Mariah Carey is inescapable during December, thanks to the ubiquity of her timeless holiday classic “All I Want For Christmas Is You.” In 2015, she’s adding to her Yuletide appeal by teaming up with a pair of media companies. The singer-songwriter and Funny Or Die developed a sketch comedy series called Mariah Carey’s Holiday Sketchtacular, which can be watched on the mobile-first video platform Go90.
The Holiday Sketchtacular may be a Christmas special, but its release schedule resembles Hanukkah more than anything else. The series consists of eight episodes, with a new one arriving each day between December 15th and the 22nd. Each installment will feature Carey in some capacity, though setups will vary. Two sketches are featured in the series trailer, which Funny or Die shared on its website a day before the Sketchtacular premiere: One of them has Carey fielding Santa Claus auditions, while another takes place on the set of a holiday cooking show. Guest stars will include The Daily Show’s Jordan Klepper and actor Nick Swardson.
“I loved collaborating with Funny or Die on this series of holiday-themed sketches,” Carey told The Hollywood Reporter (where news of the Sketchtacular was first reported). “These videos are fun, festive and full of holiday cheer, and I had an absolute blast making them.”
The Sketchtacular is the latest offering within a hugecontentpush from Go90, which Verizon launched earlier this year. Carey is one of the biggest celebrities to join forces with the new platform so far; if you want to see what she has in story, you’ll need to download the Go90 app on iOS or Android.
Over the past 20 months, YouTube has bought billboard space in major US cities to promote some of its most popular homegrown stars. More recently, a man with a much smaller digital operation has purchased his own advertising space in order to bring attention to his channel. That man is an artist named Jesse Edwards, and he designed a Los Angeles billboard in the style of YouTube’s ads.
Passersby can find Edwards’ billboard on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles, above a gallery where he recently had a show. The display hawks Edwards’ YouTube channel, Painting Passion, on which he blends art tutorials with his urban, in-your-face easel-side manner. In order to draw attention to his videos, Edwards plastered a giant picture of the character Pepe the Frog, known as a meme on sites like 4chan and Twitch, next to the name of his channel. As with YouTube’s ads, Edwards also included his subscriber count, but unlike Bethany Mota or Michelle Phan, Painting Passion doesn’t have millions of fans; it has 179.
The crazy thing about Edwards’ stunt is that, despite all its goofiness, it is doing its job. As The Daily Dot notes, a Tumblr post poking fun at the billboard has received more than 80,000 notes in response. Edwards’ videos have seen a bump as well. The latest episode of Painting Passion has received more than 11,000 views, compared to his usual average of about one thousand hits.
Edwards’ billboard is mostly a funny anecdote, but perhaps it also teaches a lesson about selling yourself on YouTube. Forget channel optimization and consistency; if you want to make it big, post a lot of memes.
A young man who is making his mark on YouTube is taking his act to one of Tinseltown’s most famous venues. Jordan Doww, who is part of the up-and-coming “emerging” class on YouTube, will host a comedy show at the Hollywood Improv on February 6th, 2016.
Doww’s show is called “HollyWEIRD,” and it will be a platform on which he can show off his brand of comedy. “From [Jordan’s] crazy adventures, to mixed emotions, the audience can expect a vast amount of comedic sketch, character work, song & dance, and improv,” reads a press release discussing the show. “Alongside, Jordan will touch upon finding yourself and not getting lost in such a big city.”
“HollyWEIRD” is co-produced by Jordan’s team at Scale Management, in partnership with the Hollywood Improv. Tickets for it are currently available through the Improv’s website. If you’d like to do some more research about Doww before diving into his special, you can check him out on YouTube, where his vlogs, sketches, and assorted videos have earned him more than one million views over the past 21 months.
Two years ago, we published an article equating the then-current state of the online video industry to a gold rush. Two years later, there’s still plenty of money to be found on websites like YouTube, but many successful content creators are struggling to see a livable portion it. In an article she wrote for Fusion, Gaby Dunn--who co-hosts the web series Just Between Us with her friend Allison Raskin–lays out the financial hardships she has experienced since starting her YouTube channel about two years ago.
On the surface, Dunn seems like she should be able to profit from her YouTube business. Just Between Us has more than 500,000 subscribers, its new videos often achieve several hundred thousand views, and its informal, vlog style seems like it would be inexpensive to produce. And yet, despite these factors, Dunn is struggling. “It’s not enough to live, and its influx is unpredictable,” she writes of the money she makes from her work. “Our channel exists in that YouTube no-man’s-land: Brands think we’re too small to sponsor, but fans think we’re too big for donations. I’ve never had more than a couple thousand dollars in my bank account at once.”
As Dunn tells it, her YouTube money problem is twofold: She struggles to stay relevant in an industry flooded by a surplus of content creators, which requires a full-time commitment to her channel; given her long hours, she would hope to be properly compensated for her work, but her best chance for financial success is hampered by the wishes of her fans. Whenever she and Raskin accept a brand deal, they are accused of selling out. “Every time Allison and I post a branded video—a YouTuber’s bread and butter—we make money but lose subscribers,” she writes. She also references a video Anna Akana made about the exact same topic:
It is sad to hear that a channel as successful as Just Between Us struggles to break even; given the size of the YouTube ecosystem, it should be able to support its mid-level creators. Luckily, there are solutions. In her article, Dunn expresses skepticism about Patreon which she defines as a tool for “smaller YouTubers.” In response, fellow YouTuber Peter Hollens left her a comment urging her to reconsider the crowdfunding platform. As of this post, Just Between Us is currently on Patreon, and the channel’s patrons allow Dunn and Raskin to claim a small bonus every time they make a new video. It’s also worth noting that YouTube viewers are, on the whole, very receptive to the idea of branded content; head over to the comments section of the Anna Akana video embedded above and you’ll find a preponderance of positivity.
Still, that doesn’t make Dunn’s experience any more pleasant. Her article is filled with anecdotes relayed to her by other members of the YouTube community, from Meghan Tonjes to Rachel Whitehurst to BuzzFeed’s Brittany Ashley. Their stories are all the same: Despite making waves on YouTube, they have to worry about how they will pay the bills.
There are many other parts of Dunn’s story that are worth reading, particularly if you’re interested in learning about how brand deals get done on YouTube. Check it out over at Fusion; it’s a must for any online video fan.
Since it launched earlier this year, Insurrection Media–led by former FOX exec Kiliaen Van Rensselaer–has piqued our interest by announcing several content deals with well-known producers. The digital-first studio has now added another partnership to its docket; it will team up with publisher HarperCollins to adapt several books into web series.
The deal between Insurrection and HarperCollins will cover a number of titles across multiple genres, but the first book series the two companies are eying is a young adult (YA) trilogy called Mila 2.0, written by Debra Driza. Mila 2.0 is a science fiction tale centered around a woman who discovers she is actually the result of an experiment into artificial intelligence.
“We’re thrilled to see Mila 2.0 on the development slate with Insurrection,” said Suzanne Murphy, President and Publisher at HarperCollins Children’s Books, in a press release. “This is a great opportunity to further build the audience for this series, which will see its third book, Mila 2.0: Redemption, published in April 2016.”
A press release from Insurrection did not say when the Mila 2.0 adaptation would become available. The series’ distribution platform is also a mystery, though Insurrection’s release says its collaborations will HarperCollins will release across “a multitude of over-the-top and linear video platforms.”
[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 it’s Justin Bieber’s online video world, we’re just watching in it.
Chart Toppers
Justin Bieber held onto his #1 spot on the worldwide chart for another week, and despite a slight dip in views, did so still in commanding fashion. The 21-year-old pop star’s mid-November release of his fourth studio album Purpose and its associated music videos have been a boon for the Bieb’s online video views. In the past seven days alone, Bieber’s channel racked up more than 172.8 million views. In a very distant second place is Adele. The British musician back from a three-or-so-year hiatus with a smash hit ‘Hello‘ continued her online video descent (down 19% on the week), but still crossed the nine-figure mark, closing out the week with more than 102.2 million views.
Mashamedvedtv is next up in the #3 spot. The YouTube home of an apparently incredibly popular Russian children’s cartoon amassed almost 90.1 million views in the week. LittleBabyBum is up next in fourth place. The British YouTube channel that’s home to music videos featuring every English-speaking toddler’s favorite jams scored over 89.9 million views on the week.
And rounding out the Top 5 is RyanToysReview. The family-friendly channel dedicated to Ryan and the toys with which he opens and plays was down 21% on the week to bottom out just shy of 87.9 million views.
Top Gainers
The honor of one of our Top Gainers this week goes to Psy.
The South Korean musical multi-hyphenate released his sixth studio album dubbed Chiljip Psy-daon December 1, 2015. And though it’s no Gangnam Stylethe music video associated with the first single from the record received a lot of views. “Daddy” quickly racked up an eight-figure view count, helping Psy’s channel to a 57% week-over-week increase in views, almost 49.2 million views on the week, and the #22 spot on the Worldwide chart.
Distribution
All in all, the top 50 most viewed YouTube channels accounted for 2,800,308,296 views last week. Here’s the distribution of a few of those channels by multi-channel network:
Vevo: 10 channels in the Top 50, with Justin Bieber at #1.
Maker Studios: 4 channels in the Top 50, with TheDiamondMinecart at #19.
AIR, BroadBandTV, BuzzFeed, XMediaDigital: 2 channels each in the Top 50, with AIR’s Miss Katy at #23, BroadBandTV’s Fernanfloo at #46, BuzzFeed’s BuzzFeed Video at #14, and XMediaDigital’s mashamedvedtv at #3.
And here’s the distribution of the this week’s Top 50 YouTube channels by country of origin:
United States: 22 channels in the Top 50.
Great Britain: 5 channels in the Top 50.
Canada: 4 channels in the Top 50.
India: 3 channels in the Top 50.
Russia, Thailand, Ukraine: 2 channels each in the Top 50.
Argentina, El Salvador, Ireland, Jamaica, Japan, Netherlands, Philippines, South Korea, Sweden, 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.
“With help from Ballinger’s real-life sister Rachel and husband Joshua Evans, Miranda reaches beyond the satiric character’s signature malapropisms, misspellings and smeared lipstick to encourage confidence and empowerment in Mirfandas of all ages,” reads the special’s description on its Vimeo page. The term “Mirfandas” refers to Miranda’s fans; she has more than 5.6 million subscribers on YouTube.
If you’d like to become a Mirfanda yourself–or if you’re one already–you’re going to want to pick up Miranda’s special on Vimeo. It costs $4.99 to rent and $9.99 to purchase.
T-Mobile has a new digital video offering to try to entice customers away from one of its competitors. The mobile data carrier will provide Verizon customers with a free year of Hulu for switching to a T-Mobile data plan.
T-Mobile’s Hulu offer is a part of the data provider’s Un-carrier Unwrapped holiday campaign, which seeks to reward consumers who choose T-Mobile over other carriers. For each Verizon customer who chooses to switch over, the data carrier will provide a $100 gift certificate good for over one year’s worth of Hulu’s Limited Commercials plan. Additionally, T-Mobile will offer new customers from Verizon up to 50% off select mobile accessories, like headphones and speakers, to help them enjoy their Hulu experience even more.
The Hulu offer from T-Mobile also helps promote the carrier’s recently-introduced Binge On feature. That program provides T-Mobile customers with qualifying plans the ability to watch videos on services like Netflix, HBO Go, and Hulu without the data counting against their monthly allotment. T-Mobile points out how with Verizon, consumers who want to binge-watch a full season of Hulu’s The Mindy Project would have to pay Verizon up to $40 more dollars for the extra 2.6Gbs of data they would use while streaming the show.
“Verizon customers put up with a lot of sneaky tricks from Big Red these days. Overpriced data, shocking overage penalties and no early upgrade option – just to name a few,” said John Legere, President and CEO of T-Mobile, in a release. “So while Verizon spends billions of dollars on TV ads screaming that ‘better matters,’ we are going to show their customers why the Un-carrier is better with a real gift, half-off the best accessories and a full year of Hulu that comes with unlimited LTE streaming with Binge On at T-Mobile! It’s a gift that will keep giving all year long!”
The decision to incorporate a streaming video offering is an interesting move on T-Mobile’s part. The mobile company is one of the only data providers lacking a consistent presence in the digital entertainment world. While T-Mobile sponsored YouTube’s Coachella live stream this summer, the data provider’s competitors have invested much more visible effort into digital video. AT&T, for example, is part owner of multi-channel network Fullscreen through its Otter Media venture alongside The Chernin Group. And Verizon just launched its mobile video service go90. T-Mobile’s Hulu bribe could be a part of the mobile company’s strategy to stay on top of online video trends and meet consumers’ digital consumption needs.
Interested Verizon customers can visit any T-Mobile store and switch over to get their free Hulu subscription before December 18, 2015.
In the early days of the Internet, webcams were one of the devices content creators could use to share their lives with viewers. Now, as 2016 rolls around, and as better camera technologies have improved video quality within the online video community and beyond, YouTube has opted to decrease its support for webcams. On January 16, 2016, the video site will shut off a feature that previously allowed users to upload footage directly from webcams.
In a brief update discussing the change, YouTube explained that it would discontinue the direct webcam upload feature “because it is rarely used and is built on technology that is no longer supported.” According to TheNextWeb, the outdated technology in question is Flash, which YouTube dropped as its default player (in favor of HTML5) in January 2015.
Users who still wish to upload webcam videos to YouTube can download them externally and then upload the resulting video file to YouTube. For most people, though, that won’t be an issue; webcams have been outdated for a while now, and outside of the Internet’s more risque corners, webcam feeds rarely show up at all anymore.
Instead, for most YouTube users, the discontinuation of direct webcam uploads does little more than signal the death knell for an early Internet staple. If, for some reason, you’re one of the people still uploading YouTube videos from a webcam, well, you should invest in a real camera. Your viewers will appreciate the quality jump.
Fans have been asking for a fifth season of Netflix’s hit original series Arrested Development ever since the fourth season debuted on the premium streaming service in May 2013. The platform’s CCO Ted Sarandosstated in August 2014 he was certain the comedy series would return, but little has been revealed in terms of the show’s production progress since then. Now, thanks to Arrested Development executive producer Ron Howard, we have a production status update.
Howard appeared on Good Morning America for a press tour surrounding his film In the Heart of the Sea. According to a report from Deadline, GMA Host Amy Robach asked Howard about where Netflix was at with developing Arrested Development season five. “Well, Mitch Hurwitz the creator of the show is working with writers now,” responded Howard, whose production company Imagine Entertainment helps produce Arrested Development. “Netflix is behind it, 20th Century Fox is behind it.”
While Howard said production is “hopeful,” the Oscar-winning director was careful to point out the complicated development path Arrested Development has had to deal with over the last few years. “What has happened is that the cast has become so freakin’ in demand and busy,” Howard explained. “Everyone wants to do it. Fans want it. I would be saddened if we didn’t achieve it. I’m the announcer and the narrator, and I have to get back to that microphone.”
Netflix originally picked up Arrested Development for a fourth season in 2011, after the show had run for three seasons on Fox from 2003-2006. Fifteen episodes of the comedy series’ fourth season premiered on Netflix in May 2013 to mixed reviews. However, Netflix heard the pleas of Arrested Development fans and said in July 2013 the platform would work to bring back the show for a fifth season.
More recently, Arrested Development’s Brian Grazer, who co-executive produces the show alongside Howard, revealed they were working on 17 new episodes for the upcoming season. Now, we just have to wait for confirmation from Netflix before we can start rejoicing at the show’s official impending return.
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.
In today’s column, in order to uncover the weirdest web series in recent memory, we’re traveling to Norway. There, we find Made in Mosjøen, a bizarre and enticing offering from creator Aleksander Nordaas.
Normally, this is the point of the review where I would describe what the series is about, but with Made in Mosjøen, that isn’t so simple. All I can say is that it features dark lighting, gratuitous nudity, mysterious and dangerous characters, and a casual disregard for the fourth wall–and that’s just in the first episode alone.
As Made in Mosjøencarries on, it begins to take a more concrete shape, though Nordaas makes sure to carry a strange and eerie sensibility from episode to episode. At some points, Made in Mosjøen almost feels like an anthology series, with each installment introducing us to uncommon scenarios and characters who defy description. The closest comparison I can make (and several people in the series’ comment section have made the same leap) is to the TV series Twin Peaks, though I think it’s more fair to say that Made in Mosjøen defies comparison.
This isn’t a series for everyone, but if you can handle it, you’ll probably like it quite a bit. All 19 of its episodes can be viewed on its official YouTube channel.
OTHER UNDER-THE-RADAR SERIES TO CHECK OUT
10percento. This 100-episode offering from Italy is billed as the first “lesbian web series” on Instagram.
Anne and Jake. An eccentric scientist who loves Back to the Future encounters a 19th-century English woman.
Til Lease Do Us Part. Friends, lovers, exes, and enemies all collide in a small, collegiate apartment.
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.
The upcoming feature film Dirty Thirty from Lionsgate already stars YouTube celebrities Grace Helbig, Hannah Hart, and Mamrie Hart. Now, these three Camp Takota actresses have some new co-stars joining the production. Fellow YouTube stars Anna Akana, Flula Borg, and Chester See are among many of the new digital-hailing cast members announced for Dirty Thirty.
Written by Mamrie Hart and actress Molly Prather, Dirty Thirty tells the story of three women at a 30th birthday party that goes horribly wrong. Akana joins the film as Ashley, the arch-nemesis of Helbig, Hart, and Hart’s characters. Borg and See will play party attendees, alongside Josh Levya (also known as YoMuscleBoii), CollegeHumor’s Adam Lustick, Katherine Hughes (Me and Earl and the Dying Girl), and YouTuber Mikey Murphy.
Also joining the cast of Dirty Thirty is vlogger Drew Monson (aka mytoecold), who will play Hannah Hart’s co-worker Rufus. Kelen Coleman (The McCarthys), Andy Ridings (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt), and Matt Dellapina (These Hopeless Savages) are on board as the Camp Takota trio’s love interests. Finally, YouTube stars Rhett and Link, Timothy DeLaGhetto, and Epic Lloyd will make cameo appearances in Dirty Thirty.
Lionsgate originally announced its acquisition of Dirty Thirty in October 2015. The comedy flick from IMG Films, set for release sometime in 2016, is directed by Andrew Bush (Roller Town) and produced by Michael Goldfine under his titular production company (which also produced Camp Takota). Helbig, Hart, and Hart serve as executive producers alongside their Bleecker Street Entertainment managers Vincent Nastri and Ken Treusch. According to the Dirty Thirty Twitter account, the film team just wrapped up shooting today in Los Angeles:
