[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 week by clicking right here.] 

The Monthly Tubefilter Gaming Charts are provided in partnership with Tiltify.

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It’s time for another monthly installment of our Tubefilter Top 100 Most Viewed YouTube Gaming Channels Chart and an old favorite is back in the top spot.

Chart Toppers

Felix Kjellberg‘s PewDiePie channel is back in its very familiar first-place position. The twentysomething Swede who just wrapped up a whirlwind book tour reclaimed his Gaming title, scoring nearly 305.6 million views on the month. In a distant second place is TheDiamondMinecart. The world’s most viewed gaming channel that hails from Great Britain took a 34% hit in its view count to bottom out at more than 261.8 million views.

PopularMMOs is next up in its usual third-place spot. The top gaming channel from the U.S. closed out September with more than 224 million views. JackSepticEye is yet again in fourth place. The Irish gamer’s view count dropped 19% on the month to end up just above 210.6 million views.

And rounding out the Top 5 is markiplierGAME. The second U.S.-based gamer in the Top 100 amassed more than 177.5 million views on the month.

Top Gainers

For a second month in a row, the honor of one of our Top Gainers this month goes to Samgladiator.

The young American male gamer who loves him some Minecraft had a banner August, only to be followed up by one helluva September. His Minecraft roleplay videos – especially his Yandere High School series – is a hit among fans, catapulting his channel to a 115% month-over-month increase in views, more than 77.3 million views on the month, and the #20 spot on the Gaming Chart.

Channel Distribution

The Top 100 Most Viewed YouTube Gaming Channels this month amassed in aggregate a total of 5,858,717,916. 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 PewDiePie at #1.
• Machinima: 18 channels in the Top 100, with VanossGaming at #6.
• BroadbandTV, OmniaMediaCo: 8 channels each in the Top 100, with BBTV’s fernanfloo at #10 and Omnia Media’s iHasCupquake at #34.
• Fullscreen: 5 channels in the Top 100, with popularmmos at #3
• Divimove: 4 channels in the Top 100, with elrubiusOMG at #7.
• VSP: 3 channels in the Top 100, with В Гостях У FrostA at #24.
• DEFY Media, IDG, XMediaDigital: 2 channels each in the Top 100, with Defy’s Smosh Games at #48, IDG’s Gronkh at #52, and XMediaDigital’s TheBrainDit at #31.

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

• United States: 36 channels in the Top 100.
• Great Britain: 16 channels in the Top 100.
• Brazil, Spain: 7 channels each in the Top 100..
• Canada, Japan, Russia: 4 channels each in the Top 100. 
• Germany, Italy, Ukraine: 3 channels each in the Top 100. 
• Chile, Ireland, Netherlands: 2 channels each in the Top 100. 
• Australia, El Salvador, Finland, France, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland: 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 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.

Filed under: Articles, Gamers, Gaming, JackSepticEye, News, statistics, Statistics, YouTube, Youtube Chart by Joshua Cohen
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Netflix isn’t the only streaming video service on the hunt for sketch comedy programming. CW Seed, The CW’s digital distribution arm, has shared all 13 episodes of The Ben Stiller Show, an early 90s TV series that lasted for just one season on FOX.

Each episode of The Ben Stiller Show features the titular actor in a series of sketches performed alongside recurring cast members and guest stars. Comedians who appear in the series include Janeane Garofalo and Bob Odenkirk (who is set to revive his own sketch comedy series, Mr. Show). The writing staff was filled with talent, too; specifically, Judd Apatow and David Cross both contributed to the show early in their respective careers.

While its run was short-lived, The Ben Stiller Show was well-received, and it even earned an Emmy Award; one year after its cancellation, Stiller would direct and star in the cult hit Reality Bites. Thanks to the CW Seed, you can now relive the show that began Stiller’s rise (or view it for the first time). Here, give it a look:

Filed under: Articles, CW Seed, Featured, News by Sam Gutelle
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Wired is looking into the future of consumer robotics, and along the way, it’s getting a little help from its friends. The tech publication run by Conde Nast has launched Cyborg Nation, a new web series sponsored by Reddit, hosted by Derek Muller of Veritasium, and produced by ad agency Acres.

Each episode of Cyborg Nation looks into a specific innovation in the world of cyborg technology. The premiere, for example, shows how bionic limbs are beginning to eclipse the capabilities of normal human appendages. You can find it on The Scene, where it lives next to other videos in the Conde Nast Entertainment network, or on the Wired YouTube channel.

Other installments within the six-episode series discuss topics like cyborg cockroaches and mind-controlled hardware. Amazingly, these developments all exist in real life. Somehow, they’re not concepts out of a science-fiction book. “It is an honor to tell the stories of pioneers like Hugh Herr who are advancing the human experience in such life-altering ways,” said Conde Nast Entertainment exec Michael Klein in a press release. “Working with reddit as their first entertainment partner has also been a thrill. ‘Cyborg Nation’ can inform and educate while also offering hope and inspiration.”

For Reddit, Cyborg Nation is one part of a big push into the world of online video. The “front page of the Internet” is also planning Formative, a web series about entrepreneurs. “The hundreds of thousands of communities of reddit generate more original ideas in one day than the world’s best newsroom could produce in a lifetime,” said Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian in the release, “and we were excited to work with Condé Nast Entertainment and r/futurology to inspire and recommend the content for Cyborg Nation showcasing the new frontier of blending humans and technology.”

Filed under: Articles, Channels, Featured, News, Production Companies, reddit by Sam Gutelle
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The best known web series produced by the Frederator network are scripted programs like Bee and PuppyCat and Bravest Warriors. At the same time, Frederator has begun to branch out, and thanks to its newest venture, it is primed to output more non-fiction programming. The animation network run by Fred Seibert has launched Frederator Flux, a new production wing that will focus on unscripted content.

Frederator’s decision to launch a wing devoted to unscripted content was spurned on by the success of 107 Facts, a web series that compiles bits of trivia related to specific TV shows and delivers them in a fast-paced style. Since its launch earlier in 2015, 107 Facts–which is distributed on both Channel Frederator and Cartoon Hangover–has been a huge hit. It has collected more than 54 million views to date, and the long runtimes of its episodes (they often approach 20 minutes in length) allows it to deliver big returns in terms of watch time. Here’s a recent episode, dedicated to Channel Frederator itself:

Frederator Flux will continue to produce new episodes of 107 Facts. It will also bring viewers new unscripted series, though Frederator did not provide specific details about its upcoming programming slate.

“There’s definitely an appetite for the kinds of nonfiction programming that we have tapped into Frederator Flux to create, as evident from the breakout success of 107 Facts,” said Seibert in a press release. “The new types of shows coming from this division will truly compliment the trailblazing animation programming our studio and network has become globally known for.”

In total, the Frederator network encompasses hundreds of channels that collectively reel in hundreds of millions of views each month.

Filed under: Articles, Channel Frederator, Featured, News, Studios by Sam Gutelle
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Welcome to the Fund This column! Each week, we’ll look at a planned web series or other online video project currently in search of funding on crowdfunding sites. We’ll tell you what the series is all about and explain why it is worth your money. Do you have a project that’s currently being crowdfunded? Contact us to let us know and we may feature it in upcoming installments and check out previous installments right here.

Project Name: Bite Me

Asking For: $15,000 on Indiegogo

Amount Raised Thus Far (At Time Of Post): $4,286

Days Remaining In Campaign (At Time Of Post): 3 (hurry!)

Description: The “young women trying to make it in the big city” web series genre is set to receive a reinvention. Taylor Coriell and Jasmine Romero are the creators behind Bite Me, a comedy currently raising funds on Indiegogo.

The premise behind Bite Me is simple, if unique. The two protagonists are a pair of upstarts named Alex and Marissa who must take over an extermination business after the previous owners–Alex and Marissa’s parents–die in a “freak jetski accident.” The plan is to film a full season of their vermin-filled adventures for distribution on YouTube and social media.

Beyond its comedic baseline, Bite Me plans to explore some dramatic themes within the lives of its lead characters. “The series explores the meaning of family, how our priorities change as we get older, and learning how to take care of yourself as an adult,” reads the Indiegogo page. Coriell and Romero also shared more details and aspirations in their pitch video:

 Creator Bio: Romero and Coriell have both appeared in a number of productions in the NYC area. The most interesting credit between the two of them is Romero’s role on Sesame Street, where she has played Elmo’s teacher, Mrs. Sanchez. She’s an elementary school teacher in real life, too.

Best Perk: Backers who kick in at least $100 will be credited in all season one episodes. According to the perk description, this will make you look “so fancy in your fancy pants.”

Why You Should Fund It: Bite Me is a series about female characters who will look to make the best of a bizarre situation, and its comedy is meant to feature a progressive bent. In describing their goals for their series, Coriell and Romero invoked the Bechdel Test, which stands as a baseline test of proper female representation in TV, film, and web projects. Bite Me will no doubt pass that test, and in doing so, it will present its viewers with a bevy of interesting female characters, whom we can only assume will be plenty funny, too. If that sounds like your cup of tea, check out Bite Me before its campaign closes.

Got a crowdfunding campaign you’d like to see featured in Fund This? Be sure to contact us here.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Fund This, Indiegogo, News by Sam Gutelle
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Amazon Studios is turning another heralded pilot into a full series. The original video wing of the online retailer has picked up Sneaky Pete, from executive producers  Bryan Cranston, David Shore, Erin Gunn, and James Degus

Sneaky Pete stars Giovanni Ribisi as a con man who gets released from prison and looks to make a new life for himself by adopting the identity of his former cellmate Pete. In doing so, he integrates himself into Pete’s family and gets a job at a bail bonds business, for which he must track down dangerous criminals.

Sneaky Pete was initially produced for CBS, but it was first linked to Amazon in June 2015. Two months later, Amazon premiered the show’s pilot and asked for feedback; viewers returned overwhelmingly positive reviews. While Sneaky Pete has now been greenlit, there’s still no word on the future status of Casanova, the other pilot Amazon shared in August.

Even before it received strong reviews, Sneaky Pete was a strong bet to get a series order. Shore has created hit TV shows like House, while Cranston remains a fan favorite thanks to his role as Walter White on the acclaimed series Breaking Bad. Now that we know Sneaky Pete will run for a full season, we can start to speculate about its impact. It certainly seems as if it has a chance to become a cornerstone of Amazon’s lineup, alongside series like Transparent and upcoming alternate-history drama The Man in the High Castle.

Sneaky Pete will launch on Amazon sometime in 2016.

Filed under: Amazon Studios, Articles, Featured, News, Web Series by Sam Gutelle
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SyFy is betting online viewers will want to see a sneak peek of its new show The Expanse before traditional TV audiences and hopefully drum up some momentum for the show in the process. The NBCUniversal-owned science fiction cable channel will release the first episode of The Expanse online on November 23, 2015, three weeks before its December 14 and 15 two-night premiere on linear TV.

All ten episodes of SyFy’s The Expanse are based on the New York Times best-selling book series of the same title by Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck (who wrote under the pen name James S. A. Corey). The series is set 200 years in the future and follows the story of a ship captain and detective looking for a missing girl, but they unknowingly stumble on the greatest conspiracy in the history of humanity. (Cue the dramatic music.) Produced by Alcon Television, The Expanse stars Thomas Jane (online viewers will recognize him as the Punisher in the Adi Shankar Bootleg Universe short Punisher: Dirty Laundry) and Steven Strait (of 10,000 BC fame).

The Expanse’s first episode will be available online starting November 23 on various digital outlets, including SyFy.com, the SyFy Now app, Hulu, Amazon, Google Play, iTunes, Playstation, Xbox, Facebook, and YouTube. Platforms such as Twitch, IGN, IMDb, Crave Online, and Roku will premiere the episode along with custom content. After the online release of The Expanse, SyFy will then continue with the show’s two-night TV premiere in mid-December.

“The Expanse is the most ambitious series ever for Syfy, and early screenings are drawing high praise from critics and fans alike,” said Syfy president Dave Howe to Variety. “With its cinematic feel, compelling characters, intense action, and universal themes, it’s important for Syfy to provide the opportunity for as many people as possible to watch and fall in love with this series.”

While an early online release may be new to SyFy, it’s not new to other properties and networks owned by NBCUniversal. In May 2015, USA debuted the pilot of its now-hit series Mr. Robot on various digital and streaming video-on-demand platforms. That series has a second season underway, as well as an exclusive streaming deal at Amazon. Around the same time as the Mr. Robot online pilot debut, NBC released the entire first season of the David Duchovny-starring crime series Aquarius on digital outlets. Aquarius has gone on to garner a second season, as well.

You can check out the premiere episode of The Expanse online starting November 23.

Filed under: Articles, News, Syfy, SyFy.com by Bree Brouwer
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In September 2015, Hulu launched a $12-per-month subscription option that allows purchasers to remove ads from their viewing experience. As it turns out, one of the major groups that influenced the development of that service was Twitter users. According to Hulu CEO Mike Hopkins, who spoke at New York’s GroupM Next conference on October 28th, the new subscription option was created in part to mitigate the number of complaints the streaming service received on social media.

As Hopkins tells it, the “ad avoiders” constituted “a smaller but vocal group” when compared to the users who don’t mind ads on their videos. As Hulu employees browsed Twitter, they found a large number of perturbed tweets from the ad avoiders, and that negativity “was bad for the brand.”

In studying Hulu’s recent projects, it is easy to see how this negative Twitter volume damaged the brand’s image. For example, let’s look at Hulu’s June 24th rollout of the entire Seinfeld library. Hulu hadn’t previously announced that Seinfeld would only be available to premium subscribers, and when the show’s fans found out they would have to watch ads to see their favorite show, many of them fired off snippy tweets in Hulu’s direction. That backlash became a big part of several articles discussing Seinfeld’s launch (including our own), when the focus would have otherwise landed solely on the show about nothing itself.

Thanks to the new ad-free service, Hulu doesn’t have to worry about the Twitter haters anymore–at least as far as its ads are concerned. Of course, the streaming service has created another problem: In listening to angry Twitter users, it has emboldened them. Don’t you see, Hulu? Now they’re just going to start complaining even more. What have you done?

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Hulu, News by Sam Gutelle
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Tyler Oakley is slaying the New York Times bestseller list. The YouTube star, who recently released a collection of essays titled Binge, sits in the #2 on the Grey Lady’s latest chart of top nonfiction titles.

Binge, published by Simon & Schuster’s Gallery Books imprint, first arrived on shelves on October 21st. It became an immediate bestseller on Amazon, as has essentially been the case with all the other books written by YouTube stars. Its position on the New York Times’ list, however, is a bit more exclusive. The only book in front of it is Killing Reagan, Bill O’Reilly’s look into the attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan.

Oakley celebrated his bestseller status with a thankful tweet:

YOU GUYS!!!! we made the New York Times Best Sellers list??!? I’M FREAKING OUT thank you for supporting BINGE!! 📚🍬😭 pic.twitter.com/vgqprJKiW4

— Tyler Oakley / TODAY (@tyleroakley) October 29, 2015

While he has reached sales figures few other YouTube stars have equaled, Oakley is not alone on the New York Times’ bestseller list. If you scroll down to the publication’s ranking of young adult titles, you’ll find several titles authored by members of the YouTube community, including Dan Howell and Phil Lester’s The Amazing Book is Not On Fire, PewDiePie’s This Book Loves You, and Zoe Sugg’s Girl Online: On Tour. The distinction between these books (which are apparently intended for young adults) and Oakley’s (which apparently is not?) eludes me.

The success of Binge isn’t the only piece of big news to come from the Oakley camp this week; the YouTube vlogger is also nominated for a People’s Choice Award. If you’d like to vote for him (and his passionate fans surely will), you can do that right here.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, News, Tyler Oakley by Sam Gutelle
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CBS will soon boldly go where very few broadcast TV networks have gone before. In January 2017, the Eye will launch a new Star Trek series. It will be the first iteration of the 50-year-old franchise since Enterprise went off the air in 2005 and the first original content CBS has created specifically for its $5.99-per-month All Access streaming video service.  

Produced by CBS Television Studios, the untitled Star Trek show will introduce viewers to what a release calls “new characters seeking imaginative new worlds and new civilizations,” all while addressing important social-skewing themes that have become a quintessential part of the franchise. CBS will run a special preview broadcast of the new Star Trek series across its linear network before making the premiere and ensuing first-run episodes available exclusively to U.S. All Access subscribers. Trekkies around the world will be able to catch the series on TV and various platforms thanks to CBS Studios International.

Alex Kurtzman, who co-wrote and produced the 2009 Star Trek film and 2013’s Star Trek: Into Darkness, is on board as executive producer under his Secret Hideout banner for the new CBS series (which won’t be related to either of Kurtzman’s films or the upcoming Star Trek Beyond). Heather Kadin will also work alongside Kurtzman as an executive producer. No casting, director, or writer announcements have been made for the new Star Trek series as of yet.

“This new series will premiere to the national CBS audience, then boldly go where no first-run Star Trek series has gone before – directly to its millions of fans through CBS All Access,” said Marc DeBevoise, EVP and General Manager of CBS Digital Media in a release. “We’ve experienced terrific growth for CBS All Access, expanding the service across affiliates and devices in a very short time. We now have an incredible opportunity to accelerate this growth with the iconic Star Trek, and its devoted and passionate fan base, as our first original series.”

Originally created by Gene Roddenberry in the mid-1960s, the Star Trek franchise currently includes six different shows spanning the years 1966-2005 and boasting a total of 726 episodes and 30 seasons across all series. The franchise also contains more than 12 feature films, and has inspired several fan-created digital series. Star Trek will celebrate its 50th birthday in 2016, only a year before CBS has chosen to launch the new untitled series.

“There is no better time to give Star Trek fans a new series than on the heels of the original show’s 50th anniversary celebration,” explained David Stapf, President of CBS Television Studios. “Everyone here has great respect for this storied franchise, and we’re excited to launch its next television chapter in the creative mind and skilled hands of Alex Kurtzman, someone who knows this world and its audience intimately.”

Filed under: Articles, CBS, News by Bree Brouwer
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Jon Stewart is coming back to television — sort of. The former host for Comedy Central’s The Daily Show has signed an exclusive four-year deal with HBO, under which he’ll produce original digital content for release on the network’s online platforms.

Stewart, who hosted the Daily Show from 1999-2015 and garnered 23 Emmys during his tenure, will not launch a TV show with HBO as of yet, though Stewart’s HBO pact does include first-look options for film and TV ventures. For now, the satirical news host will focus on producing short-form digital content for distribution on platforms like HBO GO and HBO Now. Stewart’s first project includes partnering with cloud graphics company OTOY Inc. to create technology that will aid the host in delivering various news and current-events segments throughout the day.

HBO won’t be Stewart’s first foray into the digital world. The comedian has already made some notable digital appearances in the not-so-distant past. For example, the Daily Show host appeared on a segment of Zach Galifianakis’ Between Two Ferns Funny or Die web series. Stewart also teamed with fellow late-night host Stephen Colbert to create a comedic promotional video for an Omaze fundraising campaign based on the Star Wars: Force for Change charity.

“Jon Stewart led a revolution that changed the face of TV comedy on the Daily Show,” said Michael Lombardo, President of HBO Programming, as reported by Deadline. “He graced our network nearly 20 years ago, so we’re thrilled to welcome back his immense talents in this next chapter of his career.”

“I’m so excited to be working with Richard [Plepler], Michael, and the entire HBO family,” Stewart added. “Appearing on television 22 minutes a night clearly broke me. I’m pretty sure I can produce a few minutes of content every now and again.”

Filed under: Articles, HBO, News by Bree Brouwer
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Vice’s upcoming TV channel has received an official introduction. The publication known for its edgy, off-the-beaten-path reporting aimed at young consumers will launch Viceland, a channel that will take over A&E’s H2 hub.

Viceland (which is the channel’s working title) has been a long time coming. When A&E purchased a 10% share in Vice for a reported price of $250 million in August 2014, rumors swirled that A&E would re-brand one of its channels to create a TV home for Vice. At first, HLN was believed to be a top target for that change, but ultimately, A&E decided that H2–a secondary outlet for the History Channel–would be the channel it gifted to Vice. As part of the deal, A&E will handle technology and distribution for the new channel, Vice will take care of marketing and programming, and the two companies will unite on the ad sales front.

Vice is also expected to raise some additional capital in order to assist its TV push. According to the Wall Street Journal, A&E will pick up an additional 7% stake in the company, and Disney will invest ~$200 million in it.

The programming on Viceland, which will all be produced in-house at Vice, was first teased during the publication’s presentation at the 2015 Newfronts. Celebrity-driven programs like Gaycation (with Ellen Page) and Black Market (with Michael K. Williams) will lead a programming slate that will feature several hundred hours of content and is expected to reach 70 million American homes. The man in charge of Viceland’s programming is Spike Jonze, an Oscar winner and frequent Vice collaborator.

When it launches, Viceland will be a huge step forward for Vice, but in discussing the new channel, CEO Shane Smith made sure to remind everyone that this is just the first part of what will be a 18-month expansion into a dozen TV markets. Here’s how he described Viceland in a press release:

“This network is the next step in the evolution of our brand and the first step in our global roll-out of networks around the world. First: It allows us to be truly platform agnostic and enable our audience to view our content wherever they want. Second: It represents a continued growth in our content quality and raises the ceiling even higher for our brilliant teams to attack stories from long form features to multi-episode series and even short form  interstitials that will challenge the accepted norms of current TV viewing. Third: We will test new and innovative monetization strategies placing VICELAND at the pointy tip of the spear of the rapidly changing terrain of TV advertising.”

While Viceland’s exact launch date is not known, it is expected to arrive sometime in “early 2016,” according to the release.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, News, VICE, Viceland by Sam Gutelle
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