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In February 2025, YouTube turned 20. The video site has gone through a lot over the past two decades, including an acquisition, an earnings glow-up, and multiple generations of star creators. In our 20 Years of YouTube series, we’ll examine the uploads, trends, and influencers that have defined the world’s favorite video site — one year at a time. Click here for a full archive of the series.

As the creator economy has grown, more people have cited the influencer profession as their dream job. On the surface, the creator lifestyle seems glamorous, but success on platforms like YouTube requires a rare combination of hard work, persistence, luck, and patience — and 2018 was the year when we found out just how hard the job can be.

13 years into YouTube’s existence, its culture had evolved. Its tentpole and viral video eras were long gone, and the creators who defined the site’s...

In February 2025, YouTube turned 20. The video site has gone through a lot over the past two decades, including an acquisition, an earnings glow-up, and multiple generations of star creators. In our 20 Years of YouTube series, we’ll examine the uploads, trends, and influencers that have defined the world’s favorite video site — one year at a time. Click here for a full archive of the series.

In 2008, the internet chose between Barack Obama and John McCain. A year later, a different dichotomy divided the web: You were either on Team Edward or Team Jacob.

I’m talking, of course, about Twilight. Bella Swan’s two love interests represented two different sides of the male ethos. Edward was dapper, broody, and mysterious (and a vampire). Jacob was protective, righteous, and gallant (and a werewolf). When Twilight: New Moon — the sequel that greatly expanded Jacob’s character — was at its cultural zenith,...

MrBeast has reached another milestone in his impressive career on YouTube. Jimmy Donaldson now has 270 million subscribers on his primary channel. By reaching that number, MrBeast has surpassed Indian record label T-Series to earn the title of most-subscribed channel on YouTube.

Donaldson’s ascension to the most-subscribed throne has been a foregone conclusion for months. As we’ve discussed in our weekly roundups of YouTube’s most-watched channels, MrBeast has been gaining subs at a faster rate than T-Series for months.

The North Carolina-based creator has long expressed his desire to catch T-Series, which claimed YouTube’s subscriber crown after taking it from Felix “PewDiePie” Kjellberg. Donaldson made a name for himself by supporting PewDiePie during the Swedish gamer’s battle with T-Series, and last year, he vowed to avenge his fellow creator by making MrBeast YouTube’s most-subscribed channel.

T-Series did not relinquish its title without a fight. As...

Welcome to Millionaires, where we profile creators who have recently crossed the one million follower mark on platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and Twitch. There are creators crossing this threshold every week, and each of them has a story to tell about their success. Read previous installments here.

Tristan Clausen has always been a hustler.

“When I was in sixth grade, I used to sell duct tape wallets. When I was in middle school, I was selling fidget spinners. When I was in high school, I was selling snacks, and I had my friends as my employees that would also sell snacks,” he says. “I sold Hot Cheetos. I was the chip guy who would walk around and give out chips.

“Wherever I find myself,” he says, “I just feel naturally compelled to push myself to do something, just to have people surround me and do things with them and do cool shit like that.

Two streamers teamed on to put on an event that will benefit an at-risk environment. QTCinderella and Maya Higa served as the emcees for the Gala For Good, a charity auction that raised approximately $250,000 for rainforest conservation.

The Gala For Good went live on October 2. The guest list included several creators, who donned rainforest-inspired garb for the event. Each invitee also showed up with a specific auction item. Higa painted a lush scene, Qt stayed true to form with a cake-shaped decoration, Jarvis Johnson delivered a pair of boxing gloves, and Alinity auctioned off a used pair of booty shorts. Twitch also chipped in by donating a Golden Kappa emote.

The event’s viewers spent the next day bidding on the available items via chat messages. By the time all the sales were finalized, the Gala For Good had raised “around $250,000.” That sum was split evenly among five organizations: The Rainforest Foundation,...

The YouTuber movie is one that's often been considered very specific. Usually, they are comedies that star and/or are made by a YouTube content creator specifically to appease their fanbase. None of these are what you can consider future Oscar contenders, but as long as they succeed in satisfying their target audience, they'll be perfectly fine. Right?

If the history of these movies is anything to go by though, a ton of YouTuber movies aren't particularly successful in winning this niche fanbase, let alone general audiences. In a way, it almost seems like the sheer amount of terrible movies with a YouTuber's name on them has set back one of YouTube's primary appeals in the first place. This is, of course, the platform's unique ability to allow creatives to find a platform for their work, eventually building up to bigger projects.

However, the idea of the successful YouTuber creative...

Two streamers got married, and the whole world got to watch them declare their love for one another. Abe and Natsumiii shared a feed of their wedding on Twitch and got fellow creator Disguised Toast to host it.

Natsumiii (whose real name is Wendy) met Abe in 2016. The couple got engaged in 2021. Both streamers reach significant audiences on Twitch: Natsumiii has about a half-million followers, while Abe has 285,000 of them.

Their November 8th wedding featured a star-studded guest list. Disguised Toast (real name Jeremy Wang) was not the only member of Offline TV to celebrate his friends’ matrimony. Valkyrae, LilyPichu, and Fuslie, all of whom recently signed exclusive contracts with YouTube Gaming, served as three of Natsumiii’s bridesmaids.

Other attendees included tastemakers from the online video industry’s earliest days to the present. Ryan Higa and Ludwig both showed up after previously establishing an Abe fan club on Twitter.

Arden Cho, the star of Netflix's latest romance legal drama "Partner Track," has been in the spotlight for well over a decade, but she's managed to keep her love life private. In the series, the actor plays Ingrid Yun, a tenacious lawyer who's determined to climb up the corporate ladder and become a partner at her law firm, all while navigating a love triangle with her former fling, Jeff Murphy (Dominic Sherwood), and the doe-eyed Nick Laren (Rob Heaps).

While many viewers are engrossed in Ingrid's nail-biting love woes, others are also curious about Cho's relationship status in real life. The 37-year-old "Teen Wolf" actor - who's set to star in the forthcoming live-action adaptation of "Avatar: The Last Airbender" - is notoriously tight-lipped about her romances. Case in point: Cho has only ever gone public with Ryan Higa, the popular internet personality whom she dated for nearly five years.

Netflix has released the trailer for Finding 'Ohana. The footage makes the adventure movie look like the perfect fit for any fans of The Goonies or the Indiana Jones franchise. Young Sheldon director Jude Weng made her feature directorial debut with the movie, which premieres January 29th, exclusively on Netflix. Weng directed Finding 'Ohana from a script written by Christina Strain, which takes place during the summer in rural O'ahu. The story takes an exciting turn for two Brooklyn-raised siblings when a journal pointing to long-lost treasure sets them on an epic adventure with new friends, and leads them to reconnect with their Hawaiian heritage.

Geocache champion Pilialoha "Pili" Kawena, age 12, is abruptly lifted from her busy New York life and dropped into rural O'ahu to help care for her grandfather. Initially skeptical about her new surroundings, Pili finds a cryptic pirate's journal in her Papa's studio hinting at a...

This year’s Wendy might be a film from another far off destination in Hawaii. Jude Weng‘s directorial debut Finding Ohana is a film about treasures beyond pots of gold and is populated by non-actor talents who look the part (and specifically the two leads in Kea Peahu and Alex Aiono) this also includes Marc Evan Jackson, Lindsay Watson, Owen Vaccaro, Kelly Hu, Ke Huy Quan, Ricky Garcia, Ryan Higa, Mapuana Makia, Brad Kalilimoku, X Mayo, and Kyndra Sanchez. Netflix grabbed the family action-adventure film and not too long after, Weng saw Amazon Studios attached themselves to what will be her sophomore film – Shelly.…...

Lifestyle YouTube star and burgeoning musician Wengie -- whose real name is Wendy Ayche, and who counts 14 million subscribers and roughly 20 million monthly views -- is hosting a first-of-its-kind virtual event on YouTube next week dubbed FutureCon.

FutureCon will combine the worlds of anime, cosplay, music, and gaming, according to Forbes, and will premiere on May 27 at 9 pm Et on a separate Wengie channel exclusively dedicated to her music ventures. FutureCon will feature musicians, and will also comprise discussions with mental health advocates, as well as an amateur cosplay content. Per Forbes, the event is being hosted during both Asian Pacific American Heritage Month and Mental Health Awareness Month.

For the mental health chat portion of the event, Ayche will be joined in conversation with fellow YouTube luminaries, including beauty vet Michelle Phan, singer-songwriter mxmtoon, vlogger Ryan Higa, and visual artist Zhc. 

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Netflix has nabbed the rights to “Young Sheldon” director Jude Weng’s feature directorial debut “Finding Ohana.”

The film follows two Brooklyn siblings (Kea Peahu and Alex Aiono) whose summer in a rural Oahu town takes an exciting turn when a journal pointing to long-lost treasure sets them on an adventure, leading them to reconnect with their Hawaiian heritage.

The pic marks Peahu and Aiono’s acting debuts and sources tell Variety it was very important for Netflix to find a cast of predominantly Hawaiian / Pacific Islander, even if it met find a lot of newcomers for the large ensemble.

“The Good Place’s” Marc Evan Jackson, Lindsay Watson, Owen Vaccaro, Kelly Hu, Ke Huy Quan, Ricky Garcia, Ryan Higa, Mapuana Makia, Brad Kalilimoku, X Mayo, and Kyndra Sanchez have also joined the cast. Christina Strain penned the script.

“Transformers'” Ian Bryce will produce through his Ian Bryce Productions...

Forbes has released its sixth annual '30 Under 30' list honoring “young change-makers and innovators in the U.S.,” and, once again, the compilation of 600 honorees in 20 total industries is fully populated by digital creators.

A total of 10 digital stars made the cut this year -- among them James Charles and Bethany Mota in the Art & Style category; AsapSCIENCE creators Gregory Brown and Mitchell Moffit in Education; Shonduras in Marketing & Advertising; Quinta Brunson, Cameron Dallas, Ryan Higa, Tyler Oakley, and Lele Pons in the Hollywood & Entertainment category; and Troye Sivan in Music.

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Exclusive: Jack Campbell’s Octane brings nine titles to Afm

Former Premiere Entertainment Group executive Jack Campbell has launched Octane Entertainment with nine titles for Afm buyers led by This Is Your Death starring Josh Duhamel.

Backed by a Silicon Valley-based investment fund, Octane plans to finance and produce one to two cast-driven, globally appealing features a year and acquire 15-20 third-party titles a year.

This Is Your Death from producers Great Point Media centres on a lethal game show. Giancarlo Esposito directs and stars alongside Duhamel and Famke Janssen. Great Point represents Us rights.

The slate includes comedy And Punching The Clown with Henry Phillips, Sarah Silverman and J.K. Simmons, action title Cops And Robbers with Michael Jai White and Tom Berenger, and thriller Tell Me How I Die starring YouTube comedy sensation Ryan Higa.

Company president Campbell will be joined at the Afm by vice-president Tamara Nagahiro and acquisitions executive Tanya Thanadpojanamart.

“With so many...

Gamer and fandom-focused digital network Machinima announced today that it is partnering with Yomyomf -- an aggregated YouTube channel, digital media company, and blog that stands for ‘You Offend Me, You Offend My Family’ -- as well as director Justin Lin (Star Trek Beyond, Fast & Furious 6) and NBCUniversal to launch a digital reboot of the 80s hit TV series Knight Rider.

The new digital series, to be produced by Lin and Yomyomf -- an Asian American pop culture channel directed by Lin and also featuring YouTube stars Ryan Higa, Kevin Wu, and Chester See -- is slated to debut in 2017. Originally starring David Hasselhoff, Knight Rider tells the story of Michael Knight, a crime fighter who is aided on his quest for justice by a high-tech car.

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On September 16th, Tell Me How I Die, a film co-starring YouTuber Ryan Higa, will premiere. The movie is a horror-thriller centered around a group of college students who begin to see grisly visions of their own deaths, and given that premise, it is being promoted in a fitting manner. The Tell Me How I Die team has launched the “Death By Emoji” bot, which gives Twitter users pictorial representations of their own demises.

To learn their fate, Twitter users are instructed to tweet at @DeathByEmojiBot using the hashtag #Tmhid. To kick things off, the film’s cast (which also includes former iCarly co-star Nathan Kress) submitted their own names to the bot, and it told each of them how they will kick the bucket. Apparently, Higa will be trampled by elephants at the circus. Tough way to go out, I’d say.

While Death By Emoji’s status as...

Ahead of the theatrical and VOD release of Tell Me How I Die on September 16th, Daily Dead has an exclusive clip from the film. Also: details on YouTube Spaces and Blumhouse's horror Vr collaboration, Child Eater's world premiere at Brooklyn Horror Fest, Destination America's Mountain Monsters season five renewal, and Iris Prize Festival screening details for Kill Pill.

Watch an Exclusive Clip from Tell Me How I Die: "When a group of college students takes part in an experimental drug study, an unexpected side effect gives them terrifying visions of their own murders… which begin to come true. As they scramble to outsmart and outmaneuver their date with death, they realize that the killer is among them and shares their ability to see the future – only he seems to be one step ahead in their race to survive."

Ryan Higa (YouTube's NigaHiga), Nathan Kress (iCarly), Virginia Gardner...

*full disclosure: an online screener of this film was provided by the film's pr' firm. **there are spoilers here. Director: D.J. Viola. Writers: James Hibberd, Rob Warren Thomas and D.J. Viola. Cast: Nathan Kress, Virginia Gardner, Kirby Bliss Blanton and Ryan Higa. Tell Me How I Die is a horror-lite film from second time feature film director D.J. Viola. Written by a trio of writers, James Hibberd, Rob Warren Thomas, and D.J. Viola, the film deals with illicit drug trials and a memory enhancing toxin. The side effects of the drug give some of the protagonists the ability to see into the future. It also gives the same powers to a ruthless villain. The film is hampered by poor lighting; characters can barely be seen in some scenes and some elements cannot be seen at all. The antagonist does not make an appearance until the final act. Thus, Acts I...

Just like that, it’s fall already. The first round of films fresh out of Tiff and Venice and Telluride are making their ways to theaters and living rooms nationwide. And now, we enter the last third of the year, with plenty of titles to be excited about. Below, you’ll see every planned theatrical release for the month of September, separated out into films with wide runs and limited ones. (Synopses are provided by festivals and distributors.)

Each week, we’ll give you an update with more specific information on where these films are playing. In the meantime, be sure to check our calendar page, where we’ll update releases for the rest of the year. Happy watching!

Week of September 2 Wide

Morgan

Director: Luke Scott

Cast: Anya Taylor-Joy, Boyd Holbrook, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Kate Mara, Michelle Yeoh, Paul Giamatti, Rose Leslie, Toby Jones

Synopsis: A corporate troubleshooter is sent to a remote,...

Who is your backup plan? That's what YouTube Red's new Single By 30 TV show asks. Below, watch a preview and the pilot -- for free. The first eight-episode season of this romantic comedy from Wong Fu Productions, premiered August 24, 2016 exclusively on YouTube Red.Single By 30 features two high school best friends who promise to marry each other, if they are still single by 30. Flash forward to 12 years later when the pair run into each other as adults. The cast includes: Harry Shum Jr., Kina Grannis, Eric Ochoa, Anna Akana, Hillary Matthews, Manon Mathews. Ryan Higa guest stars.Read More…...

Digital studio Supergravity has released a trailer for its latest feature film, a thriller titled Tell Me How I Die. The film stars YouTube megastar Ryan Higa, a 26-year-old vlogger who launched his YouTube channel roughly a decade ago and currently counts close to 18 million subscribers.

Higa jokingly tweeted his surprise about the film’s forthcoming release on Sept. 16 in select theaters and online -- given that he says he shot it back in the 90s.

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Blanc-Biehn Productions are going global and they are taking their current and upcoming movies with them. Premieres are set for She Rises, Hidden in the Woods, and many more. Also in today’s Horror Highlights: details, a poster, and a trailer for Tell Me How How I Die, American Murder Song tour dates, and Mezco’s new Resurrection X Living Dead Dolls.

Blanc-Biehn Productions Global Tour Announced Plus Details: Press Release: “(Los Angeles, CA / August 9, 2016) – The film-making couple Michael Biehn and Jennifer Blanc-Biehn are set to launch a promotional tour across the world to promote their current and upcoming movie projects.

The husband & wife film-star team and founders of indie film enterprise Blanc-Biehn Productions (Bbp) have begun a tour of Europe this summer with stops in Dublin, Ireland, Vienna and Oberwaltersdorf, Austria.

They will also appear at three Comic-Con fan expos in Europe: Wrexham, Wales (November 5-6); Manchester, England (December 3-4) and Kielce,...

A new horror film is coming your way. Titled Tell Me How I Die, the film involves drug experiments and a serial killer. The film was developed by a trio of writers, including: James Hibberd, Rob Warren Thomas and D.J. Viola. And, the film stars: Bliss Blanton (Projext X), Nathan Kress (iCarly), Ryan Higa, Virginia Gardner and Ethan Peck. A trailer for the film is available now! The official synopsis talks of an experimental drug study. A group of college students signs up for the drug trials. And, this drug provides visions of the future. Now, each experimentee can see their upcoming death, at the hands of a killer; there is no way to avoid it. Tell Me How I Die is reminiscent of another film, Bloodwork (2012). Aka Bloodworx, this title also involved drug experiments. Both films were plotted around drugs with strange side effects. And, both films deal with...

We’re still waiting on Space Jam 2, but ’90s nostalgia is alive and well with a basketball star of today in Space Jam 3. The short film by YouTuber Ryan Higa hit the web today, and it features Brooklyn Nets player Jeremy Lin getting transported into the world of anime characters. He soon finds himself having to shoot hoops alongside Naruto and Sailor Moon. There’s plenty of homages to the 1996 classic here, including Michael’s Secret Stuff — but Jeremy’s Secret Stuff, it turns out, is what the NBA player uses on his oft-wild hair. Lin’s hair is exactly part of what makes him a good fit for an anime Toon Squad — one of his ’dos once got plenty of comparisons to Goran of Dragon Ball Z. Check out Space Jam 3 below: Meanwhile, the latest on Space Jam 2 is that another Lin — Justin Lin, of Star Trek Beyond...

Ryan Higa’s YouTube channel is now ten years old, and in order to properly celebrate that milestone, his staff put together an anniversary surprise. The employees of Higa’s production company reached out to his buddies in the YouTube and cobbled together a montage of congratulatory messages to celebrate his first decade of online video excellence.

The video, which went live on July 20 on Higa’s secondary channel, runs for six minutes and includes salutations from more than a dozen of the 26-year-old creator’s friends and collaborators. The wellwishers include several other members of YouTube’s ten-year club, such as Wong Fu Productions, Timothy DeLaGhetto, and Michael Buckley, as well as some more recent standouts like Bethany Mota and Lilly Singh. In their messages, these creators reflected on the good times they’ve shared with Higa and looking forward to many more successful videos in the future.

Across his ten years on YouTube,...

The YouTuber Ryan Higa notes that, in recent months, drama has become a pervasive and irresistible force within the online video community -- and he wants a piece of the action. Except Higa, who is one of YouTube’s most popular stars with more than 17 million subscribers, is hoping to transmute the ill will into something slightly more productive.

In a video posted to his channel on Friday, Higa unveiled the brilliant Roast Yourself Challenge in response to what has felt like a proliferation of YouTuber feuds. “They’re not just tweeting snide little passive aggressive remarks,” Higa says. “They’re literally making dedicated vlogs to talk crap about one another.” He doesn’t call out any names specifically, but does mention PewDiePie and Ksi in passing, who happened to have their own war of words about the very issue of YouTube drama earlier this year.

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YouTube Red and New Form Digital have wrapped production on Single By 30, an eight-episode romantic comedy series starring Glee’s Harry Shum Jr. and YouTube musician Kina Grannis. The show is set to premiere on YouTube Red later this year.

Single By 30 tells the story of two high school best friends who make the age-old promise to get married if they are still single by 30 years old. It was created and directed by Philip Wang and Wesley Chan of Wong Fu Productions -- a top YouTube channel and independent production studio. Additional influencer cast members include the YouTubers Anna Akana, Ryan Higa, and Eric Ochoa, and Vine star Manon Mathews.

“For Single By 30, it was important for us to cast a diverse group of actors to reflect the culture of Los Angeles, where the story is set,” said Chan in a statement.

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Veronica and Vanessa Merrell, the 16-year-old masterminds behind hilariously adorable YouTube channel The Merrell Twins, are on a roll right now - scoring their first-ever Shorty Award nomination this year. The awards ceremony honors the best on social media, and the nomination has been a long time coming, considering the sisters have been making videos since 2009. The pair, who is nominated in the social media-centric show's first-ever YouNower of the Year category this year - alongside Jelly and Day and Hailey Knox - are being lauded for their use of YouNow, a live-streaming service that allows the sister's 178K subscribers...

Veronica and Vanessa Merrell, the 16-year-old masterminds behind hilariously adorable YouTube channel The Merrell Twins, are on a roll right now - scoring their first-ever Shorty Award nomination this year. The awards ceremony honors the best on social media, and the nomination has been a long time coming, considering the sisters have been making videos since 2009. The pair, who is nominated in the social media-centric show's first-ever YouNower of the Year category this year - alongside Jelly and Day and Hailey Knox - are being lauded for their use of YouNow, a live-streaming service that allows the sister's 178K subscribers...

Anna Todd, the Waffle House waitress-turned-Wattpad sensation, is continuing to break down the longstanding walls between writers and readers with a brand new app created in conjunction with Victorious.

Todd shot to fame as the author of After, a One Direction fan fiction novel about a young girl who falls in love with her college classmate, Hardin (a reimagining of Harry Styles who is “rude -- to the point of cruelty.”) The work garnered 1 billion views on Wattpad, was purchased by Simon & Schuster and will be made into a movie by Paramount.

Today, Todd is expanding her empire with the launch of her very own Victorious app. Though the company has already developed apps for a slew of digital influencers including Ryan Higa, The Young Turks, Lilly Singh, gaming McN Machinima and Vine star Lele Pons, this is the first time that it is expanding outside the online video realm.

When Stream Con NYC takes over the Javits Center in Manhattan on Halloween weekend, a select group of brands and stars will huddle away from the Industy Summit and its stellar speakers, the Creator Camp and its burgeoning talent, and the other ongoings at the event and its crowds for CreatorLand, an intimate invitation-only series of discussions we’ve helped to facilitate about how marketers and talent come together in the new world of digital content.

Presented by OgilvyOne and Victorious (the mobile platform that powers superfan communities for Ryan Higa, The Young Turks, Lele Pons, and more of today's burgeoning and biggest creators), the purpose of CreatorLand is to help break down the walls between brands and creators by providing a relaxing and safe environment for the collaboration, ideation, and the exploration of opportunities offered by the new content marketplace.

“When OgilvyOne launched the Advanced Video Practice, we were...

Victorious is now a global company. The mobile platform that helps influential individuals in online entertainment better interact with and distribute content to their respective communities and superfans has announced its overseas expansion into 12 new international markets, with brand-new offices in London and Singapore.

Victorious initially launched in June 2014 and released its first applications with superstar content creators Ryan Higa and The Young Turks Network in April 2015. The mobile platform has only continued to grow since then, working with and signing up more prominent digital stars like Lilly Singh (aka IISuperwomanII), Machinima, and Lele Pons (the first Vine star to sign up on the platform). The apps have proven quite popular, too. According to a line in the company's press release, Victorious has placed eight apps on the top of the iTunes and Google Play charts since its inception.

Now, Victorious will open up its platform and knowhow to creators in countries outside the U.

A quartet of online video stars have a message for prospective smokers. Ryan Higa, Rachel Levin, Christian DelGrosso, and Jerry Purpdrank all appear in the Truth campaign’s latest video, which channels Admiral Ackbar and warns that “social smoking” is a trap.

In the video, the participating YouTube and Vine stars offer up various rationalizations for why it’s ok to smoke. As soon as the words leave their mouths, various image macro characters show up to deliver a recurring three-word response: “It’S A Trap!” The video certainly panders to its intended audience, but it also succeeds in getting its message across.

Truth, which has been active since the late 90s, has partnered with online video stars as part of its ongoing campaign to combat youth smoking. It previously enlisted several of the Internet’s most prominent influencers for an utterly ridiculous music video called “Left Swipe Dat,” which...

Surfboards were handed out to music, TV, web, and fashion fan faves at the 2015 Teen Choice Awards on Sunday. "Jane the Virgin" star Gina Rodriguez was on hand to host the festivities, alongside Ludacris and Josh Peck.

What did the young people of the world vote for when it comes to entertainment? Who's the reigning choice celeb selfie taker? Find out the big winners below.​

Choice Music Group: Male

One Direction (Winner)

5 Seconds of Summer

Fall Out Boy

Imagine Dragons

Maroon 5

OneRepublic

Choice Summer Music: Group

One Direction (Winner)

5 Seconds of Summer

Echosmith

Fifth Harmony

Little Mix

Maroon 5

Choice Summer Tour

One Direction - On the Road Again Tour (Winner)

5 Seconds of Summer - Rock Out with Your Socks Out

Fall Out Boy & Wiz Khalifa - The Boys of Zummer Tour

Ariana Grande - The Honeymoon Tour

Ed Sheeran - X World Tour

Taylor Swift - The 1989 World...

In May, YouTube star Ryan Higa celebrated Mother’s Day by putting together a video collage in which he, his fans, and his fellow YouTubers all delivered messages to their respective mothers. The video became a viral hit, and as a result, Higa has engineered a similar video to celebrate Father’s Day. He encouraged his fans to say “I love you” to their dads, and he pieced together the best, funniest, and most heartwarming responses to accompany his own message to his dad.

As he did with his Mother’s Day video, Higa mobilized his fans through his TeeHee app, which he launched in April alongside Victorious. A month later, he once again turned to his followers and asked them to help him out with a little experiment. He explains his thought process in the resulting video:

“When you tell your mom ‘I love you’ for no reason at all,...

Many YouTube content creators released videos celebrating Mother’s Day, but Ryan Higa took the holiday to another level. Higa, who has more than 14.3 million subscribers on his primary YouTube channel, created a crowdsourced Mother’s Day video by using his brand new app to gather messages from his fans.

Higa, who recently launched his app alongside Victorious, asked his fans to send in some words for their mothers by using the #DearMom hashtag. After receiving thousands of responses, he combined the best ones with his own words and a few more from his friends in the YouTube community (such as Smosh, Jenna Marbles, Superwoman, and Miranda Sings). The result was a “Dear Mom…” video that scored more than a million views in its first day online.

At its most basic, Higa’s Mother’s Day effort is a warm ode the mothers around world. At the first time, it...

It has been nearly a year since we last heard from Victorious, a creator-facing startup co-founded by former YouTube creative development leader Bing Chen. In 2014, Victorious shared its plan to help YouTube stars, other content creators, and new media companies unite their audiences by working with them to create personalized mobile apps. Now, the first of those apps have arrived, with Ryan Higa and The Young Turks launching their respective mobile hubs.

As Chen and CEO Sam Rogoway explained to Tubefilter, the apps Victorious creates are not just mobile homepages for each creator. Instead, the company strives to build "platforms" that include "stuff from creators as well as non-creators." Higa's app, for example is titled Tee Hee, and Chen describes it as a "next-gen Comedy Central." In addition to content from Higa, it also showcases contributions from his community and will soon include an interactive game within the app.

"We're...

YouTube musicians Ryan Higa (known to the online video masses as NigaHiga) and Josh Golden (aka Golden) are back with a new music video after their popular “Coffee Shop Love” collaboration. “Sweet Wholesome Girl” (“S.W.G.”) presents an untypical view of dating and romance as the musical duo raps about wanting to be with a good girl. In the video’s introduction, Higa and Golden commiserate over a clip with over 100 million views that’s just “a bunch of girls shaking their booties.” Higa states he’d much prefer a girl full of innocence and sweetness he can “watch Full House” with, before unsuccessfully trying to use a turnip (a popular vegetable on social media these days), beet, dough, and bread to segue into the music video portion. Some feminists would undoubtedly want to pick a bone with Higa and Golden for assuming a woman who is shaking her...

Jeremy Lin, more than any other single athlete, has embraced the YouTube community. Even before he became a household name due to a remarkable run with the New York Knicks, Lin launched a YouTube channel of his own. As his star has grown, Lin has kept his channel active, and as he continues to make videos, he has partnered with Whistle Sports, the YouTube network dedicated to sports content. On his channel, Lin has created videos alongside the most popular Asian-American creators on YouTube. His channel's first ever offering featured KevJumba, who taught him how to create a good YouTube vlog. His most popular video is titled "How To Get Into Harvard", and it features a cameo from Ryan Higa. Lin, who is one of the few Asian-American players in NBA history, launched a global "Linsanity" trend when he led the Knicks to a series of remarkable wins in early...

Tyler Oakley took home entertainer of the year during the 4th Annual Streamy Awards Sept. 7, but he was far from the only winner. If further proof that streaming series are here to stay, look no further than the number of categories (40-plus), the venue (the Beverly Hills Hilton), and the list of nominees (everyone from Julia Stiles and Barack Obama to Oakley and DeStorm Power). Among the winners announced at the nominees reception Sept. 5 were President Obama, for his appearance on “Between Two Ferns” with Zach Galifianakis; Ashley Clements for “The Lizzie Bennet Diaries” (which took home drama series of the year at the ceremony); and “The Jimmy Fallon Show” for best television show. The winners announced Sept. 7 are below; click here for a complete list of the winners. Want to create your own streaming series? Check out our weekly profiles of series creators here! Audience Choice Entertainer of the...

Last month, Variety commissioned a survey asking 1,500 volunteers between the ages of 13 and 18 about twenty recognizable celebrities. Half of those celebrities built their careers on YouTube, while others were musicians and Hollywood actors. When the results came in, it turned out that the top five most influential celebrities were all YouTube stars. Smosh came in first, followed by The Fine Bros, PewDiePie, Ksi, and Ryan Higa. The most influential Hollywood actor was Paul Walker, who took sixth place, beating Jennifer Lawrence, Katy Perry, Daniel Radcliffe, Johnny Depp and Leonardo DiCaprio. Even Walker's co-star Vin Diesel didn't do very well, ending up in thirteenth place. Survey Results: (click to enlarge)...

On Tuesday, Variety released a survey that revealed the five most influential figures among Americans ages 13-18 are all Youtube celebrities. These stars beat out mainstream stars (including the queen of relatability, Jennifer Lawrence), all without the help of studio budgets, national TV appearances, or PR teams.

That’s kind of the point.

Teens in Variety’s study found Youtube stars more “engaging,” “relatable,” and even “smarter” and “more reliable” than mainstream stars (their relative sex appeal was about even), primarily because these internet celebrities provide an “intimate and authentic experience.” People who run Youtube channels speak directly with their fans,...

In July, Variety commissioned a survey that sought to compare the influence of YouTube stars and traditional media figures among teenage consumers. In what the publication calls a "surprising result," the survey's young respondents favored the new media influencers over their traditional media contemporaries. The survey asked 1,500 respondents between the ages of 13 and 18 a series of questions about 20 recognizable stars. Half of these stars built their careers on YouTube, while the other half approached the entertainment industry through more traditional means. Once all the responses had been tallied, Variety assigned each star their own score, and the top five scores all belonged to YouTube stars. Smosh came in first, followed by The Fine Bros, PewDiePie, Ksi, and Ryan Higa. The highest-rated traditional media star was the recently deceased Paul Walker, who came in sixth. I personally wouldn't have thought of the Fast and the Furious star as more influential than,...

YouTubers who wish to unite their fragmented audiences now have another option. A group of digital media veterans have officially launched Victorious, which aims to assist YouTube content creators who wish to engage with their fans on social and mobile platforms. Among Victorious' execs is Bing Chen, who left his position as the leader of YouTube's creator development initiative last month. Chen will serve as Victorious' Cco, and his close ties to the YouTube community have helped Victorious secure some big-name users, including Michelle Phan, Shay Carl, Ryan Higa, and Boyce Avenue. Essentially, Chen and the rest of the Victorious team (which includes CEO Sam Rogoway and Cto Michael Todd) want to help these creators answer the increased fragmentation of their audiences, which are now spread across YouTube, Twitter, Vine, and other social networks. Victorious' plan for uniting these streams runs through mobile apps it will design with its clients.

One of YouTube's most important, innovative, and recognizable employees is moving on. Bing Chen, who leads YouTube's creator development and management initiatives, will depart the company to join a new stealth startup. Chen joined YouTube in 2010 and has since helped expand the site's partner program far beyond its initial advertising-based infrastructure. Thanks in large part to his help, YouTube now counts partners across the globe and offers them a full suite of analytic services. He also founded programs like the YouTube Creator Institute and helped manage YouTube's regular presence at Vidcon. Last year, he was included in Forbes' 30 Under 30 list. Along the way, he has become friends with several well-known creators, and he recalled some of his most indelible memories in a farewell blog post he authored on his personal website. The post, which includes stories about Ryan Higa, Michelle Phan, ShayCarl, Philip Defranco, and several other creators, is a worthwhile read for YouTube aficionados.

On May 6th, Kina Grannis will release Elements, her newest album. The singer-songwriter, who has 872,000 subscribers on YouTube, has enlisted a bunch of popular YouTubers to help hype the new release. She has released a lyric video for her song "Dear River" in which the creators behind 21 YouTube channels join in and mouth the lyrics. The "Dear River" video features the leadoff track on Elements, with the participating YouTubers jamming along to its churning acoustic guitar rhythm. Most of Grannis' guests are her fellow YouTube musicians, including The Gregory Brothers, Lindsey Stirling, and Kurt Hugo Schneider, but a few non-musical creators--such as Ryan Higa, KevJumba, and Wong Fu Productions--show up as well. A full guest list can be found in the video's description. Grannis rose to prominence on YouTube after her song 'Message From Your Heart' won her Doritos' Crash The Super Bowl contest and landed her a record deal with Interscope Records.

Honoring the best in social media, the 2014 Shorty Awards nominees were announced on Monday (February 24).

On April 7th, winners will be celebrated at the New York Times Center in a live-streamed ceremony at ShortyAwards.com.

Among the nominees are Lena Dunham, Jimmy Fallon, Chloe Moretz, One Direction, Justin Bieber, and Demi Lovato.

Honored for their web-based projects were Amy Poehler's "Smart Girls at the Party" Tumblr and Jerry Seinfeld's "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee" web series. Check out the nominees below.

#Actor

Aaron Paul, @aaronpaul_8

Joshua Malina, @JoshMalina

Orlando Jones, @TheOrlandoJones

Arthur Aguiar, @Aguiarthur

Shahrukh Khan, @iamsrk

Misha Collins, @mishacollins

Dylan O'Brien, @dylanobrien

#Actress

Felicia Day, @feliciaday

Lena Dunham, @lenadunham

Retta, @unfoRETTAble

Lua Blanco, @Lua_Blanco

Sophia Abrahão, @sophiaabrahao

Chloë Grace Moretz, @ChloeGMoretz

Miranda Cosgrove, @MirandaCosgrove

#Band

Fifth Harmony, @FifthHarmony

One Direction, @onedirection

Big Time Rush, @bigtimerush

The Script, @thescript

Tokio Hotel, @tokiohotel

5 Seconds of Summer, @5Sos

EMBLEM3, @EmblemThree

#Celebrity

Aaron Paul,...

Only 90s kids will remember Canal Nostalgia's subjects, and that's just how creator Felipe Castanhari planned it. The Brazilian YouTube channel recently endured a battle with ContentID, and the ensuing support from the YouTube community helped push it over the one million subscriber mark. Here's our chat with Castanhari: Tubefilter: How does it feel to have one million subscribers on YouTube? What do you have to say to your fans? Canal Nostalgia: It feels awesome, never thought that my small channel could grow that big. I can only say thank you! And keep watching me so I can pay my bills. Tf: How do you choose which nostalgic pop culture icons to examine? Is it entirely based on what the fans want? Cn: I only choose themes that were a part of my childhood, I can only talk about things that I Really know, that's what makes my fans go back to my channel.

YouTube Nation, for those of you who haven't been paying attention, is going strong. YouTube's month-old daily video roundup has received plenty of love on the YouTube Spotlight channel, and the latest episode features a trio of guest hosts: Grace Helbig, Hannah Hart, and Mamrie Hart, who took over the YouTube Nation spotlight to promote their upcoming film, Camp Takota. The centerpiece of Helbig, Hart, and Hart's YouTube Nation episode is the extended Camp Takota trailer, which was released on Helbig's channel last week ahead of the film's Valentine's Day debut. After highlighting that video, we are introduced to a number of other offbeat offerings, including this crazy highline video, Ryan Higa's latest release, and, um, whatever this is. Helbig, Hart, and Hart's YouTube Nation cameo also reveals another important element of the show, as far as YouTube is concerned. When it launched, we noted that it was a...

Project Name: Wong Fu Productions Feature Film Asking For: $200,000 on Indiegogo Amount Raised Thus Far (At Time Of Post): $944 Days Remaining In Campaign (At Time Of Post): 40 Description: For six years, Wesley Chan, Ted Fu, and Philip Wang have been making short films on YouTube under the name Wong Fu Productions. Now, they're trying to use their skills to create a full-length feature film. Wong Fu is behind a new Indiegogo project set in a mildly dystopian world, one in which each individual's relationship history is carefully registered and made available to the public by an agency called the Department of Emotional Integrity. The film explores how this setup influences two couples, one in their teens and another in their mid-twenties. The film doesn't even have a name yet, but it does have concept art, a budget breakdown, and a featurette in which some YouTubers predict what their 'relationship score' would be.