A year after its initial launch, the Seeker brand — which is run by Discovery Digital Networks — has seen some modest success, with nearly 300,000 subscribers and close to 30 million views on its central YouTube channel. In order to foster more growth for Seeker, Discovery recently announced a rebrand, which will be driven by a new content slate that will unite multiple digital hubs. That change is now live, with a fresh crop of videos rolling out for subscribers.

When it launched, Seeker was advertised as a hub that would appeal to curious viewers, and while it is shifting the brand a bit, Discovery is, for the most part, keeping that original mission intact. Seeker videos will still attempt to inspire those who watch them, but their formats will change. The brand’s short-form news program, Seeker Daily, has been moved over to the channel formerly known as TestTube News; despite the name change, the tone of Seeker Daily’s videos will remain consistent with previous offerings, as will the hosts who present them.

Meanwhile, the other channels within the Seeker brand will focus on a host of new original programs. Between live broadcasts, VR videos, and the long-form documentaries that will live on the Seeker Stories channel, Discovery Digital will still dish out a lot of great programming for its consumers. A short teaser posted to the central Seeker channel offers a taste of the brand’s new style:

To see what the network cooks up next, subscribe to Seeker and check out the brand’s website, which was redesigned as part of the recent re-brand.

Filed under: Articles, Discovery Digital Networks, Featured, News, Studios by Sam Gutelle
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A big part of YouTube’s plan for premium subscription service YouTube Red revolves around original programs created by the site’s most popular stars. On May 25th, two more of those shows premiered: CollegeHumor’s Bad Internet, and Fine Bros Entertainment (FBE)’s Sing It!.

Both Bad Internet and Sing It! look to expand the appeal of their respective producers through high-quality, long-form episodes. The former series applies CollegeHumor’s tendency to spoof web culture across a series of sketches that poke fun at companies like BuzzFeed and Uber, while the latter show continues FBE’s quest to lampoon the music industry, which began with the 52-episode web series MyMusic.

The first episodes of both Bad Internet and Sing It! are available for free on the YouTube channels of their respective producers. If you want to catch future installments, you’ll need to subscribe to YouTube Red, which costs $9.99 per month.

Other original programs released through YouTube Red include Lilly Singh’s A Trip To Unicorn Island, Rooster Teeth’s Lazer Team, and several others. Future contributions to the platform’s slate will come from popular creators like “Game Theorist” Matthew Patrick and Joey Graceffa.

New episodes of Bad Internet and Sing It! (which both have 10 episodes in their respective first seasons) will arrive each week.

Filed under: Articles, CollegeHumor, Featured, News, The Fine Bros., YouTube Red by Sam Gutelle
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The European Commission, a regulatory body, is currently weighing rules that would require video services that operate across the continent — including Netflix, Amazon, and Apple — to dedicate at least 20% of their content libraries to local programming. At the same time, the Commission would give individual countries the power to force content companies to finance locally-produced TV shows and films within the countries in which they operate.

The EU argues that national TV broadcasters in Europe — such as the UK’s BBC and France’s TF1 — already invest around 20% of revenues to support original content in the countries where they air, reports The New York Times. The aforementioned streaming services only allocate about 1% of revenues to local content initiatives.

The proposal is subject to the approval of the European Parliament, and could go into effect as early as next year, according to the Times.

A study funded by the Commission found that Netflix and Apple both already feature content libraries with 20% of programming that hails from Europe. Forcing these companies to fund local productions, however, is a significantly taller order — and one that Netflix patently rejects. The streaming giant, which has created local shows in France, Italy, and Spain as part of its global expansion initiative, tells the Times that such a law would afflict consumer choice since many European viewers want to watch American shows.

In addition to the content quotas, rules proposed by the Commission would call for video sites like YouTube and Dailymotion to take additional measures to protect children from violent, hateful, and pornographic content.

“The way we watch TV or videos may have changed, but our values don’t,” said EU commissioner Günther Oettinger in a statement. “With these new rules, we will uphold media pluralism…and will make sure incitement to hatred will have no room on video-sharing platforms.”

Filed under: Amazon, Netflix, News by Geoff Weiss
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Welcome to the Fund This column! Each week, we’ll look at a planned web series or other online video project currently in search of funding on crowdfunding sites. We’ll tell you what the series is all about and explain why it is worth your money. Do you have a project that’s currently being crowdfunded? Contact us to let us know and we may feature it in upcoming installments and check out previous installments right here.

This installment of Fund This is brought to you by Patreon.

Project Name: Easy Allies

Asking For: $40,000 per month on Patreon

Amount Raised Thus Far (At Time Of Post): $39,230 per month

Days Remaining In Campaign (At Time Of Post): There’s six days until end of month, but Patreon supports ongoing projects, so the campaign doesn’t have an end date.

Description: In February 2016, the long-running website GameTrailers shut down after close to 14 years as one of the most-trusted voices in video game journalism. Just a few weeks later, nine of the publication’s former employees launched a project called Easy Allies, through which they planned to keep the GameTrailers voice alive. Since then, the Easy Allies team has offered up daily streams on Twitch, with the channel’s nine founders handing off host duties six days a week and convening on Tuesdays for a big group stream.

GameTrailers was perhaps best known for its reviews, but Easy Allies focus is more experiential, with a focus on playing through games and podcasting about them. The goal, as Easy Allies co-founder Brandon Jones says in the channel’s pitch video, is to “keep the good times going.”

Creator Bio: Everyone in the Easy Allies crew comes from GameTrailers. Jones was one of GT’s co-founders; he launched the site in 2002 alongside Geoff Grotz.

Best Perk: Patrons who kick in at least $20 per month get access to an exclusive monthly Q&A session where, if they so choose, they are allowed to ask the Easy Allies team “really embarrassing questions.”

Why You Should Fund It: It was sad to see GameTrailers bite the dust, but since the publication’s spirit was revived in the form of Easy Allies, there has been much rejoicing from its devoted fans. There are a seemingly infinite number of options who viewers who wish to discover gaming content online, but there is simply no substitute for the experience, comfort, and expertise the Easy Allies crew has built up after more than a decade on the web. Plus, the channel will need plenty of Patreon love in order to support its hosts full-time; back it, and your support will go a long way.

Got a crowdfunding campaign you’d like to see featured in Fund This? Be sure to contact us here.

This installment of Fund This is brought to you by Patreon, the best way for video creators to get ongoing funding directly from their fans. Over 25,000 creators are using Patreon to do things like increase production value, hire more staff, and expand revenue sources. Learn more about funding your future on Patreon.

Filed under: Articles, Channels, Featured, Fund This, News, Patreon by Sam Gutelle
Comments Off on Fund This: Former GameTrailers Gang Hits Patreon To Raise $40K Per Month As “Easy Allies”

Hila and Ethan Klein, the couple behind the popular YouTube channel h3h3productions, which frequently posts comedic reaction videos about other YouTube stars, announced today that they are being sued for copyright infringement in what could amount to yet another high-profile lawsuit spotlighting the intensely fraught issue of fair use on YouTube.

In a video posted yesterday, the Kleins explain that they are being sued by the YouTuber Matt Hosseinzadeh — who makes short comedy films on his MattHossZone channel — for a reaction video that the Kleins posted on their second channel, Ethan and Hila, making fun of Hosseinzadeh.

“It’s been hanging over our lives like a cloud these past months,” says Ethan of the suit, alleging that it actually has nothing to do with copyright infringement at all. “The heart and soul of this is that he doesn’t like that we made fun of him, and so he’s suing us.” The Kleins say that the lawsuit is going to court, could take up to two years to litigate, and that it will cost them up to $100,000 to defend themselves.

“You just don’t know what a jury will say,” adds Hila. “I don’t know how old they are, what have they seen — if they know anything about YouTube.” If the Kleins lose, they say they risk losing everything they’ve built with their channels thus far.

In their video explaining the lawsuit (above), the Kleins note that Hosseinzadeh presented them with several settlement offers before moving forward with the lawsuit, in which they would have had to pay him $4,000, or apologize and promote his channel. Fearing this would set a dangerous precedent not just for their own channel but for YouTube collectively, the Kleins say they ultimately declined.

During these negotiations, however, the Kleins say that Hosseinzadeh issued a copyright takedown for the video — even after it had already been privated. The strike, they say, will impact their channel for six months, and illustrates the ways in which creators — despite YouTube’s best efforts — can still be unjustly punished for copyright infringement. “YouTube treats people with a copyright strike like criminals,” says Ethan. “It’s like, ‘Can we get some more oversight on this, please? We’re literally going to court to defend fair use to help protect 50% of your users.’”

There have been several other high-profile cases surrounding the contentious issue of fair use. In March, for instance, Ray William Johnson’s Equals Three Studios and Jukin Media reached a settlement after a jury was reportedly expected to rule in favor of Jukin, which had accused Equals Three of copyright infringement. And in 2015, an appeals court judge ultimately ruled in favor of a Pennsylvania woman who claimed fair use on a video of her then-eight-month-old baby dancing to Prince following a years-long legal battle with Universal Music Group.

Filed under: Industry, News, Uncategorized, YouTube by Geoff Weiss
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There’s a fun new trend that involves running in patterns shaped like objects in the eyes of your GPS, and Old Spice, which always seems to keep tabs on the Internet’s latest fads, has invited YouTube stars and their fans to join the fun. It enlisted the Rooster Teeth, Smosh Games, Logan Paul, Kevin La Sean, and several other digital influencers to promote its Dream Runner campaign, which offers prizes to joggers who shape their routes as specific items.

Athletic sorts can get in on the Dream Runner fun by using a mobile device to access a website set up by Old Spice. Each day, the site will offer up a prize for runners who can jog a route shaped like the object Old Spice is giving away. On May 23rd, for example, one jogger earned an encyclopedia set. On the day of this post, a fancy watch is up for grabs. The campaign will conclude on May 27th will an adult tricycle giveaway.

The digital media stars who participated in the promotion of Dream Runner each put their own twists on the campaign’s theme. Prankster Andrew Hales of LAHWF, for example, ran a heart-shaped route as he “searched for love” on the beach; FaZe Apex paid homage to his gaming skills by sketching out a controller; and Ronnie Street Stunts used parkour to cut his shoe-shaped path.

The Dream Runner campaign continues Old Spice’s work as an innovative brand in the digital video space. The company’s most famous ad, “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like,” has more than 52 million views on YouTube.

Filed under: Articles, Branded Entertainment, Featured, News by Sam Gutelle
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After unveiling its eponymous subscription platform last month with a full slate of originals, Fullscreen has announced the debut of its first new series since the service’s launch.

Beginning today, the network will air the first three episodes of Making Moves, a racy, nine-episode dance series featuring the YouTuber Andrea Russett — with two additional episodes arriving every Wednesday. Dance is clearly a potent category for the digital demographic: YouTube’s first original film for its subscription service, YouTube Red, was Dance Camp, created alongside Awesomeness Films.

Making Moves, which was developed by key members of the creative team behind the Step Up franchise, will feature high-octane dance routines and tell the story of an aspiring dancer who moves to Los Angeles to make it within the cutthroat digital dance scene. Starring Raychel Diane Weiner of Starz’s Flesh And Bone, Making Moves was created and directed by John Swetnam and choreographed by Christopher Scott.

Fullscreen has already started airing several of its new original shows thus far, including Hannah Hart and Grace Helbig’s Electra Woman And Dyna Girl; My Selfie Life, a docu-series about young Americans shot by the subjects themselves; a Shane Dawson-starring interview show called Shane And Friends; and Filthy Preppy Teen$, about a ruthless prep school. The service, which costs $4.99 per month, features original content as well licensed classics like Saved By The Bell and Dawson’s Creek. It also features social media sharing tools, including a GIF cutter, as a nod to younger users.

You can check out the first episode of Making Moves in full below:

Filed under: Fullscreen by Geoff Weiss
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Having achieved success thanks to its network of popular social media stars, Maker Studios is now expanding into film, and the first feature-length offering it has produced is less than a month away from its arrival. Internet Famous, which stars Shane Dawson as one of five nominees at a fictitious “Web Star of the Year” ceremony, will be available June 21st on iTunes.

The stars of Internet Famous are all known for their digital work, but in the film, those creators will spoof themselves and their colleagues. In mockumentary fashion, Internet Famous sends up various web star archetypes, including the “one-hit wonder,” “the prankster,” and others. Beyond Dawson, other creators who appear in the film include Amanda Cerny, Christian DelGrosso, Steve Greene, and Richard Ryan.

In addition to announcing the release date for Internet Famous, Maker Studios also shared a trailer for the film. Between the mockumentary style and the quirky characters, there is definitely a bit of a Christopher Guest vibe in play, albeit with a slightly sillier tone that will appear to the movie’s target audience.

Internet Famous is directed by Michael Gallagher (of Totally Sketch fame), written by Gallagher and Greene, and produced by Maker Studios and Lakeshore Entertainment‘s Off The Dock. It is one of several films Maker plans to roll out; as reported last fall, the digital network is also reportedly working with Dredd producer Adi Shankar on a trio of projects.

Fans who wish to pre-order Internet Famous can do so via iTunes. More details about the film are available through its official website.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Maker Studios, News by Sam Gutelle
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In 2015, the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo (known as E3) served as one of the events that helped kick off YouTube Gaming, a then-new platform offered up by the world’s most popular video site. Now, a year later, the 2016 edition of E3 will serve as another milestone for YouTube Gaming. YouTube has unveiled a dedicated hub on which it will broadcast event coverage, analysis, and other videos straight from the video game industry’s most significant exhibition.

The URL for YouTube Gaming’s E3 hub is now live, though at the time of this post its content is “coming soon.” Geoff Keighley, who hosted YouTube’s E3 coverage in 2015, will return to anchor this year’s feed, will a host of special guests joining him. A live streaming program called YouTube Live at E3, which will begin at noon EST on June 13, will run for 12 hours and will feature digital media stars like MatPat, iHasCupquake and CaptainSparklez.

Other content on the YouTube Gaming E3 hub will include a library of videos and streams and a “trailer battle” through which viewers can contrast E3 announcements. The plan is for this to be the first of several sites devoted to individual events on the gaming calendar. “YouTube will give gamers around the world front-row access to everything E3 again this year with dozens of live streams scheduled throughout the week,” reads a YouTube blog post. “To make moments like this even better, we are launching event pages in YouTube Gaming, which serve as destinations for watching the biggest gaming and eSports events.”

The 2016 edition of E3 begins on June 14th and runs through June 16th.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, News, YouTube Gaming by Sam Gutelle
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For several months, nascent production company Indigenous Media and actor Josh Hutcherson have teased an incubator project called The Big Script, through which they would take five scripts from Hollywood’s Black List and adapt them into digital shorts. Now, titles and summaries have been provided for all five projects, with Hutcherson set to direct one of them.

As he previously discussed during the Tribeca Film Festival, Hutcherson will direct Ape, which will follow the story of a young man who suffers from schizophrenia. The other four shorts will all be directed by their respective screenwriters. The five projects included in The Big Script all feature leads in their teens and early twenties. Here, via Variety, are brief descriptions for all of them:

• “Ape” by Jon Johnstone: To take control of his life, Travis Wilker must conquer the hallucinations that plagued his childhood.

• “Boy in a Backpack” by Bradley Martocello: Pax signs up for a charity race with his quadriplegic brother so he can pay off a drug debt, but he soon realizes that he can’t outrun his past.

• “Crowbar Smile” by Jamie Mayer: Nate’s simple summer job mowing the lawn of a neighbor woman leads to a life-changing encounter.

• “Honor Council” by Scott Simonsen: A high school whodunnit about a stoner teacher and the school troublemaker as they discover what it means to be honorable.

• “Lyra” by Djochoua Belovarski: As Earth falls apart, young-and-in-love Miriam is given an opportunity that can change her future.

While an exact release date for these projects is not currently known (Hutcherson has said to expect them sometime during the summer), their distributor is no secret. As it previously announced, Conde Nast Entertainment will distribute the Big Script shorts across its network.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, News, Production Companies by Sam Gutelle
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Michelle Phan’s ICON Network, an online destination for lifestyle content created in collaboration with digital production and distribution company Endemol Shine Beyond, is launching an Asian channel fittingly dubbed ICON Asia.

Headquartered in Singapore, the network will feature original series by up-and-coming creators from different regions across the continent, including the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, and Hong Kong. All videos will initially be produced in English, with plans to expand into local languages in coming months.

In addition to Phan, inaugural ICON Asia creators will include: Thai-Hong Kong beauty guru Sichenmakeupholic; Filipina cashier by day and beauty creator by night Michelle Dy; hair master Ross Kwan; Girl Who Cried Wolf; and DMT Stylist, an Australian makeup artist and fashion stylist. Videos will be distributed on YouTube, with supporting content on Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat.

ICON, which recently celebrated its first birthday, launched in the U.S. and U.K. in April 2015, and has since expanded with local channels in Germany and France.

“ICON Asia and the greater ICON Network speaks to a millennial audience that is both digitally native and hungry for information,” said Endemol Shine Beyond Asia head Christopher Smith in a statement. “We’re excited to join Michelle Phan, our global network talent, and our outstanding local talent on this journey to expand the ICON Network in the Asia region.”

Check out a teaser trailer for the channel below:

Filed under: Channels, Endemol Beyond by Geoff Weiss
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The two most popular extreme sports brands on YouTube are deepening their partnership. Red Bull and GoPro have joined forces for a deal that will last multiple years and will give the energy drink a stake in the portable camera maker.

As part of the deal, the two companies will promote their own brands across each other’s videos. In addition, according to Variety, GoPro cameras will show up at more than 1,800 forthcoming Red Bull events, where they will capture exhilarating footage from the viewpoints of top extreme athletes. Resulting clips will be distributed by both Red Bull and GoPro and will reach a huge audience of adrenaline junkies. The former company’s YouTube channel has more than five million subscribers, while the latter brand’s feed is close to four million.

While this deal is the most official deal between Red Bull and GoPro, the two companies have worked together many times in the past. Perhaps the most significant partnership between them was Red Bull Stratos, in which skydiver Felix Baumgartner free-fell 24 miles from Earth’s atmosphere to the ground. As he did, GoPro cameras captured his stunning surroundings, and clips from the event soon generated tens of millions of views on the Red Bull and GoPro YouTube channels.

“As partners, Red Bull and GoPro will amplify our collective international reach, the power of our content and ability to fascinate,” said Red Bull Founder and CEO Dietrich Mateschitz in a statement.

The deal comes at a tumultuous time for GoPro. The camera company’s stock has been in decline since August 2015; once worth more than $64 per share, it now trades at under $10 per share. Red Bull did not specify the size of the GoPro stake it received as part of the new partnership.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, GoPro, News, Red Bull by Sam Gutelle
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