by Joshua Cohen on June 22nd, 2011
Kyle Myers is a young adult with a natural Southern twang, a bad Russian accent, an affinity for video games having to do with modern warfare, and enough munitions to fill the stockroom of The Matrix.
Dude started uploading videos to YouTube of himself playing First Person Shooter (FPS) computer games with hammer-and-sickle-accented English commentary on April 19, 2010. Those screen captures of in game action soon took a lower billing on his YouTube channel to videos of himself debunking Call of Duty: Black Ops myths by way of live demonstrations with 40-some-odd firearms.
Now, Myers aka FPSRussia, just blows things up on camera with weapons even Charlton Heston would admit are ridiculous for a civilian to own. And people watch. A lot!
In just over 14 months since its inception, his YouTube channel just crossed the 1 million subscriber mark in the last 24 hours. That makes for an average of 2,340 or so new subscribers per day and gives Myeres the honor of being the latest addition to the YouTube Seven-Figure Subs club since Epic Meal Time became the fastest channel to become a member late last week.
by Joshua Cohen on June 22nd, 2011
The The Lebrons is an original web series starring four different animated iterations of LeBron James (who you’re probably familiar with from those Nike commercials) and their pastel-colored, cartoon sitcom hi-jinks, which are intended to, according to professional basketball’s most loved (if you life in Miami) and hated (if you life anywhere else) player, teach young children important life lessons. The last installment of the first 10-episode season debuted last week, which means it’s a good time to look at the numbers.
The YouTube channel is up to 51,000+ subscribers with a total view count for all its uploads bumping 8 million (with 1.3 million of those views coming from Episode 1, and the other 6.7 or so million dispersed amongst the other nine episodes and various teasers and trailers). So, the $64,000 dollar question is do those numbers mean the show’s a success? Well, it’s at least successful enough for Believe Entertainment Group, the production company behind the series to produce another online original with a high profile star.
A behind-the-scenes look at the life of Holland’s DJ Tiësto will be the subject of an original web series co-produced by Believe Entertainment later this year. Charlie Amter at the Hollywood Reporter writes In the Booth will drop online this fall with sponsors and unique fan engagment opportunities soon to be announced.
by Joshua Cohen on June 21st, 2011
Charlie Sheen hit one million Twitter followers in just two days. His YouTube channel, however, isn’t attracting as many fans. Since the account was created on February 25, 2006, the man who in his own mind is perpetually winning has accumulated some 29,000 subscribers. That’s a lot, but not that many!
The relatively low number speaks both to Sheen’s YouTube strategy (he doesn’t have one) and to how difficult it is for even well-known celebrities to accumulate a substantial subscriber-base on the world’s largest video sharing site. And both are the main reasons why Epic Meal Time hitting the one million subscriber mark in less than nine months is so impressive.
The Canadian alt-culinarians Harley Morenstein, Alex Perrault and Sterling Toth launched their Powerthirst-fueled gastro lab on September 29, 2010, showcasing at least one video a week that documents the creation and mastication of their mostly meat monstrosities. Today they’re up to 1,033,244 subscribers and counting. That’s an average of nearly 4,000 new subscribers per day. By comparison, the crazy talented filmmaker Freddy Wong crossed the one million YouTube subscriber mark in a little over a year and Toby Turner and his Maker Studios-endorsed Tobuscus channel waited five years until they were recently accepted into the Seven-Figure Subs club.
by Joshua Cohen on June 21st, 2011
Chris Chang and Matt Semel of New York City-based production company 10ton (and whose names you may recognize as the creators behind a kind of videofied version of someecards called Carded.TV) made an original web series for Nickelodeon’s TeenNick. It’s called Flip Flops and it’s about two besties named Kat and Molly, their group of friends that could double as an advertisement for United Colors of Benetton, their teenaged exuberance, and their young people problems.
Kat, Molly, and company go on wonderfully shot, candy-colored adventures comprised of run-ins with exes, granny panties, joy riding, and kissing boys. If I was in my tweens I’d totally get Kat and Molly Trapper Keeper with matching mechanical pencils. That is, if I ever saw the series, which I wouldn’t have because TeenNick never aired it.
It’s not because the series isn’t good. Give it a watch and you see how it would resonate with a younger demo, giving them something to look at in between Justin Bieber videos and Zac Efron montages. Plus, even it was terrible, it’s not like that’s ever stopped media executives from releasing content. It’s because sometimes quality content just never gets released. Bad things happen to good people. That’s the way the world goes.
By the time Chang and Semel wrapped and delivered Flip Flops, the executives at TeenNick in charge of the project’s production were no longer with TeenNick. So, like thousands of other properties in all forms of media before it, the series was orphaned and sent to live in Entertainment Limbo with the Ark of the Covenant as its neighbor.
And there Flip Flops stayed until Chang and Semel screened the series at a recent Big Screen Little Screen event at Digitas in NYC. I caught up with them after to ask them about why they’re showing the public the show now and why some great programs never gets distributed.
by Joshua Cohen on June 21st, 2011
No offense to Bret or Jemaine, but Murray was the best part of the Flight of the Conchords (all the fans of leggy blondes know what I’m talkin’ ‘bout!). If you’ve missed the band manager’s sharp, New Zealand-accented, high-pitched pleasantries and criticisms since Bret and Jermained shuttered the HBO show, you can hear something very close to them on Mondo Media’s latest original web series.
FOT and Angus is an animated, odd couple story created by New Zealand native Alex Dron, co-written by fellow animator Karl Willis, and stars Rhys Darby as the voice of FOT, an insecure, square-headed, late-teen or early twentysomething who desperately wants to fit in and makes up for his lack of self-esteem with a cocksure attitude (not terribly unlike Murray!). Angus is his mute oaf a tagalong sidekick who plays the silent straight man to FOT’s wild, whimsical, and not-so-bright guy.
YouTube commenter janvictor1 has this to say about the series: “This is actually good make more!!” I agree. Three of eight weekly episodes of FOT and Angus are currently live and online, with the possibility of a second season if the series does well.
by Joshua Cohen on June 20th, 2011
Benny and Rafi Fine of the YouTube Top 50 Most Subscribed and internet famous Fine Bros make kids reenact the darndest things. The New York-born and Los Angeles-based brothers and production duo have made themselves into a substantial presence and developed quite the subscriber base (814,000 on YouTube and counting) thanks in large part due to their ability to get toddlers and tweens to act their age and emote on camera.
Kids React showcases a small litter of children aged four-or-so to 14-or-so watching viral videos, clips of YouTube stars, and at least one historical political speech, making comments to the camera about their thoughts and viewing experience like they’re participating in a survey for Consumer Reports.
If it sounds like a good model for internet success, that’s because it is, and it’s one the New York-based production company LandlineTV employs for their hit series Kids Reenact, which was commanding six-figure view counts when Kids React was still being conceived (+1 for references to the human aging process!). The series features a group of very young adults who can remember their lines long enough to portray a passable and incredibly adorable reproduction of a popular movie or television show. It’s good! And Babelgum recently commissioned 12 new episodes.
by Joshua Cohen on June 20th, 2011
Some say supercuts are the new sexual fetishes but I fancy them more a charming display of the work of pop culture archaeologists. There exists phenomena and epherma in the world of entertainment that A) you didn’t even know existed and B) when taken one at a time, may appear slightly comical or absurd, though the extent of their comedy or absurdity can only reach certain levels. But, if you take a few dozen instances of a particular phenomena or ephemera and compile them together on top of a decent soundtrack, new heights of comedy and absurdity are easily attained.
Did you know people danced alone to Ginuwine’s Pony? Well, thanks to the hard work of internet archivists, you do now. Do you think Mark Alan Dacascos looks and sounds ridiculous when he announces the secret ingredient on Top Chef America? Me too! How does he look and sound when you watch an edit of him announcing all the secret ingredient announcements? Super ridiculous, I know!
The pop culture analysts / “crafty contrarian linkbaiters” at the online video arm of Slate Magazine just released the latest addition to the supercut library. Money Shots shows the scenes from cooking programs when the chefs or esteemed guests taste their own food and make all the appropriate gesticulations and savory noises expected of them to let the viewers at home know just how good it is to eat whatever it is they’re eating.
by Joshua Cohen on June 20th, 2011
Individuals who haven’t cut their television cords may recognize web starlet Taryn Southern from her stints on Rules of Engagement, Attack of the Show, The Golden Globes Post Show, The Grammys, and other TV programs and specials. Online video aficionados will be familiar with her work on the TheWB.com and Big Fantastic teen drama Sorority Forever, the version of High School Musical made for kids over the age of 18 Private High Musical, a number of sexually suggestive music videos on YouTube and Funny or Die, and a handful of as of yet unnamed projects that will come out of her recently made partnership with Break.com.
Southern signed a six-month, first-look deal with the 13-year-old(!) humor website that will give her use of the company’s production, distribution, and promotion resources. Break will get an exclusive first look at all of Southern’s project in exchange.
This is the first first-look and second major talent deal for Break since the company acquired the online entertainment pioneer and former Endeavor talent agent Greg Siegel as its SVP of Entertainment Development. (Last week we wrote about Break’s upcoming original web series with Zachary Quinto.) Break reps tell me to expect more first-look and big name talent deals in the near future.
