Tubefilter News

Two weeks ago, I didn’t know who Chris Forsberg was. I woke up that day thinking I was facing just another typical Tuesday, with a set visit to one of the many industrial parts of LA that web series location scouts seem to adore.

Before I know it though, I’m sitting shotgun in Chris’ super-customized 350z Roadster drift racing car heading straight into the north wall of the Toyota Motor Speedway at a cosy 85 MPH. All I can taste is rubber. Suddenly my typical Tuesday just turned into Chris Forsberg’s typical Tuesday—cranking out smoke cloud donuts around cones and skirting death with a controlled chaos that I can only describe as a cross between NASCAR and surfing.

The web series I’m here for is The Bro Show, Break.com’s newly launched reality series that throws its two chummy hosts, Jeff Sloniker and Curtis Rainsberry, through a slew of challenges and pranks. They are shooting episode four, the first sponsored episode of the series which Break decided to greenlight without a sponsor for the first three.

One of my favorite nominees in the 2010 Streamy Awards wasn’t produced by any of the entities you’d usually associate with the production of web series. Assassin’s Creed: Lineage didn’t come from a traditional television network, major motion picture studio, online video production company, or independent content creator, but was the creation of a French videogame publisher.

Ubisoft developed Lineage as a prequel to and marketing tool for its highly anticipated release of the videogame title Assassin’s Creed II. With the help of their newly acquired motion graphics house, Hybride, Ubisoft created a three-part mini-series that, in terms of production quality and entertainment, rivals most theatrical releases. Beautiful, 300-like computer generated environments make for an alluring recreation of Renaissance Italy, in which live actors portray a tale of violence and deception.

Assassin’s Creed: Lineage racked up over 1 million views on YouTube alone and gained even more exposure through cable broadcasts on Spike TV. The web-series-as-a-marketing-device-for-video-games method appears to have been a success, and other videogame publishers are taking note.

Capcom recently announced it will create an eight-part, online series to promote the Fall release of its titles Dead Rising 2 and the Xbox only Dead Rising 2: Case Zero. Capcom’s global head of development (and Mega Man creator), Keiji Inafune, will write and direct the series. Dubbed Zombrex: Dead Rising Sun, the live action mini-series takes place within the Dead Rising universe, and follows “the story of two brothers trying to escape the zombie outbreak of Japan, with zombie references being sprinkled in from zombie films of the 60’s and 70’s.”

Expect to see a lot more announcements akin to this one in the near future. As videogame publishers figure out ways to market their wares to both established and new audiences, more will turn to web series as a viable way to push their products on connected consumers. Gamers are tech-savvy individuals who already spend vast amounts of time looking at brightly lit screens. Why not create high production value entertainment products for those screens?

It’s also comparatively easy for videogame publishers to create peripheral or companion entertainment products for their titles. When all the artwork, backstory, and characters have already been established for the videogame, it’s just a matter of repurposing those elements to craft a compelling story. It’s also a matter of allocating marginal additional resources to make it happen, but when you’re part of a $60 billion worldwide entertainment industry, cash shouldn’t be too hard to come by.

Well, they finally did it. Today Hulu announced its paid service Hulu Plus, the long-rumored subscription product offering viewers an expanded library that’s viewable on multiple devices including the iPhone, iPad, and select TVs and Blu-ray players.

With Apple, Microsoft Xbox, Samsung, Sony, and Vizio already on the supported product roster, Hulu will cover the video device universe from phones to Blu-ray players to TVs to gaming consoles, making “internet-enabled” an even more powerful marketing buzz-word going forward.

The subscription service, currently available only through a “preview invite request,” costs $9.99 per month, giving the $8.99 Netflix unlimited option a run for its money. Hulu Plus is still-ad supported, but has expanded its library to include full seasons for almost all of the current broadcast shows on its service, as well as back seasons or full runs of some old programs. “It’s a treasure chest in the cloud for TV lovers” Hulu CEO Jason Kilar wrote on the Hulu Blog.

The strong pitch here is a unique, uninterrupted television viewing experience; Kilar’s blog post guides the viewer from the living room to the patio to a local café, all without skipping a beat. “You can start watching a show on your HDTV one night, pick up where you left off on your laptop at lunch, watch another chunk on the bus ride home on your iPhone, and finish watching in bed on your iPad,” writes Kilar. I tested out the free iPhone app, which currently features a sampling of ad-supported free content like 30 Rock and If I Can Dream—and it works beautifully (headphones only—no sharing with the neighbors on that bus ride home, I guess).

Hulu has made great strides bridging the gap between traditional television and new media entertainment, from its initial browser-only service to Hulu Desktop. And with growing demand from consumers wanting TV-right-here-right-now, it is no surprise that advertisers, content makers, and device manufacturers are seeing greater opportunities with Hulu Plus.

I use an internet-enabled Blu-ray disc player (and more recently a Roku) to watch Netflix movies and some television programs on my television set—I don’t have a cable subscription or dish. I can tell you right now: the the convenience of instant viewing heavily outweighs the limited selection and reduced viewing quality. I haven’t exchanged a Netflix disc in about 6 months, and I’ve never bought a Blu-ray movie. The only titles I own are the two that came with Blue-ray player: Good Fellas and Blood Diamond.

Going forward I plan to use Netflix for movies and Hulu for television, provided my invite request is accepted. I’ve been spoiled by the ad-free Netflix model; we’ll see how hard it will be to acclimate to ad interruptions. Let us know what you think: if you don’t have cable, how do you get your entertainment? What is your setup? Will Hulu be a part of the package?

Topical, celeb-driven derivative content is where it’s at right now in terms of cranking out views in online video. And with this weekend’s opening of the brooding vampire saga Twilight: Eclipse, The Fine Brothers (Benny and Rafi) launched their timely new interactive 8-bit animated video game on YouTube mega-channel The Station today.

The 13-part interactive video series follows Bella and her polyamorous love with Edward and Jacob. Viewers make choices (using YouTube’s nifty annotations feature), choose-your-own-adventure style, at the the end of each video, trying to “survive” the game without dying.

You might recognize the 8-bit styling of Doctor Octoroc, known for his recent 8-bit sendup of Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog. The Fine Bros., who directed and produced the series, tapped Octoroc for the animation and music after seeing his widely circulated Dr. Horrible game.

Media companies have been gaga for online video this year, and the trend is showing no signs of letting up. And it makes sense. Most of these outfits, old and new media alike, already have the pieces in place—solid brand, sizable daily audience, top notch content, and competent ad sales teams. So it’s no surprise that everyone from The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and now TechCrunch, Silicon Valley’s daily must-read, have launched their own networks of original web series.

Dubbed TechCrunchTV, the network launches with six web shows, one daily and five weekly, featuring regular personalities from the popular tech blog like Sarah Lacy, MG Sielger, Jason Kincaid and of course founder Michael Arrington. Evelyn Rusli anchors the only daily show so far, a tech news and discussion show called TechCrunch Now. A handful of outsiders were tapped for their own shows, like Keen On, a weekly debate show with author Andrew Keen, and Speaking Of, an interview show with Cyan Banister.

TechCrunch TV is starting with a modest 40 minutes a day of live on-air programming as it finds its legs, and ideally its audience. Will we one day see a 24/7 TCTV broadcast? I asked TechCrunch’s Paul Carr, who will serve as the upstart network’s Creative Director. “There’s every chance,” said Carr. “But only when we know we can do it right. Quality over quantity.”

Just before Jon M. Chu and Paramount Digital Entertainment announced the July 7 premiere of their highly anticipated web series, The League of Extraordinay Dancers, Felicia Day and Microsoft made an announcement of their own. According to Day’s Twitter page, Season 4 of the highly acclaimed online hit, The Guild will debut on July 13.

Back in April, producers of The Guild – a web series about what happens when online gamers leave their computer screens and cross into the messy territory of real life – told their fans the web series would be back for a highly anticipated fourth season. The action will pick up where Season 3 left off with Microsoft and Sprint coming back on board to foot the bill. Similar to previous seasons, all episodes will be released first on MSN platforms, including Xbox Live and Zune Marketplace.

What’s interesting about the July 13 release date is that it comes before this year’s San Diego Comic Con. Day and company saved several surprises for their appearance at Comic-Con 2009, including the release of their music video ‘Do You Wanna Date My Avatar?’, the first public screening of The Guild’s Season 3 premiere, the unveiling of Wil Wheaton (of Star Trek fame) as Season 3 special guest star, and the announcement of their deal with Dark Horse to make a Guild comic book.

That’s a tough act to follow, but if anyone knows how to tap into the psyche of the Comic-Con crowd and provide fans with super cool content, it’s Day. The Guild’s 2010 Comic-Con Panel is on Saturday, Juley 24. Expect something awesome.

The Wall Street Journal is rapidly expanding its original, online video offerings.

Earlier this month, the right-leaning, financially-focused newspaper owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation expanded its live programming slate. The Journal launched Opinion Journal Live, featuring reporters from the newspaper’s editorial section commenting on top topics every weekday at 12PM EST. This added to the newspaper’s live, online programming schedule, which already included the twice daily News Hub and the tech-centric Digits.

Last Friday, the Journal added yet another title to its growing content library. Dubbed The Big Interview, WSJ.com’s latest offering will feature one interview every week with big guns in the world of finance and government. The show differs from the newspaper’s other material in that episodes are pre-taped and do not air live, which is probably a necessity considering the high-profile individuals appearing on the program. You’re less likely to score an interview with White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel (to be released July 2) if you don’t give his people any degree of editorial control.

The first installment of The Big Interview features FDIC chairwoman Sheila Bair. In the 19-minute episode, Bair speaks with WSJ’s economics editor David Wessel about “the concentration of financial power in fewer banking institutions over the course of the financial crisis, and the future of banks that are considered ‘too big to fail.’”

Actually, this is awesome. Two of YouTube’s most irritating juggernauts, Fred (with almost 500 million upload views and 1,794,243 channel subscribers) and Annoying Orange (with 139,169,748 upload views and 791,040 channel subscribers since its creation in January of this year) have teamed up, and on Thursday they released a video in which the two square off for the title of the “most annoying entity in the world.” Despite my prior abhorrence of the two comedians, I found this video to be so absolutely hilarious, that I am now a fan and a subscriber of both channels.

Hosted by the #4 Most Subscribed Comedian in Ireland Liam the Leprechaun, the video Annoying Orange: Leprechaun’s Secret Weapon features a “one round, no-holds-barred, fight to the finish” comprising the main event of “Pester Fest 2010,” during which the Annoying Orange and Fred take turns trying out-annoy one another. Bad puns, high-pitched screaming, and everything else you’d expect from these two jokers abound. On steroids. It was like watching a highlight reel of the most annoying scenes from Fred combined with a top 10 list of Annoying Orange’s worst jokes.

The video is disarmingly self-aware, and when the two poke fun at one another (and themselves), it works. The production value is impressive and the story moves along quickly; both Fred and Annoying Orange are masters at balancing instant gratification with long term engagement. It’s sort of like hot sauce or salted almonds. There is a reason Fred is and continues to be the #2 Most Subscribed YouTube channel of all time—it’s not a fluke—and is probably why Nickelodeon has tapped the 16-year old creator for a feature version of his series.