Marvel‘s Avengersis a franchise built on big stars, big budgets, big action sequences, and big box office returns, and its most colossal installment yet has pulled in a digital audience befitting its grandeur. One day after the trailer for Avengers: Infinity Wararrived online, it set the record for the most trailer views over a 24-hour period, reeling in a reported 230 million views across all platforms.
Infinity War, set for a May 4, 2018 release, will be the culmination of the 18 films that have preceded it in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It boasts a star-studded cast even by superhero movie standards, uniting performers from previous Avengers installments with those from Guardians of the Galaxy, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Doctor Strange, and Black Panther. The stacked nature of that cast has generated enough excitement to push the Infinity War trailer past that of It, which broke the one-day view record when it received 179 million views during a 24-hour period in late March.
Thank you to the best fans in the universe for making Marvel Studios’ “@Avengers: #InfinityWar” the most viewed trailer of all time with 230 million views in 24 hours! 👏 pic.twitter.com/aLP7teroBe
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Go90‘s satirical take on ESPN’s 30 for 30 franchise has returned. The 5th Quarter, a collection of absurd mockumentaries set in the world of sports, has launched its second season.
The 5th Quarter premiered last year with an episode that featured NBA star Blake Griffin as an oversized youth-league athlete. In the first episode of season two, Griffin shows up again; this time, he’s a humble race walking champion (yes, it’s a real sport) who goes toe to toe with his nemesis, played by Jimmy O. Yangof Silicon Valley fame.
The second season of The 5th Quarter, from OBB Pictures, 3 Arts Entertainment, and Kids At Play, will run for ten episodes and will feature an impressive roster of guest stars, including Ed Asner, LaVar Ball, and Joel Embiid. A third season has already been confirmed and is expected to premiere in 2018. A trailer that covers both the current and upcoming run of episodes can be found on YouTube:
Three installments from season two of The Fifth Quarter are currently available. Three more will arrive on December 10, with the final four landing on December 17.
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Each December, vlogging couple Judy and Benji Travis of the ItsJudysLife channel raise hundreds of thousands of dollars through Dancember, an annual fundraiser that features some of their friends from the YouTube community. For the 2017 holiday season, Dancemas will return, and the Travises are upping their goal to a cool million. With the help of a 24-hour live stream that will feature Desi Perkins, Mikey Bustos, and several other top YouTubers, Judy and Benji hope to raise $1,000,000 to support the charity organization Convoy of Hope.
To support Dancember, the Judy and Benji’s fans are encouraged to post dancing videos on social and are invited to contribute to a campaign that aims to feed children around the world. On the official Dancember homepage, backers can contribute to Convoy of Hope and receive perks in return. Available items include Dancember shirts, bracelets, and hoodies. So far, the 2017 edition of the Travises’ annual initiative has raised more than $125,000.
The Dancember live stream will help Judy and Benji approach their lofty fundraising goal. Beginning on December 15, the Travises will host a broadcast that will use the power of dance to incite their viewers to action. Creators who are expected to appear during the event include Desi Perkins, Lindy Tsang, Bretman Rock, Mikey Bustos, Shannon Harris, and MikeTompkins.
“Last year Dancember raised more than $500,000 to feed hungry children,” said Judy and Benji Travis in a press release. “This year our goal is to raise one million dollars for Convoy of Hope’s feedONE Initiative, which feeds over 160,000 children in eleven countries.”
The ItsJudysLife channel has more than 1.5 million subscribers. It features updates from the home of Judy, Benji, and their three children.
Filed under: Articles, Featured, News by Sam Gutelle Comments Off on YouTube Stars Judy And Benji Travis Set $1,000,000 Goal For Latest ‘Dancember’ Fundraiser
The internet collectively mourned the loss of Vine when Twitter announced its plans to shutter the six-second video app last October — as many top creators had already fled the platform en masse due to negligible monetization opportunities.
However, one of Vine’s co-founders and its former CEO could be honing a resurrection of sorts. The entrepreneur Dom Hofmann tweeted today that he’s “going to work on a follow-up to Vine,” adding that he’d been personally motivated to do so and seen lots of requests for a second iteration of the product on Twitter. While Hofmann did not provide any details about the nature of his forthcoming creation, which is currently in development, he says it will be self-funded so as not to interfere with his other new company, Interspace.
Twitter purchased Vine in 2012 for $30 million, notes Business Insider, and Hofmann departed the company in 2014 to work on a creative tool and social networking app called Byte. Vine’s other two co-founders, Colin Kroll and Rus Yusupov, recently struck gold with HQ Trivia, a hit trivia game show app.
Check out Hofmann’s tweets below:
i’m going to work on a follow-up to vine. i’ve been feeling it myself for some time and have seen a lot of tweets, dms, etc.
i’m funding it myself as an outside project, so it doesn’t interfere with the (quite exciting) work we’re doing at the company, which is my first priority
It’s beginning to look a lot like ‘vlogmas’ — that time of year when a slew of YouTubers post daily vlogs during the month of December all the way up to Christmas Day.
And in order to commemorate the festive moment — when, ahem, CPM rates also tend to be at their apex — Refinery29 sat down with the format’s progenitor, Ingrid Nilsen — who claims she coined the term ‘vlogmas’ with some help from followers on her now-defunct vlog channel all the way back in 2011. Though Nilsen stopped participating in vlogmas in 2015, explaining that the concept of daily vlogging had “crossed a personal boundary,” she says that she’s awed at what the phenomenon has become.
“I think that, at my core, I’m somebody that loves to create, and I really love seeing how ideas can become so much bigger than what you intended in really amazing ways,” she told Refinery29, adding that she’d initially conceived vlogmas as a digital advent calendar of sorts. “Different individuals from families from all walks of life show the ways that they experience the holidays — the positive, the negative, the happy, wonderful moments. I think it really gives people a sense of comfort, and I think it’s a beautiful thing.”
This sense of comfort has also become a massive financial opportunity. While a search for ‘Vlogmas 2012’ generates 898,000 search results, ‘Vlogmas 2016’ returns more than 2 million, according to Refinery29. Furthermore, CPM rates — or the amount that marketers pay in order to have their ads served against 1,000 video views — tend to rise over the course of the year, as well as over the course of every quarter, with December seeing the largest groundswell as a result of the holiday shopping season.
If you’re feeling nostalgic, you can check out Nilsen’s first-ever vlogmas video right here:
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Welcome to YouTube Millionaires, where we profile channels that have recently crossed the one million subscriber mark. There are channels crossing this threshold every week, and each has a story to tell about YouTube success. Read previous installments of YouTube Millionaires here.
As Sam Golbach and Colby Brock acquire an audience online, they are eager to continue exploring.
The two best friends, known collectively as Sam and Colby, have become known for their urban exploration videos, in which they check out closed and deserted areas. Their overnight stay in a local mall earned them more than 4.1 million views on its own. When combined with a regular complement of vlogs and a following that began on Vine, Sam and Colby’s adventurous spirit has allowed them to surpass one million YouTube subscribers. Here’s our chat with them:
Tubefilter: How does it feel to have one million YouTube subscribers? What do you have to say to your fans?
Colby Brock: It was insane to see that big number of one million, but it felt like a lot of the other milestones. In the end, it’s another number.
Sam Golbach: One million is awesome and it’s really cool to say, but like Colby said, it’s not about the specific number, we are still going to be grinding and still going to be doing videos just like we have been. We do it for the fans, not for the numbers. And to the fans I want to say thank you! It’s a huge accomplishment don’t get us wrong, but we are just as thankful for our first 1000 subscribers as we are for our one-millionth subscriber.
TF: Where do you get new ideas for videos? Are your fans involved in that thought process at all?
CB: Since that our channel is mostly exploring abandoned places, we never have had issues in the past figuring out WHAT we need to film. Usually we will both sit down at the beginning of the month, and start researching places we could potentially go explore…plan it out that way. Yes! Sometimes if we are away from home we will send out a tweet asking if they know any places around them we could check out. Sometimes we don’t even have to ask. Everyday my DMs are full of people telling me where abandoned places are near them.
SG: Fans email, comment and tweet us different locations (usually from their own towns) for places we should explore which is very helpful. We have had to do a lot of research to find abandoned places to explore recently.
TF: What do you think are some features you’re looking for in the abandoned areas you visit?
CB: The scary factor is super important, but mostly if it’s easy to get into without getting caught.
SG: The main thing is how big it is. The more space/room there is to make content the better… can’t really make a movie-quality video in just a one room place.
TF: Are there any creators who have influenced your urban exploration videos, or do you think of yourselves as wholly original?
CB: We think of ourselves as original because we put a bit of a comedy twist on the exploration videos rather than having it more like a documentary or solely exploring the place. We want to put our personalities in the videos as much as possible, which is pretty unique to the exploration genre.
SG: Well we used to do urban exploration a lot in our hometown just for fun with our friends! So the fact that all we needed to do was add a camera to our own way of having fun makes YouTube pretty easy. And I haven’t seen many other people do this type of exploring with commentary like we do on YouTube, there are a few copycats just because other people have seen us, but I think we were original in our exploration content.
TF: What was the most interesting part of your overnight stay at the mall?
CB: When Elton came out saying he had a gun pointed at him, that was pretty interesting to me.
SG: When the policeman came out and said he had cameras in there that were watching us the whole time that was interesting… made me think that other places we have explored had security like that and were watching us.
TF: You have a playlist called “Dumb Ideas.” What do you think is the single dumbest idea you’ve posted on YouTube?
CB: Probably us jumping in an electric powered bouncy house while it was in the pool. Super dangerous, don’t try this at home kids.
SG: Probably the world’s largest cereal bowl in our living room…because that really ruined our apartment, wasted food, and was such a random idea that not all that many people watched it when it first came out.
TF: How did getting your start on Vine influence your online video career?
CB: We just ultimately decided to do something different with our lives and wanted to become famous back in the day. Made a Vine called “Following Fat People” which cause a lot of controversy resulting in us gaining a stupid amount of followers in a small amount of time. Took the leverage that we got from the new eyes to our channel, and were able to grow from there.
SG: Seeing that we were able to make money and a name for ourselves off of six-second videos kinda showed us that we should always stick to video content to keep our career alive. Because they were so easy to make, we were able to gauge what trends, controversy, and relatable factors we needed to make longer video formats work on other platforms. Vine was our practice.
TF: Has your digital success had any effect on your real life friendship?
CB: Yes, it has. Running a business together can be very tough, but we have ALWAYS been amazing at communicating with one another, and figuring out what to do if a situation is bad. Sure, we have arguments like any normal best friends would, but we have learned to separate our business life with our friendship…it’s just easier that way.
SG: As Colby said, any friendship that runs a business together is going to be hard. But in the end I think it helped us so much. Taught us about communication, business, how to deal with people, and made us respect each other a lot more in the long run. But by no means was it easy.
TF: What’s next for your channel? Any fun plans?
CB: Mostly finding new abandoned places in brand new areas that we have never been to (new states, even out of the country). That’s always fun.
SG: Hopefully we can start traveling the world or at least the country to explore everything. I always love seeing different places and what they have to offer. Up until now most of our exploring videos have been in our own towns.
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The Keli Network, a Facebook-first digital media company that boasts popular brands including Gamology(4.2 million followers), Genius Club (4.7 million followers), Beauty Studio (4.5 million followers), and OhMyGoal(3.9 million followers), has launched its first slate of original series on the social network’s new video hub, Watch.
Each of the shows — including the soccer competition series Freestyle Ultimate Battle (which will live under its OhMyGoal banner) and Beauty Studio’s Beauty Wow show, featuring body painting — was conceived using trend analysis and performance data, Keli says. The programming also features prominent influencers like Séan Garnier — a French freestyle soccer player who counts 1.5 million YouTube subscribers. Keli says it plans additional Facebook Watch shows in coming months.
“As the media industry shifts toward mobile and social, we know that producing original content for these platforms will be the key to building the next generation of media brands,” Keli CEO Michael Philippe said in a statement. “Our Facebook content has traditionally focused on short-form content around sixty to ninety seconds for the News Feed. Now, we are creating episodic content for Watch in the four to five minute range.”
Keli’s other shows include Fitness Challenge and Beauty Hacks (courtesy of its Beauty Studio umbrella brand); Gamology’s Pixel Heroes, which celebrates heroes in the gaming world, and the trivia show Gaming Facts; and It’s Craft Time — a life hacks series published by Keli’s Genius Craft brand. Freestyle Ultimate Battle and Pixel Heroes are Keli’s most popular Watch series to date, with the first episodes of both shows having already surpassed 1 million views after debuting just last week.
Lauren Riihimaki wants her fans to have a colorful, cuddly Christmas. The Canadian lifestyle guru, whose LaurDIYchannel has more than 6.8 million subscribers, launched a line of plushies on her website on November 29. The result was an almost immediate sellout, as Riihimaki’s fans scooped up the first available items within 25 minutes.
The plushies come in four colors and are available through Riihimaki’s official store. The YouTube star first tweeted that she would release the cute gifts in October. She then worked with SelectNext, a division of Select Management (with whom she is partnered) to make her dream a reality. “Last October I tweeted that I would have a plushie line at some point AND ITS HAPPENING. IT’S REALLY HAPPENING,” she said in a press release. “This is really all I’ve ever wanted to do. I love DIYs but everyone knows my true passion is plushies!!”
Riihimaki isn’t the only one who loves plushies. Her fans seem to dig them, too. LaurDIY apparel typically sells out within days of its initial release, but the response to the plushie line represents a new level of fervor. Any fan who didn’t get an order in within the first 25 minutes of availability will have to wait for Riihimaki and her team to restock their store.
GUYS WE SOLD OUT IN 25 MINS WHAT IN THE ACTUAL POOP!!! stay tuned for a possible restock! working with the team to make it happen for y’all thank u for making my plushie dreams come true today
Refinery29 has looked to Facebook’s top echelons to select its new COO, Sarah Personette, who formerly served as the social network’s VP of global business marketing.
In her new role, Personette will oversee ad sales and business marketing at the female-focused digital media company, as well as partnerships, distribution, and audience growth. Based in New York, Personette will report directly to Refinery29’s co-founders and co-CEOs Philippe Von Borries and Justin Stefano.
While at Facebook, Personette helmed marketing solutions for customers with respect to the company’s live education platform, and also worked on multi-surface content strategy, sales enablement, vertical strategy, and more. Prior to that, Personette served as the North American president of Universal McCann. She joins a company that is brimming with females in top roles, including co-founders Piera Gelardi and Christene Barberich, CFO Melanie Goldey, and CCO Amy Emmerich. In March, Refinery29 announced the departures of CFO Tom Etergino, CRO Melissa Goidel, and EVP of marketing and strategy Patrick Yee.
“While largely underserved by businesses today, women will control two thirds of consumer wealth over the next decade,” Personette said in a statement. “Refinery29’s mission is to be the driving force for women transforming the world. I am honored to be part of this mission and my goal will be to help businesses authentically connect with the rising power of women through the Refinery29 brand.”
Refinery29 counts a global audience of 550 million fans across all platforms, according to the company, with its most recent content efforts including a Facebook Watch series called Strangers and a three-part series in collaboration with CBS This Morning titled M(Y) Generation that explores the trends and interests of young millennial women.
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Fullscreen has tapped digital marketing veteran Kevin Roe to serve as SVP of client services in its branded content group.
The appointment illuminates Fullscreen’s focus on ad-driven revenue, reports Variety, following the termination of its subscription video service earlier this month amid the layoff of 25 staffers. In his newly-created position, Roe will report to Fullscreen’s general manager, Pete Stein. Roe, a 30-year marketing veteran, previously worked under Stein at the Publicis-owned digital ad agency Razorfish. Stein joined Fullscreen in January 2016. Roe also previously served as SVP of digital for Edelman.
Roe, who will be based in Fullscreen’s Austin offices, will lead growth efforts for top accounts, support strategic client relationships, and develop new business opportunities, according to Variety.
“We’re thrilled to have Kevin as the newest member of our team as our clients recognize the need to reorient priorities from analog to digital, from one-way channels to social platforms, and from interruptive advertising to authentic, entertaining content,” said Tim Perlstein, Fullscreen’s SVP of strategy and insights. Adds Roe: “I’ve seen the insides of many client-side marketing organizations and know that CMOs still have a long way to go in transforming their organizations for the digital future, but Fullscreen is well-positioned to lead that charge.”
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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 righthere.
Description: Angela Gulner, Yuri Baranovsky, and Happy Little Guillotine Studioswant to create a show that speaks to those affected by eating disorders. That creative triumvirate is behind Binge, which will intermix the bulimia of its protagonist with comedy.
In Binge, Gulner portrays Angela, whose co-ownership of a cake shop and madcap romantic life lead to conflict with her friends, acquaintances, and lovers. At the same time, she struggles with bulimia, which exacerbates her personal struggles. In the Binge pilot, released last year, she begins to seek help at a local clinic, cracking wise all the while.
With their Indiegogo campaign, Gulner, Baranovsky, and the rest of the team hope to build on their pilot with five more episodes. Through those installments, they will continue to depict Angela’s recovery from a disease that doesn’t often get a deep portrayal in media.
Creator Bio: Gulner has a role in Happy Little Guillotine’s Dan Is Dead, which stars Drake Bell. Baranovsky is an experienced scribe of online video projects whose past credits include Break A Leg and Leap Year.
Best Perk: As part of its campaign, the Binge team is offering up mugs to those who chip in at least $100. Those who have “made bulimia [their] bitch” can pick up this vessel as a show of pride.
Why You Should Fund It: The Binge pilot has received more than a half-million views to date, and if you ask Baranovsky, the show owes its success to its story. “There’s no science to art,” Baranovsky wrote in a piece he authored for Tubefilter. “Yes, you can certainly approach a project with a strategy to give it the best chance of success, but at the end of the day, the story is first. It’s always first. It has to be first.”
Binge doesn’t only use its words to tell its story. It also employs lyrical movements of its camera and draws from Gulner’s own battle with bulimia. The result, at least in the pilot, was emotive, sweet, and smart, and it’s worth funding more episodes.
Got a crowdfunding campaign you’d like to see featured in Fund This? Be sure to contact us here.
Filed under: Articles, Featured, Fund This, Indiegogo, News by Sam Gutelle Comments Off on Fund This: ‘Binge’ Shares A Bulimic’s Struggle And Finds A Place To Laugh Along The Way
Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal‘s most ambitious scripted project is back. The iconic YouTuber duo, known commonly as Rhett & Link, is at the heart of season two of Buddy System, which is now available on YouTube Red.
After plotting revenge against their “co-ex-girlfriend” in the first season of Buddy System, Rhett & Link are using their second go-around to start anew. Their show’s sophomore effort imagines a universe in which they never met and, therefore, never became creative collaborators. In their place, a duo named Brett & Fink has risen to YouTube stardom. In the premiere episode of season two, Rhett & Link move in together and begin to build their friendship, in spite of their many differences. In a song, Rhett explains that he is a sophisticate, while Link paints himself as a common man.
The premiere episode also showcases a few of the well-known actors who will appear in season two of Buddy System. Original SNL cast member Garrett Morris appears as Rhett’s landlord, while The Big Bang Theory‘s Mayim Bialik rents Link a chamber in a morgue.
With its blend of goofy comedy and amusing original songs, Buddy System has cemented itself as one of YouTube Red’s best series, and its second season is primed to continue spreading good vibes. Eight new episodes of the show can be found on YouTube’s paywalled subscription service, which costs $9.99 per month.
Filed under: Articles, Featured, News, Rhett & Link by Sam Gutelle Comments Off on Rhett & Link Sing About Their Differences As Season Two Of ‘Buddy System’ Arrives On YouTube Red
