RichardGaleFilms is October’s YouTube Partner On The Rise!

Congrats to Richard Gale from RichardGaleFilms, which is YouTube’s “On The Rise” spotlight partner this October. Richard’s channel is featured today on the YouTube homepage, thanks to your support and his strong channel optimization efforts.

A three-time Emmy award winner, Richard has been writing, directing, and producing films and TV shows for decades. His work spans a variety of genres including documentaries, suspense thrillers, parodies and comedy, as well as horror. Richard’s most recent project, the comedic horror short film, ‘The Horribly Slow Murderer with the Extremely Inefficient Weapon,’ has received multiple film festival awards and driven his YouTube viewership as well. The short film’s legacy lives on in a YouTube mini-series about the main character, Jack, and you'll just have to check out the channel to see how the story evolves.



Here are a few words from Richard himself:

I became a YouTube partner almost by accident--as a filmmaker making shorts for film festivals, I had a 10-minute comedy about a killer with a spoon (Horribly Slow Murderer) that had completed its festival run, and I uploaded it to hopefully give it some additional exposure. To my astonishment, the short went viral, and was seen by more people in one day than in a year of film festivals. So we expanded the story into a series, and it continues to develop a dedicated following. We are extremely grateful to all of our awesome fans and supporters, who voted for our channel and continue to enjoy our films. Thank you!!!!! We've got exciting things on the horizon, so stay spooned!

If you’ve enjoyed this monthly On The Rise blog series and want to see more rising YouTube partners, check out our On The Rise channel. Keep an eye out for next month’s blog post, as your channel may be the next one On The Rise!

Christine Wang and Devon Storbeck, YouTube Content Partnerships, recently watched “Please Move The Deer Crossing.”

Ads Worth Spreading

I’m often asked what makes an ad great. For anyone managing a business, they will often tell me a great ad is one that drives sales for the brand.  And while driving sales is usually the business objective, I think many of us would agree as consumers, that a lot of the ads we see are effective but they are not truly great and worth spreading. At times, we discover an ad that helps build the brand, helps drive sales and inspires something deeper and more meaningful in the world in which we live. One of my favorite examples right now is this ad from Coca-Cola.

Clearly, something deeper than just sales must be considered.  How can you get people to truly take notice your brand?  Rally a community around your ideas?  How can you shape a movement that is both commercially successful and adds value to the world?  In the words of TED curator Chris Anderson, how do you create ads so good that people choose to watch and share?

TED Ads Worth Spreading exists to bring clarity to these questions, and award those that transcend typical advertising by developing content with a greater purpose - ads that can spark change, raise awareness or create new ways of thinking.

For the third year, YouTube has teamed up with TED to support their Ads Worth Spreading initiative, a global search for the 10 most compelling ad campaigns of the year.  The challenge reinforces TED’s overall mission of “ideas worth spreading” and YouTube’s belief in connecting brand’s ads with the people that will love them the most.

To help answer the question of what makes ads great, today TED released a report summarizing the findings from Ads Worth Spreading to date.  

For some great examples of what ads can be, check out this playlist  of the 10 of the winning ads from last year’s program, as well as interviews with the winners.  We are very excited to be part of this program again, and look forward to sharing the 2013 winners when they are announced at the annual TED conference in February.

Lucas Watson, VP Video Sales, recently watched “The Donation Army”.

The election seen around the world on YouTube

Throughout the 2012 election, we’ve been bringing the most important events of the political calendar to you on YouTube, no matter where you are in the world or how you’re accessing the internet. As we enter the final days of this election, people across the U.S. -- and the world -- are watching.

Live streamed on YouTube for the first time in 2012, the Presidential and Vice-Presidential debates of the past month were viewed live by people in 215 countries and territories around the world. In total, the four debates drew 24 million views on YouTube.

While the U.S. was the clear leader in live stream views, people from Portugal to Paraguay, Australia to Austria watched Obama and Romney go head to head live on YouTube. Below is the breakdown of countries with the most viewership of the debate live streams: 

1. United States
2. Canada
3. Australia
4. New Zealand
5. United Kingdom
6. Mexico
7. Brazil
8. Singapore
9. Japan
10. France

The worldwide interest didn’t stop with the live streams. The New York Times’ uploads of the first three debates have seen close to 13 million views, making them the most-viewed videos on their channel ever. Outside the United States, these videos have been viewed most heavily in the U.K, Canada, India, Germany, Australia and France -- with almost half the views coming from outside the U.S.

From the beginning of the 2012 election, we’ve seen people from all corners of the world watch and comment on the race. Now, as the final moments tick by, it’s becoming even clearer that no matter where you live, you can access the most important moments of the election on the YouTube Elections Hub. Tune in on Election Night (November 6) during primetime for real-time results and full live coverage from eight different partners including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Phil DeFranco, Al Jazeera, Univision, ABC News and Larry King.

Ramya Raghavan, YouTube News and Politics, recently watched “Complete Third Presidential Debate.”

Watch the final debate moments unfold live on YouTube

Tonight, President Obama and Governor Romney will square off in their final presidential debate of the 2012 campaign, and once again, you can watch all the action live on the YouTube Elections Hub starting at 9 p.m. ET.

CBS News anchor Bob Schieffer will moderate the debate, which will have a special emphasis on foreign policy. Curious about what to watch for? This segment from ABC News’ “This Week” offers a preview of tonight’s event:



But that’s not all. Tomorrow night, Larry King will host a special debate between several of the the third-party candidates running for President -- Gary Johnson of the Libertarian Party, Green Party candidate Jill Stein, Constitution Party candidate Virgil Goode, and Rocky Anderson of the Justice Party. The debate will be streamed live at 9:00 pm ET on the Ora TV YouTube channel. Al Jazeera English will also carry the debate live on their YouTube channel, and coverage from both partners will be available on youtube.com/politics.

As we head into the homestretch of the 2012 election, tune into these important debate moments live on YouTube to yourself about the issues and find out how all of the candidates stack up against each other.

Ramya Raghavan, YouTube News and Politics, recently watched “President Gaga.”

YouTube Campaigns: A digital thermometer for nonprofit videos

Ever pasted together 108 sheets of paper and drawn a giant thermometer to track your nonprofit’s campaign goal? Did you go through 27 red markers and then feel faint from their scent after trying to color it in?

Well, chuck those markers and recycle that paper, because through the YouTube Nonprofit Program there is a new thermometer in town. Check out the latest tool for nonprofits: Campaigns.

This new feature allows nonprofits to create campaigns with goals like increasing views or subscribers, track their progress, and let people to contribute to their goals.

A campaign consists of one or more videos. You can find instructions on starting a campaign here. Once a campaign is created, videos in that campaign will show an overlay on them, encouraging viewers to contribute to the campaign.

Additionally, a Campaign tab will show up on your channel, with a bar showing the progress toward your goal.

With more than 18,000 organizations in the YouTube Nonprofit Program we are always looking for ways to help nonprofits turn video views into greater awareness, petitions signed, laws changed, dollars raised, and lives saved. This year we released other tools you should check out like live streaming, a playbook with of best practices when using video, and other improved features like a more prominent donate button. We hope you enjoy our latest feature.

David D, Software Engineer, recently watched "Follow the Frog."

Meet the 10 next gurus of education on YouTube

Ever since Sal Khan uploaded his first video (on Least Common Multiples) to YouTube in November 2006, the demand for educational content on YouTube has been growing and growing - to billions of views last year. Last month, we teamed up with Khan Academy to search for bright and inspiring educational content creators who have what it takes to build a global classroom - and we were overwhelmed by the response. More than 1000 creators applied, sharing videos on everything from science techniques to music theory. We whittled the group down to 10 YouTube EDU Gurus who we hope will continue to contribute to the great corpus of educational videos that make up YouTube EDU - more than 1000 channels at last count.

 

 Get to know our newest educational channels below! And be sure to subscribe to their channels to get their latest videos.

 

  Austin Lau, YouTube Creator Programs, recently watched “Sesame Street: Street Garden Cooperation”.

Throwing a virtual debate watch party: a primer

Two down, two to go. We’re not sure about you, but last week’s energetic Vice Presidential debate left us wanting more. Luckily, you’ll have your second chance to watch Governor Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama face off in the second Presidential debate tonight at 9:00 pm ET at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York. Tune in to the YouTube Elections Hub to watch the whole debate live from the comfort of your own chair.

But if you’re tired of watching the debates all by your lonesome, well, no longer. You can create your very own virtual debate “watch parties” tonight inside a Google+ Hangout. All you have to do is click on this link, which will open up a Hangout window. Then, you can invite some friends, name your debate watch party (if you like), and enter the Hangout. The ABC News debate live stream will already be loaded inside the Hangout.

You’ll each have to make your own popcorn, but it’s worth it to see your friends’ real-time reactions and exchange color commentary while the candidates go head-to-head.

Olivia Ma, YouTube News and Politics, recently watched “Frontline |The Choice 2012".