If you’re craving one last taste of summer, Austin City Limits is it: the perfect cap to a season of music festivals. If you can’t make it to Zilker Park this year, you can still imbibe the goodness -- all you need is a laptop. Starting today, YouTube will bring you a live webcast at youtube.com/aclfestival, in partnership with C3 Presents, powered by Dell. Choose between two packed channels of music all weekend; the webcast kicks off at 11:30am PT.
The lineup is, if we can be immodest, stellar. Jack White and his hat. Florence Welch and her Machine. Iggy and his Stooges. You can snag time with headliners you’d never get so close to in real life, including The Roots, The Red Hot Chili Peppers and Childish Gambino. Or check out rising indie sensations like Kimbra, Polica and Alt-J. Don’t know all the acts? Check out our playlist 10 Must-See Bands @ACL.
Canadian duo Tegan and Sara, newly back after a hiatus, even want you in the mix (they made their own video invitation) -- and The Shins shared a playlist of their favorite music for the occasion. So mark your calendars and cancel all your other plans; we’ve got you covered this weekend. Head to youtube.com/aclfestival at 11:30am PT and let the music play.
Sarah Bardeen, music community manager, recently watched “Carla Morrison | Valentina-Compartir | A Take-Away Show.”
Friday, 12 October 2012
Thursday, 11 October 2012
The 2012 Vice Presidential Debate, tonight on YouTube
Last week, you made the first Presidential Debate of 2012 one of YouTube's biggest live-stream events ever. Tonight at 9:00 p.m. ET, tune in as we live stream the first and only Vice Presidential debate on the YouTube Election Hub.
Congressman Paul Ryan, the Republican nominee, will square off against Vice President Joe Biden, the Democratic nominee, for 90 minutes live from Centre College, in Danville, Kentucky. The debate will cover both foreign and domestic topics.
Over the years, the Vice Presidential debate has featured many memorable moments, from Bob Dole’s reference to the Carter-Mondale ticket courting the “bunny vote” (1976), to Lloyd Bentsen’s characterization of Dan Quayle as “no Jack Kennedy” (1988), to Dick Cheney advising John Edwards that the debate was “the first time I ever met you” (2004).
Whatever tonight’s “Drill Baby Drill” moment will be, you’ll see it unfold live here on YouTube.
And if you can’t tune in tonight at 9 p.m. ET, we’ve got you covered. The full debate and highlights will be available for viewing at youtube.com/politics shortly after the debate concludes.
Ward Bullard, YouTube Elections Team, recently watched Electoral College 101
Congressman Paul Ryan, the Republican nominee, will square off against Vice President Joe Biden, the Democratic nominee, for 90 minutes live from Centre College, in Danville, Kentucky. The debate will cover both foreign and domestic topics.
Over the years, the Vice Presidential debate has featured many memorable moments, from Bob Dole’s reference to the Carter-Mondale ticket courting the “bunny vote” (1976), to Lloyd Bentsen’s characterization of Dan Quayle as “no Jack Kennedy” (1988), to Dick Cheney advising John Edwards that the debate was “the first time I ever met you” (2004).
Whatever tonight’s “Drill Baby Drill” moment will be, you’ll see it unfold live here on YouTube.
And if you can’t tune in tonight at 9 p.m. ET, we’ve got you covered. The full debate and highlights will be available for viewing at youtube.com/politics shortly after the debate concludes.
Ward Bullard, YouTube Elections Team, recently watched Electoral College 101
Wednesday, 10 October 2012
Introducing our October “On The Rise” candidates
YouTube’s On The Rise program introduces four partners each month whose channels are growing but haven’t yet reached the 100,000 subscriber mark. Our October nominees have already established themselves strongly on YouTube, and we wanted to share their varied artistic talents with you to help them build an even stronger network of support as they work to build their YouTube presence.
One of these candidates will have the opportunity to be featured on the YouTube homepage later this month, so they need your help. Check out the videos below and vote for your favorite partner channel here. In addition to your votes, each channel will be evaluated on criteria such as viewer engagement and channel optimization techniques to decide which partner will be featured on the homepage, Google+, Facebook and Twitter at the end of the month.
In past months, featured On The Rise partners like thevfxbro and GoneToTheSnowDogs have gained many subscribers and seen their careers take off, thanks to your support. This month’s poll will be open until October 17, 5pm PT, so check these channels out and vote for your favorite, and then see which partner is featured on the homepage on October 25.
RichardGaleFilms
A three-time Emmy winner, Richard Gale has written and directed hundreds of cable TV programs and thriller films that received critical acclaim worldwide. His YouTube channel features videos from some of his most successful projects, including his most recent awad-winning short film, ‘The Horribly Slow Murderer with the Extremely Inefficient Weapon.’
calliemooremusic
Callie Moore was 12 when she first learned to play the guitar, and she wrote her first song that same day. In the years since, she’s continued to develop her sound and is currently recording her second full album at home with her husband. You can find samples of her music as well as vlogs on her YouTube channel.
lover4FASHION
Stay up to date on the latest hair and fashion trends with videos from Fash’s channel. She has over 100 videos on makeup reviews, outfits of the day, and highly requested hair tutorials.
docjazz4
David has been playing the ocarina (a flute-like instrument) since 1999. He shares his love of music through covers and original pieces on his channel and also teaches his viewers how to read sheet music for the instrument.
If you’re interested in checking out more rising YouTube Partners, visit our On The Rise channel, which features nominees, trending partners and monthly blog winners.
Devon Storbeck and Christine Wang, YouTube Partner Support, recently watched “The Ohio State University Marching Band - TBDBITL Halftime 10-6-12 Video games Nebraska.”
One of these candidates will have the opportunity to be featured on the YouTube homepage later this month, so they need your help. Check out the videos below and vote for your favorite partner channel here. In addition to your votes, each channel will be evaluated on criteria such as viewer engagement and channel optimization techniques to decide which partner will be featured on the homepage, Google+, Facebook and Twitter at the end of the month.
In past months, featured On The Rise partners like thevfxbro and GoneToTheSnowDogs have gained many subscribers and seen their careers take off, thanks to your support. This month’s poll will be open until October 17, 5pm PT, so check these channels out and vote for your favorite, and then see which partner is featured on the homepage on October 25.
RichardGaleFilms
A three-time Emmy winner, Richard Gale has written and directed hundreds of cable TV programs and thriller films that received critical acclaim worldwide. His YouTube channel features videos from some of his most successful projects, including his most recent awad-winning short film, ‘The Horribly Slow Murderer with the Extremely Inefficient Weapon.’
calliemooremusic
Callie Moore was 12 when she first learned to play the guitar, and she wrote her first song that same day. In the years since, she’s continued to develop her sound and is currently recording her second full album at home with her husband. You can find samples of her music as well as vlogs on her YouTube channel.
lover4FASHION
Stay up to date on the latest hair and fashion trends with videos from Fash’s channel. She has over 100 videos on makeup reviews, outfits of the day, and highly requested hair tutorials.
docjazz4
David has been playing the ocarina (a flute-like instrument) since 1999. He shares his love of music through covers and original pieces on his channel and also teaches his viewers how to read sheet music for the instrument.
If you’re interested in checking out more rising YouTube Partners, visit our On The Rise channel, which features nominees, trending partners and monthly blog winners.
Devon Storbeck and Christine Wang, YouTube Partner Support, recently watched “The Ohio State University Marching Band - TBDBITL Halftime 10-6-12 Video games Nebraska.”
Tuesday, 9 October 2012
YouTube’s keynote at MIPCOM: Building your audience on YouTube
Yesterday, YouTube's Vice President and Global Head of Content, Robert Kyncl, delivered the Media Mastermind Keynote at the MIPCOM conference in Cannes, France. Robert was then joined on stage by Alex Mahon, CEO Shine Group, Peter Tortorici, CEO and Chairman of GroupM Entertainment, and Yair Landau, Partner at MK Capital for a panel discussion moderated by MediaLink’s Chairman and CEO Michael Kassan. It was standing room only in the auditorium, so we thought we’d give you an opportunity to hear and see Robert’s presentation for yourself.
While the speech and subsequent discussion were geared towards the content creators and distributors in the audience, we wanted to share it with you as it paints a broader picture of our long-term strategy to bring more great content to love on YouTube. You can also find a full transcript of Robert’s speech here.
Let us know what you think of the speech in the comments below.
The YouTube Team
While the speech and subsequent discussion were geared towards the content creators and distributors in the audience, we wanted to share it with you as it paints a broader picture of our long-term strategy to bring more great content to love on YouTube. You can also find a full transcript of Robert’s speech here.
Let us know what you think of the speech in the comments below.
The YouTube Team
Monday, 8 October 2012
5 Questions with Chris Carver, Chief Operating Officer of Invisible Children
On March 5 of this year, Invisible Children uploaded “Kony 2012” to their YouTube channel. Today, the video has over 93 million views and has made Joseph Kony a household name. We caught up with Chris Carver, Chief Operating Officer of the organization to learn more about how Kony got to be such a viral sensation, the action (and controversy) it inspired, and their new documentary, “MOVE.”
1. KONY 2012 was the most viral nonprofit video ever on YouTube. What is your outreach strategy when putting out a new video?
We’re a grassroots movement so we first reach out to the supporter base we've developed over the past 9 years. A big part of Invisible Children's model is to tour our documentaries for free in schools, colleges and churches throughout North America. We do two tours a year, reaching around 500,000 students each tour. Prior to KONY2012, we had done 14 tours, with over 13,500 free screenings to over 5M students. There are over 500 Invisible Children clubs around the country, and we’ve put on 5 international events with over 400,000 people in attendance. I mention all of this to show how much importance we place on face-to-face interaction. The offline experience is just as important (if not more) than the online experience. Our supporters are truly the catalyst for getting our/their message out and we invest a lot of time cultivating these young, amazing leaders via phone, email, livestream, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.
There are so many other factors we consider as part of the outreach strategy when putting out a new film: From the importance of strong branding and design, to clear and concise copy that's synchronized across all platforms, to making sure everything has a very clear call to action.
2. Your new documentary tells the story of Kony. What was your motivation behind putting out this documentary? Why now?
Actually, all of our documentaries focus on Joseph Kony and the LRA in some form or another (11 films total). I think we all got to the point where telling the same type of story year after year wasn’t resulting in the amount of awareness about Kony that was needed to put international pressure on him.
In putting out KONY 2012, we told the story differently. We felt that after 26 years of child abductions, terrible atrocities and mass displacement in central Africa, the time had come for Kony to become famous. Not to celebrate him, but to bring his crimes to light. Although we far exceeded what we ever could have imagined in terms of view count and awareness, we know that seeing a permanent end to LRA violence is going to take much more than that. It is going to take a continued awareness, continued mobilization, more protection of communities from LRA violence and more recovery programs to rehabilitate, educate and create jobs for people affected by LRA violence.
Our new documentary, MOVE, goes behind-the-scenes to tell the story of the KONY 2012 whirlwind, how we made an African warlord famous, and how we’re going to challenge our generation to take a stand for international justice.
3. There were more than 40k videos uploaded to YouTube in response to KONY 2012. Were you able to engage with any of these folks? Did the volume of video replies surprise you?
To be entirely honest, I think almost everything about this campaign was initially surprising. Millions of people responded and our infrastructure couldn't handle the response. I take responsibility for this, but I'm not sure anyone could see this coming. As a result, people couldn't get any context for who Invisible Children was. So although we love the fact that so many people responded with more videos (extending the conversation), it was a loss that we couldn't respond back. We've always tried to make our various platforms a two-way conversation, but we just weren't set up for this much volume.
4. How did the KONY 2012 viewership translate into offline action?
KONY 2012 was/is an awareness campaign, and the international community responded with the most intense period of global engagement in the history of the LRA conflict:
5. KONY 2012 and MOVE are both quite a bit longer than the average YouTube video - how did you decide that a longer video was right for this subject?
For the past 9 years and subsequent 14 tours, we developed our films to be distributed in person. KONY 2012 was the first film that we released online, and its length was determined by how much time it took to tell the story. Because we knew it was longer than most online videos, we were strategic in making sure that every second held your attention, had a strong storyline, and was less than 30 minutes (clocked in at 29:59).
We took the same approach for MOVE and hope people who watch this time, share the film with the same idea as the first. Where you live should not determine whether you live and we have a responsibility to protect those that cannot protect themselves.
Ramya Raghavan, YouTube for Good team, recently watched “Protection Plan”
1. KONY 2012 was the most viral nonprofit video ever on YouTube. What is your outreach strategy when putting out a new video?
We’re a grassroots movement so we first reach out to the supporter base we've developed over the past 9 years. A big part of Invisible Children's model is to tour our documentaries for free in schools, colleges and churches throughout North America. We do two tours a year, reaching around 500,000 students each tour. Prior to KONY2012, we had done 14 tours, with over 13,500 free screenings to over 5M students. There are over 500 Invisible Children clubs around the country, and we’ve put on 5 international events with over 400,000 people in attendance. I mention all of this to show how much importance we place on face-to-face interaction. The offline experience is just as important (if not more) than the online experience. Our supporters are truly the catalyst for getting our/their message out and we invest a lot of time cultivating these young, amazing leaders via phone, email, livestream, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.
There are so many other factors we consider as part of the outreach strategy when putting out a new film: From the importance of strong branding and design, to clear and concise copy that's synchronized across all platforms, to making sure everything has a very clear call to action.
2. Your new documentary tells the story of Kony. What was your motivation behind putting out this documentary? Why now?
Actually, all of our documentaries focus on Joseph Kony and the LRA in some form or another (11 films total). I think we all got to the point where telling the same type of story year after year wasn’t resulting in the amount of awareness about Kony that was needed to put international pressure on him.
In putting out KONY 2012, we told the story differently. We felt that after 26 years of child abductions, terrible atrocities and mass displacement in central Africa, the time had come for Kony to become famous. Not to celebrate him, but to bring his crimes to light. Although we far exceeded what we ever could have imagined in terms of view count and awareness, we know that seeing a permanent end to LRA violence is going to take much more than that. It is going to take a continued awareness, continued mobilization, more protection of communities from LRA violence and more recovery programs to rehabilitate, educate and create jobs for people affected by LRA violence.
Our new documentary, MOVE, goes behind-the-scenes to tell the story of the KONY 2012 whirlwind, how we made an African warlord famous, and how we’re going to challenge our generation to take a stand for international justice.
3. There were more than 40k videos uploaded to YouTube in response to KONY 2012. Were you able to engage with any of these folks? Did the volume of video replies surprise you?
To be entirely honest, I think almost everything about this campaign was initially surprising. Millions of people responded and our infrastructure couldn't handle the response. I take responsibility for this, but I'm not sure anyone could see this coming. As a result, people couldn't get any context for who Invisible Children was. So although we love the fact that so many people responded with more videos (extending the conversation), it was a loss that we couldn't respond back. We've always tried to make our various platforms a two-way conversation, but we just weren't set up for this much volume.
4. How did the KONY 2012 viewership translate into offline action?
KONY 2012 was/is an awareness campaign, and the international community responded with the most intense period of global engagement in the history of the LRA conflict:
- March 5: The film went live
- March 21: the KONY 2012 legislation was introduced in the Senate
- March 23: the African Union (AU) and United Nations (UN) announced that 5,000 troops will pursue Kony
- April 19: the European Union (EU) pledged their support
- April 20: Cover The Night promoted global awareness & service
- April 23: President Obama extended the deployment of U.S. military advisers to help stop the LRA
- May 12: the Ugandan army captures Major Caesar Achellam, one of the top commanders in the LRA
- May 24: U.S. Senate State and Foreign Operations Subcommittee approves $10,000,000 for humanitarian aid in LRA-affected communities
- June 26: Invisible Children delivered 3.7 Million KONY 2012 pledges to the United Nations
- June 29: the AU & UN released their strategy to combat the LRA
- July 31: U.S. Senate Defense Appropriations Committee approves $50,000,000 for intelligence and surveillance of LRA activity
- August 2: the KONY 2012 resolution that was introduced on March 21 passes the Senate by unanimous consent
5. KONY 2012 and MOVE are both quite a bit longer than the average YouTube video - how did you decide that a longer video was right for this subject?
For the past 9 years and subsequent 14 tours, we developed our films to be distributed in person. KONY 2012 was the first film that we released online, and its length was determined by how much time it took to tell the story. Because we knew it was longer than most online videos, we were strategic in making sure that every second held your attention, had a strong storyline, and was less than 30 minutes (clocked in at 29:59).
We took the same approach for MOVE and hope people who watch this time, share the film with the same idea as the first. Where you live should not determine whether you live and we have a responsibility to protect those that cannot protect themselves.
Ramya Raghavan, YouTube for Good team, recently watched “Protection Plan”
Sunday, 7 October 2012
YouTube’s original channels go global
A lot has happened since we announced nearly 100 new original channels coming to YouTube: 7-year-old Ruby taught Amy Poehler about feminism. Rainn Wilson interviewed Deepak Chopra in the back of a mysterious van, and Phil DeFranco’s SourceFed became one of the hottest comedy news shows on the Web or TV. What do all these moments have in common? They’re being created for you on YouTube. And, when we look at the numbers, you’re liking what you watch:
From local cuisine, health and wellness and parenting to sports, music, comedy, animation and news, this new lineup of original channels will have something for everyone. They are backed by some of the biggest producers, well-known celebrities and emerging media companies from Europe and the U.S.
You can get a sneak peek of the all the coming new channels here. So go and find something to love and stay tuned as this new generation of channels roll out in the months ahead.
Robert Kyncl, VP, Global Head of Content
- Our top 25 original channels are now averaging over a million views every week
- 800 million of you are watching 4 billion hours every month, that’s up from 3 billion hours earlier this year
- The number of people subscribing has doubled y/y
- And partners this year are reaching the 100k subscriber mark 5x faster than they were just two years ago
From local cuisine, health and wellness and parenting to sports, music, comedy, animation and news, this new lineup of original channels will have something for everyone. They are backed by some of the biggest producers, well-known celebrities and emerging media companies from Europe and the U.S.
You can get a sneak peek of the all the coming new channels here. So go and find something to love and stay tuned as this new generation of channels roll out in the months ahead.
Robert Kyncl, VP, Global Head of Content
Friday, 5 October 2012
New features for teachers
It’s World Teachers’ Day, and to honor the hard-working and talented people in front of classrooms everywhere, we’ve put together some new resources to make YouTube even more useful for learning. (Oh, and we’re celebrating teachers in the YouTube logo today too! Check it out!).
First, we’ve created a special YouTube EDU Creator Playbook Guide (download it here), full of video best practices for online educators to learn from each other. The Guide suggests ideas for organizing curriculum videos on YouTube, attracting a bigger audience to your educational content, and explains how to use YouTube features like annotations and playlists to make educational channels more interactive.
Second, we asked James Sanders, KIPP Bay Area Innovation manager (and former YouTube teacher-in-residence), to create a presentation on 10 ways teachers can use YouTube to build a 21st century classroom. It’s full of great, proven ideas for using YouTube to bring educational topics to life. For more advice, and playlists of educational videos visit YouTube.com/Teachers.
Today we also hit a great milestone at YouTube EDU - more than 1000 educational channels to learn from. So whether you’re a teacher looking to make physics more fun, an art student looking for inspiration, or a parent needing help with algebra homework, there’s a channel on YouTube EDU for you.
If you create great educational content and are interested in having your channel added to YouTube EDU, you can nominate your channel here.
And to teachers everywhere - thank you for all you do!
Arthur Woods, YouTube EDU team, recently watched “Dan Pink: The Puzzle of Motivation”.
First, we’ve created a special YouTube EDU Creator Playbook Guide (download it here), full of video best practices for online educators to learn from each other. The Guide suggests ideas for organizing curriculum videos on YouTube, attracting a bigger audience to your educational content, and explains how to use YouTube features like annotations and playlists to make educational channels more interactive.
Second, we asked James Sanders, KIPP Bay Area Innovation manager (and former YouTube teacher-in-residence), to create a presentation on 10 ways teachers can use YouTube to build a 21st century classroom. It’s full of great, proven ideas for using YouTube to bring educational topics to life. For more advice, and playlists of educational videos visit YouTube.com/Teachers.
Today we also hit a great milestone at YouTube EDU - more than 1000 educational channels to learn from. So whether you’re a teacher looking to make physics more fun, an art student looking for inspiration, or a parent needing help with algebra homework, there’s a channel on YouTube EDU for you.
If you create great educational content and are interested in having your channel added to YouTube EDU, you can nominate your channel here.
And to teachers everywhere - thank you for all you do!
Arthur Woods, YouTube EDU team, recently watched “Dan Pink: The Puzzle of Motivation”.
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