Geoff Weiss

• Shane Dawson Launches Online Store With Jeffree Star’s Killer Merch, All Items Promptly Sell Out
• YouTube Pacts With MerchBar To Help ‘Official Artist Channels’ Drive Merch, Vinyl Sales

  YouTube is linking up with MerchBar -- an ecommerce company that vends 1 million items of official merch and vinyl for upwards of 35,000 musicians -- in a bid to increase sales for artists.

  
• Viral Video Upstart ‘Doing Things Media’ Appoints Former Group Nine Exec President, Taps Starry Advisers

  Doing Things Media (DTM), a meme and viral video network whose channels have amassed 40 million followers predominantly on Instagram -- though also across Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube -- has announced a new top executive, as well as several starry additions to its board.

  
• Pocket.watch Greenlights Shows With The Onyx Family, Eh Bee Family, Expands Hulu Pact

  Digital kids’ content studio Pocket.watch, which partners with a variety of family-friendly YouTube channels -- most notably eight-year-old Ryan Kaji of its flagship channel Ryan ToysReview -- to build multimedia businesses, has greenlit six new series.

  
• YouTube Drops Trailer For Latest Learning-Focused Original, Starring VSauce3’s Jake Roper
• Sardonic Twitter Account ‘Dril’ Nabs Weekly Web Series On Adult Swim
• Grace Helbig To Sit Down With Powerful Women In Studio71 Facebook Series
• Moonbug Inks Distribution Deal For ‘Little Baby Bum’ Spin-Off in The Nordics
• As Halloween Looms, Sam And Colby Unveil Four-Part U.K. Series, ‘The Graveyard’
• YouTube Continues Crackdown On ‘Pick-Up Artist’ Vloggers Globally
• YouTube Star Jordyn Jones Drops Self-Titled EP, Will Embark On ‘Eyes On Me’ Tour
• YouTube Pacts With Michelle Obama On Third Series To Spotlight Global Girls’ Education Initiatives