Online streaming platforms like Hulu, Netflix, and Amazon Prime are currently in an arms race to pick up the stateside streaming rights for acclaimed TV programs from the UK. While its competitors distribute their own British shows, Amazon has stepped up its offerings from across the pond by striking a deal with PBS to bring four installments of the Masterpiece series–Wolf Hall, Poldark, Grantchester, and Indian Summers–to its Prime subscribers.

Masterpiece (formerly known as Masterpiece Theater) has since 1971 provided an anthology of historical dramas co-produced by PBS and British TV networks like the BBC, ITV, and Channel 4. The most famous of these dramas, at least currently, is Downton Abbey, for which Amazon already owns the exclusive American streaming rights. The series included in the new deal are set between the 16th and 20th centuries. They all premiered first on British TV channels before coming to the US through PBS.

PBS’ Masterpiece arsenal joins an attractive slate of British programs available through Amazon Prime. The premium service, which costs $99 per year, is also the American streaming home of Catastrophe, an acclaimed Channel 4 comedy that was recently renewed for a second season.

Amazon’s offerings from overseas complement the original series it distributes exclusively to its subscribers. With its latest additions, it is giving the viewers who have made Downton Abbey a worldwide phenomenon plenty more to get excited about.

Filed under: Articles, Channels, Featured, News, PBS by Sam Gutelle
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Back in August 2014, Netflix announced it would renew its original animated series BoJack Horseman for a second season. Now, the streaming video-on-demand service is getting BoJack fans amped up by releasing a trailer for the show’s upcoming season, which will debut on July 17, 2015.

In the second season of Bojack Horseman, BoJack (voiced by Arrested Development’s Will Arnett) has snagged the lead role in a biopic of legendary racehorse Secretariat. BoJack’s new-found fame convinces him to try to change his self-destructive, booze-infused, womanizing tendencies, but as a release notes, “the demons of his past make it difficult to shake off the skin of his previous self.”

Produced through Michael Eisner’s The Tornante Company, BoJack Horseman stars the voice talents of Aaron Paul, Amy Sedaris, Alison Brie, Paul F. Tompkins, and Lisa Kudrow. The Netflix series was created by Raphael Bob-Waksberg and designed by artist Lisa Hanawalt. Arnett and Paul serve as executive producers alongside Bob-Waksberg, Steven A. Cohen, and Noel Bright.

Netflix first introduced viewers to BoJack Horseman back in August 2014. The original animated series drew a combination of adoration and indifference from critics; Netflix went ahead and renewed the series for a second season anyway, only four days after its premiere. Season two of BoJack Horseman will be available on Netflix starting July 17.

Filed under: Articles, Netflix, News by Bree Brouwer
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One of YouTube’s top comedy acts has struck a deal through which he will explore new opportunities across multiple platforms. Bart Baker, whose parody music videos have attracted more than 6.1 million subscribers and racked up more than 1.5 billion views across an eight-and-a-half year run on YouTube, has signed with Hollywood talent agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA).

Baker’s videos are marked by his sassy lyrics and his tendency to don elaborate cross-dressing get-ups. His latest parody, in which he uses the Nicki Minaj and Beyonce tune “Feeling Myself” to poke fun at Jay-Z’s controversial Tidal platform, has at the time of this post rolled up 678,000 views in just two days on YouTube.

The CAA deal marks the second time in four months Baker has joined forces with a major Hollywood talent agency. In February, he was one of seven prominent creators who signed with WME, but the new deal suggests he has since split with Ari Emanuel’s agency. He will, however, continue to be represented by both Maker Studios and 26MGMT.

As it does with other YouTube stars, the CAA will work with Baker to expand beyond his flagship channel. One of his main side projects is an app called Challenged, which launched earlier in June. Vine stars Nash Grier and Cameron Dallas have also contributed to the app’s inception. Baker has also joined several other YouTube stars by posting his videos on recently-launched video startup Vessel.

Baker joins dozens of other YouTube stars who are signed with the CAA. The agency’s other digital clients include Bethany Mota, Kian Lawley, and Pentatonix.

Filed under: Agencies, Articles, Channels, Featured, News by Sam Gutelle
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Facebook has a new way of figuring out if users want to see more videos. The social media site, which now boasts over 4 billion video views per day, has tweaked its News Feed algorithms to show more video content on feeds for users who take specific actions.

Facebook’s News Feed currently tracks the videos each user watches and the watch time for each video.Users who frequently watch clips see newvideos higher up in their feeds, while those who don’t watch videos nearly as often see them farther down the screen. Facebook also considers user actions such as liking a video or sharing it as proof those users want more video content.

However, Facebook Engineering Manager Meihong Wang and Software Engineer Yue Zhuo noted in a company blog post how these qualifications alone were not fully indicative of users’ interest in videos. For example, the social site learned many users who may enjoy watching videos may not actually like or share them. Wang and Zhuo wrote that other user actions indicate interest in a video, too.

“We have learned that certain actions people take on a video, such as choosing to turn on sound or making the video full screen, are good signs they wanted to see that video, even if they didn’t want to like it,” Wang and Zhuo explained. “Today, we want to share an update to News Feed ranking that takes into account these actions to help people see more of the videos they care about and fewer of the videos they don’t.”

Wang and Zhuo said this update will be rolled out over the next few weeks to users’ News Feeds (though the Facebook engineers said brands’ Pages aren’t likely to see a big change in distribution from the tweaked video algorithm).

Filed under: Articles, Facebook, News by Bree Brouwer
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During this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), YouTube attracted a big audience with a live stream that pulled in eight million views in its first 12 hours of coverage. Not to be outdone, Twitch is also boasting its own big E3 numbers. The live streaming site dedicated to video game content shared an infographic breaking down the nearly 12 million hours of watch time its E3-related streams received.

The 11.98 million hours of watch time came from more than 21 million unique viewers. At peak viewership, 840,000 people concurrently streamed E3 content, and as Twitch notes, that number was 16 times the number of physical attendees at the video game industry’s biggest yearly event.

Twitch managed to deliver a large amount of E3 coverage thanks to its status as the event’s official live streaming partner. At the same time, the site’s decision to let its users co-stream E3 coverage also turned out to be a smart decision. Co-streamed footage made up 35% of Twitch’s total E3 viewership, with 1,801 channels participating in the program. Co-streaming was particularly popular for international audiences, as it was used to deliver foreign language versions of the E3 stream.

More information about Twitch’s E3 statistics can be found in an infographic shared on the company’s official blog:

Filed under: infographics, TwitchTV by Sam Gutelle
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YouTube will bring plenty of creator-focused updates to its platform within the year. Google’s online video site has given a behind-the-scenes look at ten new features and improvements it is bringing to the YouTube platform.

For starters, Google’s online video site plans to implement Creator Community forums where users can connect, collaborate, and swap advice. YouTube has improved the Creator Academy’s functionality so creators can more easily search the 50+ training videos and personalize their learning experience. YouTube’s app will also boast new features for creators, such as improved insights and notifications about channel activity. The YouTube app will also contain enhanced mobile management features to help creators turn monetization on or off, and update video thumbnails on-the-go.

Comments are another area YouTube’s development team has improved for creators. In order to turn over a new leaf after a long history of controversy, YouTube comments will now boast less troll-bait and spam. The site’s developers created a ranking system which makes these types of negative comments less visible. And the system’s worked so well in testing that product manager Kiley McEvoy said the rate of dislikes on comments across all of YouTube has dropped more than 36%.

Additionally, YouTube is focusing on improving the video experience for creators’ fans. The site is adding a type of card dubbed Channel card, which can be used to link a video to another channel (either the creator’s or a collaborator’s, for example). YouTube is also onboarding more 360-degree video and even 3D support, and making users’ subscription notifications and feed access more streamlined on YouTube and its corresponding app.

You can check out all of YouTube’s upcoming creator features in the company’s blog post. YouTube notes some of these features will be available within the next few weeks, and all will be rolled out within the year.

Filed under: Articles, News, YouTube by Bree Brouwer
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As the theatrical release date for their latest big screen bow approaches, Despicable Me’s minions are making a splash on YouTube. The yellow, tic-tac shaped animated characters, who will star in the upcoming feature film Minions, have also appeared in videos shot on sets at the YouTube Spaces in New York and Los Angeles.

The production of Minions-related YouTube videos is the latest example of what has become a common partnership between movie studios and YouTube content creators. The studios–in this case Universal–provide sets and props related to upcoming films, which become available for creators at YouTube Spaces around the globe. The resulting collaborations give creators relevant resources for new videos while allowing studios to pick up cheap, or even free promotion for current projects. Before the Minions residency, we recently saw Paramount Pictures use this strategy with its Terminator Genisys: The YouTube Chronicles series.

One of the videos created at these sets came from Kim Maycraft of the Made by Mommy channel, who combined Minions sets, costumes, and props at the YouTube Space in New York to create a kid-friendly music video called “Be A Minion.” The video’s description notes that, although it was shot on the Minions sets, it is not officially a sponsored video. Made by Mommy will also host a makeover video inspired by Minions antagonist Scarlet Overkill.

Even for creators who do not make use of the various YouTube Spaces, this is still the time for Minions videos. We also recently noted a Mystery Science 3000-style Minions video from Fandango’s Movieclips brand, and we expect to see many other tie-ins to the animated film as its theatrical release date draws near.

Filed under: Agencies, Articles, Featured, News, YouTube Spaces by Sam Gutelle
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Video advertising has long-dominated the online video industry as the primary income source for content creators—revenue sharing initiatives like YouTube’s revolutionary Partner Program have laid the foundational framework for the entire Multi-Channel Network industry. But as our industry has matured, revenue opportunities have also diversified. Our past Tubefilter Meetups have explored the wide range of ways that creators are building their businesses: from integrated brand campaigns, book deals, television shows, touring and appearances, exclusive platform windows, and merchandising.

And now video content itself has become a product to buy, rent, or subscribe to. Altough the ever-alluring pay-to-play video model has fallen flat for creators in the past (see our December 2012 Tubefilter Meetup), this time around it is seeming to stick. Creators are turning to platforms like Vimeo On Demand to sell streaming and downloadable content directlyto fans.

We’re sitting down with Vimeo’s Director of Marketing and Distribution along with some of the most successful creators, filmmakers, and studio executives in online video for a deep dive into Vimeo’s newest VOD service. Join us as we learn how the 10-year old platform is reinventing itself and quickly becoming the darling of the online video community, and learn how creators are successfully moving their fans from free to paid content.

Making The Jump—Successfully Transitioning From Free To Paid In Online Video
Tuesday, June 30, 2015 at Busby’s East

Early Bird Tickets have SOLD OUT—get your tickets now!

Open bar happy hour compliments of Vimeo.

Panelists:

Peter Gerard Director of Marketing and Distribution, Vimeo

Marc Hustvedt Founder, SUPERGRAVITY Pictures

Philip Wang Wesley Chan Wong Fu Productions

Desmond “Dez” Dolly Co-founder, RocketJump

Moderator: Drew Baldwin, Founder of Tubefilter and Creator of the Streamy Awards

Making The Jump—Successfully Transitioning From Free To Paid In Online Video
Tuesday, June 30, 2015 at Busby’s East

Early Bird Tickets have SOLD OUT—get your tickets now!

Open bar happy hour compliments of Vimeo.

Schedule:
7:00pm – Doors Open (pre-seating)
7:45pm – Panel Discussion and Q&A
8:45pm – Networking Mixer

We hope to see you there! Also, please note, Busby’s East is a 21+ location.

Special thanks to our Meetup Partner Vimeo, to our Supporting Partners Semaphore, Endemol beyond USA, and SAG-AFTRA New Media, and to our Community Partners Snap Yourself!, Shorts Showcase, and Channel Pages.

Filed under: Articles, News, Tubefilter Meetup, Vimeo by Drew Baldwin
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The club of YouTube stars-turned-authors is welcoming a new writer to its ranks. Matthew Santoro, who boasts over 4.2 million subscribers on his YouTube channel, will pen a new book from Penguin Canada called MIND=BLOWN.

A release describes Santoro’s upcoming book as a “collection of weird, hilarious, and crazy facts about the world around us,” mimicking the format and topics of his YouTube channel. Santoro’s MIND=BLOWN will provide fascinating facts and stories about science, technology, and history, all of them infused with a bit of the digital star’s well-loved humor. Justin Stoller at Penguin Canada, Joel Rickett at Viking UK, and Marian Lizzi at Perigee U.S. obtained global co-publishing rights to MIND=BLOWN through Collective Digital Studio and Marc Gerald at The Agency Group.

With his upcoming book, Santoro will join many other YouTubers who have become published authors. Those digital stars who already have titles to their names include Shane Dawson, iJustine, and Connor Franta. Recently, several more creators, like PewDiePie and Tyler Oakley announced book deals and impending publication dates. Plus, Grace Helbig just announced her second book’s February 2016 release date; her first literary effort was a New York Times bestseller.

MIND=BLOWN will be published in August 2016.

Filed under: Articles, Matthew Santoro, News by Bree Brouwer
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AXS TV has a new show all about YouTube artists preparing for their debut live broadcasts, and it features a surprise twist. The cable television network partnered some of YouTube’s up-and-coming musicians with celebrity mentors in the upcoming documentary-style TV show called Breaking Band.

Breaking Band is centered on the idea of pairing up hit YouTube musicians with mentors who will help the creators prepare for their debut live performance at YouTube Space LA. So far, AXS TV has brought on mentors like Dave Navarro, Sebastian Bach, Belinda Carlisle, Moby, Robin Zander, and Mark Magrath to collaborate with YouTube stars Andie Case, Santa Cruz, Runaground, and Ten Second Songs.

The digital stars have no idea who their mentors are going to be beforehand. The YouTube artists and mentors rehearse a set together before the broadcast goes live on AXS TV’s YouTube channel. During the 6-8 song set performance, each mentor interacts with the creators’ fan bases via a live chat, and determines whether or not to join the YouTubers onstage for an encore performance.

You can watch several performances of singles by digital creators featured on Breaking Band on AXS TV’s YouTube channel. Each 24-minute episode of Breaking Band will debut on AXS TV’s linear cable channel in the fall of 2015.

Filed under: Articles, Channels, News, YouTube, YouTube Spaces by Bree Brouwer
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Christopher “Big Black” Boykin is a bodyguard, a businessman, and one of the co-stars of MTV programs Rob & Big and Fantasy Factory. Now, Big Black can add “web series star” to his accomplishments. He learns how to dance ballet in the first episode of Bigger Is Better, a series created by Defy Media in partnership with Fiat.

Bigger Is Better is sponsored by the Fiat 500X. At the beginning of each episode, Big Black, who explains how he’s “game to try just about anything,” uses the new crossover vehicle to seek out new adventures. He starts in the world of dance, where he tries his best to become a ballerina (or, as he soon learns is the proper term, a “ballerino”). He’s probably the biggest man to ever wear a tutu.

Bigger Is Better lives on Defy Media’s Made Man hub, which offers up a variety of male-skewing content for its viewers and readers. Defy gave Bigger Is Better its own homepage, which also includes behind-the-scenes features from the series.

Defy produced Bigger Is Better for Fiat through its Creative Lab dedicated to branded content. Defy says the Creative Lab has made 175 pieces of content this year.

New episodes of Bigger Is Better will arrive each month.

Filed under: Articles, Branded Entertainment, Channels, Featured, News by Sam Gutelle
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Zach King, whose use of visually-deceptive editing tricks has earned him the name “Final Cut King,” is no stranger to sponsored content. He has previously teamed up with the likes of Red Bull and Friskies, and his Vine feed is peppered with regular brand endorsements. For his latest collaboration, King teamed up with Sony and production agency Stinkdigital for a short video in which he uses a Sony Action Cam to walk around as an “Invisible Man.”

King is known for his flashy videos, but the setup for “Invisible Man” is quite simple. He attaches one of Sony’s mobile Action Cams to his back and connects it to a flat screen resting on his chest. The resulting optical illusion makes King appear see-through.

“Invisible Man” is part of the Never Before Seen series, in which Sony enlists filmmakers to shoot fantastical scenes using the Action Cam. Videos from Never Before Seen have rolled out over the past few months on the Action Cam’s YouTube channel, and they’re all pretty fun. If this is Sony’s answer to the YouTube success of GoPro, we’re all for it.

Filed under: Articles, Branded Entertainment, Featured, News, Sony, Web Series by Sam Gutelle
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