Since 2015, Shayne Topp has appeared in more than 50 videos within the Defy Media-operated Smosh network, portraying everyone from Tom Cruise to Donald Trump along the way. Now, Topp has parlayed his digital visibility into a gig on TV. He will appear in multiple episodes of the ABC sitcom The Goldbergs, in which he portrays a punk rocker named Matt.

Topp’s first video on the Smosh channel was “Every Snapchat Ever,” in which he poked fun at pervasive habits on the titular app. Since then, he’s become a Smosh fixture who often stars alongside the online video brand’s co-founders, Ian Hecox and Anthony Padilla.

While Topp has appeared on TV in the past (he showed up in an iCarly episode back in 2008, among other credits), his Goldbergs role marks his most significant venture within that medium. He first appeared in the sitcom’s February 22nd episode, which aired at 8 PM ET, and will be seen in the March 8th and March 15th episodes as well.

As Topp sees it, his roles on Smosh and The Goldbergs have a lot in common. “At the end of the day, for both, you have to know your lines, know your character, and hopefully make people laugh along the way,” he told Tubefilter. “I’ve had a blast being able to move between TV and digital and appear alongside such talented casts.”

The primary Smosh YouTube channel has more than 22 million subscribers. The Goldbergs, which first premiered in 2013, is currently in its fourth season.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, News, Smosh by Sam Gutelle
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The Creative Artists Agency (CAA) has made deep inroads into the online video community, and it has now added a high-profile duo to its roster. As first shared by The Hollywood Reporter, the top talent shop has linked up with Jack & Jack, a twosome known for their vlogs and music videos.

Jack & Jack are 20-year-olds Jack Johnson and Jack Gilinsky, who have been friends since they met in kindergarten in their hometown of Omaha, Nebraska. Beginning in 2013, they teamed up to make videos on Vine, where they first found a widespread audience.

As Vine has declined, Jack & Jack have moved their digital presence to other platforms. On YouTube, their music videos routinely hit seven-digit view counts. Their most popular track, “Like That,” has been watched more than 31 million times to date.

Their digital success has also allowed them to land projects across multiple platforms. They chronicled their experience on the Digitour circuit in a feature film, released their first EP in 2015, and teamed up with publisher HarperCollins for You Don’t Know Jacks, a book that arrived in 2016.

Through their deal with CAA, Jack & Jack will look to expand their multi-platform profile while still connecting with their core audience through digital content and touring. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the duo will retain their representation through Adam Mersel at First Access Entertainment and attorneys Ken Hertz and Oswaldo Rossi at Hertz Lichtenstein & Young.

Other digital media stars who are partnered with CAA include FouseyTUBE, musical.ly standout Baby Ariel, and popular Mexican star Juanpa Zurita.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, News by Sam Gutelle
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YouTube has announced a new feature through which it will take on cable. The video platform has announced YouTube TV, a $35 bundle that lets subscribers watch more than 40 TV channels, including all four major U.S. broadcast networks.

That $35 YouTube TV subscription price point will support up to six different users, making the bundle a solid option for families. Programming on the featured channels will be broadcast live, but a DVR feature will let users save an unlimited number of their favorite shows in the cloud and watch them later. In a neat feat of technology, you’ll be able to record an unlimited number of shows at the same exact time, too. The entire product is designed to work seamlessly on mobile, desktop, and digital TV devices, too, just like the good old fashioned YouTube.

The first rumors related to YouTube TV came back in May 2016, when a Bloomberg report indicated that YouTube would launch a bundle of TV channels called Unplugged. Since then, additional reports have speculated about the channels that YouTube would sign up for its service. Ultimately, the launch lineup for YouTube TV will include ABC, FOX, CBS, and NBC, as well as dozens of cable channels, but nothing yet from Viacom, Time Warner (including Turner), nor Scripps. Viewers will also be able to append “add-on networks” to their subscriptions for an additional price (e.g. Showtime).

“We’re bringing the best of the YouTube experience to live TV,” reads a YouTube blog post. “To do this, we’ve worked closely with our network and affiliate partners to evolve TV for the way we watch today. Meet YouTube TV. It’s live TV designed for the YouTube generation—those who want to watch what they want, when they want, how they want, without commitments.”

YouTube TV will be a standalone application and a separate subscription from YouTube Red, another pay-by-the-month service run by the world’s top video site. Red’s original series featuring YouTube’s homegrown online video stars, however, will be available through the new bundle. Regular YouTube videos will also be available with the YouTube TV app and recommended to you right alongside live TV shows based on whatever the YouTube algorithm thinks will make you stick around for the longest amount of time.

Like any live television offering, YouTube TV will have its share of commercials. And those commercials will be sold by both the television networks providing content to YouTube TV and YouTube itself. “We will sell ads. Our networks will sell some ads,” YouTube Chief Product Officer, Neal Mohan explains. “We view this as the beginning of the journey. There are ways we’ll be able to improve the overall ad experience for viewers in terms of relevancy, but it’s going to be a journey over time.”

YouTube TV is expected to launch in the coming months in select markets before eventually expanding across the U.S. But here’s a sneak peak, taken during the live demo at the YouTube Space LA led by YouTube TV Director of Product Management Christian Oestlien.

First look at @YouTube TV LIVE demo. #YouTubeTV more: @tubefilter pic.twitter.com/Fiq4xk6RXp

— Drew Baldwin (@drewpbaldwin) February 28, 2017

You can get a notification of when YouTube TV becomes available by signing up at TV.YouTube.com. The product will go head-to-head against pre-existing competitors like Dish’s Sling TV, Sony’s Playstation Vue, and DirecTV’s DirecTV Now. That’s in addition to your regular cable subscription, the coil of which YouTube TV undoubtedly hopes you’ll shuffle off soon.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, News, YouTube by Sam Gutelle
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Bringing Alternative Mainstream—How Niche Female Programming Is Capturing Big Audiences

Wednesday, March 29, 2017 at Busby’s East

Early Bird Tickets WILL SELL OUT—get your tickets now!

It’s back! By popular demand, the famous Tubefilter Meetup is coming back to Los Angeles. We’ve teamed up with SNARLED, one of the fastest-growing alternative women’s networks, to bring a new series of meetups throughout the year focused on new creative and diverse female voices.

For too long, the mainstream media has trivialized young women’s needs, wants, and concerns with a deluge of vapid editorial. Traditional publishers struggle to maintain the “authenticity” they have been selling their advertisers as their influence declines.

Women focused groups and interests that used to be considered fringe or niche are finding massive audiences with their unique points of view. And with the rapid evolution of online video and social media, young women are gravitating toward creators across multiple platforms to find voices that represent their own.

Join us as we sit down with some of the most successful creators, talent, and programmers who are leading the charge in bringing niche female programming from alternative to mainstream.

Bringing Alternative Mainstream—How Niche Female Programming Is Capturing Big Audiences

Wednesday, March 29, 2017 at Busby’s East

Early Bird Tickets WILL SELL OUT—get your tickets now!

Panelists:

 Sarah Early | Agent, United Talent Agency

 Rachel Evans | Host, The Dark 5

 Laci Green | YouTube Personality & Sex Educator and Creator, Sex Plus

 Elyssa T. Starkman | Head of Content, Beautycon Media

 Jason Ziemianski | Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer, SNARLED and Ripple Entertainment

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

Bringing Alternative Mainstream—How Niche Female Programming Is Capturing Big Audiences

Wednesday, March 29, 2017 at Busby’s East

Early Bird Tickets WILL SELL OUT—get your tickets now!

With over 25,000 members on its roster, the Tubefilter Meetup brings together the most dynamic group of online entertainment professionals in the industry. Mark your calendars—and be sure to snag your early bird tickets for our first meetup now before they run out!

And check out the schedule below for our entire Tubefilter Meetup schedule. Mark your calendars accordingly.

Wednesday, March 29, 2017 • Bringing Alternative Mainstream—How Niche Female Programming Is Capturing Big Audiences

Tuesday, June 27, 2017 • Going Out of Style—Challenging Beauty Norms Of Traditional Media

Tuesday, September 26, 2017 • Social (Issue) Media—Women Creating Meaning Through Creativity

Tuesday, December 5, 2017 • The Evolution of Females In Comedy

Filed under: News, Tubefilter Meetup by Tubefilter Staff
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The first TV show ever produced by the digital comedy network Jash has arrived. The High Court with Doug Benson, in which the titular host deliberates on a series of real cases, premiered its first episode on at midnight on February 28th on Comedy Central.

In each High Court episode, Benson — who in his career has built much of his shtick around his love of weed — hears testimony from a plaintiff and defendant and then makes whatever decision his drug-addled mind thinks is best. A series of stand-up comedians, including Michael Ian Black, Rory Scovel, and Jash co-founder Reggie Watts, will serve as The High Court’s “guest bailiffs.”

In a High Court clip posted to YouTube, Benson begins to resolve an argument related to a towed car:

As noted in an Esquire article, Jash co-founder Daniel Kellison recruited Benson as host, reasoning that the comedian’s perpetually-stoned demeanor would make him the right man for the job. “I guess I’m the go-to pot guy,” Benson told Esquire. “I said, ‘Sure that sounds like fun,’ not really thinking it through. Once I got here I started feeling a little responsibility for what’s happening.”

For Jash, The High Court is a maiden voyage into the world of serial television. The comedy network has recently expanded beyond its short-form digital roots to produce a number of high-profile projects, including an upcoming Netflix comedy special led by another one of the company’s co-founders, Sarah Silverman.

In total, 20 episodes of The High Court have been produced. They will air weeknights at midnight on Comedy Central.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, JASH, News by Sam Gutelle
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Storied Italian fashion label Dolce & Gabbana is increasingly turning to the social influencer set to cast models for its illustrious runway shows. At its Fall 2017 show during Milan Fashion Week last Saturday, the luxury label tapped a handful of the world’s most popular digital creators, including Vine star Lele Pons, YouTubers Marcus Butler and Juanpa Zurita, fashion bloggers Aimee Song and Kristina Bazan, and Instagram star Luka Sabbat, W reports.

“Thank you Stefano [Gabbana] and Domenico [Dolce] for letting me be part of the family,” Pons (pictured above), who is managed by Shots Studios, wrote of the honor on Instagram.

The singer Austin Mahone, who ascended to fame on YouTube, also made an appearance at the Fall 2017 show alongside a slew of celebrity children, including the sons and daughters of Jennifer Tilly, Andy Garcia, Steve Harvey, Steven Spielberg, Jude Law, Jamie Foxx, and Daniel Day-Lewis. Check out the full list of appearances right here.

This isn’t the first time that Dolce & Gabbana has harnessed digital stars to sell its wares. At its Fall 2017 menswear show last month, Vine star-turned-Netflix headliner Cameron Dallas opened the show, and was joined by fellow model and social influencer Neels Visser, the fashion blogger Marcel Floruss, and YouTubers Jim Chapman, Butler, and Zurita, according to Elle.

Dallas, who signed with fashion-centric multi-channel network StyleHaul in November and has also worked with big-ticket brands like Calvin Klein, starred in a spring advertising campaign for Dolce & Gabbana in addition to his runway turn, per W. Dolce & Gabbana initially began incorporating the influencer set into its marketing when it invited many of the aforementioned influencers to attend its Spring 2017 show in Milan last September.

Filed under: FASHION by Geoff Weiss
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[Editor’s Note: Tubefilter Charts is a rankings column from Tubefilter. It’s exactly what it sounds like; a top number ranking of creators, channels, and broadcasters based on statistics collected within a given time frame from a growing number of online video and social media platforms. Check out all of our Tubefilter Charts with new installments every week right here. For just the Live.me Top Broadcaster Rankings, click here.]

Scroll down for this week’s Tubefilter Live.me Top Broadcaster Rankings.

It’s our eighth installment of our weekly Tubefilter Chart of the Top 50 Live.me Broadcasters. We had an unbelievable response to our premiere edition, as industry insiders, established Live.me talent, and burgeoning broadcasters pored over the list to see who’s making moves and which creators are worth tuning into on the nascent live streaming platform.

And for anyone new to the Top Live.me Broadcaster Rankings, check out our brief explanation of how this chart came to be (Spoiler Alert: It has a lot do with the booming soon-to-be $70 billion industry that is live video) and the methodology behind the rankings in our first post of this new series right here.

And for those unfamiliar with Live.me, below is a quick intro to the live broadcasting platform that now is home to hundreds of thousands of hours of live broadcasts per day and was born out of the Beijing-based Cheetah Mobile less than a year ago in April 2016.

Broadcasters

As we enter our eighth week of coverage, we’re starting to see some mainstays in the rankings. There are still seven channels, for instance, that have had a presence in the Top 50 every single week. They are, in order of their appearance on the chart below:

• F.O.E👑uncleluke504
• TheRealKatherin💦😻
• 👑FRECK💂FFG🔥CGC
• G🍼G Hardhead777boss
• Ashcatash🔮
• Kristina Plisko❤️💋
• David Bush ♛

This week we also welcome our first Chinese channel to break into the Top 50:

• Babe Celine🇨🇳

The individuals behind the channels above have proven they have a sustained ability to maintain an engaged and active audience in their broadcasts. We’ll look to bring you more information about them in the coming weeks, as well as dive into more broadcasters on the rankings.

In the meantime, check out the below to see who’s doing live broadcasts well and the rising stars you should acquaint yourself with on the platform. Know that everyone in the Top 50, and especially those towards the top, are at the very least highly adept at building an audience and keeping that audience tuned in and engaged to their broadcasts.

If you don’t yet have Live.me, you can download the app right here. Just search for the user listed below in the application and tune in.

Launched in April 2016, Live.me is a fast growing live broadcasting community which lets people discover new content, build a following, and earn cash rewards, no matter who they are. Live.me is geared towards surfacing daily entertainment and provides the tools to make the most of being live, in the moment. The mobile app is available on both iPhone and Android.

Filed under: Articles, Live Streaming, live.me, News, Statistics, YouTube, Youtube Chart by Joshua Cohen
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After seeing big returns on live streams it shared during election season, YouTube is once again offering multi-channel coverage of a major political event. The video site has partnered with eight different channels to stream President Donald Trump’s address to Congress, which begins at 9 PM ET on February 28th.

The eight channels in question are NBC News, ABC News, Telemundo, Univision, Bloomberg Politics, New York Times, Washington Post, and the official channel White House. The last of those eight options is most intriguing. The Trump White House has streamed on Facebook Live for several major moments in the President’s young term, including the address during which he announced Neil Gorsuch as his Supreme Court pick, but the speech to Congress will be the most significant stream the White House has brought to YouTube since Barack Obama turned over the keys to that channel back in January.

YouTube previously provided live streaming coverage of the Democratic and Republican National Conventions, the debates between Trump and Hillary Clinton, and election night itself, drawing millions of viewers in the process. The President’s address to Congress should draw a large audience of its own, and after Trump concludes his speech, expect to see plenty more on-demand videos breaking whatever controversial things come out of his mouth this time.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, News, YouTube by Sam Gutelle
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Come March 1, Amazon is making substantial changes to its affiliate program — or the system by which creators earn referral fees when visitors purchase products on Amazon through designated links on their websites or social media channels.

The revamped rates, as outlined here, mean that the typical cut per purchase could drop from 8% to 6%, reports The Verge — meaning that some creators, including beauty blogger Tracy Robey, could see their Amazon earnings drop by roughly 20%. While other companies offer affiliate programs, Amazon’s so-called Associates program is by far the biggest and most lucrative. There are even websites like The Wirecutter, a gadget blog owned by The New York Times, which subsists entirely on Amazon affiliate links, and many YouTubers include affiliate links in the description boxes of their videos as a key source of income.

Previously, Associate members were given higher rates for driving more traffic to Amazon every month — though those days are over. Going forward, affiliate link rates have been placed into a categorized system that favors certain types of products over others. For instance, digital video games and luxury beauty products will both tout a 10% referral rate, while toys will generate a 3% kickback, and PCs and televisions will deliver 2.5% and 2% cuts, respectively.

For its part, Amazon says most associates stand to benefit from the forthcoming changes.

The Verge also notes the ways in which the changing fee structure could impact content creation. For instance, in beauty, if luxury products boast a 10% referral fee and standard beauty products earn creators just 6%, it is conceivable that some might retool their content to focus on the former category.

Filed under: Amazon by Geoff Weiss
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Austin, Texas-based digital studio Rooster Teeth is bringing back its hit series, Million Dollars, But…, for a fourth season. Set to premiere on March 27, influencers Grace Helbig, Hannah Hart, Phil DeFranco, and the cosplayer Jessica Nigri will serve as guest stars alongside series regulars Burnie Burns, Gavin Free, and Barbara Dunkelman.

In Million Dollars, But…, players posit fictional, absurd situations about what they would do for $1 million. For instance: “You get a million dollars, but every time you sneeze, you teleport to a random place in the world.” Then, these scenarios are envisioned onscreen to great comedic effect. The fourth season of Million Dollars, But… will premiere on Rooster Teeth’s SVOD platform, First — which it says counts 200,000 subscribers — beginning on March 27, before rolling out to YouTube and other free services.

“We couldn’t be more excited to collaborate with this group of awesome online personalities and introduce our show to their audiences,” the writer and director Blaine Gibson said in a statement. “This season is weirder and more ridiculous than ever — people will get dismembered, people will get punched, people will be hunted by mariachi bands and teddy bears.”

In addition to being a hit series, Million Dollars, But… is also a card game that Rooster Teeth launched via a $1.4 million Kickstarter project last summer. Priced at $25, players put their morals, imaginations, and friendships to the test by imagining what they would or wouldn’t do for $1 million.

Rooster Teeth, which recently launched a gaming division to publish titles by indie developers, counts 30 million subscribers within its YouTube network, as well as 5 million unique monthly visitors to its online hub RoosterTeeth.com.

Filed under: Rooster Teeth by Geoff Weiss
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Facebook Live may be reaching saturation levels in the U.K., as the country’s top publishers including the BBC, The Guardian, Daily Mail, and Sky News created a total of 850 Live videos last month — a figure that has stayed flat for the past six months.

This stagnation, Digiday reports — citing figures from analytics outfit SocialBakers — likely coincides with the fact that Facebook has ceased paying media companies to create Live content. Facebook, which made waves last year when it doled out roughly $50 million to major media organizations, celebrities, and digital creators to crank out Live video, reportedly opted not to renew those deals,

Last June, the number of Facebook Live videos by U.K. publishers peaked at a total of roughly 1,360, Digiday reports — though that number fell to 1,030 in July and 870 in August, where it has gestated for the past several months. While Digiday notes that publishers are likely de-prioritizing Live in order to experiment with newer formats, including 360-degree videos, VR, and live audio, Facebook is not yet shelling out payments to encourage this kind of content.

And while there have been breakout success stories on Facebook Live — including BuzzFeed’s infamous exploding watermelon broadcast and Candace ‘Chewbacca Mom’ Payne, whose giggle-fest became the most-viewed Live video ever — research analyst Matti Littunen of Enders told Digiday that, in the U.K., “very few professional publishers did well on Live under the subsidies” in terms of engagement.

Facebook has yet to roll out a monetization structure for Live videos, which could be another cause for the stagnation, though the social network has reportedly started testing mid-roll ads in both standard videos and live streams. Many within the industry also assume that Facebook has switched up its News Feed algorithm in a way that has stemmed the reach of Live content, Digiday reports.

Filed under: Facebook by Geoff Weiss
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At last night’s Oscars, both Amazon and Netflix notched historic wins thanks to award winners Manchester by the Sea and The White Helmets. Now that the two most prominent digital distributors of TV- and theater-quality video content have distributed Academy Award winners, which digital platform will be the next one to snag an Oscar? Two interesting candidates for that title, as identified last night, are YouTube and Apple.

Apple’s claim to a future Oscar is backed up by data provided by Gene Munster of Loup Ventures, who shared a bullish forecast with outlets like Variety. The Cupertino-based tech giant has recently fired up its original content plans through shows like Carpool Karaoke, and is it continues to invest more money into video, Munster believes it will reach the level on which Netflix and Amazon currently reside. “We think Apple will win an Oscar in the next five years,” reads a research note published by Loup. “That’s how long it will take for Apple to scale its original content spend from less than $200 million today to $5-7 billion.”

YouTube’s claim is more abstract. The video site’s CEO, Susan Wojcicki, attended the most recent Oscars, and her tweet about the ceremony gave creator John Green an opportunity to share a positive outlook of his own.

@SusanWojcicki awesome! Have a great time. <5 years until first oscar for a movie distributed by YT.

— John Green (@johngreen) February 27, 2017

Most of YouTube Red’s projects come from YouTube stars, who aren’t exactly known as perennial Oscar contenders, but the premium platform will soon feature offerings from Hollywood notables like Dwayne Johnson and director Doug Liman. Since Google also has plenty of money to spend, it could soon find a project that wins an Oscar; a short produced by Google, Pearl, earned a nomination this year.

Oscar voters still seem deferential to projects that see traditional release in theaters, which hurts the chances of digital distributors. That said, companies like Netflix, Amazon, Apple, and YouTube are throwing around a ton of money, and in the coming years, their contributions to the award season picture will become increasingly hard to ignore.

Filed under: Academy Awards, Apple, Articles, Featured, News, YouTube by Sam Gutelle
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