Break has a new web series aimed at budget-conscious DIYers. The digital entertainment company released the first episode of its series DIY Prop Shop on July 6, 2015, on the AWE me YouTube channel.

DIY Prop Shop is hosted by Dustin McLean (of Cinefix’s Homemade Movies series); in the series, McLean shows viewers how to recreate props from famous movies and games, using everyday materials worth no more than $50 total. In this way, the series is similar to that of Geek & Sundry’s Craft Lab, where hosts Anna Akana and Greg Aronowitz spin a wheel to determine which pop culture icon they’ll create and the materials they’ll use.

For the debut episode of DIY Prop Shop, McLean gathers cheap building materials from various stores and around the house to create a Terminator robotic arm from the Terminator film franchise. This is appropriate timing, considering the recent release of Terminator: Genisys. In future episodes, McLean will make versions of pop culture icons like Tony Stark’s arc reactor, and the hover board from Back to the Future 2.

New episodes of DIY Prop Shop will run every other Monday on Break’s AWE me channel, whose about page says it aims to “amaze, wow, and educate.” The channel currently boasts over 3 million subscribers and more than 193 million video views.

Filed under: Articles, Channels, News, Web Series by Bree Brouwer
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Miner & Co. Studio just released findings which should scare children’s television networks. The research and consulting firm found 57% of kids prefer watching video on portable devices like smartphones and tablets as opposed to on traditional television screens.

For its study, Miner & Co. interviewed 800 parents about their children’s viewing habits. According to AdAge, 39% of the parents said their children regularly watch the same content on not just one, but multiple devices at the same time. Plus, about half of the 800 parents said they “punish” their misbehaving children by removing mobile devices from them and forcing them to watch content on TV instead.

Additionally, Miner & Co.’s study found 41% of children are more than willing to give up treats in exchange for more time with mobile devices. Miner & Co. created a video to summarize its findings, and in the clip, a young girl says just one cookie isn’t enough to convince her to give up her iPad because she can probably “always get another cookie.”

Miner & Co.’s CEO Robert Miner doesn’t know how his firm’s findings will impact the traditional TV industry. However, the executive equated the future of the industry to the idea of “a cartographer writing ‘here be dragons’ on the uncharted part of the Medieval map.” Currently, though, AdAge points out the failing Nielsen ratings of ad-supported kids’ channels, with Nickelodeon falling 30% year-to-date among ages 2-11 (which could be one reason why the network launched its own OTT subscription service).

“We used to use the term ‘platform agnostic,’ but that conveys the sense that you don’t care one way or the other which platform you’re using,” Miner said. “With kids, that pretty obviously is not the case. So, I like to say that we’re ‘platform polygamists.’ All platforms are basically sister wives now.”

Filed under: Articles, Industry, News by Bree Brouwer
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Michelle Phan is not just one of YouTube’s most beloved beauty gurus; she’s also one of the video site’s savviest businesswomen. In the past year alone, she has expanded her personal brand through a book, an online video network, and several other projects. The latest edition to Phan’s empire is a comic series called The Enchantress that will debut on Line Webtoon.

Across 26 chapters, The Enchantress will explore a world where “elemental magic” is commonplace and must be used to “save humanity.” “Most people think of me as a makeup guru, but might be surprised to know I’m also a trained artist and a huge comic book fan,” said Phan in a press release.  “The Enchantress is my passion project that has been brewing since I was 11 and I’m so excited to finally pursue this dream of mine. As a digital native, it made perfect sense for me to choose a digital platform for this project, and LINE Webtoon was unquestionably the right place for me to create my own story that I could share with comic readers everywhere.”

Here is a sketch of Bebo, once of the characters who will appear in The Enchantress:

American readers may be unfamiliar with Line Webtoon, but the service–which serves as a sort of YouTube for digital comics–is popular in its home nation of Korea. As it looks to build a bigger audience in the US, it has turned to Phan (as well as comics legend Stan Lee) in order to to source some content from high-profile American creators. Both Phan and Lee will be part of Line Webtoon’s upcoming Comic-Con International panel, which will be titled ‘The Future of Comics in a Digital World.’

A specific release date for The Enchantress hasn’t yet been announced, but it is expected to debut on Line Webtoon’s website and mobile apps.

Filed under: Articles, Channels, Featured, News by Sam Gutelle
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Back in 2012, Subway launched the branded entertainment series The 4 to 9ers on Hulu. Now, the sandwich food chain company and the streaming platform have partnered to release a third season of the hit, short-form comedy series on July 6, 2015.

In the first two seasons of The 4 to 9ers, viewers were introduced to high school students who worked average service industry jobs in a suburban Chicago mall. The third season of The 4 to 9ers brings back the same characters, who are now college graduates and still working at establishments like Subway as they deal with adulthood and try to work their way out from under their parents’ roofs.

Produced by branded content studio Content & Co. and directed by James Widdoes (Two and a Half Men), the third season of The 4 to 9ers has its first five episodes now available on Hulu. Future eight-minute episodes will be released every Tuesday. After airing on Hulu, The 4 to 9ers season three will stream for an additional ten weeks on Yahoo! Screen.

“It’s a brave new world for the characters of the The 4 to 9ers who, for the first time, are facing the realities of becoming adults,” said Stuart McLean, founder and CEO of Content & Co., in a release. “Our viewers, who have come to know and identify with these characters, are themselves growing up, and they want to watch a series where they see their peers going through the same trials and triumphs of life that they are experiencing.”

“We are so lucky to have partners like Subway and Hulu who are as excited as we are to take this series to its natural progression,” added McLean. “The 4 to 9ers has truly connected with millennials and broken ground as one of the few branded content series to continue on for a third season.”

Filed under: Articles, Branded Entertainment, Hulu, News by Bree Brouwer
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Netflix is eyeing some more original content from the UK. The streaming service is reportedly competing with British television network ITV, and possibly even Hulu, to sign the three former Top Gear hosts for a new season of the cancelled BBC show.

Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson was fired from his position back in March 2015 when he physically attacked a show producer. The BBC temporarily cancelled Top Gear as it sorted through the mess, but over a month later the series’ executive producer Andy Wilman and two remaining hosts, James May and Richard Hammond, all said they wouldn’t be returning.

Eventually, the BBC decided to bring back Top Gear with a new host, British radio and TV personality Chris Evans. And ITV, Netflix, and Hulu want in on whatever new version of Top Gear Clarkson, May, Hammond, and Wilson want to bring to the table to compete with the BBC’s reincarnated show. Variety notes WME is likely helping to advise the three original hosts on where to go next.

Variety also reports Netflix may have put in a “sizable offer” of multiple seasons to pick up the show. The streaming platform already carries episodes of Top Gear dating back to 2011. Plus, having new, original seasons of the British car-driven show aligns with Netflix’s global expansion plans and its foray into the UK market with original series The Queen.

Hulu also has rights to Top Gear, with that streaming platform’s deal involving episodes all the way back to 2003. But ITV is a more recognizable name overseas if Clarkson, May, and Hammond wanted to play to their native country of England, as well as other European countries. And Hulu hasn’t expanded into nearly as many global regions as Netflix has reached.

We’ll have to see where the next Top Gear finally ends up parking.

Filed under: Articles, Hulu, ITV, Netflix, News by Bree Brouwer
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While it is still best known as a TV event, Discovery’s Shark Week has in recent years included a large digital presence, and in 2015, the seven-day block of selachian programming is expanding once again. On its website, Discovery has hosted a collection of live streams powered by Meerkat.

The streams allow viewers to take in footage from various underwater cameras. One camera, for example, is attached to a shark’s dorsal fin, while another offers a live look from within the National Aquarium in Baltimore, MD.

Live video by Animal Planet L!ve

Discovery’s Shark Week streams arrived one week after Meerkat enabled embeddable videos for its users. The app itself has only been around for about five months, but in that time it has secured a number of high-profile content partnerships and has hired former Tumblr exec Sima Sistani as its VP of Media. Its Shark Week pact is another deal that will help it attract new users and get a leg up on its closest competitor, Twitter-owned Periscope.

The drawback is that Discovery’s Shark Week streams don’t seem terribly exciting. Most of them, at the time of this post, just show fish swimming around or shots of empty sea. If you tune in and witness some exciting action in the open ocean, give us a holler.

The 2015 edition of Shark Week runs from July 5-12.

Filed under: Discovery Channel, Meerkat, Web Series by Sam Gutelle
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Eleven years after an underwhelming film adaptation, A Series of Unfortunate Events is springing back to life, this time on Netflix. A teaser released on YouTube–but not on the official Netflix channel–appears to give viewers a peek at the upcoming adaptation of the dark children’s book series of the same name.

Netflix announced its plan to adapt A Series of Unfortunate Event in November 2014. Paramount Television is producing and Daniel Handler, who wrote the book series under the pen name Lemony Snicket, is signed on as executive producer.

Since making this announcement, Netflix has been quiet on the Unfortunate Events front. We still haven’t heard who will direct, write, or star in the series, nor do we know how many of the series’ 13 books each season will cover.

The new teaser–if it is legit–begins to provide some enticing clues. It contains references from throughout the series, ranging from the first book’s marriage license to the twelfth book’s concierge hat, suggesting a grand scope that could encompass all 13 books. A soundtrack from The Dresden Dolls and a generous helping of howling wind provide Gothic touches, as does the silhouetted presence of Count Olaf, the series’ primary antagonist.

The 35-second teaser has generated a lot of excitement among Series of Unfortunate Events fans, but those of us who are eager to see how Netflix adapts the gloomy saga of the Baudelaire children still have a long time to wait. The streaming platform hasn’t announced a release date for the series, though several outlets believe it will arrive sometime in 2016.

UPDATE: Netflix has denied any involvement in the teaser. “This was not released from Netflix and not anything official,” a company rep told Variety.

Filed under: A Series of Unfortunate Events, Articles, Featured, Netflix, News by Sam Gutelle
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Don’t forget! Today is the last day to submit work to the 5th Annual Streamy Awards. Creators interested in being considered for an award which recognizes outstanding work in online video or new media can submit their projects for an award consideration by midnight Pacific time on July 3, 2015.

After submitting to the Streamy Awards, creators and their work will be eligible in over 44 categories, including options like Breakout Creator, Fashion, Pranks, Ensemble Cast, Brand Campaign, and Social Good Campaign. Complete submission and eligibility guidelines can be found on the Streamy Awards’ official site, and creators can use the submissions page to get the process going.

The Streamy Awards are run by Tubefilter and Dick Clark Productions. This year’s event will take place on September 17, 2015 at Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles. The 5th Annual Streamys will be broadcast on VH1 and its related digital platforms for the first time in Streamys’ history.

Past Streamys winners have included big-name digital stars like Bethany Mota and Tyler Oakley. Even Jimmy Fallon and President Obama have Streamys to their names. You can join the ranks of these accomplished online video pioneers by submitting your work to the Streamys by 11:59 PM PST on July 3.

Filed under: Articles, News, The Streamy Awards by Bree Brouwer
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We receive a ton of tips every day from independent creators, unaffiliated with any major motion picture studios, television networks, new media studios, or other well-funded online video entities. The Indie Spotlight is where we’ll write about and shout out to a select few of them and bring you up to speed on the great (and sometimes not-so-great) attention-grabbing series you probably haven’t heard about until now.  Read previous installments here. 

Through web series episodes, a half-Japanese, half-German actress is exploring her heritage. Katie Malia is the creator and star of Almost Asian, in which she shares various scenarios related to her mixed-race identity.

On the surface, Malia’s web series appears similar to many other projects helmed by aspiring actors in Los Angeles. Certain episodes do trend in that direction, but others embrace Malia’s Japanese identity by taking on the tone of a campy Far East TV program. It’s not just Malia herself who is multicultural; her web series itself lives somewhere between LA and Tokyo.

“My intention with Almost Asian is to celebrate the nuanced mixed-ethnic identity and challenge our social conventions regarding race and culture through a heightened-comedic lens,” said Malia in a press release.

The latest episode takes place at a karaoke bar. It features a guest appearance from former Saturday Night Live cast member Horatio Sanz and, um, a unique rendition of Styx’s “Mr. Roboto.”

The Almost Asian episodes Malia has released over the past year and a half can be found on the series’ website.

OTHER UNDER-THE-RADAR SERIES TO CHECK OUT

• Break A Hip. An old actress hires a young, struggling actor to attend to her needs.
• Rocketship Radio. A real life band shares its (presumably) fictional adventures together.
• How To Not. The characters in this series find themselves attracted to bad decisions but looking for good ones.
• Polyglot. Multicultural characters interact with each other in Berlin.

Got a series you’d like to see featured in the Indie Spotlight? Be sure to contact us here. For best coverage, please include a full episode in your e-mail.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Indie Spotlight, News by Sam Gutelle
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As this insane video proves, the science of chemical reactions can make for some explosive YouTube theater. If you’re looking to get a little  “yeah science, bitch” before you embark on your holiday weekend, head over to the BBC Brit YouTube channel, where a series of interactive videos invite viewers to find the “Biggest Bangs.”

The “Biggest Bangs” series with a central video that presents eight different chemical elements and asks viewers to select two of them through YouTube annotations. Each pair links to a separate video that shows what happens when those two elements combine. Some of them are duds, but others produce bombastic reactions, which the BBC ranks from most explosive to least. The goal is to find the two elements that together produce the biggest bang.

The video is a worthwhile addition to the collection of fun science videos available all over YouTube. And for Americans who will spend their weekend watching salvos of brightly-colored explosives, it’s a nice science lesson that explains what exactly causes things to blow up.

Now, there’s only one question left. Can you find the biggest bang? I’m certainly not going to tell you what it is. No really, I’m not going to tell you. You can go find it yourself. OK, fine. If you must know, it’s this one.

Filed under: Articles, BBC, Featured, News by Sam Gutelle
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Each month, Reuters talks to significant people about the first jobs they ever worked. This First Jobs series has been running since 2013, and its latest rendition focuses on the YouTube community. Reuters talked to four online video stars–Michelle Phan, Cassey Ho, Matthew Santoro, and Bunny Meyer–about the positions they held before they began achieving fame on the Internet.

First Jobs isn’t the most substantive journalism out there, but it is interesting to read the ways in which YouTube stars’ early life experiences have informed their current work. Phan, for example, discusses the time she made $600 in two months selling candy in school, a success that forecasted her current success in the business world. And Ho, who offers fitness routines on her Blogilates channel, jokes about how her own candy business may have subtly influenced her decision to help people stay in shape.

“It’s ironic that I now run a fitness blog,” she says. “My friends accuse me of having planned it this whole time, of making them fat and then getting them back into shape.”

The four YouTube stars profiled in Reuters First Jobs piece have more than 9.5 million subscribers between them. Read their stories here.

Filed under: Articles, Channels, Featured, News by Sam Gutelle
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Achievement Hunter (AH) is upgrading both its digital and real-life digs. The Rooster Teeth gaming-centric subsidiary has announced the creation of a dedicated AH YouTube channel, as well as a move to its very own offices a building over from Rooster Teeth’s.

In an announcement video from July 1, 2015, AH members gathered in a disorganized bunch to reveal the news about the upcoming channel and offices. Many of the shows AH currently hosts on the Rooster Teeth and Let’s Play channels, such as AWHU and VS, will move to the new video channel. The YouTube destination for future AH content will be found at youtube.com/achievementhunter.

AH leads Geoff Ramsey and Jack Pattillo also set forth a challenge to their fans: if the new Achievement Hunter channel gets one million subscribers before August 6, the entire AH team will host a 24-hour live stream event at the new office location. The group will also be doing “all kinds of crazy stuff” for different subscriber count milestones leading up to the one million mark.

The official Achievement Hunter channel and new content will go live starting July 6, 2015.

Filed under: Articles, Channels, News, Rooster Teeth by Bree Brouwer
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