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By now everyone in Hollywood seems to accept that streaming is a cutthroat business. It may not be zero sum (most studies suggest that consumers will pay for about four streaming services at a time), but it is mighty close to it. And with Netflix holding a secure lock on one of those subscriptions for most consumers, there is increasingly little room for error.

But the streaming wars between giant services like Netflix, Prime Video, Disney, Max, Peacock, Paramount+ and others also obscure an entire ecosystem of streaming offerings that are trying to carve out their own niches in an increasingly difficult environment.

For all the press that the big streaming platforms get, there is a surprisingly vibrant world of boutique and specialty streamers chasing loyal and engaged fans at a much smaller scale. And new players continue to enter the space.

In the world of comedy, there is Dropout,...

Eugene Lee Yang is leaving The Try Guys.

But, in an 18-minute announcement video called Love, Eugene, he’s quick to clarify: There’s no beef between him and fellow Try Guys Keith Habersberger and Zach Kornfeld.

Instead, he’s departing, first, because the vast number of projects he’s developing—including a directorial debut with Killer Films, a graphic novel with Vault Comics, and a queer YA fantasy duology with Macmillan/Feiwel & Friends—are taking up all his time, with fans noticing that absence more and more over the past couple of years.

“I’m the busiest I’ve ever been in my entire life, and I’m so, so thankful to be committing my blood, sweat, and tears into projects that mean the world to me—projects that have been in rigorous development for many years,” he says. “Now, as you know, once they required my undivided attention,...

The Try Guys have tried everything from spicy noodles to corsets to labor pain. On August 10, the trio will attempt something a little bit different by performing William Shakespeare‘s Romeo and Juliet — with a twist. Instead of sticking to the script, The Try Guys will let their fans reinterpret The Bard’s iconic tragedy.

The one-night performance of Romeo and Juliet will feature Zach Kornfeld as the titular Montague prince, with Keith Habersberger playing his Capulet counterpart. Eugene Lee Yang will show off his versality by portraying many of the play’s other characters, including Mercutio, Paris, Friar Lawrence, and Juliet’s nurse.

Based on those casting choices, we’d expect all three Try Guys to end up dead at the end of the night. (Spoiler alert!) But that may not be how the show plays out. As fans watch the performance through interactive streaming platform Kiswe, they’ll...

When it comes to creating buzzy online content for their hundreds of thousands of followers, the Lewberger trio — Keith Habersberger, Alex Lewis and Hughie Stone Fish — are mavericks.

Formed in 2016, the comedy music group has become a poster child for how to be successful in the social media age, and increasingly among fervid musical theater fandoms. Viral Broadway covers, along with earlier career appearances on America’s Got Talent, Bring The Funny and collaborations with Habersberger’s other gig The Try Guys, have helped garner the musicians countless fans.

It’s also helped the band wrack up enough social capital to produce their own shows, including a very short L.A. run of what has since become an Off-Broadway musical, Lewberger & The Wizard of Friendship.

“This show is very much catered to the way that we interact together and catered to the way that our actual friendship is,” Lewis says. “The...

APA, which continues to grow its agency across numerous fronts, announced today that Nick Panella has joined the agency to head the newly established Podcast and Audio Division at the agency, it was announced today by Kyle Loftus, Head of Content Development at APA. Panella comes to APA from powerhouse independent audio company Workhouse Media, where he worked with name brand talent and podcasts such as Shonda Rhimes, Oprah Winfrey, Ellen DeGeneres, Chris Lloyd (co-creator of Modern Family), Dan Patrick, David Harbour, Laverne Cox, Ed O’Neill, Karamo Brown (Netflix’s Queer Eye), Jeffrey Dean Morgan (The Walking Dead), Sarah Wayne Callies, Terrell Owens (NFL Hall of Famer), The Try Guys (2B+ views on YouTube), Bob Saget (Full House), top podcasts Cold and The Letter (#1 podcast), and many others.

The move also establishes a strategic partnership between APA and Workhouse Media across the full audio landscape, most notably in podcasting. APA...

"Saturday Night Live" is facing backlash due to a Try Guys parody sketch that aired during the Oct. 8 episode hosted by Brendan Gleeson. The skit skewered a recent video the guys - Eugene Lee Yang, Zach Kornfeld, and Keith Habersberger - released explaining their decision to fire their fourth member, Ned Fulmer, after it was revealed that he had a workplace affair. While the sketch makes light of the trio's response to their friend and coworker's infidelity, Twitter users are calling out the NBC series for taking aim at the remaining Try Guys rather than Fulmer. (Popsugar reached out to the Try Guys' representatives for comment on the sketch but did not receive an immediate response.)

In the skit, Bowen Yang, Mikey Day, and Andrew Dismukes play Yang, Kornfeld, and Habersberger, who appear in a breaking-news segment on CNN hosted by Gleeson, who appears as a reporter well-versed in the drama.

Buzzfeed’s The Try Guys — the men who make videos of themselves trying just about anything — became a target of Saturday Night Live tonight when their latest cheating scandal was spoofed on the late-night show.

The piece began with Ego Nwodim playing a CNN anchor who tosses it to field reporter Colin O’Doherty (Brendan Gleeson). He’s supposed to be reporting on the White House, but keeps getting interrupted by breaking news regarding The Try Guys and the “Ned Fulmer Situation” — a reference to the real-life scandal that broke up the group after Fulmer supposedly cheated on his wife with a Try Guys staffer.

Laura doesn’t know these guys. Naturally, Colin is aghast. “How do you not know The Try Guys?” he asks. “These are the Buzzfeed pranksters who try stuff, like trying fingernail polish, or weird hair cuts. They even tried eating bugs.”

Related: ‘Saturday Night Live’ Calls Out Herschel Walker,...

Even if you don't follow The Try Guys' media content, chances are you've probably heard their name lately.. On Sept. 27, the popular YouTube group announced that one of its four members, Ned Fulmer, would no longer be working with the content creators, following reports of an extramarital affair.

The Try Guys initially addressed the news with a joint statement on social media, officially declaring Ned's departure from the brand following a "thorough internal review." The statement read, "We do not see a path forward together. We thank you for your support as we navigate this change." Since then, both Ned and his wife, Ariel Fulmer, have spoken out on the matter.

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As speculation surrounding Ned's extramarital affair reached a fever pitch, the remaining Try Guys released a five-minute video statement about the matter on Oct. 3.

Habersberger and...

“This is not who we are, and we took this very seriously,” said Try Guys member Eugene Lee Yang in a video the group posted today addressing the removal of longtime member Ned Fulmer. Yang, along with remaining members Keith Habersberger and Zach Kornfeld confirmed what fans had suspected: Fulmer, who is married, had an affair with an unnamed staffer.

“Ned had engaged in conduct unbecoming of our team,” said Habersberger.

The result is that, to the extent possible, Fulmer’s presence in the group’s videos is being erased, both going forward and retrospectively.

“There are several videos that we’ve deemed as fully unreleasable. You will never see them and that’s due to his involvement,” revealed Kornfeld.

But there are also a few upcoming videos that are sponsored and will include the former member, ostensibly due to contractual obligations.

You can watch their sometimes emotional announcement below.

Digital creators Bretman Rock, Bailey Sarian, Mark Rober and MrBeast joined Target and MatPat YouTube series The Game Theorists as top winners at tonight’s YouTube Streamy Awards, notching two wins apiece at the celebration of the year’s best online content and creators, which streamed for free via YouTube.

Rock’s series 30 Days With: Bretman Rock earned him the awards for Show of the Year and Unscripted Series, with Sarian recognized in the categories of Beauty and Podcast. Rober dominated Science and Engineering and nabbed one of nine Social Good Awards, with MrBeast taking another, as well as Creator of the Year. Target won awards for Brand of the Year and Branded Series, with The Game Theorists taking a Social Good Award along with one for writing.

This year’s show produced by MRC Live & Alternative and Tubefilter featured appearances by creators including Rock, Sarian, Rober, MrBeast, Addison Rae,...

Discovery’s Food Network is hungry for more on-the-road cooking improv escapades from the Try Guys, the YouTube viral-video comedy troupe.

The cabler picked up “No Recipe Road Trip With the Try Guys” to series, with an additional five-episode order. Food Network previously had announced a deal with the Try Guys for a one-off special of the same name; the special will now air as part of Season 1 so there will now be six episodes total. No premiere date has been set for the hour-long “No Recipe Road Trip” series, which likely will be available on both Food Network and Discovery Plus.

In the show, the Try Guys take their no-recipe mentality on the road, testing their mettle in kitchens across America by attempting to whip up a variety of classic dishes and restaurant specialties — with some “surprising and hilarious results,” per Food Network. Pre-production is currently under way on the additional episodes.

YouTube’s rescheduled graduation ceremony, originally slated for Saturday, is taking place this Sunday, June 7, and will feature voices from the Former First Lady Michelle Obama and Former President Barack Obama, Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, Lady Gaga and Bts, along with other big names in the industry. Here’s how to watch the virtual commencement.

The commencement ceremony, “Dear Class of 2020,” will be live streamed at this link and can be found on the YouTube Originals channel and YouTube’s Learn@Home site, learnathome.withyoutube.com. The event will also be available across mobile devices, desktops and connected TVs.

Michelle Obama’s “Reach Higher” initiative is set to host the first hour of the YouTube original special, beginning at 12 p.m. Pt, which includes a commencement addresses from Mrs. Obama and Beyoncé. At 4 p.m. Pt, former President Obama will give his keynote address, followed by the ceremonial tassel-turn at the...

YouTube has added even more star wattage to its previously-announced Dear Class Of 2020 event -- a festival-style, virtual graduation ceremony for homebound high school and college students the world over in quarantine. The event will comprise inspirational words from a newly-updated roster of stars (below), and will conclude with a YouTube Music-hosted party with live performances from chart-topping stars.

Joining Barack and Michelle Obama to deliver inspiration missives during the star-studded broadcast are: Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, Lala Anthony, Andy Cohen, Lana Condor, Misty Copeland, Kevin Durant, Finneas, Bill and Melinda Gates, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Jennifer Lopez, Demi Lovato, Hasan Minhaj, Janelle Monáe, Antoni Porowski, Billy Porter, Phoebe Robinson, Yara Shahidi, Michael Strahan, Taylor Swift, Ciara and Russell Wilson, the casts of Euphoria and Riverdale, and the Today show’s Jenna Bush Hager and Natalie Morales.

On the native YouTuber front, Dear Class Of 2020 will feature appearances from Emma Chamberlain, John Green, NikkieTutorials,...

Given that the coronavirus has scrapped high school and college graduation ceremonies the world over, YouTube is bringing this year’s festivities online with a star-studded special.

The event, dubbed Dear Class Of 2020, will bow on June 6. It will feature commencement speeches from former first couple Barack and Michelle Obama, Lady Gaga, former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, K-pop group Bts, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and activist and Nobel Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai.

In addition to the above commencement speeches, the special will also feature a virtual afterparty, with appearances from Kelly Rowland, Kerry Washington, Alicia Keys, Zendaya, and Chloe x Halle. Joining the afterparty from the native YouTube creator front are beauty vlogger Jackie Aina, ASAPScience, Dude Perfect, Zane Hijazi, Heath Hussar, Mr. Kate, The Try Guys, and more. A full run of show will be available on May 17 at YouTube’s Learn...

The results of the 9th Annual Streamy Awards are in, presented tonight live at the Beverly Hilton and streamed worldwide by YouTube. The Streamys honor the best in online entertainment and the creators behind it. The annual event brings together the biggest names in online entertainment for a night of celebration, discovery, and recognition. This year’s show included appearances by Emma Chamberlain, David Dobrik, Paris Hilton, Derek Hough, Casey Neistat, and Hannah Stocking, among others. The Streamys, which went host-less for the first time, featured the show’s inaugural collaborators. Emma Chamberlain coached this year’s Breakout Creator nominees on how to give a good acceptance speech. Diy creators Mr. Kate got distracted while presenting the Lifestyle award and re-designed Joey Graceffa’s table. Rosanna Pansino was joined by her friend iJustine for some live cookie decorating prior to presenting the Health and Wellness award.

Engineer Mark Rober unleashed...

Keith Habersberger, one-fourth of the megawatt YouTube team The Try Guys, has launched his very own hot sauce -- and fans are eating it up.

The $12 bottles of sauce were born of Habersberger’s well-established love for fried chicken, and the finished product has accordingly been dubbed Keith's Chicken Sauce. Habersberger worked on the venture with Heatonist, an online hot sauce retailer that also owns two storefronts in New York, and which also collaborates with YouTube star Sean Evans, host of the popular Hot Ones series..

For its part, Keith’s Chicken Sauce aims to channel ranch flavors, and also features Vermont maple syrup as well as sour cream powder for a creamier texture. In addition to chicken, Heatonist -- which sells roughly 100 different hot sauces from 60 small-batch producers (in addition to its own creations) -- says that the sauce is right at home on french fries, grilled cheese, and pizza.

Following in the footsteps of The Try Guys, Safiya Nygaard, Michelle Khare, Chris Reinacher, Gaby Dunn and Allison Raskin, and others, another fleet of former BuzzFeed creators are branching off on their own. 

A new digital production company dubbed Watcher Entertainment is slated to bow on Jan. 10, founded by Ryan Bergara, Steven Lim, and Shane Madej. Bergara is the creator and host of BuzzFeed Unsolved, a true crime series he created and co-hosts with Madej. Madej is also the creator and host of Ruining History, which chronicles funny moments in history. Lim, for his part, is the creator and host of Worth It, which stacks up similar items and services of varying price points. All told, the trio says that content created during their tenure at BuzzFeed has generated a combined 2 billion views. 

Watcher will launch as a YouTube channel with seven TV-caliber, unscripted digital series, as well as a...

In honor of Giving Tuesday, The Game Theorists hosted a star-studded, nine-hour charity stream yesterday to benefit St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

And the broadcast was a massive success, clocking in roughly $1.33 million -- and counting -- for the organization, which works to treats the toughest forms of childhood cancer and other pediatric diseases. The Game Theorists is a game-centric channel run by married creator duo Matthew and Stephanie Patrick, with 12.2 billion subscribers.

That tally was undoubtedly bolstered by appearances by fellow YouTube megastars The Completionist, Dawko, Because Science, Markiplier, Miranda Sings, NateWantsToBattle, TheOdd1sOut, Rosanna Pansino, SomethingElseYT, The Try Guys, and VSauce3. Notably, the creator of the cult-hit horror video game Five Nights At Freddy’s, Scott Cawthon, donated $500,000 to the cause. The stream also featured familiar games and challenges that served as incentives to drive donations, as well as an appearance from a former St. Jude patient named Miguel.

Visit Tubefilter for more great stories.

In celebration of Giving Tuesday, an unofficial holiday to counteract the consumerism of Black Friday, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital -- a pediatric treatment and research facility focused on cancer -- is teaming up with a slew of top YouTube stars on a marathon-length nine-hour charity stream.

The broadcast will be hosted by The Game Theorists, a game-centric channel run by married creator duo Matthew and Stephanie Patrick. Over the course of nine hours, they will welcome fellow creators in a bid to raise money and awareness for the organization. Guests are slated to include: The Try Guys, Markiplier, Colleen Ballinger, TheOdd1sOut, Vsauce3, Rosanna Pansino, animation phenom SomethingElseYT, and gamer Dawko. All told, St. Jude notes that participating channels count a combined 100 million subscribers.

The stream will kick off at 1 pm Et on Dec. 3, and will feature familiar games and challenges, including a crazy cookie taste test, Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?...

Eugene Lee Yang, who is one quarter of YouTube’s The Try Guys, has come out of the closet in spectacular fashion -- via a music video that also serves as a massive fundraiser for The Trevor Project

The dance video -- which was written, directed, and choreographed by Yang -- presumably portrays various scenes of his coming out journey. There are fraught moments with his parents, a church setup, and even a courtship scenario where he seemingly realizes his attraction to men for the first time. There are also scenes that allude to bullying and the Pulse nightclub mass shooting in Orlando. While Yang has previously identified as queer, he told The Advocate, the video marks his official coming out as a gay man.

“I created this music video as my personal way of coming out as a proud gay man who has many unheard, specific stories to tell,...

Today, The Trevor Project announced that talk show host, actress and producer Kelly Ripa and actor and producer Mark Consuelos will jointly be honored at the organization's TrevorLIVE New York gala with the Champions Award for their continued allyship and commitment to supporting The Trevor Project’s mission to end suicide among Lgbtq young people. The organization will also honor Ey with the 20/20 Visionary Award for the company's work supporting Lgbtq inclusion around the world and creating a sense of belonging for all Ey professionals. In addition, actress, comedian and writer Nicole Byer and actor, director and digital producer Eugene Lee Yang will co-host TrevorLIVE New York, the organization’s annual star-studded signature fundraiser, on Monday, June 17 at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City. As previously announced, actress, musician, and style icon Cara Delevingne will be honored with the 2019 Hero Award.

"We're so excited to honor Kelly Ripa, Mark...

Shane Dawson has had a massive year on YouTube with the launch of several multi-part docuseries -- and those ventures did not go unnoticed at the eighth annual Streamy Awards, where Dawson won in the ‘Documentary’ category for The Truth About TanaCon as well as the audience-voted ‘Creator Of The Year’ award. (Dawson's TanaCon series also took home an award for ‘Editing’ that was not presented during last night’s live YouTube broadcast).

This year's Streamys, hosted by The Try Guys -- with group member Eugene Yee Lang decked out in full drag -- also featured trophy presenter Charo changing into multiple showstopping outfits throughout the evening. And with the midterm elections just around the corner, several onstage presenters -- including Mamrie Hart, Grace Helbig, Liza Koshy, and DeStorm Power -- urged Streamys viewers to get out and vote.

Other notable winners last night included ‘Breakout Creator’ Emma Chamberlain, David Dobrik...

We have the winners of the eighth annual Streamy Awards, which were doled out tonight at the Beverly Hilton and livestreamed on YouTube.

The eponymous series from comedy quartet The Try Guys, who also hosted tonight’s trophy show, won the Audience Choice: Show of the Year prize, and Shane Dawson won the Audience Choice: Creator of the Year prize. Also among tonight’s winners was Kevin Hart’s Cold as Balls, in the Sports category.

David Dobrik came into the night with a leading six nominations for the Streamy Awards, which recognizes athletes, celebrities, gamers and creators in the online space who have established themselves as emerging talent that have broken new ground and utilized digital platforms to entertain, educate and inspire on a massive scale. Veteran creator Casey Neistat and the show Escape the Night were next with five noms each.

Here is the complete list of winners at the 2018 Streamy Awards,...

The Try Guys have some big shoes to fill. Following YouTube star Jon Cozart’s wickedly funny turn as host of last year’s Streamy Awards, the comedy quartet has been tapped to headline this year’s show.

The Try Guys -- comprising Ned Fulmer, Eugene Lee Yang, Keith Habersberger, and Zach Kornfeld -- rose to renown on BuzzFeed with viral clips in which they attempted various uproarious feats, including labor pain simulation and swimming with sharks. Since the launch of the supergroup in 2014, the Guys have netted 1 billion views across all social platforms. In June, they ventured out on their own to form an independent production company called 2nd Try -- with BuzzFeed remaining onboard as an ad sales partner.

In addition to hosting duties (the Guys promised "amazing performances and surprises" in an Instagram post), the group is nominated for two awards this year: ‘Audience Choice: Show Of...

Exclusive: The comedy team known as The Try Guys have been set as the hosts of the 8th Annual Streamy Awards while Eva Gutowski, Mamrie Hart, Grace Helbig, Liza Koshy, LaurDIY, Tana Mongeau, and Patrick Starrr have been announced as presenters. The Stream Awards will take place at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills and will air exclusively on YouTube Oct. 22 at 9 Pm Et/6 Pm Pt.

Nominated for two Streamy Awards this year, The Try Guys includes Keith Habersberger, Ned Fulmer, Zach Kornfeld, and Eugene Lee Yang. They are best known as one of BuzzFeed’s most successful viral video creators. The quartet formed their own independent production company 2nd Try. As their name suggests, they are known for “trying” everything from swimming with sharks to using a labor pain simulator.

The Streamy Awards nominations were unveiled last week with David Dobrik leading the pack with six nominations, while veteran...

Sometime today, BuzzFeed News will launch a footer at the bottom of its news stories that will ask readers to donate between $5 and $100 to “help us report to you,” according to The Wall Street Journal.

However, this doesn’t mean BuzzFeed plans to put its stories behind a paywall. Donations are on an if-you-want-to basis, and people who donate now will get exclusive updates on BuzzFeed investigations and programming. If enough interest is shown, BuzzFeed may introduce a more full-fledged membership program in the future, and offer more perks, according to the Journal -- which notes that BuzzFeed has no immediate plans to charge readers for access.

BuzzFeed wants to boost news revenue and is taking after other outlets, like The Guardian, that have chosen to ask readers for donations instead of implementing a paywall. That BuzzFeed is looking for more money isn’t a surprise, given it missed its...

BuzzFeed is going all in on Watch, Facebook’s nascent video hub, with the release of five original series through early December.

The new shows -- each of which has a five-episode order -- will feature some of BuzzFeed’s signature personalities, including Quinta Brunson and The Try Guys, as well as new takes on bold-faced franchises like Worth It and BuzzFeed Unsolved. The shows arrive on the heels of RelationShipped -- an interactive dating competition series that marks BuzzFeed’s first-ever Watch exclusive, and which clocked 800,000 views during its premiere week.

Visit Tubefilter for more great stories.

For many families, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is an integral holiday morning tradition. In 2016, NBC modernized its yearly spectacle by partnering with Verizon to launch a live stream that offered 360-degree views of the floats, performances, and assorted acts that rolled through Manhattan.

Now, with Turkey Day right around the corner, Verizon and NBCUniversal are teaming up for the second straight year. The 2017 live stream of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade will go live at 9 Am Est on Thursday, November 23 via the Verizon YouTube channel. Olivia Culpo, who emceed the digital broadcast last year, will return as co-host; this year, she'll be joined by Keith Habersberger, the BuzzFeed employee best known as one of the four members of the internet-famous outfit The Try Guys.

The live stream will once again approach the parade from all angles. Multiple cameras will capture the action, and they will have 360-degree functionality, which...