That Moment When stars actress Milana Vayntraub as Jill, who consistently finds herself in awkward situations. In the premiere episode, she stands opposite a mystery man who remembers her name even though she does not recall his. By making choices throughout the ensuing dialogue, viewers unlock letters of Parkih’s character’s name while also altering the present narrative. Ultimately, the episode’s conclusion knits together the various plot points the viewer has chosen in a satisfying a compelling manner.
Parikh’s Legend of Neil was a seminal comedy from the web series industry’s early days, and with his latest work, he’s once again delving into fresh territory. “That Moment When is all about thrusting the viewer into those relatable awkward moments. They get control of our lovably-immature protagonist, Jill, as she tries to remember someone’s name at a party, or gets dumped in public, etc., and then watch the playful mayhem that ensues,” said Parikh in a press release. “The way Eko’s technology puts the viewer in the driver’s seat to make choices in real time, intuitively and seamlessly, is revelatory. It’s like a TV sitcom and a smart phone game made sweet love and had a beautiful hybrid baby that’s the best of them both.”
Eko and Sony have become close partners. In 2016, the latter company invested in the former, kickstarting a multi-title agreement that will include That Moment When and several other interactive shows.
That Moment When will consist of seven episodes.
Filed under: Articles, Featured, News by Sam Gutelle Comments Off on Viewers Navigate Awkward Moments In Latest Interactive Series From Eko, Sony, ‘Legend Of Neil’ Creator
As a rash of sexual harassment allegations have broken out against powerful men in a slew of different industries, digital media upstart Vicehas formed a female advisory committee to help improve its workplace culture.
Vice unveiled its efforts this morning on the heels of a Daily Beast report published Wednesday chronicling allegations by former associate producer Phoebe Barghouty of inappropriate conduct by two of her male bosses. In addition to noting that Vice’s human resources department did not sufficiently handle Barghouty’s claims, The Daily Beast also points out a questionable agreement that Vice employees must sign, stating that they won’t be offended by sexually provocative or explicit content — which could theoretically encourage inappropriate behavior.
Jason Mojica, who most recently served as Vice’s documentary film unit head, was suspended today as part of an investigation into Barghouty’s allegations, according to The Hollywood Reporter. (The other accused executive, Kaj Larsen, has already left the company — as has Barghouty).
Vice’s newly-formed committee, whose aim is to prevent such incidents going forward, and also promote to inclusivity, will be chaired by noted attorney Roberta Kaplan, who successfully argued against the Defense Of Marriage Act before the Supreme Court, according to the Reporter. Other members of the illustrious committee include: top A+E exec and former Barack Obama staffer Alyssa Mastromonaco, Gloria Steinem, former Michelle Obama chief of staff Tina Tchen, former Hillary Clinton senior policy advisor Maya Harris, Vice‘s global chief human resources officer Susan Tohyama, Broadlypublisher Ariel Wengroff, and Vice’s CFO Sarah Broderick — who also just added COO to her title.
In addition to new policies and procedures instituted by the committee, Vice also plans to institute pay parity for all employees by the end of next year, and establish a hotline that will allow any employees to report sexual harassment anonymously, the Reporter reports.
Filed under: VICE by Geoff Weiss Comments Off on Vice Forms Advisory Committee With Gloria Steinem Following Sexual Harassment Claims
One of YouTube’s biggest personalities will take on a series of odd jobs. Liza Koshy, whose videos have attracted more than 12 million subscribers to her channel while reeling in more than 1.2 billion views, will star in Liza On Demand, which will arrive on YouTube Red in 2018.
In each episode of Liza On Demand, Koshy will try her hand at a new gig, in hopes of becoming an “elite tasker.” Above Average, the digital network owned by Saturday Night Live studio Broadway Video, will produce the forthcoming series. Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont, who co-directed the 2001 film Josie and the Pussycats, will pen its script.
“I can’t wait to bring Liza On Demand to my YouTube audience and hopefully a new audience too,” said Koshy. “Deborah Kaplan, Harry Elfont and Above Average are a dream to work with and this show is going to be so fun for folks of all ages, colors creeds and backgrounds.”
Liza On Demand will be Koshy’s second turn in a YouTube Red program. Previously, she starred in Jingle Ballin’, which served as the subscription platform’s first holiday special when it premiered last December.
Beyond her work on her channel and in scripted shows like #LizaOnDemand, Koshy has used her star power to unlock several off-YouTube opportunities. In August, she signed on as one of the hosts of the rebooted version of TRL as part of an overall deal with MTV. More recently, she became the first YouTube creator to appear on the Vogue digital series 73 Questions. That video arrived online one day before Liza On Demand was announced.
Filed under: Articles, Featured, News by Sam Gutelle Comments Off on Liza Koshy, Above Average Team Up For YouTube Red Series ‘Liza On Demand’
As evidenced by the record-shattering success of ‘Despacito‘ — which became the first video on YouTube to surpass 4 billion views in just 272 days — Latin music is currently having an explosive moment on the world’s largest video platform.
‘Despacito‘ was first released by Puerto Rican artists Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee in Januray — whereupon the Spanish-language earworm experienced a whole new wave of popularity thanks to a remix with Justin Bieber in April. Other collaborations between Latin artists and English-language popstars have seen similar trajectories, notes Forbes, including the Colombian singer J Balvin and French DJ Willy William’s ‘Mi Gente‘, which clocked 1 billion views in only 102 days. ‘Mi Gente’ is the fourth fastest video in YouTube history to hit 1 billion views, and a subsequent remix with Beyonce turned the song into an even bigger smash.
Today, Fonsi released another music video in collaboration with the American popstar Demi Lovato called ‘Echame La Culpa‘, which has clocked more than 8 million views in less than a day.
YouTube says that 20 Latin music videos clocked at least 1 billion views in 2017, per Forbes, representing a 300% increase over last year. Furthermore, over the last two years, daily viewership of the top 100 Latin acts on YouTube has grown by 75%, according to the video giant, with much of this growth occurring across the globe in countries like India (316%), Indonesia (268%), the Philippines (257%), and Egypt (206%).
Furthermore, YouTube is taking new steps to support emerging Latin artists — including, most recently, the production of an documentary about the Puerto Rican singer Ozuna. Next up, YouTube has its sights set on the rapper Bad Bunny, according to Forbes, who has amassed 4.2 million subscribers in less than a year.
Filed under: YouTube by Geoff Weiss Comments Off on Latin Music Is Soaring To Unprecedented Heights On YouTube Right Now
Ikea‘s latest piece of branded content gives YouTube stars a chance to share their holiday habits. The Swedish retailer has teamed up with digital media company Fullscreen and media agency Wavemaker for a live stream that offers 100 tips to viewers who plan on hosting guests during the festive season.
The stream, which aired on Ikea’s Facebook page, went live at 7 PM EST on November 16. During its 100-minute runtime, guests from the YouTube community joined the furniture outlet’s hosts to dish out 100 relevant tips for the holiday season. The list of YouTube stars who shared their own Yuletide secrets includes The Ballinger Family, Skyy John of Tipsy Bartender (pictured above), Sam Tsui, and Ann Le.
Fullscreen, Ikea, and Wavemaker previously partnered for a pair of back-to-school campaigns that also featured YouTube stars. “It’s partnerships like these that enable Ikea to make even deeper connections with its consumers and the creators themselves, who are major fans of the brand,” said Maureen Polo, the SVP of Fullscreen’s Brand Studio, in a press release.
A Facebook broadcast is a particularly smart choice for Ikea given the brand’s social following. 25 million fans of modern, Scandinavian, build-at-home furniture pieces follow the official Ikea USA Facebook page.
Filed under: Articles, Featured, Fullscreen, News by Sam Gutelle Comments Off on Ikea, With Help From YouTube Stars The Ballinger Family, Sam Tsui, Ann Le, And Skyy John, Offers 100 Holiday Tips
Rather than fighting fire with fire, the controversial vlogger Jake Paul is trying remorse on for size in response to YouTube’s The Martinez Twins — who recently departed Paul’s Team 10 vlogger squad amid bullying allegations.
In a seriesof videos, Emilio and Ivan Martinez — who hail from Barcelona and count 3.9 million subscribers on their YouTube channel — alleged that Paul took advantage of their limited fluency in English to make jokes behind their backs. They also claim he conducted pranks that became unbearable, called them racist names, forced them to assault one another, and withheld some of their earnings from a brand deal.
Paul initially fired back at the allegations in a series of tweets, in which he said he felt “publicly backstabbed and betrayed,” and urged the twins to “stop being immature and making ‘videos’ so you can get views and ‘prove your point.’”
Yesterday, however, Paul posted a two-part video apology to Twitter (see below) that struck a more conciliatory tone. “Nobody should ever feel bullied, and I truly apologize for not doing a better job as a leader and as a friend,” Paul says in the apology, which also teeters toward blame when he notes that the twins “never came to me or anyone and shared how they were feeling, which would’ve resolved the situation immediately. However, I do understand that they were apprehensive and shy.”
Paul promises that, despite the raucous high jinks, Team 10 is like a family. He said that he still loves the Martinez twins like brothers. While he hopes to eventually sit down with them to resolve any outstanding issues, he also says that the incident could represent “a way to teach an important lesson to our fans about communication and learning from your mistakes.” It remains to be seen whether the Martinez Twins will accept Paul’s apology.
Toy Freaks featured an unnamed father and his daughters, Victoria and Annabelle, as they acted out bizarre and suggestive skits. It was one of the channels mentioned by journalist James Bridle in a widely-shared Medium post that detailed the strange, dark, and violent nature of some YouTube videos aimed at children. In his piece, Bridle described Toy Freaks’ content as “gross-out situations, as well as activities which many, many viewers feel border on abuse and exploitation, if not cross the line entirely, including videos of the children vomiting and in pain.”
Despite that description, Toy Freaks proved to be a popular hub, perhaps due to its placement within YouTube’s recommendation algorithm. The Guardian recently sized it as “the 68th largest channel on YouTube,” and it made regular appearances in our Tubefilter charts. Shortly before its termination, it counted more than 8.5 million subscribers.
Greg Chism, the operator of the Toy Freaks channel, offered a statement to Variety. He spoke “of concerns that my videos were attracting audience members who do not have childrens’ best interests in their hearts.”
“Many YouTube community members expressed similar concerns, and their willingness to reach out to protect my children and all children from exploitation reinforces my faith in the YouTube community,” Chism said. “Victoria, Annabelle and I want to thank our supporters as my girls have had the opportunity to develop their creativity and self-confidence over the past few years. Their future is bright. While it is disturbing to me that anyone would find inappropriate pleasure in our video skits, I deeply appreciate YouTube’s concerns for my family and I could not be happier with having had this remarkable experience.”
Other channel owners have reported that some of their videos have been deleted as well. The creator behind KiddieToysReview, which has close to a million subscribers, had two of its clips removed as part of YouTube’s latest purge. According to the channel’s owner, “One was from Feb 4, 2017, the other from Dec 11 2016. One had views of about 6 million, the other over 62 million. Apparently the video have been appropriate for about 1 year, and today suddenly became inappropriate.”
The exact scope of YouTube’s latest wave of terminations is unclear, as are the criteria the site is using to separate offenders from rule abiders. A visit to the Toy Freaks channel reveals a message that reads “This account has been terminated for violating YouTube’s Community Guidelines.” TheFreak Family Vlogschannel, which featured the cast of Toy Freaks in a kind of dramatized family vlog format and has amassed over 4.7 million subscribers, has been reduced to a single video that features pictures of oddly-colored lobsters and a heavy metal soundtrack.
Tubefilter has reached out to YouTube and will report back with any comment.
Update 11/17/17 2PM ET: A YouTube spokesperson has issued the following statement regarding its termination of Toy Freaks:
“We take child safety extremely seriously and have clear policies against child endangerment. We recently tightened the enforcement of these policies to tackle content featuring minors where we receive signals that cause concern. It’s not always clear that the uploader of the content intends to break our rules, but we may still remove their videos to help protect viewers, uploaders and children. We’ve terminated the Toy Freaks channel for violation of our policies. We will be conducting a broader review of associated content in conjunction with expert Trusted Flaggers.”
Filed under: Articles, Featured, News, YouTube by Sam Gutelle Comments Off on YouTube Terminates Controversial Kids Channel With Over 8.5 Million Subscribers
WndrCo, the post-AwesomenessTV digital media venture co-founded by former DreamWorks chief Jeffrey Katzenberg, has made its latest investment. The mobile video-leaning holding company has participated in a funding round for digital news startup Axios.
Axios announced a $20 million funding round yesterday, led by Greycroft Partners and Lerer Hippeau Ventures — which adds to the $10 million that the burgeoning news site has already raised. Axios was founded last year by a trio of top Politicoexecs. The site covers media trends, tech, business, and politics, and will use new funds to expand its data capabilities, ramp up product development and audience growth, develop new coverage areas, and increase its staff from 89 to roughly 150 by next year’s end, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The funding comes at a tenuous time in the digital media industry, the Journal notes, as established players like BuzzFeedand Vicereportedly missed revenue targets for 2017, and Mashablesold to publisher Ziff Davis yesterday for $50 million — a fraction of its March 2016 valuation of $250 million.
Other investments made by WndrCo thus far include: progressive news network TYT, which produces The Young Turks hit news series, as well as the digital sports entertainment network Whistle Sports. WndrCo was launched earlier this year after raising an initial $600 million round of funding, which Katzenberg and his team will harness to invest in and acquire digital media properties.
Filed under: News by Geoff Weiss Comments Off on Jeffrey Katzenberg’s WndrCo Tenders Investment In News Startup Axios
YouTube star Roman Atwoodis helping out those who haven’t had enough chances to smile. The YouTube star has shared the trailer for Roman Atwood’s Day Dreams, a YouTube Red series produced by Studio71.
Day Dream, announced earlier this month, will give Atwood a chance to improve the lives of the ill, the handicapped, and those who have recently lost parents. In each episode, he will set up a grand experience, whether it be a vacation in the Bahamas or a trip to a NASCAR race, for someone who has suffered a hardship.
Atwood, once a leader among YouTube’s prank community, has successfully reinvented himself as one of the video site’s most enthusiastic and positive family men. He has adopted the mantra “smile more” as his own, and those two words certainly seem to identify the primary mission of his Day Dreams. Atwood’s new project will improve the spirits of its guests and warm the hearts of its viewers once it arrives on YouTube Red; it’s due out on November 22.
Filed under: Articles, Featured, News, Roman Atwood by Sam Gutelle Comments Off on YouTube Star Roman Atwood Finds Ways To “Smile More” In Trailer For YouTube Red Series
Mashablehas found a buyer. Months after a Wall Street Journal report indicated that the social media-focused publication was looking for an all-out sale, it has been acquired by Ziff Davis, a publisher that owns several media brands.
The price of the deal has been pegged at $50 million, which is far less than the valuation Mashable received as part of its most recent time. When it picked up a $15 million jolt from Turner in early 2016, The Wall Street Journal notes, its worth was estimated at $250 million.
The steep declined in Mashable’s value does not come as a huge surprise. It has dealt with several issues over the past 20 months, including a wave of layoffs that arrived shortly after the media company’s last funding round. Several top executives, including chief strategy officer Adam Ostrow, have moved on as well. At the end of 2016, Mashable recorded a net loss of $10 million for the calendar year.
Ziff Davis will add Mashable to its extensive roster of publications, media outlets, TV stations, and other properties. Its most notable subsidiaries include IGN, PCMag, and AskMen. It itself is owned by j2, a communications company known for its cloud-based services.
Filed under: Articles, Featured, Mashable, News by Sam Gutelle Comments Off on IGN, PCMag, AskMen Owner Acquires Mashable For $50 Million
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.
The channel in the spotlight for this week’s YouTube Millionaires column delivers a massive amount of information to its subscribers. InformOverload — the name is short for “information overload” — posts several news videos each day. Its rotating cast of anchors often discusses tech innovations, scandalous stories from pop culture and politics, the latest scientific discoveries, and other offbeat items.
Over time, channel creator Landon Dowlatsingh and his team (who are partnered with BroadbandTV) have been rewarded for their dedication to their viewers. They now have more than one million subscribers, so we chatted with them about their journey:
Tubefilter: How does it feel to have more than one million YouTube subscribers? What do you have to say to your fans?
Inform Overload: It feels exciting, we’ve been waiting for this moment for a long time. It’s nice that people appreciate the work that we do. We wanted to say to our fans, thanks so much for coming to watch us every day for the news. Our fans are the best! They have the best sense of humor, they’re easy to get along with and they’re very engaged in our comment section. We love you potatoes (fans)! They make coming to work fun and enjoyable.
TF: What in your mind makes online video news different from news content on other platforms?
IO: It’s more personal. We cater to what our fans like. We don’t cover all the news. We cover the news that we know our fans want to hear. We like to keep our news upbeat, fun and exciting for the new generation of internet users. Watching the news can be such a drag with all the depressing stuff you see every day so we look for the positives.
TF: Would you say there is an overarching philosophy that determines which stories you choose to cover?
IO: We generally just like to cover stuff that is current and interesting. If it’s noteworthy and remarkable, then we’ll cover it. If we don’t care about what we are talking about, we know are fans won’t care either.
TF: What topics tend to resonate very well with your audience?
IO: Stories typically revolving around internet trends, tech, the universe as well as aliens, ghosts, and paranormal things which tend to resonate really well with our audience. Basically anything cool or stuff that we find interesting, they all love. They love hearing about the fascinating stuff that is going on around the world that they otherwise might not have heard about.
TF: What steps do you take to verify the sources that your stories come from?
IO: We tend to look for eye-catching headlines. Then we’ll check other news sites that to also see if they’re covering the story as well. We’ll even go to Snopes.com to verify if a source is real or not. If we find out that a story is a hoax, we’ll always make sure to say that in the headline or in the video itself. We really do our research when it comes to each and every video.
TF: How much work goes into the titles of your videos?
IO: We workshop titles constantly. Typically, we’ll come up with an original working title and go from there. We analyze the keywords through SEO and then determine what keywords to use based on the analysis. Even after the video goes up, we’ll still change the title if we feel that it doesn’t accurately describe what’s in the video.
TF: How do you deal with the grind of posting new videos every single day?
IO: We don’t look at it like a daily grind because we have so much fun doing what we love but some days are harder than others. There really is such a thing as a slow news day. However, over the course of the years that we’ve been doing this, we have a database of websites that we pour over to find all the stories that we need. It’s become kind of like a routine for us now.
TF: How much do you analyze the YouTube algorithm? Do you try to create videos with the intention of having them go viral?
IO: We go over the algorithm constantly. We tend to look at what’s going viral and what’s not working, and change our course of action. Our intention is for every video to go viral and reach as large an audience as possible. However, there are news stories out there that we know won’t go viral but we find it important to cover for the sake of the community. Sometimes being a news channel isn’t about being the biggest channel on YouTube. Ultimately, our intent is to keep people as informed as we can.
TF: What’s next for your channel? Any fun plans?
IO: We’re excited for the channel to grow even further but we’re not looking too far ahead. Getting to two million subscribers is next on our list and then we’ll maybe start thinking about the long-term vision. We plan to celebrate this milestone with a staff party as well as do a Q&A with our biggest potatoes. There are a lot of big changes in the works that we think our fans will be into, some of which will be rolling out in the near future and we’re excited to see how our fans will react.
Filed under: Articles, Featured, Millionaires, News by Sam Gutelle Comments Off on YouTube Millionaires: InformOverload Is Able To “Cater To What Our Fans Like”
In something of a full-circle moment, comedy vlogger Liza Koshy has become the first digital star to participate in Vogue magazine’s infamous 73 Questions web series.
In 73 Questions, the iconic fashion bible shows up at celebrities’ homes — past participants include Taylor Swift, Kendall Jenner, and Selena Gomez — and asks them 73 (allegedly impromptu) questions while meandering from room to room without any edits. While the web series was launched by Condé Nast Entertainment in 2014, it turns out that the most popular 73 Questions episode of all wasn’t actually produced by Vogue, but instead marks a parody posted by Koshy to her own YouTube channel in May, which has amassed 17.3 million views to date.
In the parody, the 21-year-old plays one of her many characters, an erstwhile Olympian named Jet Packinski. And then, in a second 73 questions parody posted in late September, Koshy spoofed the series once again under the guise of another character creation named Helga (8.6 million views).
Now, Vogue has formally brought Koshy on board. Check out the official episode below:
73 Questions was created by noted digital comedy producer Joe Sabia, and thus far spans 34 episodes over the course of three seasons. You can check out the magazine’s full episode archive right here.
Koshy is easily one of the most buzzed-about creators on all of YouTube right now, where she shares weekly comedy videos with her 12.3 million subscribers. To date, Koshy has clocked roughly 1.3 billion lifetime views. She also has a flourishing acting and hosting career, having appeared in two seasons of the Hulu series Freakishas well as MTV’s TRLreboot. Additionally, in a bid to give back, Koshy unveiled last month a charitable necklace collection that features inspirational messages and also supports job creation for people emerging from homelessness.
Here’s Koshy’s most popular 73 Questions parody, featuring Jet:
Filed under: News by Geoff Weiss Comments Off on Liza Koshy Becomes First Digital Star To Appear In Vogue’s ’73 Questions’ Series
