seasons, will not embark on the upcoming adventure. Instead, Vine stars Marcus and Cody Johns will dive into a series of challenges within an itinerary chosen by fans.
Helbig and Hart announced Marcus and Cody as the HeyUSA_X hosts in a video posted to the official HeyUSA channel. “Mamrie and I needed to find two people arguably zanier than us to bring HeyUSA_X to life and do all the things the fans suggested that we were too chicken to try,” added Helbig in a press release.
The Johns brothers are two of the biggest stars on Vine. Marcus has 6.5 million followers on his account, while Cody has 3.6 million on his. Their six-second successes have afforded them more opportunities on other platforms. Marcus, for example, hung out on the red carpet during the most recent Academy Awards.
While a release date for HeyUSA_X hasn’t been announced, there will surely be many opportunities for fans to participate in the show’s production, as is the case with most Astronauts Wanted programs. We’ll share more details as we have them.
Between December 10-12, music fans will get a chance to celebrate 2015’s most iconic music videos. Those are the dates when “The Year In Vevo,” a three-day celebration of Vevo’s biggest hits of the past 12 months, will be open in New York City.
“The Year In Vevo,” which was first announced during Vevo’s presentation at the 2015 Newfronts, will take place at the Skylight Clarkson Sq and will feature appearances from some of the music network’s most popular partners. Tori Kelly and The Chainsmokers will be among the live performers, and other prominent recording artists, such as The Weeknd and Fifth Harmony, will show up as well.
Leading up to the event, Vevo will allow fans to pick the best music videos of the year across a series of award categories. The Grammys these ain’t; instead, Vevo’s categories carry outrageous titles like “Turn Up Anthem,” “Fashion Killa,” and “Those Moves Tho!” You can submit your votes until November 22 on the Vevo website.
Beyond the live performances and the awards, “The Year In Vevo” will also give its attendees a chance to experience some of 2015’s most popular music videos. One live installation, for example, will recreate Taylor Swift’s “Bad Blood” video, which is also nominated in Vevo’s “YAASSS QUEEN” category, which celebrates girl power.
If you want to attend “The Year In Vevo,” tickets are available for a limited time from the music network’s website. For those who can’t make it, videos from the event will be available across Vevo’s distribution network.
The next two personalities jumping from social media to the big screen are Logan Paul and Peyton List. Paul, known for his videos on Vine, and List, a Disney Channel actress who has 1.5 million Twitter followers, will star in The Thinning, a dystopian thriller that has been acquired by the digital wing of film studio Legendary.
For The Thinning, Legendary is working with the team from TotallySketch, which won the studio’s House of Horrors contest thanks to its short film “Unfinished Business.” TotallySketch founder Michael Gallagher will direct The Thinning, he will write it alongside Steve Greene, and Jana Winternitz will be one of the film’s producing partners. Content studio Kids at Play is also involved in the film’s production.
This time, instead on focusing on a horror story, Gallagher and his team are heading to a “dying world,” where a post-high school aptitude test serves as a means of population control. Paul and List will portray two student who discover a conspiracy behind the test and set off on a journey to smash the system.
“The key to any great project is great material, no matter how that content is distributed,” said Greg Siegel, Legendary Digital Media’s SVP of Development and Production, in a press release. “Michael Gallagher and Steve Greene have created a wholly original world with incredibly compelling characters that Logan and Peyton’s audiences will love seeing them bring to life.”
Traditional film studios have begun to show more interest in digital media stars, and Legendary is no exception. In addition to The Thinning, it the production company behind Electra Woman and Dyna Girl, which stars YouTube personalities Grace Helbig and Hannah Hart.
The Thinning doesn’t yet have a specific release date, though it is expected to arrive in 2016 through video on-demand platforms. Production on the film will begin in November.
Despite all of the controversy that has surrounded it, YouTube Kids has had a big 2015. The child-friendly app, which first launched in February as a home for age-appropriate videos, has surpassed 10 million downloads and has launched in five new countries: The UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
The 10 million downloads come across iOS and Android devices, as YouTube Kids is available from both Google Play and the App Store. Users are not simply downloading the app and forgetting it, either; instead, its videos have experienced massive watch time. Specifically, YouTube noted that a 54-minute compilation of nursery rhymes, beginning with “Wheels on the Bus” and ending with “This Old Man,” has accrued more watch time than Psy’s “Gangnam Style.” It’s also set to become the next video to achieve more than one billion views.
Clearly, YouTube Kids has been a big hit with American kids and their parents, and thanks to its latest update, families in other countries will get to experience it, too. Will foreign advocacy groups rise up against the app’s branded videos and its occasionally-inappropriate content, just as American watchdogs have? It’s too early to tell.
[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 a 21-year-old pop star is still in the top spot.
Chart Toppers
Justin Bieber maintained his YouTube dominance this week. The international pop star claimed the top spot on the U.S. chart for the second week in a row. A steady stream of new music videos from his latest studio album Purpose helped his channel to a 13% bump in views and almost 123.3 million views during the week. WWE is next up in a distant second place. The YouTube repository for clips and highlights from World Wrestling Entertainment dipped 2% in views to bottom out at nearly 95.8 million views on the week.
FunToyzCollector (aka the channel previously known as DisneyCollectorBR) is very close behind in the #3 spot. The anonymous channel featuring a pair of adult hands playing children’s toys amassed just about 94.1 million views throughout the week. FamilyFunPack is up next in fourth place. The familial exploits of Alyssa, David, Zac, Chris, and Michael ended the week with almost 86.2 million views.
And rounding out the Top 5 is Taylor Swift. The pop star’s YouTube viewership stayed relatively constant at almost 86 million views.
Top Gainers
The honor of one of our Top Gainers in the U.S. this week goes to Sia.
The 39-year-old Australian singer and songwriter had a solid week on YouTube thanks to her latest music video release. Alive helped the artist’s channel to a 34% week-over-week increase in views, more than 34 million views on the week, and the #35 spot on the U.S. chart.
Channel Distribution
The top 50 most viewed U.S. YouTube channels this week amassed a total of 2,354,702,014 views. Here’s the distribution of a few of those channels by multi-channel network:
VEVO: 20 channels in the U.S. Top 50, with Justin Bieber the highest-ranked channel of the network at #1.
Maker Studios: 4 channels in the Top 50, with DisneyCarToys at #12.
BuzzFeed, Fullscreen, MovieClips, OhMyGenius: 2 channels each in the Top 50, with BuzzFeed’s BuzzFeed Video at #6, Fullscreen’s FamilyFunPack at #4, Movieclips’ Movieclips Trailers at #37, and OhMyGenius’ Kids TV at #38.
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.
