As its title implies, Dance Camp will focus on a group of characters who “discover the power of dance.” In order to ensure a dance flick filled with top-notch moves, AwesomenessFilms (the moviemaking wing of AwesomenessTV) and YouTube are working with producer Jon M. Chu, the director of Hollywood dance film Step Up 3D.
Dance Camp be a vehicle for DeAngelis, who is a rising star in the YouTube community and one of the most prominent figures within AwesomenessTV’s multi-channel network on YouTube. Other digital video stars, such as Jake Paul and Josh Leyva, will also appear in the film.
“With Dance Camp, we are combining some of today’s most popular YouTube stars with dance – one of the most watched genres on the platform,” said Kelly Merryman, Vice President of Content Partnerships at YouTube, in a press release. “AwesomenessTV has a proven track record of creating content that audiences love and our multi-film collaboration will deliver several movies over the next few years aimed at a global fanbase.”
While Dance Camp will be the first film in the AwesomenessFilms/YouTube pipeline, it is not AwesomenessTV’s first feature-length offering. The digital media company has also produced Expelled, starring Cameron Dallas, and Smosh: The Movie, starring its titular duo.
A release date for Dance Camp has not yet been announced.
Refinery29 has a new way for its audience to consume content. The digital media company founded in 2005 has launched a new interactive series dubbed (Un)Cover on September 9, 2015.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Refinery29’s (Un)Cover initiative stems from the digital media company’s desire to improve its multi-platform storytelling. The series “reimagines the traditional magazine cover feature” and will highlight unique female icons through fashion photography, videos, and interviews across various Refinery29 verticals. The first “edition” of (Un)Cover features actress Anne Hathaway and some of her favorite topics (like crushing on funny lady Amy Schumer and being confident in yourself).
“With (Un)Cover, we’re upending the traditional cover story to reinvent how this type of content is experienced in a digital first world,” said Refinery29 Editor-In-Chief Christene Barberich. “We are focusing on a strong sense of immediacy and shareability across multiple channels, which is how our audience engages, which enabling [sic] them to connect with the world’s biggest celebrities in an intimate way.”
Ovard’s boyfriend Parker Ferris (with whom she shares her vlog channel) popped the surprise question while the pair was on a recent romantic getaway to Greece. After the news broke, the couple’s fans and family were ecstatic and showed their ardent and heartfelt support on social media.
How do I know about all this? I’m aware of this particular online video star’s major life event not because I subscribe to either of Ovard’s YouTube channels (though they look great) or follow her on Instagram (though those shots looks awesome, too) or know her personally (Whattup, Aspyn?!). I know about all this because I read it on People.
“The People and EW brands reach 20 million millennials and is growing,” Jess Cagle, Editorial Director of People and Entertainment Weekly, explained to Tubefilter. “In fact, People was one of only 11 media brands invited by Snapchat to launch on its Discover platform back in January. So, it only makes sense that now is the time to cover these popular content creators, since they are the newest crop of celebrities and rising stars.”
People’s big brick and mortar presence at VidCon is also a testament to its increasingly enthusiastic coverage of the online video space. People and Entertainment Weekly collectively hosted the Creator Track Interview Stage at the annual event for the online video industry, its stars, and their fans. The platform played host to a laundry list of stars (iJustine, Joe Penna, Louise Pentland, Lilly Singh, Toby Turner, Andrea Russett, Lohanthony, Ingrid Nilsen, Connor Franta, and Felicia Day to name just a few) who engaged in candid conversations in front of screaming supporters.
“Having a presence at VidCon was crucial,” Cagle noted. “YouTube personalities have become celebrities in their own right, rapidly amassing loyal audiences in the millions. It is a natural progression for People to cover these popular personalities in a 360-degree way – in print, digital, video, social, experiential, and more.”
People’s acknowledgement of the celebrity status of YouTube and other social media stars is the most recent (and possibly the most substantial) example online video supporters can use in a larger pop cultural argument that asks the question, “Are these people really famous?” If the fact that YouTube and online video stars now have their own wax figures, best-selling books, clothing lines, and sold-out worldwide tours doesn’t convince the general public of their established appeal, perhaps reading about all of those things in the pages of People will.
BroadbandTV (aka BBTV) is expanding into children’s programming with some new developments. The YouTube multi-channel network has launched the HooplaKidz Network website with the intention of producing and distributing more family-friendly content.
Back in April 2015, BBTV acquired family network YoBoHo, which on the whole boasts three billion video views each month and runs both the HooplaKidz channel and its larger YouTube network. HooplaKidz boasts about 40 different channels on YouTube, and is a key partner for the YouTube Kids app. The network’s new website will help BBTV expand content production and marketing potential.
Also thanks to the YoBoHo acquisition, BBTV has partnered with YouTube to release an animated children’s series called The Adventures of Annie & Ben on September 9, 2015. The series follows the adventures of Annie, her dog friend Ben, and the monkey Mango as they travel around the world and visit different locations. BBTV and YouTube are planning to release 52 seven-minute episodes in total, each available in eight different languages.
In addition to The Adventures of Annie & Ben, BBTV hopes to create and launch even more content through HooplaKidz within the next year. The network already boasts 12 paid apps for iOS and Android based on popular YoBoHo characters and properties. By fall 2016, BroadbandTV founder and CEO Shahrzad Rafati told Variety her company would like to release 25 more apps and consider licensing opportunities of HooplaKidz characters for things like toys and books.
“With the HooplaKidz Network, we’re building on some of the most popular content, taking the IP to license it, merchandise it, and even take it to linear (TV),” said Rafati. “It’s important to build an ecosystem that scales to this digital-first audience.”
Rafati also revealed BBTV’s intentions to challenge other YouTube multi-channel networks which are moving into the family entertainment realm. In terms of competition, the CEO said BBTV currently feels the “only competitors with all the components (as HooplaKidz) are Disney and Maker [Studios].” Disney acquired Maker in early 2014. Now, the two have teamed up to launch the talent-search program Disney XD by Maker, which will give content creators the chance to develop shows for distribution on the linear Disney XD TV channel and its related outlets.
BroadbandTV currently boasts 5.7 billion video views per year, spanning roughly 37,000 partner channels.
The content creators who are partnered with the Endemol Beyond USA multi-channel network gain large view counts on platforms like YouTube and Vine; now, they are featured on a new website as well. Endemol Beyond has launched GetBeyond.us, a destination where viewers can access videos from the network’s assorted partners, verticals, and web series.
GetBeyond.us, which Endemol Beyond designed alongside digital media company Piksel, features a simple design. The main page is divided into multiple categories, which invite viewers to watch Endemol Beyond’s top creative partners (such as Michelle Phan and Brittany Furlan), its genre-specific channels (such as gaming hub Smasher), its in-house web series (like Pitbull’s The Most Bad Ones), and its most recent videos. Additional drop-down menus direct users to even more of the network’s content.
GetBeyond.us is reminiscent of other websites designed by multi-channel networks, such as Maker Studios’ Maker.TV. Like that site, Endemol Beyond’s new hub has several key advantages. It uses a non-YouTube video player that affords greater control over ad revenue, causes “cross-pollination” of audiences across the network, and organizes all of Endemol Beyond’s content under one banner.
The launch of GetBeyond.us comes shortly after a big change at the top for Endemol Beyond. Will Keenan, the network’s first president, recently left his post, with former COO Adrian Sexton taking over for him.“On top of our wide distribution and reach across YouTube, Facebook and other partners, Piksel helps drive our business forward from a unified platform while also syndicating our content,” said Sexton in a press release. “With the roll-out of our premium networks – ICON and upcoming SMASHER and LOOKSY networks – GetBeyond.US streamlines our consumer experience with strong branding, promotion and distribution.”
According to Variety, Endemol Beyond counts 1.8 billion views per month on YouTube.
Jimmy Kimmel recently made headlines for poking fun of video game and Let’s Play culture on YouTube. The late-night ABC host consequently had to deal with lots of flak from angry gamers and online video fans. Some of these viewers threatened Kimmel or told him he was out-of-date, responses the host also proceeded to mock.
However, Kimmel noted he was willing to learn about the world of online gaming if someone would teach him. While YouTubers like Philip DeFranco and The Game Theorists originally offered to instruct Kimmel in the ways of YouTube gaming, two gamers partnered with Disney-owned Maker Studios ended up doing the honors. In a segment for Kimmel’s show posted to YouTube on September 4, the TV host sat down with Mark Fischbach (aka Markiplier) and Jonna Mae (aka MissesMae) to discover what the YouTube gaming and Let’s Play cultures are all about.
Kimmel states in the beginning of the clip that maybe he “did pre-judge something he knew nothing about.” But even after meeting Markiplier and MissesMae, Kimmel doesn’t back down from his stance that YouTube gaming is still fair comedy fodder. The TV host points out the negative feedback he joked about earlier on his show, and even read a response from Mae herself which asked why he had to attack online gaming and Let’s Plays.
“I laughed at [your show], but I would say it was a little bit insulting,” Mae responds, “because I do understand the work and the effort that people put into doing something like this.”
Kimmel then asks the YouTube gamers to explain why it’s fun watching other people play video games. Markiplier points out how today’s generations of viewers treat video game content much the same way Kimmel acted when he was younger and watching his friends play games like Pac-Man and Donkey Kong at the arcade.
“That would be the most ready equivalent that I would make — people watching your friends play games,” Fischbach says.
The two gamers then show Kimmel a clip of a Let’s Play video made by MissesMae, where she has her parents wear a virtual reality headset and ride a fake roller coaster in Minecraft. Kimmel seems to enjoy the content, saying he approves of “anything that involves screwing with your parents.” Markiplier explains how watching other people have fun and laugh is one of the biggest draws of Let’s Play culture. The three then proceed to record their own Let’s Play video by playing Rocket League.
Kimmel’s online gaming education wasn’t without its awkward moments, though. Markiplier and Mae appear uncomfortable on screen during certain questions the TV hosts asks them, like if Markiplier has sex with his fans after live events. Then during the Rocket League Let’s Play recording, Kimmel asks why his controller is vibrating like a sex toy. At the end of the segment, the three share a stiff hug which prompts Kimmel to suggest Markiplier and MissesMae try being around other humans sometimes.
Kudos should be given to Markiplier and MissesMae for trying to educate Kimmel on YouTube gaming and Let’s Play culture. However, Kimmel’s questionable comments about having sex with fans and spending time with more people didn’t contribute to the overall conversation about YouTube gaming. Plus, the weird interactions between Kimmel, Markiplier, and MissesMae probably didn’t help to convince Kimmel’s broadcast audience about the value of online gaming content, which is a $3.8 billion per year industry.
Kimmel’s new segment also doesn’t shed much light on the obsessive culture and community behind the Let’s Play and YouTube gaming industry, which is one of the topics online video production company Rooster Teeth hopes to address in its upcoming documentary Let’s Play Live. That project will show exactly how the company’s Achievement Hunter gaming branch managed to sell out nearly 2,000 seats earlier this year at the Moody Theater in Austin, Texas, simply because fans wanted to see the Achievement Hunter cast play games in person instead of on their screens.
Overall, the entire segment seem inauthentic, like another opportunity for Kimmel to poke fun of Let’s Plays instead of having an actual conversation about them. Granted, like MissesMae pointed out in a separate video she recently uploaded to her channel, viewers didn’t see the full one-hour, beneficial discussion she and Markiplier had with Kimmel. And Kimmel at least showed a step in the right direction by talking to Markiplier and MissesMae about the online gaming culture in the first place. Hopefully now the late night host has a better understanding of why people love watching other people play video games on YouTube.
Instagram has had video ads for a while, and allowed a few select brands like Disney, CW, and Activision to purchase the ad format, which was previously limited to 15 seconds. Now, Instagram wrote in a blog post the company is making video ads available to “advertisers both large and small” and extending the format’s length to 30 seconds. Brands in more than 30 different countries (including Spain, Mexico, Italy, India, and South Korea) will be able purchase the longer-length Instagram video ads.
With the introduction of Instagram’s widely-available, self-serve video ads comes some new features for brands to utilize in their marketing campaigns. Instagram has launched an ad model dubbed Marquee, which “helps drive mass awareness and expanded reach in a short time-frame.” Instagram notes Marquee is an appropriate advertising method for milestones like movie premieres and product launches.
Instagram has also introduced the ability for brands to upload video and image content in landscape mode, in an effort to help create a “more cinematic feel.” The content-sharing app has also tapped into Facebook’s ad technology to bring targeting, optimization, and performance tools to brands who purchase Instagram video ads.
Instagram said various businesses have been testing the new video ads and tools over the summer 2015 with “positive results.” The app company cited an example from the Gilt Groupe, which saw an 85% lift in the brand’s app installs after running an Instagram video ad campaign. Overall, Instagram said its ad products boast great branding results for advertisers, with 97% of measured campaigns driving “significant lifts in ad recall.”
“We’re thrilled to see what brands can achieve in the months ahead using Instagram as their creative canvas,” the company wrote.
James Franco is back, and he’s Making A Scene once again. The actor has premiered the second season of his AOL web series, in which he and his troupe mash up famous movies and TV shows.
The first mashup of Making A Scene’s new season combines a pair of shows that, on the surface, have nothing in common: Breaking Bad and Sex and the City. Franco and his team pull these strange bedfellows together by sending Carrie Bradshaw on a date with Walter White. At the same time, she discusses the experience with her gal pals over a quartet of cosmos. Franco takes center stage by portraying both Bradshaw and White and acting out a sex scene between the two of them in White’s fan. Feeling a little egomaniacal there, eh James?
Google Play has a new branded series sure to appeal to the online gaming crowd. The app and digital entertainment store teamed with San Francisco-based production studio Portal A to launch the competition web series Google Play: Game On, featuring some of online video’s most popular gaming talent.
Google Play: Game On pits various YouTube and digital stars against each other in a battle to see who is the best at mobile games by playing select Google Play titles, like Goat Simulator, Terraria, and Beach Buggy Racing. In traditional tournament-style fashion, the contestants compete in front of a live audience at various venues across the U.S.
Portal A and Google Play just wrapped up filming for the second round of Game On episodes, hosted by RunJDrun and filmed at PAX Prime in Seattle. In these upcoming eight episodes (no release date as of yet), digital celebrities Andre Meadows (aka BlackNerdComedy), Matthew Santoro, Harley Morenstein (of Epic Meal Time), Aureylian, PrestonPlayz, HikePlays, SkyDoesMinecraft, and Typical Gamer will square off against each other in mobile game titles Bombsquad, Crossy Road, Cookie Jam, and Minecraft: Pocket Edition.
Google Play: Game On is an ongoing series with 32 planned episodes in total. That means two more rounds of eight episodes each will be filmed and released sometime in the future. Google Play and Portal A are also working on 120 additional pieces of bonus and social content.
You can watch all current Game On episodes on the official Google Play YouTube channel. Ancillary content will live on the individual channels of creators who compete in the gaming series.
If you’re the type of person who regularly watches videos from the YouTube community, the odds are good that some of your favorite creators are among the cast of Oscar’s Hotel for Fantastical Creatures. PJ Liguori’s upcoming web series features appearances from more than a dozen YouTube stars, but if you watch its new trailer, you probably won’t recognize any of them at first glance. That’s because the characters in Oscar’s Hotel are a bevy of colorful extraterrestrials, and the actors who portray them are decked out in amusing costumes.
The whimsical designs of the titular fantastical creatures come from The Jim Henson Company, which teamed up with production studio New Form Digital to lend its creations to Oscar’s Hotel. The result is a diverse array of extravagant get-ups. Mamrie Hart is a purple octopus, Jake Roper has a horse’s head, and esteemed thespians Alfred Molina and Patrick Stewart are a pair of fishy debt collectors.
She may not be a true worshiper of the Many-Faced God of Death just yet, but Arya Stark is doing well on the Internet. Maisie Williams, who portrays the youngest Stark daughter on the HBO series Game of Thrones, has launched her own YouTube channel.
In the first video on her channel, Williams answers questions from her fans to celebrate one million followers on Twitter. Topics range from her role on Game of Thrones to Shark Week to her plans for her YouTube channel. “I have a lot of friends who are on YouTube and I just find it really, really interesting what they do,” says the 18-year-old actress in her video, “and I thought I’d give it a shot myself.”
In particular, Williams name drops Caspar Lee as the YouTube star who most significantly influenced her decision to launch a YouTube channel of her own. Williams has appeared in one of Lee’s videos already; other channels where she has stopped by include The Fine Bros and Superfruit.
Videos on Williams’ new channel will include Q&As and sketches, but she admits in her first video that she doesn’t plan on adopting any sort of regular posting schedule. Even so, she has already drawn more than 50,000 subscribers to her new channel, so we expect we’ll hear more about it in the future, even if it doesn’t feature new material very often. And for those who want more Maisie, she’s also on Vine, where she posts occasional bursts of six-second randomness. Warning: Game of Thrones spoilers may be included.
Google has new info on what internet users enjoyed listening to over the summer of 2015. The internet giant tracked users’ search data on YouTube, Google Trends, and Google Play from Memorial Day (May 25) to Labor Day (September 7) 2015 to compile this summer’s top ten trending artists and streaming songs. Across these three sites, Canadian singer-songwriter The Weeknd and rapper Fetty Wap collectively snagged nine out of the top 30 spots.
On YouTube, Google counted video views from both the official music videos from artists as well as fan versions claimed by the artists. With this in mind, Fetty Wap landed at #2 with “Trap Queen” (just behind Silento’s “Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)”). Wap’s song also landed the rapper the #1 most-searched artist spot in Google Trends for the past few months, and the track was the secondmost-streamed song of summer 2015 on Google Play. Wap finished up in tenth place on YouTube with “My Way.”
The Weeknd fared well for himself over the summer, too. His track “The Hills” was #6 on YouTube’s top-streamed songs, as well as #4 on Google Trends’ top artist searches for summer 2015. The Weeknd particularly dominated Google Play’s streaming selections. The artist landed at #3 for the “Earned It” song from the official Fifty Shades of Grey soundtrack. The Weekend also took the ninth and tenth spots on Google Play for “Can’t Feel My Face” and “The Hills,” respectively.
You can check out the top ten most-streamed summer songs on YouTube here. And check out the charts below for the official list of top music artists on Google Trends and the top streamed songs on Google Play from Memorial Day to Labor Day 2015:
Google Trends
Fetty Wap – Trap Queen
Taylor Swift – Bad Blood
OMI – Cheerleader
The Weeknd – The Hills
Rachel Platten – Fight Song
Bruno Mars – Uptown Funk
David Guetta – Hey Mama
T-Wayne – Nasty Freestyle
Ed Sheeran – Photograph
Jessie J – Flashlight
Google Play
Wiz Khalifa – See You Again (feat. Charlie Puth)
Fetty Wap – Trap Queen
The Weeknd – Earned It (Fifty Shades Of Grey) (From The “Fifty Shades Of Grey” Soundtrack)
WALK THE MOON – Shut Up and Dance
Ed Sheeran – Thinking Out Loud
Flo Rida – GDFR (feat. Sage The Gemini & Lookas)
OMI – Cheerleader (Felix Jaehn Remix Radio Edit)
Skrillex & Diplo – Where Are Ü Now (with Justin Bieber)
