[Editor’s Note: Tubefilter Charts is a new 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 week – here.] 

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It’s time for another installment of our monthly Tubefilter Top 100 Most Viewed YouTube Channels Chart and Turkish music is still very popular around the globe.

Chart Toppers

Netd müzik‘s collection of Turkish-language music videos claimed the #1 spot on the chart this month, collecting more than 441.4 million views from Turkish music fans around the world. WWE couldn’t wrestle away the first place position from the music conglomerate despite an 18% uptick in views. Still, the online video home of all things World Wrestling Entertainment slammed down over 431.2 million views in the long month of October.

In third place is LittleBabyBum. The repository of classic Western songs for your English-speaking toddlers and pre-adolescents brought in almost 428.6 million views in the 31 days of the month. Baby Big Mouth dropped down to the #4 spot. The channel dedicated to the little toy toys and whatnots one finds after opening a Kinder Surprise Egg cracked 406 million views.

And rounding out the Top 5 is mashamedvedtv. The YouTube destination for clips from the apparently very popular Russian cartoon shot up 17% in views and ended the month with almost 382.7 million of them.

Top Gainers

The honor of one our Top Gainers this month goes to Adele.

The first music video release from the 27-year-old British popstar in more than three years has seen incredible success online. ‘Hello‘ proved to be one of the fastest YouTube videos ever to reach 100,000,000 views and singlehandedly gave Adele’s channel a 520% month-over-month increase in views, just about 224.7 million views on the month, and the #26 spot on the worldwide chart.

Channel Distribution
The Top 100 Most Viewed YouTube channels this month amassed in aggregate a total of 19,135,368,516 views. Here’s a look at the distribution of those channels broken down by the most-represented YouTube Multi-Channel Networks on the chart:

• VEVO: 21 channels in the Top 100. Taylor Swift is the network’s highest ranking channel at #8.
• Maker Studios: 9 channels in the Top 100, with DisneyCarToys at #16.
• BroadbandTV: 4 channels in the Top 100, with Major Lazer at #49.
• Machinima, XMediaDigital: 3 channels each in the Top 100, with Machinima’s VanossGaming at #32 and XMediaDigital’s mashamedvedtv at #5.
• AIR. BuzzFeed, Fullscreen, OhMyGenius: 2 channels each in the Top 100, with AIR’s Miss Katy at #30, BuzzFeed’s BuzzFeed video at #9, Fullscreen’s FamilyFunPack at #10, and OhMyGenius’ Kids Channel at #68.

And here’s a look into the distribution of the this month’s Top 100 by country of origin:

• The United States: 44 channels in the Top 100.
• Great Britain: 11 channels in the Top 100.
• Spain, India: 6 channels each in the Top 100.
• Canada: 5 channels in the Top 100.
• Brazil, Thailand: 4 channels each in the Top 100.
• South Korea, Russia: 3 channels each in the Top 100.
• Ukraine: 2 channels in the Top 100.
• Argentina, Chile, Denmark, El Salvador, Ireland, Jamaica, Japan, Netherlands, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Sweden, Turkey: 1 channel each in the Top 100.

As always, keep up to speed with the latest Tubefilter Charts and all of our news at Tubefilter by following us on Twitter, becoming a fan on Facebook, and watching our videos on YouTube.

OpenSlate is a video content analytics platform that tracks more than 220,000 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.

Filed under: Articles, News, statistics, Statistics, YouTube, Youtube Chart by Joshua Cohen
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Disney Interactive has figured out a way to deliver gameplay videos to viewers without those viewers ever having to stop playing the game. The video game studio arm of the Mouse House teamed with Maker Studios to host gameplay videos (e.g. Let’s Play videos, walkthroughs, tutorials, and more) from several Maker talent partners directly within the Star Wars: Commander mobile strategy game.

Star Wars: Commander, which takes place within the Star Wars universe after the destruction of the Imperial Death Star in the film Star Wars: A New Hope, lets players choose to fight for either the Rebellion or Empire as they build up armies, complete missions, and engage in battles. The free-to-play mobile strategy game boasts a community hub called “Commander Infonet,” where players can now click a new “Video” tab to view the Maker-created gameplay content. Fans can also watch in-game clips like tips and tricks, as well as developer diaries from the Star Wars: Commander team.

Chris Heatherly, SVP and GM of Disney Mobile Games, wrote in a blog post how featuring gameplay videos from Maker talent (who haven’t been revealed as of yet) gives those creators access to the 20 million users who have downloaded Star Wars: Commander. The move to include Maker content within the mobile strategy games also means Disney can maintain a “healthy player community,” where users don’t have to have a “totally separate experience” when viewing related gameplay on another platform.

“It’s been an incredible amount of work from both the Star Wars: Commander team and Maker Studios to launch this program and we are really excited by the results,” Heatherley wrote. “We can’t wait to see more creative content from Maker, the team, and the community at large!”

Maker Studios talent has been participating in more Disney- and Star Wars-themed content as of late. The multi-channel network teamed with Disney to create a talent incubator program dubbed Disney XD by Maker to find creative talent who can develop shows for distribution across the Disney XD network. Maker creators also participated in a global Star Wars unboxing event to celebrate the upcoming film Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

You can download Star Wars: Commander on Google Play, the iTunes App Store, or the Windows App Store.

Filed under: Articles, Disney, Maker Studios, News by Bree Brouwer
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A new Tomb Raider game has arrived in stores, and Xbox promoted it in just about the most epic way possible. The Microsoft-owned entertainment brand sent four online video content creators–Oli White, Tom Syndicate, Jade Jolie, and Yammy xox–to Siberia, where they had to negotiate a series of obstacles.

In Rise of the Tomb Raider, which is now out for Xbox 360 and Xbox One, protagonist Lara Croft travels to the Russian wilderness to uncover an ancient city. The challenges Xbox set up for the “Escape from Siberia” video are meant to resemble the ones Lara faces in the video game: The participating creators had to climb rock faces, zipline across rivers, and hit targets at an impromptu archery range. After 48 hours, they were picked up by a helicopter; for their sake, I hope it was stocked with hot chocolate.

All four of the creators who took part in the video are gamers themselves. Syndicate’s main channel is one of YouTube’s most popular destinations, White plays games in addition to his vlogs and sketches, Yammy specializes in Minecraft and The Sims, and Jolie is primarily a Twitch streamer. “This was without a doubt one of the best trips I’ve ever been on in my life!” tweeted Syndicate.

“Escape from Siberia” isn’t the first branded campaign to bring YouTube stars to a real-life environment that resembles a fictional world. Last year, popular gamer PewDiePie made his way through a haunted house modeled to look like the film As Above, So Below.

Rise of the Tomb Raider was released on November 10th, the same day as the hotly-anticipated title Fallout 4. If “Escape from Siberia” makes you curious about the game, be forewarned–it’s probably more thrilling to perform Lara Croft’s stunts in real life than on a TV screen.

Filed under: Articles, Branded Entertainment, Devices, Featured, News by Sam Gutelle
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NYC Web Fest is approaching quickly, and it promises a great look at new web series and digital content. The 2nd annual event, which celebrates digital series and creators from around the globe, will host the world premiere of comedian Lewis Black’s The Mentors series, among other notable online video projects.

Taking place from November 13-14 at the Pit Loft at 154 West 29th Street, NYC Web Fest will be where The Mentors makes its worldwide debut. The six-part The Mentors is described in a release as a “dark and comical portrayal of mentorships in the entertainment business,” which are loosely based on real-life experiences. A panel involving some of the series’ cast and crew will follow the series’ screening.

In an email to Tubefilter, NYC Web Fest founder Lauren Atkins explained how she had previously only dreamed of debuting such a top-level web series at such a young event. “I said to my partner April over the summer ‘maybe next year we can approach producers about hosting a premiere…’ and we got one THIS year – with Lewis Black!” Atkins said. “Needless to say, we’re thrilled.”

In addition to The Mentors, NYC Web Fest will host a Q&A session with crew members of actor Colin Quinn’s Cop Show, which debuted online in February. The digital-centric event also plans to screen series including The Graceland Happiness Project and local New York production Free Therapy from comedian and filmmaker Julian Klepper.

This year’s NYC Web Fest has grown significantly since its inception in the fall of 2014. The two-day event boasts four judges who will award digital creators with 20 different awards. That’s double the amount of prizes the NYC Web Fest handed out last year. Atkins also notes on the event’s website her team is expecting triple the amount of attendees and web series submissions compared to last year. Individuals from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Italy are reportedly traveling to the U.S. for the Web Fest.

“Much like Robert Redford did when he began the Sundance Film Festival over 30 years ago, I want to provide a venue, vehicle, and sense of community among artists alike,” explained Atkins on the event’s website. “With so much of show business relying on ‘luck,’ there’s no better place than New York City to showcase the freedom of expression happening online.”

You can learn more about the NYC Web Fest and how to get tickets by visiting the event’s official website.

Filed under: Articles, News, NYC Web Fest by Bree Brouwer
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Casey Neistat isn’t happy with Facebook. In a candid interview with Adweek, the 34-year-old YouTube star and filmmaker revealed that he lost over 20 million video views on his own content due to stolen (aka freebooted) videos on the social networking site.

Neistat, who boasts over 1.5 million subscribers on YouTube, spent several weeks creating a Halloween video called “Aladdin Magic Carpet Prank” with fellow YouTuber Jesse Wellens (of PrankvsPrank fame). After the two uploaded the video to YouTube and pulled in ten million total views, Neistat told Adweek he and Wellens discovered internet users had illegally ripped their “Aladdin” video, in which they’d both invested a significant amount of time and money. The video pirates had posted the clip to Facebook using the site’s native video format.

“I spent roughly a week issuing takedowns on Facebook—a convoluted process,” Neistat said. “I crowdsourced the process of finding the freebooters because there is no way to search Facebook. In all, I took down well over 50 different posts—[which was] not nearly all of them. I simply gave up after a while. I anecdotally kept track of the view counts—over 20 million views on the videos I took down.”

Facebook has told users the site is working to create technology to fight freebooting and help track down copyright material in a more efficient manner beyond its current content ID tools through Audible Magic. In August 2015, the social site launched a video matching technology for select brands like Fullscreen and Jukin Media to use to hunt down and report their stolen content. However, Neistat said this doesn’t help individual creators without access to the copyright tech.

“Facebook has a team of the greatest technologists in the world,” he said. “They can crank out entirely new products in a matter of weeks. But here we are, 8 billion views a day later, and there is nothing in place to protect content creators. Beyond a technological solution—something YouTube has had in place for years—there’s a more pragmatic one: Punish the freebooters.”

But even that suggestion from Neistat has its own problems. Facebook’s algorithms make it so that native videos get shown in users’ Feeds more often than outside links to YouTube videos. In this way, Facebook essentially encourages video freebooting, and sussing out the anything-but-innocent offenders gets even more tricky. Neistat said that when he personally contacted freebooters, some of them were simply trying to share his video using native Facebook video.

“They explained, apologetically, that they just wanted to share the video, and there was no other way to do it,” Neistat said. “They said they couldn’t post the YouTube [clip] because no one would see it [on Facebook]… so they ripped and shared it.”

Neistat is only the most recent YouTube celebrity and online video professional to voice concerns over Facebook’s treatment of stolen content and the related offenders. Back in June 2015, Fullscreen CEO George Strompolos took to Twitter to complain about Facebook’s lack of copyright identification tools. Only two months later, the Vlogbrothers’ Hank Green wrote a post on Medium about the issue, accusing Facebook of cheating, lying, and stealing. The most recent creator to stand against the social networking site’s freebooting frenzy was the educational YouTube channel Kurzgesagt, which claimed pirated content and the ad revenue the freebooters (not the original creators) make from it on Facebook was 100% unacceptable.

Facebook declined to comment on Adweek’s Neistat story.

Filed under: Articles, Channels, Facebook, News by Bree Brouwer
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Hulu is currently owned by a trio of media companies: Disney (which owns ABC), 21st Century Fox (which owns FOX), and Comcast (which owns NBC). Now, a fourth telecom giant could pick up its own share of the streaming video platform. Time Warner, which owns major TV channels like HBO, TBS, The CW, and CNN, could acquire a 25% stake in Hulu, according to a recent report from The Wall Street Journal.

The Wall Street Journal’s report discusses a potential deal that would value Hulu in the $5 billion range and would sell a quarter of the company to Time Warner. The three companies that currently own Hulu would all lower their respective stakes to the 25% range, giving Time Warner an equal amount of control.

Time Warner has shown interest in Hulu in the past. In 2013, it entered talks to pick up equity in the streaming service, though Hulu’s owners ultimately decided not to sell.

An investment from Time Warner could be a big boon for Hulu, which is looking to stay competitive with the likes of Netflix and Amazon. The discussed deal would allow Hulu to obtain distribution licenses for many of the TV shows broadcast by Time Warner-held channels. There’s also potential for the two companies to collaborate on additional original shows; Time Warner’s Warner Bros. Television subsidiary is already producing 11/22/63, a high-profile adaptation of a Stephen King novel.

Should Hulu and Time Warner complete their rumored deal, it would reshape the streaming video landscape. Don’t expect immediate news, though; one of the Wall Street Journal’s sources noted that talks aren’t advanced at this time.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Hulu, News, Time Warner by Sam Gutelle
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Funny or Die is putting its own spin on Snapchat. The comedy destination has launched Dips, an app that asks its users to contribute short videos related to trending topics.

Dips is pretty simple: Users shoot videos with their phones and adorn them with hashtags. Those videos are then combined with other clips that share the same hashtags. The result is a roster of themed playlists with titles like #WouldYouRather and #WorstSelfies. Click on one, and you’ll find relevant videos created by Dips users.

With Dips, Funny or Die continues its quest to create as much hashtag-based humor as possible. It has also produced 320 episodes of @midnight, a Comedy Central game show centered on social media. One of @midnight’s most popular and enduring segments has been “Hashtag Wars,” which lets the show’s comedian guests riff on silly hashtags.

It’s logical to view Dips as Funny or Die’s answer to Snapchat, which creates its own collections of themed posts within its Stories section. Snapchat now has its own thriving community, which fuels its Stories, and Dips will be most fun if it can gather a decent-sized user base of its own. To join that number, download Dips from the App Store.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Funny Or Die, News by Sam Gutelle
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Rooster Teeth’s annual expo just got a whole lot bigger. The Fullscreen-owned, Austin-based production company announced RTX 2016 will take place from July 1-3, and will also boast the addition of the ScrewAttack Gaming Convention (SGC).

RTX 2016 will take place over the first three days of July at the Austin Convention Center, as well as at the city’s JW Marriott and Hilton hotels. In addition to the expo’s usual schedule of panels, gameplays, and meet-ups, RTX will boast even more content thanks to SGC. The convention, hosted by the production company and YouTube gaming channel ScrewAttack (also a part of the Fullscreen family), is moving from its home in Frisco, Texas to become a permanent fixture of RTX for the foreseeable future.

RTX has grown by proverbial leaps and bounds since its inception in 2011. The traditionally Austin-based event will now have an Australian iteration in early 2016. The fifth annual RTX in August 2015 was the largest U.S. convention yet, with more than 40,000 attendees, three different venues, over 90 different exhibitors, and a sponsorship by Pizza Hut. At the time, RTX Co-Director and RT Community Manager Barbara Dunkelman told Tubefilter she expected RTX 2016 to be “even better” than this year’s event. And it certainly seems like the event is on track to be just that.

“RTX 2015 was our biggest, best show yet. We moved beyond just utilizing the convention center and incorporated other downtown venues with huge success,” said Gus Sorola, Rooster Teeth Co-Founder and Co-Director of RTX, in a release. “Looking forward to 2016, we are going to continue to see record growth and amazing programming. We can’t wait to share our vision with the world… again.”

You’ll be able to purchase three-day, single-day, or VIP tickets to RTX/SGC 2016 at the start of the new year. Until then, check out this fun infographic provided by Rooster Teeth, which is full of stats about the overall growth of the production company’s yearly expo:

Filed under: Articles, News, Rooster Teeth, RTX, ScrewAttack by Bree Brouwer
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Verizon’s mobile-centric video platform Go90 is hungry for original content, and Astronauts Wanted will provide it with a pair of new shows. The studio run by former MTV exec Judy McGrath has announced a deal with Go90 that will include two new seasons of the talk show Tawk With Awkwafina and an extreme sports spinoff of the travel web series HeyUSA.

The new episodes of Tawk With Awkwafina will star the series’ titular rapper (whose real name is Nora Lum) as she sits town with her celebrity guests. Notable people who will appear on the show will include actress Alia Shawkat and YouTube star Lilly Singh (the latter of whom previously teamed up with Astronauts Wanted for a tour documentary called A Trip To Unicorn Island.)

Short clips from Tawk are available via Go90; the show’s first season episodes can be viewed on the Astronauts Wanted YouTube channel.

The HeyUSA spinoff will be titled HeyUSA_X, and it will feature two still-to-be-determined hosts as they journey across the country and tackle an assortment of extreme sports challenges. Grace Helbig and Mamrie Hart, who starred in the first two seasons of HeyUSA, will return as executive producers.

“Mamrie and I are ready to get this new adventure started,” said Helbig in a press release. “We break our backs to make HeyUSA a travel series unlike anything else and we’re excited that two new hosts might actually break their backs taking HeyUSA to a new, extreme level. We can’t wait to share more about what we have planned for HeyUSA_X!”

Both Tawk With Awkwafina and HeyUSA_X will premiere exclusively on Go90. The latter of the two series is expected to arrive in early 2016.

Filed under: Articles, Astronauts Wanted, Featured, Go90, News by Sam Gutelle
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Maker Studios is getting more entrenched in the film biz. The Disney-owned YouTube multi-channel network teamed with Off the Dock, Lakeshore Entertainment’s digital studio, to produce the mockumentary film Internet Famous, starring YouTube superstar Shane Dawson.

Internet Famous tells the story of six digital media stars who travel across the country to compete in a talent show where the ultimate prize is their very own TV show. Dawson, who starred in his own film Not Cool and boasts 12.7 million subscribers across two channels, will play one of the online celebrities. Real-life digital stars Steve Greene, Amanda Cerney, Christian DelGrosso, Wendy McColm, and Richard Ryan will play the remaining five online personalities in the flick.

Written by Greene and YouTuber star Michael Gallagher (the guy behind the 2012 feature film Smiley), Internet Famous is produced by Maker and Off the Dock alongside Gallagher’s Cinemand banner. Gallagher is also directing the digital mockumentary.

“We are excited to work with Maker, Michael, and Steve on this unique project,” said Off The Dock’s Marc Reid in a release. “Combining Lakeshore’s 20 years of experience with a new generation of creators is our mission at Off The Dock, and Internet Famous embodies this strategy perfectly.”

“Maker is dedicated to creating and distributing content that entertains audiences and leverages evolving digital platforms,” added Gabriel Lewis, EVP of Development and Strategy at Maker Studios. “Internet Famous is a natural fit for Maker and we’re excited to bring this comedy to fans from our own Maker stars both in front of and behind the camera.”

Internet Famous isn’t the first film deal Maker has struck with creative partners in recent months. The Disney-owned MCN recently launched the film Summer Forever starring musician and YouTuber Megan Nicole. Maker has also struck a three-film deal with Hollywood film producer and Bootleg Universe master Adi Shankar. Those movies will be released over the course of the next two years.

Maker and Off the Dock will release Internet Famous at some point in 2016.

Photo of Shane Dawson by Gage Skidmore

Filed under: Articles, Maker Studios, News, Shane Dawson by Bree Brouwer
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Fullscreen Films has some celebrating to do. The movie branch of the YouTube multi-channel network debuted the feature film The Outfield, starring Vine celebrities Cameron Dallas and Nash Grier, on November 10, 2015 exclusively on iTunes. And within two days of release, the social-media-star-led flick landed the #1 spot on the iTunes Drama and Indie movie charts.

Directed by Eli Gonda and Michael Goldfine, The Outfield features Dallas and Grier, along with Joey Bragg, as three high school senior baseball stars whose lives all start going in different directions than they anticipated.

The Fullscreen feature, which was produced by Goldfine alongside Gil Kruger, landed at the top of the Drama and Indie films chart in Apple’s iTunes Store, but couldn’t claim the same spot on the Overall Top Movies list. The #1 seller on that chart goes to the Amy Schumer-starring comedy Trainwreck followed by Disney-Pixar’s Inside Out. The Outfield currently holds the third spot despite Fullscreen’s and the stars’ best efforts of their #OutfieldToNumberOne social media campaign. The movie division of the MCN has promised to give out autographed practice shirts and dirty baseballs from The Outfield set if the film lands the #1 spot on iTunes’ Overall Movies chart.

Previously-released movies starring YouTube and digital stars have also managed to land top spots on the iTunes movie charts. Back in July, AwesomenessTV and DEFY Media’s Smosh: The Movie became the best-selling comedy film on iTunes and the #2 film overall. AwesomenessTV’s film Expelled, which also starred Dallas, peaked at #1 on the overall iTunes movie chart just one day after its release in December 2014. Additionally, the direct-to-download film Camp Takota starring Grace Helbig, Mamrie Hart, and Hannah Hart received “hundreds of thousands of downloads” after its release, according to Fullscreen CEO George Strompolos.

Fullscreen hasn’t released any revenue or download numbers for The Outfield.

Filed under: Articles, Fullscreen, News by Bree Brouwer
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YouTube’s newest app is based around its most heavily-trafficked category. The video site has launched YouTube Music, an app that offers up its entire collection of songs and music videos.

The goal of YouTube Music is to create a streamlined mobile destination that makes it easy for users to set up their own personal jukebox. “No matter where you start in the app, the music will never stop,” reads a YouTube blog post introducing the app. “Every song you play or artist you choose will take you on an endless journey through YouTube’s music catalog. A simple tap and you’re on your way, enjoying your favorite music and discovering new artists effortlessly. The home tab will recommend tracks just for you and create personalized stations based on your tastes.”‘
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YouTube Music was first announced alongside the video site’s new premium service, YouTube Red, and it contains some bonus features for users who purchase a $9.99-per-month Red subscription. Those subscribers will be able to download their favorite music videos, play them back without an active Internet connection, and switch between audio-only and video formats.

The launch of a dedicated music app continues YouTube’s plan to build mobile communities around specific genres. Earlier in 2015, it launched apps centered on two other popular video categories, Kids and Gaming. Music, it should be said, is YouTube’s biggest category of all; the ten videos to reach one billion views on the site are all music videos.

YouTube Music also realizes YouTube’s oft-delayed plans for a dedicated music hub. For years, we heard about a service called YouTube Music Key, which forms the basis of the new app. Will it live up to the hype? We will finally find out.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, News, YouTube, YouTube Music Key by Sam Gutelle
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