News

Fans were thrilled to finally see William Lipton return to General Hospital as Cameron Webber. While his mom Elizabeth was thrilled to see him, she (and the viewers) was surprised to see that be brought a girlfriend home with him named Gretchen Ross. Indi Star plays the newcomer to the show, so let’s find out who she is.

A Music and Acting Career

Cameron broke the news to his Mom that he and Gretchen wouldn’t be staying for Christmas. Instead, they were going to visit her family in Key West. When he and Liz (Rebecca Herbst) had a private moment, he explained that he went through a long, difficult time after breaking up with Josslyn (Eden McCoy). This time around with Gretchen, he’s taking their relationship very slowly instead of blindly jumping into a new relationship, which pleased his Mom.

The full name of Gretchen’s portrayer is Indigo Star Carey,...

Smosh, one of the most influential channels in the online entertainment world, has undergone significant transformation since its inception. For Courtney Miller, a key figure in the Smosh team, the evolution of the channel has been a remarkable journey, marked by growth, adaptation, and innovation.

When Courtney first joined Smosh, the channel was a dominant force in the YouTube landscape. Back then, it was backed by substantial resources, allowing for high-budget and ambitious projects. “When I first started at Smosh, it was under this – what appeared to be – big company with all of this money behind it,” Courtney recalls. “High-budget and high-concept projects were happening all the time, and Smosh was the #4 top channel. I felt like we were on top of the world.” This period was characterized by a sense of unbridled success and optimism.

However, as the digital media environment evolved, so did Smosh. According to Courtney, the...

Night has broken into podcasting by picking up a network that works with several top creators. The talent management firm known for repping big names like MrBeast has acquired The Roost, the podcasting network that was formerly part of Warner Bros. Discovery‘s Rooster Teeth brand.

The Roost is home to 47 original shows, including Ethan and Hila Klein‘s H3 Podcast and This Past Weekend with Theo Von. Many of the podcast hosts within The Roost’s network, including Philip DeFranco, Ludwig, and Smosh founders Ian Hecox and Anthony Padilla, established themselves on platforms like YouTube before launching audio-forward shows. According to a press release from Night, the 47 Roost shows have combined to pull in 350 million views and 20 million monthly audio downloads.

The terms of Night’s acquisition have not been publicly disclosed, but we do know that the transaction will lead to the establishment of a podcast vertical within the Night ecosystem.

Night, the leading talent management company representing most of the biggest YouTubers and Twitch Streamers is entering the podcasting vertical with the acquisition of The Roost Podcast Network, part of Rooster Teeth, from Warner Bros. Discovery.

Night will be retaining a majority of the team, including A.J. Feliciano, Head of The Roost Podcast Network.

The Roost is one of the most successful podcast companies in the business. Its network receives over 350 million views and 20 million monthly audio downloads.

The Roost Podcast Networks boasts 47 original shows, including:

This Past Weekend with Theo Von H3 Podcast (Ethan and Hila Klein) The Phil DeFranco Show Flashback with Smosh (Anthony Padilla & Ian Hecox) The Yard Jeff FM (Jeff Wittek)

The Podcast Division joins Night’s other business pillars, including Night Talent, Night Labs, Night Studios, and Night Ventures.

Night Quote: “The Roost’s distinctive brand identity, loyal talent and partner network, and mission...

Yes, Smosh stars Courtney Miller and Shayne Topp really did married!!

The actors and comedians announced they tied the knot on Monday (April 1), aka April Fool’s Day, and it caused a stir amongst fans as no one could tell if it was real or an elaborate prank.

The couple, who have kept their relationship fairly private and on the down low, shared photos from their small wedding, and in one post, revealed it took place on March 29th.

Now, Courtney is speaking out about where they got married and why they decided to share their big news with the world on April Fool’s Day.

Keep reading to find out more…

“Shayne and I indeed got married on March 29th, at the Santa Barbara Courthouse,” she confirmed to People. “It’s so wonderful to be married to my best friend.”

She then reveals that announcing on April 1st was very much planned out.

After 21 years, Rooster Teeth is shutting down.

“Since inheriting ownership and control of Rooster Teeth from AT&T following its acquisition of TimeWarner, Warner Bros. Discovery continued its investment in our company, content and community,” Rooster Teeth General Manager Jordan Levin said in a company memo. “Now however, it’s with a heavy heart I announce that Rooster Teeth is shutting down due to challenges facing digital media resulting from fundamental shifts in consumer behavior and monetization across platforms, advertising, and patronage.”

Around 150 staff are being affected, plus dozens of contractors and freelancers. A post from Rooster Teeth Community Manager Chelsea Atkinson asked that fans remember everyone at Rooster Teeth is “processing this in real time just like you,” and announced there will be a livestream about the closure March 7 on the Rooster Teeth website.

The Austin-based media company was founded in 2003 by Burnie Burns, Joel Heyman, Matt Hullum, Geoff Ramsey,...

Rooster Teeth, the pioneering digital-content company known for its webisodes and series like “Red vs. Blue,” “Rwby,” and “Gen: Lock,” is being shut down by parent company Warner Bros. Discovery after 21 years of operation.

Jordan Levin, the production company’s general manager, announced the news to staff on March 6 and sent a company-wide memo also shared to Rooster Teeth’s website. You can read it in full below.

“It’s with a heavy heart I announce that Rooster Teeth is shutting down due to challenges facing digital media resulting from fundamental shifts in consumer behavior and monetization across platforms, advertising, and patronage,” Levin wrote in the memo.

The shuttering of Rooster Teeth will result in the layoff of roughly 150 staffers, as well as numerous other contractors and creators put out of work. The Roost Podcast Network will continue as Wbd looks to sell its associated assets, including “The Rt Podcast,...

The Try Guys are joining Rooster Teeth‘s podcast network.

Starting now, all three Try Guys-produced podcasts are available on The Roost, whose team will provide resources like sales, distribution, and putting on audience-engagement/brand-building experiences.

The Roost hosts more than 20 podcasts from creators like Smosh, Anthony Padilla, h3h3Productions, Grace Helbig and Mamrie Hart, and Theo Vonn–plus, of course, its own flagship The Rooster Teeth Podcast.

The Try Guys’ three podcasts include:

The TryPod – “The Try Guys have tried just about everything, and they’re ready to share the chaotic wisdom they’ve earned from a lifetime of curious attempts. Join them as they Plog (podcast x vlog) around Los Angeles, making the world their playground, and their car, the studio.” You Can Sit with Us – “Becky Habersberger, Maggie Bustamante Kornfeld, and Matt McLean are your new best friends. In their weekly podcast, we dive into female friendships, current events,...

Revolt, a merch company that has released drops with creators like MrBeast, Valkyrae, Tubbo, Corpse Husband, Anthony Padilla, and Nihachu, has been accused of running a “Ponzi-ish” scheme that’s left it owing significant amounts of money to an unknown number of creators. And its head, Ryan Piasente–who also manages the well-known YouTube group Misfits–is facing accusations of sexual assault and misusing money from Revolt’s company coffer.

This all comes from an exposé by Coffeezilla, who’s been looking into Revolt and Piasente for several months after receiving off-the-record tips that creators who’d partnered with Revolt were not being paid, or were being paid late, for merch that had been sold.

Revolt launched in 2019, and by 2021, had become a major business. That year, it sold $20 million worth of merch in just five drops, according to inside information Coffeezilla was able to access. The creator partners for...

A joke authored by Elon Musk has turned into a merchandising opportunity for one of YouTube’s most iconic channels. Smosh, the comedy hub founded by Ian Hecox and Anthony Padilla, has started selling Dickipedia-branded shirts after Musk mentioned that portmanteau as part of a dig against Wikipedia.

Musk called out Wikipedia on X, the platform he acquired a year ago. “Have you ever wondered why the Wikimedia Foundation wants so much money? It certainly isn’t needed to operate Wikipedia. You can literally fit a copy of the entire text on your phone,” Musk wrote. “I will give them a billion dollars if they change their name to Dickipedia.”

Even if Wikipedia C0-Founder Jimmy Wales wanted to call Musk’s bluff, he’d still have to negotiate with the owners of Dickipedia.com. As it turns out, that domain belongs to Smosh. It’s kind of a funny...

It feels a little strange to say this in August, but the 2023 Streamy Awards are officially over, and they handed out a grand total of 50 awards to this year’s top creators.

This was the first year Tubefilter and dick clark productions held Streamys in the summertime, but the change of season didn’t mean everything changed: For the fourth time in a row, MrBeast took home Creator of the Year, and for the second time in a row, Kai Cenat snagged Streamer of the Year.

As for Show of the Year, that went to Michelle Khare and her daredevil series Challenge Accepted.

This year’s ceremony was hosted by MatPat, and featured dozens of presenters, including Dylan Mulvaney, Ryan Trahan, The Try Guys‘ Keith Habersberger and Zach Kornfeld, Smosh‘s Anthony Padilla and Ian Hecox, TikTok Npc streamer Pinkydoll, Colin and Samir, Dream, Michelle Khare, Anna Sitar, Austin Creed,...

MrBeast was the big winner at the 2023 Streamy Awards on Sunday night.

MrBeast (real name Jimmy Donaldson) won two awards out of the five he was nominated for: creator of the year and collaboration for his rock, paper, scissors video with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, “Surprised he didn’t pick rock every time.”

Kai Cenat won streamer of the year, with show of the year going to Michelle Khare’s “Challenge Accepted” and the international prize going to Spain’s ibai. Chris Olsen was named as the shortform winner.

Other well-known figures who won this year include Jonas Brothers, winners of the crossover category; Logan Paul, who won the creator product prize; Jay Shetty, who won for his On Purpose podcast; and TikToker Dylan Mulvaney, the trans influencer who found herself caught up in controversy after she starred in a Bud Light social media promotion, who won the breakout creator award.

The Streamy Awards, which celebrates the achievements and successes of online media, returned to Los Angeles this year on Sunday, Aug. 27. While the award show began in 2009 to recognize web series, it’s now branched out to encompass creators across platforms and continues to honor digital creators in categories like music, beauty, comedy, food and gaming.

The annual awards show delivered a star-studded lineup for its 13th ceremony, and included presenters Dylan Mulvaney, Drew Afualo, Delaney Rowe, Kris Collins, Pinkydoll, Anna Sitar, Brianna Chickenfry and xQc. Seven-time Streamy-winner MatPat, who...

Internet sensation MatPat hosted the 2023 Streamy Awards on Sunday, August 27 from the Fairmont Century Plaza, where winners were honored across a whopping 45 races. Every year, these kudos celebrate the best of online content creators and brands in categories such as Creator of the Year, Show of the Year and Streamer of the Year. The two-hour awards ceremony streamed live beginning at 6:00 p.m. Pt/9:00 p.m. Et. Scroll down to see the 2023 Streamy Awards winners list (plus all the nominees).

The Streamys were first doled out 14 years ago in 2009 and are produced annually by Dick Clark Productions. This year’s nominations were led by YouTuber MrBeast with a leading five bids. His nine fellow nominees in the Creator of the Year category were Airrack, Alix Earle, Charli D’Amelio, Jay Shetty, JiDion, Logan Paul, Mikayla Nogueira, Ryan Trahan and Zach King.

The 10 programs up for Show of the Year were “Amp,...

The 2023 Streamy Awards take place on Sunday, August 27 at the Fairmont Century Plaza but, as always, you can watch the ceremony from the comfort of your couch. Internet sensation MatPat hosts the 13th annual event, and he promises to “put [his] own twist on things this time.”

If you’re wondering how to watch the 2023 Streamy Awards, you’ve come to the right place. On Sunday evening, simply click this link at 6:00 p.m. Pt/9:00 p.m. Et when the ceremony begins. The live show is scheduled to run for two hours. This year marks a move to summer for the Streamys, which have taken place in December since 2019.

The Streamys, which were first doled out 14 years ago in 2009, honor the best of online content creators and brands across 45 categories, including Creator of the Year, Show of the Year, Streamer of the Year. Other fields range from animation to gaming to science and engineering.

Kohn’s Corner is a weekly column about the challenges and opportunities of sustaining American film culture.

As actors continued to strike this week, the biggest stories about performers were unrelated to the unions. First came 21-year-old YouTube and Twitch streamer Kai Cenat being charged with inciting a riot after his impromptu Union Square giveaway led thousands to storm the park. Then came the shocking announcement that 10-year-old internet rapper Lil Tay had died under mysterious circumstances, followed by the revelation a few hours later that Lil Tay was actually alive and well but the victim of a hack.

Welcome to the wild, wild west of the online creator economy that drives so much of popular culture. While SAG-AFTRA and the WGA want streaming-dominated Hollywood to provide a better support system, the internet has no infrastructure to strike against. A few weeks ago, I wrote about how documentarians have no union,...

What is The YouTube Effect? Starting on August 8, the general public has a chance to find out.

On that day, Alex Winter‘s documentary about YouTube’s culture and reach arrives on streaming platforms like iTunes, Amazon Prime Video, Google Play, and Vudu. The 99-minute film premiered at the 2o22 Tribeca Film Festival. A year later, it scored a distribution deal with Drafthouse Films, which brought it to select Alamo Drafthouse locations beginning in July.

The YouTube Effect features appearances from creators, execs, and reporters, all of whom offer commentary about YouTube’s massive scale and its undeniable influencer on global events. Figures who appear in the film’s trailer include Anthony Padilla (who Winter directed in a 2015 Smosh feature film), Natalie Wynn of ContraPoints, and several notable figures from YouTube’s corporate history, including Co-Founder Steven Chen and former CEO Susan Wojcicki.

Thus far, The YouTube Effect has earned generally positive reviews.

Kris Tyson is coming out as transgender.

The YouTube star, known for appearing next to MrBeast, revealed that she is a trans woman, opening up about herself and her pronouns while appearing on fellow YouTuber Anthony Padilla’s show.

“I am a woman! She/her” Tyson, 27, declared. “I’ve never said that publicly, but I’ve been fully confident in that decision for over a year now.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Anthony Padilla (@anthonypadilla)

Read More: MrBeast Reveals He Turned Down Invitation To Go On Doomed Titanic Submersible

The content creator candidly spoke about her journey, sharing that she began hormone replacement therapy in February. She also grew out her hair and began to publicly present herself as feminine.

“I wasn’t quite sure who I was yet, but I knew I was not cisgender. So I needed the freedom to be able to express...

On July 24 the Streamy Awards announced their 13th annual nominations honoring the best achievements by online content creators and brands. Seven-time Streamy winner MatPat will be hosting the annual event, which will be held on Sunday, August 27. Scroll down for this year’s complete list of contenders, led by MrBeast with five nominations.

MatPat said in a statement: “I’ve always been a huge fan of the Streamy Awards as a way to showcase and elevate the incredible talent in the digital video space. Hosting the Streamy Awards is like getting to throw a party for people I admire and whose content I love, and I’m thrilled to emcee an event that means so much in the community. This is going to be a pretty extraordinary night — there will definitely be some special moments that no one has ever seen at the Streamys before — and I’ve been given...

Nominees for the 13th annual Streamy Awards are here.

Once again, three-time Creator of the Year MrBeast is the most-nominated mover and maker. He’s up for five awards: Creator of the Year, Collaboration (for his $100k game of rock paper scissors with The Rock), Creator for Social Good, Creator Product (for Feastables), and the Streamys Brand Award for Brand Engagement (also for Feastables).

To win Creator of the Year for a fourth time, MrBeast will need to beat out a fleet of top YouTubers and TikTokers, including Airrack (last year’s Streamys host), Alix Earle, Charli D’Amelio, Jay Shetty, JiDion, Logan Paul, Mikayla Nogueira, Ryan Trahan, and Zach King.

Other top-nominated creators include Twitch dominator Kai Cenat with four nods, culinary superstar grandma Cooking with Lynja (three), and one of the two people permanently banned from having a Kick account, HasanAbi (three).

This year’s show, airing Aug. 27 at 6 p.

Some of the internet’s top personalities, including MrBeast, Keith Lee, Dylan Mulvaney, and more, will compete for major awards at the 2023 Streamy Awards.

Announced Monday, July 24, this year’s Streamy nominees have been recognized as some of the most influential voices in beauty, comedy, food, music, gaming, and more. In addition to major voices in the creator sphere like Amelia Dimoldenberg of Chicken Shop Date, TikTok star Chris Olsen, and makeup guru Mikayla Nogueira, the show also nominated newcomers to the scene: including food connoisseur Keith Lee and one TikTok’s favorite new comedians,...

Most people know that social media has become a cesspool of disinformation, a digital hydra that feeds off toxicity and conspiracy theories. But somehow YouTube, the second-most-popular site in the world, has avoided the scrutiny that’s come Twitter and Facebook’s way. “The YouTube Effect,” a new documentary from Alex Winter, could change that. It takes a tough look at the role that the Google-owned service played in everything from the Jan. 6 riot to the 2019 New Zealand mosque shooting by promoting election denialism and white supremacy.

“People don’t know that YouTube and Google are the biggest purveyors of disinformation,” Winter says. “One reason is people don’t understand what YouTube is. Is it just a place to watch cat videos, or is it something else? And the second reason you hear about it less is because Google is so deep-pocketed that it has some of the strongest...

Smosh is joining forces with Rooster Teeth.

The digital brand (recently bought from Rhett & Link by co-founders Ian Hecox and Anthony Padilla) is joining Rooster Teeth’s podcast network The Roost, and will also have a “huge presence” at this year’s annual Rooster Teeth convention, Rtx.

A representative tells Tubefilter The Roost will oversee brand deals for Smosh’s flagship podcast, SmoshCast, hosted by longtime cast members Shayne Topp and Amanda Lehan-Canto.

As for Rtx, this year’s convention, running July 7-9 in Austin, will be the grand finale of Rooster Teeth’s 20th anniversary celebration. The digital media company already spruced up its branding with a new logo and tagline, and has been running a 20-week campaign digging through the Rt archive to repost “deep cuts, one-off episodes and fan favorites” each week.

Smosh’s part in the celebration will bring Topp, Lehan-Canto, and fellow cast member...

Anthony Padilla is reuniting with Smosh–and he, along with Smosh co-founder Ian Hecox, are buying the digital comedy brand from Rhett & Link.

Padilla and Hecox met in sixth grade and were still best friends when they first launched Smosh on YouTube in 2005. Together they amassed dozens of cast and crew members, millions of subscribers, and became one of the most recognizable creator-led media companies in online video.

But then, in 2017, Padilla left. He cited creative differences, but it was clear there was also a rift between him and Hecox.

“By the time Anthony left Smosh, our friendship was not really that good,” Hecox told Variety. Last year, the duo got back in touch, and “really hit it off,” he added. “It’s kind of freaky how well this has all fallen into place. Our friendship had to end to be able to come back together.”

Padilla and Hecox...

Drafthouse Films has acquired three films that it will release theatrically in U.S. theaters followed by digital releases across major streaming platforms.

They include “Mister Organ,” a documentary from journalist and filmmaker David Farrier, whose 2016 film “Tickled” explored the dark underbelly of “competitive endurance tickling,” will be released in theaters this fall. As he turns his camera on another stranger than fiction story, Farrier finds himself caught in an increasingly dangerous game of cat and mouse with a mysterious character who expertly manipulates the lives of anyone who dares to expose his secrets. The film, Produced by Ant Timpson and Firefly Films’ Emma Slade and Alex Reed, was a critical and audience favorite at Fantastic Fest 2022, and has become a box office hit in Farrier’s native New Zealand.

“I am incredibly happy to be working with Drafthouse Films,” said Farrier “Watching this funny, disturbing, and deeply weird documentary...

Anthony Padilla‘s Pressalike Productions has signed actor, writer, and burgeoning content creator Caroline Klidonas for a six-figure YouTube development deal.

Per The Wrap, Pressalike’s investment is intended to help Klidonas become a full-time creator, providing her with both working capital to make YouTube videos and with content strategy development from the Pressalike team.

Klidonas, who’s worked in Hollywood both on and off camera, has been posting to TikTok since 2020, and has amassed nearly 400,000 followers with short satirical skits that dig into popular movie genres like romance and sci-fi. Over on YouTube, she’s got just shy of 4,000 subscribers. She began posting compilations of her TikTok videos there in December 2022, including collections of installments for her two main ongoing series: The Rune (sci-fi/fantasy) and Dog Park Rom-Com (self-explanatory).

“I’m blown away by the sheer creativity and passion that Caroline puts into bringing her ideas to live,...

Pressalike Productions, the production company founded by YouTube veteran and Smosh co-creator Anthony Padilla, announced Monday that it will sign actor and social media creator Caroline Klidonas to a YouTube development deal.

The deal will see Pressalike investing a nearly six-figure sum into Klidonas’ content creation and strategy development that will see the popular YouTuber, best known for creating sci-fi parody “The Rune Series,” into a full-time social media creator.

“I’m blown away by the sheer creativity and passion that Caroline puts into bringing her ideas to life. Her vigor and craftiness remind me of a golden age on the Internet when creators created because they simply couldn’t hold their ideas in any longer.” Padilla, who founded Pressalike Productions in 2020, said. “I’m beyond excited to do my part in helping this extremely talented creative explore where these ideas will take her when she has additional resources and guidance,...

The creator who described herself as a “compulsive event organizer” in 2022 is getting ready for her first major event of 2023. Beginning on January 15, Twitch star QTCinderella will host Master Baker, a five-day cooking competition featuring six popular streamers.

QTCinderella, whose real name is Blaire, is the self-proclaimed “resident expert baker” on Twitch. She often bakes sweet treats on her stream, and she even made a wedding cake to celebrate the union of Twitch streamers Natsumiii and Abe. The contestants on Master Baker, however, will not be so advanced. In fact, despite the show’s title, it will feature streamers who “can’t bake for shit,” according to a Twitter video shared by QTCinderella.

6 “Bakers”.

5 Days.

At the end of it we will know, who is

The Master Baker

Jan 15 – 19, 12pm pst. See you there. pic.twitter.com/Wet39NGHpj

— QTCinderella (@qtcinderella) January 6, 2023

The trailer gives off serious Great British Bake-Off vibes,...

Tickets are officially on sale for VidCon 2023.

This coming event will be VidCon’s 12th annual gathering, and its second year back in Anaheim, Calif. after Covid sent it virtual for 2020 and 2021. VidCon says its 2022 convention drew more than 50,000 Irl attendees, plus 650,000 unique livestream viewers from 150 countries.

The 2023 con will, as usual, be a four-day event (June 21-24) with dozens of panels, keynotes, meet-and-greets, and other programming spread across tracks for creators, industry professionals, and fans.

Four-day tickets are 99 for fan/community attendees, 145 for creators, and 649 for industry professionals. There are also single-day community tickets available for 49.

VidCon has also announced the first fleet of featured creators for 2023’s event: Alyson Stoner, Anthony Padilla, Claudipia, DangMattSmith, Drew Afualo, GeorgeNotFound, The Try Guys‘ Keith Habersberger and Zach Kornfeld, Michelle Khare, Nihachu, Ranboo, Rebecca Parham of Let Me Explain Studios, SeanDoesMagic, and Spencewuah.

More batches of featured creators will be revealed over the next few months,...

The Streamy Awards are just a few days away. The annual celebration of online video, which is set to return to a live format for the first time in three years, will be emceed by Eric Decker, the creator known online as Airrack.

To build hype, Streamy Award producers dick clark productions and Tubefilter (that’s us!) have dropped an official trailer. The Streamys preview is set at the Beverly Hilton, which will serve as the show’s venue for the sixth time. The Streamy Awards were last handed out at the Hilton in 2019; in the two following years, the pandemic necessitated a switch to a prerecorded format.

In the new trailer, Decker welcomes Streamy viewers back to the Hilton by sprinting across the hotel. While searching for a meeting with the Streamys team, Decker passes by some of the biggest names in online video, including Anthony Padilla, SeanDoesMagic, and...

2022 is a pivotal election year, so it’s the perfect time to bring back a voter registration campaign powered by creators and celebrities. YouTube stars like MatPat, VSauce, Courteezy, Zhc, and Anthony Padilla are participating in the latest edition of Good To Vote, which has added more than 110,000 U.S. citizens to the voter rolls.

Good To Vote was born in 2020 out of a partnership between non-partisan org HeadCount and Ben Relles, who recently left his position on YouTube’s original content team. The campaign launched to counter the downturn in voter registration that resulted from the Covid-19 pandemic.

The 2020 edition of Good to Vote featured many of the same influencers who participated in the latest edition of the campaign. Thanks to contributions from Vsauce, Remi Cruz, and others, Good To Vote completed more than 100,000 registrations in 2020.

In 2022, Good to Vote has delivered another six-digit sum of signups. The initiative...

Click here to read the full article.

Howie Mandel Does Stuff, the podcast co-hosted by the comedian and his daughter Jackelyn Shultz, will join The Roost, the podcast network of Warner Bros. Discovery’s digital media subsidiary, Rooster Teeth.

As part of the deal, The Roost will have the exclusive ad sales and merchandise rights to the podcast. The podcast network, which targets Millennial and Gen Z audiences, will also grow the series as a video podcast — a medium that more podcast creators have ventured into by sharing video versions of their shows on platforms like YouTube and Spotify.

Mandel and Schultz first launched the show in 2020 during the pandemic and have featured interviews with guests like Terry Crews, Tony Hawk, John Stamos and Sarah Silverman.

“It’s clear to us that this podcast has energized his already loyal fanbase, allowing them a deeper, and less filtered connection with Howie.

The podcast industry has evolved considerably since the last in-person VidCon in 2019. U.S. podcasting is now a 2 billion business, and one organization that has taken advantage of that shift in consumer attention is Rooster Teeth. Through its audio network The Roost, the Austin-based media company distributes podcasts from renowned creators, including Anthony Padilla, Grace Helbig, Mamrie Hart, and some of its own homegrown talent. These shows have collectively pulled in 87 million video views, according to The Roost's website.

Given how heavily Rooster Teeth has prioritized podcasting, I was curious to see how the company's execs would define "video podcasts" at a June 24 VidCon panel. The result was unexpected: Rooster Teeth co-founder Geoff Ramsey and podcasting head A.J. Feliciano claimed that a video podcast doesn't need to incorporate video at all, and some consumers won't even think of those videos as podcasts.

"A video podcast is neither a video...

In his new film “The YouTube Effect,” Alex Winter (“Zappa”) probably isn’t going to blow too many minds with his assertion that, with the invention of YouTube, society sure has changed. By anyone’s measure, it’s been a tumultuous couple of decades: social upheavals aplenty, media paradigms a-shiftin’, misinformation amassing.

Thankfully, Winter doesn’t stop there. “The YouTube Effect” may be a catalog of very recent history, but it serves the valuable function of connecting the many, seemingly randomly assorted dots into a clear narrative picture. What began, oddly enough, as an idea for a video-knockoff version of the sleazy website “Hot or Not,” where people could share clips and the audience could provide binary feedback (“Hit that ‘Like’ Button!”) ballooned very quickly into a billion-dollar venture purchased by Google.

It’s almost quaint to watch 15-year-old headlines declare Google’s purchase of YouTube to be a financial blunder of epic proportions.

The Streamys are happening tomorrow at 9 pm Et, and the 11th annual show has unveiled its star-studded performer and presenter roster.

R&b singer/songwriter Ari Lennox and Italian rock band Måneskin will grace the virtual stage, with creator appearances during the Larray-hosted ceremony slated to feature: Addison Rae, Anthony Padilla, Bella Poarch, Brent Rivera, Bretman Rock, Brittany Broski, Charli D’Amelio, Colin & Samir, Jeff Wittek, Philip DeFranco, Quenlin Blackwell, Rhett & Link, Tai Verdes, and Tinx.

In addition to the return of the Streamys Creator Honors -- in which past Streamy winners Bailey Sarian, Jay Shetty, LaurDIY, and Mark Rober will recognize up-and-comers -- this year’s show will also see creators like Dixie D’Amelio, Lexi Rivera, Safiya Nygaard, and Zhc teasing videos that will premiere on their own channels following the show.

Visit Tubefilter for more great stories.

Organizers MRC Live and Alternative Tubefilter unveiled nominees for the 2021 YouTube Streamy Awards on Wednesday. The list of noms range from up-and-comers to global stars including Bill Gates, Lil Nas X, Nick Jonas, Hailey Bieber, Ryan Reynolds and Will Smith.

Winners will be announced in December during a livestreamed ceremony. Additional creator appearances and show details are to come.

This year’s top nominees include MrBeast (with seven nominations) along with Emma Chamberlain, true crime and makeup maven Bailey Sarian, Bella Poarch, gaming collective FaZe Clan, comedic gamer Markiplier, and “kidfluencer” Ryan’s World. Other notable names include Addison Rae, Sunisa Lee and Dream.

The Streamy Awards honor creator excellence in online video content. More than half of this year’s nominations were first-time nominees.

Here’s the full list of noms:

Overall Awards

Creator of the Year

Addison Rae

Alexa Rivera

Avani Gregg

Bella Poarch

Brent Rivera

Charli D’Amelio...

Nineteen-year-old comedy brand Smosh, co-founded by YouTube OGs Ian Hecox and Anthony Padilla (who left the company in 2017), has hired its first chief executive.

In a bid to grow its reach into traditional media, Smosh has tapped Daniel Tibbets, who most recently served as Gm of the famed director Robert Rodriguez’s El Rey streaming platform, Deadline reports. Under Tibbets' tutelage, Smosh will explore TV, live events, audio, publishing, and physical and digital games. Smosh is also moving into a new production studio space in Burbank in coming weeks.

Tibbets will report directly to Mythical co-founders Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal, per Deadline. Mythical acquired Smosh in Feb. 2019 for a reported $10 million. Prior to that, the company had been in something of a state of limbo, following the abrupt — and scandal-ridden — shutdown of parent company Defy Media in November 2018.

Visit Tubefilter for more great stories.

YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki says she keeps a close ear to the ground when it comes to drama that proliferates across the platform -- though for professional reasons.

In a sitdown with creator Anthony Padilla for his I Spent A Day With series (below), Wojcicki says that drama can sometimes serve as an indicator that the company might need to intervene. It can trigger whether “this is something where we need to step in to make sure we’re protecting the community, or if there’s something that’s missing in our policies.”

In the realm of drama, Padilla also brought up the ways in which YouTube can be harnessed to perpetrate “media trauma” through public humiliation or shaming, and misrepresentation campaigns, which have been found to result in Ptsd.

Visit Tubefilter for more great stories.

WarnerMedia-owned digital gaming and lifestyle brand Rooster Teeth has announced several new projects today, including a brand new podcast slate for its in-house studio, The Roost, as well as the dates for its second virtual Rtx convention, which will be held from July 8 to 17.

Joining The Roost’s existing podcast lineup -- which includes a just-added audio iteration of Anthony Padilla’s I Spent A Day With YouTube series -- are: Annual Pass, in which Rooster Teeth's Geoff Ramsey and Jack Pattillo scope out the latest theme park news; The Real Canon, covering all things nerd entertainment; and fictional comedy No Dumb Answers, which spoofs the podcasting genre itself. The Roost will facilitate distribution and ad sales for each of its new shows. The division says it quadrupled revenues and saw a 20% increase in listeners in 2020.

Grace Helbig and Mamrie Hart will also host a new comedic outing at...

Anthony Padilla is turning his flagship I Spent A Day With YouTube series into a podcast in collaboration with Rooster Teeth’s podcast network, The Roost.

The Roost will work to expand distribution and head up sales for the series across all distribution platform. In addition to Padilla, The Roost reps podcasts from fellow YouTube creators like Garrett Watts and Andrew Siwicki (Sweet Boys) and Zane Hijazi and Heath Hussar (Unfiltered).

I Spent A Day With sees Padilla sitting down with groups from marginalized communities or those who have undergone traumatic situations -- those suffering from dissociative identity disorder (Did), for instance, or coronavirus survivors. On YouTube, the series has garnered 100 million views to date. And last month, Padilla formed his own production company, Pressalike Productions, which oversees I Spent A Day With and will also develop an original programming slate. Pressalike's first feature-length documentary is I Maid A Mistake...

Veteran YouTuber Anthony Padilla has established today his own production company, Pressalike Productions.

And Padilla -- who co-founded the YouTube comedy goliath Smosh in 2005 and subsequently departed to launch an independent channel in 2017 -- has recruited two digital execs to help him build the new venture: former Anonymous Content manager Aléssandra Catanese and Good Mythical Morning alum Mike Criscimagna.

Catanese, Padilla’s manager, will continue to serve in that capacity -- but has also been named head of business development at Pressalike, as well as a producer on forthcoming projects. Criscimagna, a former producer and editor on Rhett and Link's flagship talk show, will serve as Pressalike's head of post-production.

Pressalike will develop an original programming slate, including both long- and short-form video, with an emphasis on documentaries “that focus on misunderstood topics and showcase new experiences with genuine curiosity and open mindedness,” according to a press release. The studio’s first-ever outing,...

Smosh, one of the most successful and enduring comedy brands on YouTube, chose to celebrate the occasion of its 15th anniversary last Friday with a marathon live stream -- all in the name of charity.

Smosh -- a sketch comedy brand co-founded by middle school friends Ian Hecox and Anthony Padilla (who has since departed the venture to pursue an independent YouTube channel) -- opted to fete its anniversary not on YouTube but on Twitch, where it recently launched a hub for its Smosh Games outpost in August. That channel has amassed 117,000 followers.

Throughout the course of the six hour and 24-minute stream -- a takeoff on the classic telethon format that Smosh has billed a ‘subscribathon’ -- the Smosh Games crew drove donations while looking back at Smosh's formidable body of work. All proceeds benefited the First Nations Development Institute, a nonprofit that works to improve economic conditions for Native Americans through grants,...