In 2010, a band of daring Canadians came together to create a 5,200 calorie “fast food pizza.” Five years later, those intrepid food pioneers are known as Epic Meal Time, and they’ve eclipsed their first video many times over, both in terms of viewership and calorie count. In order to celebrate half a decade of artery-clogging goodness, Epic Meal Time has produced one of its biggest episodes yet, with an 84,000-calorie lasagna-in-a-pig monstrosity serving as the centerpiece.
Epic Meal Time’s five-year bash is a ten-minute odyssey that includes a heavily-aged version of the channel’s bygone Muscles Glasses character, a Cristal-popping rap video, and, of course, several pounds of bacon, courtesy of Hormel. The ensuing creation isn’t the biggest one Epic Meal Time has ever produced–I’m pretty sure that distinction goes to the “Snack Stadium” episode–but it is almost certainly the most sentimental. I mean, look at how far they’ve come! Would the “fast food pizza”-era Epic Meal Time crew even believe the grandeur of the group’s current concoctions?
Before chowing down, “Sauce Boss” Harley Morenstein delivers a promise about the future of Epic Meal Time. “It’s been on every motherf***ing Tuesday for the last five years, and it’s gonna be on for the next five years,” he boasts.
Naysayers could claim that the unhealthy nature of Epic Meal Time will eventually bring the show down, but hey, they’ve made it this far without suffering any heart attacks. Here’s to five more years, and plenty more TV shows, movie appearances, and spin-off series along the way.
YouNow has a new face on its team. The live streaming social app has brought on Gregory Strompolos as its new Director of Business Development.
Strompolos will be in charge of expanding YouNow’s live streaming creator base by attracting content partners in the entertainment and music industries. The new executive comes to YouNow with plenty of digital video experience. Strompolos worked for Fullscreen, the multi-channel network founded by his brother George, in the company’s brand services division. The new YouNow director also helped grow Fullscreen in Brazil, and secure deals with talent and traditional media companies in Canada, Russia, and the Middle East.
“Gregory brings energy, creativity and experience and we are delighted to be working with him,” said YouNow CEO and Founder Adi Sideman in a release. “Our presence in L.A. now gives us closer proximity to entertainers and creative talent we partner with.”
“YouNow is incredibly well-positioned as a platform to help creators strengthen their connection with fans,” added Strompolos. “Plus it’s a win-win for creators who also earn as they broadcast. I could not be more thrilled to be a part of the team that empowers people to express themselves through this dynamic interactive format.”
YouNow has seen impressive growth since its inception in 2011. The live streaming app, which lets viewers purchase virtual goods to support broadcasters, saw $1 million flow through its platform in May 2015. YouNow also just closed a $15 million funding round in October, led by Comcast Ventures.
YouNow currently boasts 100 million user sessions per month, with 70% of viewers interacting with more than 150,000 broadcasts per day through chat, virtual goods, or other engagement features.
Kin Community has already established itself on YouTube thanks to a network that includes some of the video site’s best-known stars. Now, the company that brands itself as “the global leader in women’s lifestyle” has its eyes on other platforms, too. It has announced Kin Network Distribution (KND), a “distribution business” that will bring Kin videos to Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, Scripps’ ULive platform, and TV.
The goal of KND is to provide new opportunities for the creators within Kin’s network while also reach new fans who might not tune in on YouTube. To help its expansion, Kin has hired Sarah Passe, who previous worked in the digital division of the Creative Artists Agency (CAA), as the head of the new venture.
“Online, over-the-top (OTT) and TV distribution opportunities are accelerating for digital-first, high-quality women’s lifestyle content,” said Passe in a press release. “Kin’s mission is to empower creators to do what they love. With KND we aim to support and grow our creators’ businesses by offering them new distribution opportunities.”
Passe and her team have wasted no time disseminating Kin content across multiple platforms. Here is one of the network’s videos, from creative partner Gemma Stafford, on Amazon. The network’s ULive channel is also bustling, with plenty of food, lifestyle, and parenting videos to choose from.
In total, the creators in Kin’s network have more than 42 million subscribers between them. They combine for more than 450 million views each month, and thanks to KND, that number is about to go much higher.
Defy Media is rapidly expanding its original content offerings, and has hired two new executives to help lead the charge. The digital media company has brought on Christopher Willey and Alex Lin to work on Defy’s slate of originals, including three new series for Verizon’s go90 mobile video service.
Willey, a former MTV executive, comes to Defy Media from Condé Nast Entertainment and will serve as VP of Development. Lin hails from NBC Entertainment’s comedy division, and will work as Defy’s Director of Development. The digital media company’s Chief Content Officer Barry Blumberg told Variety Willey and Lin, who will work under him, were necessary because Defy was “barely keeping up and not necessarily innovating enough” with its content demands.
“Chris and Alex are instrumental hires as we ramp up development and production to meet the increasing demand for our content as we expand our distribution with new partners in SVOD, OTT, and other streaming platforms,” Blumberg said.
Defy’s original programming is set to increase with three new series of over 90 total episodes for distribution on Verizon’s go90 platform in 2016. The first show is Super Fan Builds, where Hollywood prop masters recreate an iconic piece from fans’ favorite franchises. The next Defy title for go90 is 100 Things, starring Australian traveller Sebastian Terry as a sort of global Good Samaritan as he helps people knock off items from their “100 things” bucket lists. Defy’s final go90 series, Clevver Weekly Hollywood Rundown, will summarize the week’s celebrity and entertainment news.
Defy Media currently works on 35 weekly shows and web series, with 29 of these pulling in at least 500,000 video views per episode. As of July 2015, Defy reached 125 million viewers per month across all its digital platforms.
Facebook is ploughing ahead in its goals to become an online video destination. The social networking site, which pulls in four billion video views per day, is testing a new way for users to access, share, and revisit clips through a dedicated video section on the Facebook mobile app.
In a company blog post, Facebook writes the new video section stems from the need for a flexible solution to users’ varying video-watching habits. The social site says the dedicated video section “helps people discover, watch and share videos on Facebook that are relevant to them.” While the new addition is currently in testing on iOS, users will eventually be able to click on a “Videos” icon at the bottom of the Facebook app to access video content.
The new Facebook video hub will allow users to see clips shared by friends, or by Pages or publishers those users follow. But more importantly are some additional features Facebook is adding to the section. For one, Facebook will start letting users save videos to watch later in case they don’t have time to view a clip, or aren’t in the right place to turn on sound. This feature seems to be a not-so-veiled attempt at recreating YouTube’s “Watch Later” playlist, which has been a part of the world’s largest video sharing site for years.
Facebook has also made it easier for users who want to multi-task to watch video content. The burgeoning online video site has introduced a “floating screen” feature where users can watch a mini version of a clip stamped overtop their newsfeeds while they continue to browse the site. This is the same feature YouTube has employed on its Android mobile app, where backing out of a video simply minimizes it into the lower right-hand corner so users can keep using the rest of the app as the video continues to play.
Facebook is also working on testing ads on the web-based version of its Suggested Videos feature, which was introduced back in July 2015 and is currently available to all iPhone app users. The social networking site notes ads will be tested on Suggested Videos for Android users in the near future.
A 32-year-old movie will be reinvented in a slick new format. Interlude, a media company known for creating interactive videos, has announced a partnership with MGM through which it will create an interactive version of the hit 1983 film WarGames.
WarGames, which starred Matthew Broderick as a young hacker who inadvertently hacks into a US military supercomputer and narrowly avoids starting World War III, has persisted as a 80s classic, and Interlude’s version of the film will allow viewers to affect the narrative through their choices. The result will likely be similar to the “choose-your-own-adventure” video Interlude made for MTV’s Scream—a hybrid short film/video game that excites viewers and pulls them into the action.
For Interlude, the WarGames project will be yet another opportunity to show off its proprietary technology. MGM, on the other hand, will generate renewed excitement for a title that can easily stir up plenty of nostalgic feelings. “I have always been fascinated by this classic movie,” said Interlude CEO and co-founder Yoni Bloch in a press release. “WarGames is more relevant than ever; it combines a look at hacking with the moral issues of treating war as a game. “Our goal is to create a new medium, and to bring this gripping story to a whole new generation that is now demanding more immersive video experiences.”
The project is expected to arrive sometime in 2016. While I have not yet played it, I won’t be surprised if we learn the only winning move is not to play.
[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 weekly Tubefilter Chart of the Top 50 Most Viewed YouTube Channels Worldwide and a channel for toddlers is in the top spot.
Chart Toppers
WWE lost its belt this week. The YouTube home for World Wrestling Entertainment dipped down to second place with nearly 96.3 million views. It was overtaken by LittleBabyBum. The online video repository of all your favorite children’s songs from your Western childhood claimed the #1 spot on the chart after bringing home almost 98.4 million views.
In third place, one again, is ItsBabyBigMouth. The Canadian YouTube channel all about the toys and potential choking hazards inside Kinder Surprise Eggs ended the week just shy of 91.3 million views. Up next in the #4 spot is FunToyzCollector. The Platonic Ideal of a YouTube channel featuring adults playing with children’s toys scored just about 83.4 million views in the week.
And rounding out the Top 5 is netd müzik.The Turkish music network that apparently has many millions of fans around the globe took home almost 80.2 million views on the week.
Top Gainers
The honor of one of our Top Gainers this week goes to BuzzFeed Yellow.
In the absence of any major outliers, one of BuzzFeed’s many YouTube channels had the largest week-over-week increase in views on the chart thanks to a handful of videos composed of kinda blue content. People Give Up Masturbation For A Month, Women Try Menstrual Cups, and more helped BuzzFeed Yellow to a 16% week-over-week jump in views, more than 57 million views on the week, and the #15 spot on the worldwide chart.
Distribution
All in all, the top 50 most viewed YouTube channels accounted for 2,555,011,251 views last week. Here’s the distribution of a few of those channels by multi-channel network:
Vevo: 8 channels in the Top 50, with Taylor Swift at #8.
Maker Studios: 4 channels in the Top 50, with DisneyCarToys at #12.
Machinima: 3 channels in the Top 50, with Toy Pudding at #24.
AIR, BuzzFeed, XMediaDigital: 2 channels each in the Top 50, with AIR’s Miss Katy at #30, BuzzFeed’s BuzzFeed Video at #7, and XMediaDigital’smashamedvedtv at #6.
And here’s the distribution of the this week’s Top 50 YouTube channels by country of origin:
United States: 23 channels in the Top 50.
Canada, Great Britain: 5 channels in the Top 50.
Russia, Thailand, Ukraine: 2 channels each in the Top 50.
Argentina, Chile, Ireland, Jamaica, Netherlands, Philippines, South Korea, Spain, Turkey: 1 channel each in the Top 50.
OpenSlate is a video content analytics platform that tracks more than 225,000 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.
It’s interesting to watch new media stars mingle with celebrities from TV, film, and music, and the latest combination of that variety pairs Lilly Singh with Selena Gomez. Singh, a YouTube star whose Superwoman channel has amassed more than 6.8 million subscribers, sat down with Gomez to help the pop star promote her new album and upcoming tour.
In her first collaboration with a YouTube star, Gomez and Singh shared some details about themselves through a Newlywed Game variant called the “Newly Friend Game.” The two young women chat about everything from Taylor Swift songs to ugly rumors to text messages. Naturally, they also hit on Gomez’s new album, Revival, which was released on October 9th.
Gomez, who first burst on the scene as a teen icon in 2007, likely shares a lot of fans in common with Singh. Therefore, when seeking promotion for her second album (following 2013’s Stars Dance) and its accompanying tour, it made sense for Gomez to join forces with the Indian-Canadian YouTube star. It’s not the first time Singh has cavorted with a big-name traditional media personality. She also made a video with James Franco and Seth Rogen to promote their 2014 film The Interview.
The collaboration between Gomez and Singh can be found on the Superwoman YouTube channel, where new videos arrive about once a week.
Marriott Content Studio has already produced twoshort films for its online video portfolio, and now it’s adding a third. The digital production house of the international hotel chain will debut a new short film called Business Unusual in partnership with Marriott’s upscale Renaissance Hotels.
Written and directed by Daniel Malakai Cabrera and Caine Sinclair, Business Unusual is a twelve-minute film centered on two ad executives and former co-workers Chip and David, who are both trying to present their pitches to land a new client. David gets a second shot at his bumbling pitch after he meets a woman named Ella in his Chicago hotel’s bar and uses a Rube Goldberg machine to win the new business. Business Unusual stars Yoshua Sudarso (Power Rangers Dino Charge), Jason Gerhardt (General Hospital), Grant Bowler (Defiance, True Blood), Tia Carrere (Wayne’s World), and Brian Poli-Dixon (artist, actor, and former NFL receiver).
The Marriott and Renaissance short film also integrates a roster of local Chicago icons and performers. Filmed at the renovated Renaissance Chicago Downtown Hotel, Business Unusual features action shots of athletes and dancers from the performance group Substance Over Hype, who worked with Marriott for the stunts in the hotel chain’s second short film Two Bellmen. Chicago natives Ozzie Guillen (former White Sox player) and the band The O’My’s will also make cameos in Business Unusual, with The O’My’s also contributing to the film’s soundtrack comprised solely of musicians based in the Windy City.
“Renaissance Hotels is designed for the today’s business travelers, who see travel as an opportunity to experience something new and unexpected, so they come away with a new perspective — whether that’s from experiencing the local neighborhood around our hotel or simply stumbling into a live performance, a mixology demonstration or an art exhibit in the programmed public spaces,” said Dan Vinh, Vice President Marketing at Renaissance Hotels, in a release. “Business Unusual incorporates cameos with strong Chicago ties to demonstrate the importance of Renaissance Hotel’s passion for incorporating unexpected, indigenous and local elements into the guest experience.”
“Brands must stop interrupting what consumers are interested in and become what they are interested in, and short films driven by storytelling vs. advertising are just one of the many ways we are engaging with next generation travelers,” addedDavid Beebe, Marriott International’s VP of Global Creative and Content Marketing. “Not only do the short films and other projects from the Marriott Content Studio engage an audience, they inspire them to travel, and drive revenue for our hotels, and we’ve found the right recipe for mixing art and commerce together to win the hearts, minds, and wallets of travelers globally.”
Cabrera, Sinclair, Vinh, and Beebe executive produce Business Unusual alongside Scott Ehrlich and William Spencer. Marriott and Renaissance will release the short film globally across various digital platforms, as well as in select theaters, some time in early 2016.
Snapchat’s original programming team produced content for a destination called Snap Channel, which was located within the app’s Discover section. Snap Channel was home to several original programs, including the web series Literally Can’t Even, but it struggled to attract fans. Literally Can’t Even, for example, was savaged by many of the critics who took the time to watch it.
While the demise of Snap Channel closes the book on Snapchat’s first foray in original programming, there is still a plethora of worthwhile content on the app. Since at least April, Snapchat has promoted Our Story, which uses user-generated Snaps to create collages from major events and cultural moments, as a major part of its pitch to advertisers. We can only assume the end of Snap Channel will cause Snapchat to allocate even more resources for Our Story. The app’s Discover section will still feature plenty of other channels as well, with new partners arriving regularly on the branded content hub.
Plus, as the rise and fall of YouTube’s Original Channels Initiative showed us, creating high-quality original content requires patience, resources, and a fair amount of trial-and-error experimentation. Snap Channel is on its way out, but it’s too early to known if Snapchat is done with original programming for good.
David Cross and Bob Odenkirk are set to premiere a new show on Netflix, and we got our first look at it on October 12th. That’s when Netflix shared the trailer for With Bob and David, a sketch comedy show starring its two titular actors.
Cross (Arrested Development) and Odenkirk (Better Call Saul) are well-known in the comedy world for their sketch series Mr. Show with Bob and David, which ran on HBO between 1995 and 1998. In relation to that series, With Bob and David is a spiritual successor of sorts. It features the same stars and the same sketch comedy format, though it will be “a show that’s a little bit lighter on its feet that moves from idea to idea faster,” according to Cross.
With Bob and David arrives at a perfect time. Sketch comedy is “in” right now, to the point that it now has its own category at the Emmys. One of the key figures driving this resurgence, Key and Peele’s Keegan-Michael Key, appears in the With Bob and David trailer.
In total, With Bob and David will run for four half-hour episodes. Check them out on Netflix beginning on November 13th.
The first of the three new videos arrived on the Mondo Media YouTube channel on October 1st. In it, the crudely-drawn Dick Figures protagonists (who have always had a penchant for pranks) look to pull a fast one on Sasquatch during a homecoming dance. Regular TV viewers will recognize this as a spin on Jack Link’s long running Messin’ with Sasquatchad campaign, in which passersby encounter Bigfoot, yank his chain in some silly way, and receive due punishment when the legendary cryptid retaliates.
Given their shared interest in slapstick humor, Dick Figures studio Six-Point Harness and Jack Link’s ad agency Carmichael Lynch are natural partners. The videos appear to perturb some Dick Figures fans, who, if their comments are any indication, are hungry for more unsponsored episodes after waiting more for a year for them, but other viewers have come to the conclusion that beef jerky-loving Dick Figures is better than no Dick Figures at all.
If you fall into the latter group, you can return to the Mondo Media channel on October 19th, when the second episode of the series will be released. The third and final installment is slated to arrive sometime in November.
