For more than two years, Jake Hurwitz and Amir Blumenfeld have worked on a TV pilot adapted from their hit CollegeHumor web series, Jake and Amir. Now, the comedy duo has revealed that their pilot will not go forward to series, and as a result, a return to the web is in the cards for them.
Hurwitz and Blumenfeld discussed the status of their pilot in the 189th episode of their podcast, If I Were You. They confirmed that they would not come to TV–at least not yet–but they pledged to continue their creative partnership. “TV still exists. The Internet still exists,” said Blumenfeld during the podcast. “We can create stuff that doesn’t have to be Jake and Amir, it can be something else. It can be something entirely new, something exciting, something that builds upon what we’ve known and learned.”
Jake and Amir, which centers on its two stars as they bicker with each other in the CollegeHumor office, ran for 750 episodes and emerged as one of the most popular series on the web. In 2013, spurred on by their success, Hurwitz and Blumenfeld teamed up with Ed Helms to create a TV pilot, which was initially shopped to TBS. About a year-and-a-half later, shortly after the conclusion of the Jake and Amir web series, TruTV became linked to the duo’s pilot, though the cable channel (which has also worked with CollegeHumor on another project, Adam Ruins Everything) also declined to order a full series.
Though Hurwitz and Blumenfeld haven’t broken into the world of TV just yet, their fans can still take solace in the fact that more of their work will arrive eventually. When asked on Reddit if another web series would come next, Blumenfeld said that “we will.” Added Hurwitz, “Let it forever be known this comment section is where we broke the news.”
[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 Justin Bieber is the undisputed reigning champion of YouTube.
Chart Toppers
Justin Bieber is back in a VERY big way. The Bieb’s mid-November release of his fourth studio album Purpose and its associated music videos did wonders for his YouTube channel. “Sorry” and its siblings were watched by Beliebers around the world during the month to the tune of more than 669.7 million views. In a distant second place is Adele. The British pop star back from a three-or-so-year hiatus with her megahit “Hello” topped Billboard and YouTube charts in the month, and helped Adele’s YouTube destination to say hi to more than 563.9 million views.
In third place is LittleBabyBum. The repository of classic Western songs for English-speaking toddlers and pre-adolescents brought in more than 444.2 million views in the 30 days of the month. Ryan ToysReview is next up in the #4 spot. The channel that hails from the U.S. and is dedicated to Ryan and his toy-unboxing videos ended the month with almost 425.4 million views.
And rounding out the Top 5 is Netd müzik. The collection of Turkish-language music videos amassed almost 424.3 million views in the month from Turkish music fans around the world.
Top Gainers
The honor of one our Top Gainers this month goes to the aforementioned Justin Bieber.
Biebs is prominent at the top of the chart, but it’s worth mentioning him again here because of his channel’s incredible view count. Music videos for singles “Sorry“, “I’ll Show You“, and “Love Yourself” were released in the waning days of October through first couple weeks of November. And each have achieved a nine-figure view count to date.
Couple those releases with all the peripheral videos on Bieber’s channel (all of which at least have a view count in the seven-figure range) and the 21-year-old pop star had one of the best months on YouTube of all time. His channel saw a 136% month-over-month increase in views, more than 669.7 million views on the week, and the #1 spot on the worldwide chart.
Channel Distribution
The Top 100 Most Viewed YouTube channels this month amassed in aggregate a total of 21,065,115,684 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. Justin Bieber is the network’s highest ranking channel at #1.
Maker Studios: 10 channels in the Top 100, with PewDiePie at #16.
BroadbandTV: 4 channels in the Top 100, with Major Lazer at #58.
XMediaDigital: 3 channels in the Top 100, with mashamedvedtv at #9.
AIR, BuzzFeed, Collective Digital Studio, Machinima, OhMyGenius: 2 channels each in the Top 100, with AIR’s Miss Katy at #23, BuzzFeed’s BuzzFeed Video at #15, Collective Digital Studio’s FamilyFunPack at #14, Machinima’s VanossGaming at #27, and OhMyGenius’ Kids Channel at #65.
And here’s a look into the distribution of the this month’s Top 100 by country of origin:
The United States: 45 channels in the Top 100.
Great Britain: 10 channels in the Top 100.
India: 6 channels in the Top 100.
Canada, Spain: 5 channels each in the Top 100.
Brazil, Russia, Thailand: 4 channels each in the Top 100.
South Korea: 3 channels in the Top 100.
Japan, Sweden, Ukraine: 2 channels each in the Top 100.
Argentina, Denmark, El Salvador, Ireland, Jamaica, Netherlands, Puerto Rico, Turkey:1 channel each in the Top 100.
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.
Back in September 2015, New Form Digital announced its plan to bring six original series to Verizon’s go90 mobile video platform. The first series to debut was The Fourth Door, starring Joey Graceffa and created in conjunction with YouTube horror and supernatural channel BlackBoxTV. Now, two months after the series’ premiere on go90, BlackBoxTV released an all-new trailer for The Fourth Door on December 25.
Created by Tony Valenzuela and Jarrett Sleeper, The Fourth Door tells the story of Lain (played by High School Musical’s Monique Coleman), a young woman who tries to save the man she loves from the dangerous afterlife realm of Limbo before its King (Graceffa) destroys them. BlackBoxTV originally released a trailer for The Fourth Door on October 26, a day before the series’ official premiere on go90. The new trailer reveals snippets of the series’ dream-like shots and intense action sequences as Lain travels through Limbo on her quest.
In addition to releasing the new The Fourth Door trailer, BlackBoxTV is hosting a unique opportunity for fans to interact with Valenzuela on January 1, 2016. Starting at 12 PM EST, the series’ creator is participating in a live, 24-hour session where he’ll answer audience questions about the making of The Fourth Door. Fans can post comments and questions on the series’ episode pages on go90, and Valenzuela will answer them all through January 2 at 12 PM EST.
You can watch all 12 episodes of The Fourth Door and participate in the live Q&A session on go90’s iOS or Android app.
Netflix tapped a popular voice for the theme song of one of its most-anticipated new series. Carly Rae Jepsen will sing a new rendition of the Full House theme song “Everywhere You Look” for the streaming platform’s Fuller House reboot.
Jepsen announced the theme song news via her Twitter account on December 23, 2015. The 30-year-old Canadian singer teamed up with record producer Butch Walker for the new rendition of “Everywhere You Look,” originally composed by Jesse Frederick and Bennett Salvay for ABC’s hit series from the ‘80s and ‘90s. Netflix confirmed Jepsen’s participation in the theme song music for Fuller House by retweeting the singer’s initial announcement.
Butch Walker and I re-did the theme song for @FullerHouse together and I can’t wait for you to hear it! Check it out on Netflix Feb. 26th!!
The first season of Fuller House, which will open with Jepsen’s “Everywhere You Look,” drops on Netflix on February 26. Until then, you can listen to the original Full House theme song below:
Judy and Benji Travis have something truly inspirational to celebrate this Christmas. The married couple behind the YouTube channel ItsJudysLife (which boasts over 1.2 million subscribers) has so far raised $221,000 for the charity Convoy of Hope, thanks to the duo’s annual “Dancember” event.
The Travises launched this year’s “Dancember” in the first week of December 2015 to raise money for Convoy of Hope’s Children’s Feeding Initiative, an effort to bring food to impoverished children around the world. The “Dancember” fundraiser (which included a 24-hour live stream with special guests) encouraged audience participation through incentives for donating and (of course) dancing. The 2015 broadcast featured the Travises cutting a rug along with fellow YouTube stars like Laura in the Kitchen, Mike Tompkins, The LaVigne Life, XSparkage, and LaToya Forever.
“When Benji said our goal for this year was $200,000, it seemed impossible,” Judy said in a release. “But I said, ‘let’s try it’ and we hit it. It’s extremely overwhelming.”
“We want to thank everyone that participated in Dancember,” added Kirk Noonan, VP of Creative Communications for Convoy of Hope. “Especially the Travis’ family for their generosity to help us bring hope to kids throughout the world.”
If you’re feeling generous because of the holidays, there’s still time to donate to the ItsJudysLife “Dancember” drive. Head on over to convoyofhope.com/dancember before December 31 to donate.
The premiere of Star Wars: The Force Awakens delayed the arrival of the YouTube community’s Christmas spirit a bit, but with December 25th right around the corner, there are a plethora of new videos that are capable of spreading Yuletide cheer. Here, out of all those Santa-approved offerings, are seven of our favorites:
7. “Americans Try Norwegian Christmas Food” by U.S. Embassy Norway
BuzzFeed’s holiday videos have become regular entrants on these types of lists, to the point that even the US government is trying to put its own viral spin on the Christmas story. In this video, employees of the United States embassy in Norway don’t even try to hide their contempt as they choke down Scandinavian culinary oddities. The big winners, according to one American, are the bacon bits on the lutefisk.
6. “Drunk People Decorate A Christmas Tree” by BuzzFeedBlue
Of course, BuzzFeed itself was also on top of this year’s Christmas celebrations. In one of several holiday videos released across its network, it got a little tipsy on the BuzzFeedBluechannel, where teams of two competed to see who could assemble the best Christmas tree decorations while drunk. Hannah Hart must be so proud.
5. “Christmas With Will Ferrell” by Billy on the Street
This video may seem like a weird choice for a list about YouTube offerings, since it promotes Billy Eichner‘s madcap TV show on TruTV. At the same time, Billy on the Street began as a Funny or Die web series, so we’ll allow it–especially when Eichner, who here teams up with Will Ferrell to freak out people on the streets of New York City, releases a particularly funny video.
4. “Not The John Lewis Christmas Advert” by Hazel Hayes
Each Christmas, British company John Lewis evokes warm emotions with a feel-good ad that reaches millions of consumers. This year, Hazel Hayes imagined her own potential ending for a John Lewis Christmas spot, should the retailer choose to go into darker territory. She gets bonus points for accurately capturing the look and feel of the John Lewis ads while satirizing them at the same time.
3. “How To Decorate A Christmas Tree In 5 Minutes” by The Dudesons
If you really waited until the last minute to set up your Christmas decorations, you should pay attention to The Dudesons, because the Finnish comedy team showed viewers how to create a festive tree in five minutes. In reality, if you attempt to copy these instructions, you will spend a much longer time following them–unless you happen to have an ornament cannon and a lot of glue lying around.
2. “The 12 Fails Of Christmas” by FailArmy
If you’re not a channel that lends itself naturally to the holiday spirit, how do you release an appropriate Christmas video? FailArmy figured out a smart way to answer that question. The UGC-powered compendium of wins, fails, and assorted goofs created a new version of the “12 Days of Christmas” that runs through some of the channel’s most popular categories. Watch this video and you’ll witness funny animals, drunken shenanigans, and slapstick pranks. Hopefully, you’ll be laughing all the way.
1. “All I Want For Christmas – MINOR KEY! ft. Chase Holfelder” by Kurt Hugo Schneider
Christmas music has evolved from a fun novelty into an inescapable December fixture, and the holiday’s most well-tread classics share some elements in common: They’re charming, they’re snowy, and they’re all written in major keys–until now. In a recent video, Kurt Hugo Schneider constructed an ominous version of Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You” by adapting the song into a minor key. It’s a new take on a modern Christmas classic, and if your family will let you, see if you can sneak it into the holiday playlist.
Do you have a favorite Christmas video we didn’t include? Let us know in the comments and check out previous Countdowns here.
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 righthere.
Description: One man has a face in his crotch. Another has grown large breasts. A third contorts his body for Instagram purposes. These are just a few of the bizarre characters who show up in the work of Joan Cornellà, a webcomic artist whose work you may have seen passed around on the Internet from time to time.
Cornellà is kind of like the Spanish Cyanide & Happiness, and like C&H, he is currently hoping to adapt his strips into a video format. To do that, he needs to raise money on Kickstarter, and that’s where people like us come in. Cornellà hopes that our contributions will allow him to create short animations adapted from 30 different strips. Along the way, he’ll feature all of the black comedy he’s known for; if you want to get a taste of what that comedy looks like, you only need to watch his pitch video, which features an unexpected twist:
Creator Bio: Cornellà, born in Barcelona, has parlayed the popularity of his comic strips into a series of books. He has published four collections, including his most recent work, Zonzo, which will be partially adapted as part of the upcoming animated series.
Best Perk: If you spend a mere €5 on Cornellà’s project, he’ll send a personal “f**k you” to your email. What else would you expect for such a small contribution?
Why You Should Fund It: Some may find Cornellà’s work to be too on-the-nose, but it’s hard not to smile as you scroll through his blog (assuming you can handle a bit of dark humor). His style is undeniably unique, and he is willing to traverse into territory that other people wouldn’t dare mine for comedy.
His style also happens to be a perfect fit for the digital video world. In an age when super-short-form platforms like Vine, Instagram, and Snapchat have corralled huge audiences, Cornellà’s quick and dirty animations are liable to find their own fans. For a taste of his work, you can check out the animation he has already posted to his YouTube channel. It’s a good little bit, but I’m hoping for more–and I’m surely not alone.
Got a crowdfunding campaign you’d like to see featured in Fund This? Be sure to contact us here.
Comedy Central has a new digital series for Snapchat users’ eyes only. The cable TV network launched the Snapchat-exclusive scripted comedy web series Stalled, starring The Next Great Burger host and comedian Owen Benjamin, on December 21, 2015.
Running each day on Comedy Central’s Snapchat Discover channel, Stalled tells the story of an apathetic mall worker (played by Benjamin) who would rather spend his time being lazy in the bathroom than doing his job. Throughout the series’ episodes, Benjamin’s character ends up meeting an odd mix of other mall employees who show up to use the bathroom, portrayed by comedians like Nick Swardson, Esther Povitsky, and James Davis. Stalled marks Comedy Central’s first scripted original series for release on Snapchat.
This isn’t Comedy Central’s first foray into producing Snapchat-exclusive content. Back in September 2015, the cable network released the comedy series Swag-A-Saurus with Davis as host, who each week tried to explain the meanings behind slang terms like “Bye Felicia” and “Looking Friday.” Comedy Central also launched four other digital series on Snapchat over the next few months, including Quickie with Nikki starring Nikkie Glaser and Like it with Liza: Trust Me I’m Right with Liza Treyger.
You can catch all future episodes of Stalling within 24 hours of their airing on Comedy Central’s Snapchat Discover channel.
Discovery’s primary digital news source is coming to its TV network. The Science Channel, which is owned by Discovery, has announced Science Presents DNews, a five-times-a-week news update presented by the hosts of the online program DNews.
Science PresentsDNews will premiere at 9 PM EST on December 28th and will air at the same time each weeknight. The show’s updates will last for about a minute each and will cover many of the same topics featured in the DNews web series. In its first week, for example, Science Presents DNews will cover NASA, delivery drones, and the science of New Year’s resolutions, among other segments.
“Science Channel has become the destination on cable for all things science as they happen,” said Marc Etkind, the Science Channel’s General Manager, in a press release. “DNews at nine will keep our viewers current on the latest science and technology headlines in easy to follow one minute updates.”
Trace Dominguez and Amy Shira Teitel, who serve as two of the presenters on the digital version of DNews, will host the TV updates as well.
The official DNews YouTube channel has more than 1.5 million subscribers and has gained more than 340 million views since its launch in 2012. The Science Channel is available in more than 75 million homes, according to February 2015 data from Nielsen.
The Ladies of Litchfield have resumed their yearly caroling tradition. For a new Netflix Christmas promo, female characters from Orange Is the New Black sing their own penitentiary-inspired take on “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas.”
In the “‘Twas a Night in Litchfield” short, long-time Orange Is the New Black inmates like Piper (played by Taylor Schilling), “Crazy Eyes” (Uzo Aduba), and “Taystee” (Danielle Brooks) are joined by other characters from the show’s last few seasons to sing about cell phones being “stashed in the walls all around in hopes that the contraband wouldn’t be found.” Then, the ladies reveal how they “may have robbed and roughed up St. Nick” after he shows up at Litchfield. The rest of “‘Twas a Night in Litchfield” covers the loot the ladies discovered in Santa’s bag, the prison guards finding out, and the appearance of another fan-favorite character Alex (Laura Prepon).
Last year, Netflix also released a Christmas video featuring the Orange Is the New Black inmates and guards. In the “Holidays at Litchfield” short, which was released a few months after the show’s renewal for season two, the Litchfield ladies sing a rendition of “The 12 Days of Christmas.” With lyrics such as “four stalking girls” and “ten bitches cutting,” the song was a cheeky (and more cheerful) nod to the overall theme and backdrop of Orange Is the New Black.
You can check out the full “‘Twas a Night in Litchfield” short below while you wait for Orange Is the New Black season four to arrive on Netflix sometime in 2016.
Connor Franta is closing out 2015 with a brand-new music selection. The YouTube celebrity, who boasts over 6.3 million subscribers across twochannels, will release Common Culture Vol. 4, his fourth compilation album to date which is now available for pre-order through the digital star-powered label Heard Well.
Fans who pre-order Common Culture Vol. 4 will receive a deluxe poster (signed by Franta himself), a matching pin, and five additional surprise tracks on the CD. Franta’s new compilation album is the third project the YouTuber has released through Heard Well, the label he launched back in July 2015 through a partnership with his Big Frame manager Andrew Graham and Opus Label’s Jeremy Wineberg to help digital celebrities release their own albums. Heard Well has already worked with several YouTubers since launch, including Lohanthony for his Landscapes album and Jc Caylen for Neptones.
“As we see through the final days of 2015, I cannot think of a better way to go out than with new music through the fourth installment of my Common Culture music series,” said Franta in a release. “This year has been an incredible one for emerging musicians and I hope you find that the artists I’ve selected for this compilation represent some very exciting voices to watch in the year to come. Enjoy the tunes and Happy Holidays!”
“It’s been a great year for music, and we’re thrilled that we’ve been able to foster the growth of many emerging artists through Heard Well,” added Graham.
Franta’s first compilation album, Crown, Vol. 1, arrived in November 2014 under no particular record label as a way for the vlogger to introduce his fans to some of his favorite, unheard-of musicians. The 23-year-old YouTuber then released Common Culture through Opus Labels in March 2015. Franta then debuted his third album Common Culture Vol. 3 in July after launching Heard Well.
You can pre-order Common Culture Vol. 4 via heardwell.com/commonculture. Copies will begin shipping on January 5, 2016.
On December 8th, 2015, YouTube star Troye Sivan appeared as the musical guest on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, where his performance followed interviews with Bernie Sanders and John Cena. Sivan’s Tonight Show appearance, however, didn’t end with his live performance. Instead, he returned to the late-night program’s YouTube channel nearly two weeks later with a new song that mashes up Selena Gomez’s ‘Hands to Myself’ and Justin Bieber’s ‘Sorry.’
Sivan has been showing off his skills as a performer since he was 12 years old, and in his Tonight Show encore, he displays his talent as a singer, arranger, and musician. As MTV notes, his mashup manages to take two songs with completely different feels and piece them together as one cohesive unit. As one well-liked comment on the video puts it, “Can we all just agree that Troye is perfection? If you haven’t subscribed to him, you’re missing out.”
Sivan’s appearance on The Tonight Show and his subsequent music video performance both promote Blue Neighborhood, Sivan’s latest album, which became available on December 4th. Blue Neighborhood follows a pair of EPs, including 2014’s TRXYE.
Distributing Sivan’s mashup as a web exclusive is good business for The Tonight Show, too. The YouTube star’s subscriber count is more than 3.7 million, and his fans have already show up on the Tonight Show YouTube channel to support their favorite young musician.
