Tag Archives: YouTube Creators

#YouTubeRewind 2015: Canada’s top trending videos

The awakening of the Force after 10 long years, a much-anticipated Hello from an old musical friend, and the question on everyone’s mind -- these were some of the YouTube moments that captivated Canadians in 2015. We laughed, we cried and we did our best Whip/Nae Nae a bajillion times. Oh - and we celebrated a very important 10th birthday!

But before we call it a wrap on the year in YouTube, let’s take a look at the videos Canadians shared, liked, parodied and talked about in 2015.

Top Trending Videos in Canada

The Top Trending Videos shot to the top of the “must-watch” list as Canadians shared, liked and watched again and again. YouTube is the white hot centre of pop culture, where fans, pranksters, tiny tots and scientists can share their voice and talent no matter where they are from or what their age or point of view.


Top Trending Music Videos in Canada for 2015

It's a fact that music videos are the one of, if not the, most viewed and searched for online video content. 2015 saw artists turn to music videos to tell stories with longer narratives, revive the classic ‘dance’ video, and to show off their star-studded squad. 2015’s top 10 music videos were collectively played over 6.8 billion times from channels with 73+ million subscribers.


2015 Canadian Year-end YouTube Ads Leaderboard

Since YouTube launched skippable ads five years ago, ads have gone from something you fast forward to something you choose to watch. This year’s top trending ads demonstrate that brands are now developing ads that are meant to entertain and inspire, not just persuade.


Top Trending Trailer Videos in Canada for 2015

Before millions of people go to the movies, they turn to YouTube. When it comes to highly anticipated films, like the new Star Wars or latest Avengers installment, trailers have become more than just a fun way to hook audiences on the story, they have become an essential tool to engage a loyal fan base.


And that’s just what made it to the top of Canada’s list - you can check out which videos made the global list of top trending videos at www.youtube.ca/rewind.

Posted by Jenn Kaiser, Communications Manager, YouTube Canada.

Kooky or spooky: Halloween’s Hottest Trends on YouTube

Halloween is a just few days away, which means it’s officially crunch time to finish your costume. If you’ve waited until the last minute to pick a Halloween outfit, you’re not alone. Fifty per cent of costume and decoration searches in Canada happen within 5 days of Halloween.

YouTube is the ultimate Halloween destination from pumpkin carving tips to decorations and clever ideas on what to do with your leftover Halloween candy... and of course costume ideas. And with costumes like Harley Quinn, Minions, Donald Trump, Star Wars, Max Max and Left Shark topping the search charts on Google in Canada this year, expect a lot superheroes, cartoons and pop culture icons trick-or-treating at your door.

Tune into some of your favourite Canadian YouTube channels for tutorials featuring 2015’s most popular costumes, plus last minute costumes you can throw together in mere minutes to make this October 31st the spookiest yet.


The Sorry Girls: Harley Quinn
Friends Kelsey and Becky started their YouTube channel while attending university together five years ago. Since then The Sorry Girls have become a destination for DIY and the latest style in home and fashion. This Halloween, they have tutorials for two of the year’s most searched Halloween costumes, Harley Quinn and Furiosa from Mad Max. Find out how you can channel the thrill and chaos of fury road and one of this year’s biggest blockbuster hits.
Procrastinator Tip: Don’t have much time to put together a costume before Saturday? You can also check out The Sorry Girls’ quick and easy last minute costume ideas, mainly made up of items from around your house!


LaurDIY: Baymax
Canada’s DIY darling LaurDIY has a ton of costume tutorials up her sleeve for her fans including the adorable Baymax, a top searched costume this year. The Toronto native started her channel from her dorm room in 2012, and has been spreading glitter and joy to fans ever since - all 2.5 million of them!

Chelsimadonna: Josie and the Pussycats
Looking for a group costume with your friends this Halloween? Newfoundlander Chelsi is kicking it ‘old school’ this year with a Josie and the Pussycats group costume tutorial. As a singer herself, needless to say, Chelsi pulls off this look!
CutePolish: Halloween Nail Art
Dressing up not your thing? Sandi of CutePolish - the #1 nail art channel on YouTube - has the ultimate playlist for Halloween nail art. From skeletons to candy corn, this Windsor, Ontario creative has nail art designs for you, whether you’re looking for something spooky or sweet.
We hope these YouTubers' tutorials can help make this Halloween your best yet. Use their tricks and share some of your own to make the most of this weekend, and have a happy Halloween!

Posted by Jenn Kaiser, Communications Manager, YouTube Canada.

Buffer Festival: Tune in to meet your favourite YouTube stars live – in person or online!

Editor’s Note: Today’s guest blog post is from our friends at Buffer Festival 2015. 
Ten years have now passed since the first YouTube video was uploaded - an 18-second clip about how cool elephants are shot at the San Diego Zoo. Today YouTube has grown to become the biggest video platform on the web, and fans have turned creators into the biggest names in entertainment.
As long as most of us can remember, celebrities have existed in a separate world; fans can admire from afar, but any meaningful interaction is strictly off-limits. For the third year, Buffer Festival shows us how celebrity criteria has changed in the past decade and the value of meaningful, authentic engagement.
This weekend, many of the most acclaimed YouTube creators will be in Toronto for Buffer Festival. Fans will have a chance to meet the YouTubers whose lives they have been following online and speak to them in person, taking selfies and recording videos along the way. For the first time this year, we’ll also be livestreaming the red carpet of our Gala Premiere. Starting at 9 p.m. ET on Friday, October 23, tune into Much.com or YouTube to catch the red carpet live, as well as premiere videos from some of YouTube’s most notable personalities such as Shay Carl, Jus Reign, Matthew Santoro, Toby Turner and more!
Festival attendees will get the chance to see their favourite YouTubers’ work in theatres throughout the city. From comedy sketches to the world of beauty and DIY, this year’s screenings offer something for everyone from the gamer to the fashionista.
For aspiring YouTube Creators, we’re excited to announce Creator Day, a chance for emerging creators to learn from the professionals, with successful YouTubers, industry professionals and YouTube experts offering guidance on a variety of topics relevant to their trade, such as videography, editing, and monetizing content.
Last year, thousands of fans came out to meet their favourite YouTube stars and get a first glance at their new videos. The breakout success of Buffer Festival and its creators demonstrates loud and clear just how much Canada loves YouTube and the creators who delight us, make us think and make us laugh.
To see your YouTube idols live, you can purchase tickets for Buffer Festival this weekend at BufferFestival.com/Tickets.
Posted by the Organizers of Buffer Festival.

YouTube takes to the airwaves with YouTube Hits on Rogers Radio stations

Canada’s favourite YouTubers are getting a new way to connect with their fans this week, with the launch of YouTube Hits on Rogers Radio.

YouTube Hits is the first of its kind in Canada and will reflect the amazing world of YouTube. Each week, the show will feature a rotating cast of Canadian and international YouTube stars, and feature a blend of established and emerging artists based on YouTube viewership to reveal what Canadians and the world are watching online.


YouTube has always been a place for fans and artists to discover and connect, just as radio has long been a place to listen to your favourite stars and learn about emerging talent. That’s why we’ve teamed up with our friends at Rogers to launch YouTube Hits on terrestrial radio - to support great new music from today’s biggest names and to help uncover rising stars.

Hosted by Rogers Radio personalities Blake Carter and Adam Wylde (Blake & Wylde, KiSS 92.5), the weekly hour-long show will highlight the hottest music, trends and topics. The first show will include on-air appearances by four Canadian YouTube stars Daniela Andrade (700,000 subscribers) ConvosWith2YrOld (790,000 subscribers), MakeUpByEman (350,000 subscribers) and Corey Vidal (225,000 subscribers).

YouTube Hits will air every weekend beginning Saturday, Sept. 5 across the country on Rogers's top-rated youth brands. Check local listings for times and details of upcoming guests.

Posted by Jenn Kaiser, Communications Manager, YouTube Canada

That’s a wrap! +15,000 fans flock to YouTube FanFest in Toronto

That’s a wrap! More than 15,000 passionate fans joined us on Saturday, May 2, as YouTube FanFest made its North American debut. Toronto welcomed a group of the biggest Canadian and international YouTube creators for a live showcase that wowed the crowd with music, comedy and interactive performances. If you missed the show or want to watch it again, now you catch the full show on the FanFest YouTube channel!

The free, public show featured YouTube superstars Jenna Marbles, Bethany Mota, Michael Stevens of Vsauce and Toronto’s own IISuperwomanII. The performances ranged from the soulful music of American star David Choi to the bhangra drumming of Jus Reign to a live science experiment between Michael Stevens and Jenna Marbles that saw Marbles blow a fireball into the air above the crowd.

Co-hosted by charismatic TV personality Jessi Cruickshank and Harley Morenstein of Epic Meal Time, the event closed with the world premiere performance of Lilly Singh’s online smash hit new song “IVIVI”, an ode to Toronto, that drew deafening cheers from the crowd.

Lilly Singh, ||Superwoman|| performs the world premiere of "IVIVI"

Other highlights included a fan Q&A with Bethany Mota, as well as a unique performance from Kurt Hugo Scheider, Macy Kate, Madilyn Bailey and Kina Grannis. The foursome of musicians collaborated on a song that was set to a complicated rhythm of handclaps, which they performed while blindfolded. Edmonton-born a capella singer Mike Tompkins had the fans on their feet for a high energy set, and local girl LaurDIY brought fans on the stage for a live DIY fashion challenge that saw fans create a shirt for host Jessi Cruickshank.  

YTFF Collage.jpg
Fandemonium at the first North American YouTube FanFest in Toronto

This was a record crowd for YouTube FanFest - more than triple the attendance for previous events in Asia, India and Australia - which shows the incredible passion of Canadian YouTube fans. FanFest was also a hot topic on social media - the #YTFFTO hashtag trended across Toronto as fans took to social media to share the experience.

Thank you too all the extraordinary YouTube Creators and fans that came out for red carpet and show. Canada is hotbed of YouTube talent and fandom, and we are thrilled we were able to bring this to Canadian fans as a North American first!

Posted by Jenn Kaiser, YouTube Communications

Get ready to laugh…get ready to cheer….YouTube FanFest in Toronto is finally here!

Editor Note: Today’s guest blog post is from LaToya Forever. With a combined +1,200,000 subscribers, this Canadian YouTuber is best known for her comedic videos and daily vlogs.

Get ready Canada, this Saturday we kick off YouTube FanFest live in Toronto! Some of the biggest global YouTube stars will be getting up close and personal with thousands of fans at Yonge-Dundas Square and I’m thrilled to announce that I’m going to be the Official YouTube FanFest Correspondent. Follow me as I chat with my fellow performers and give you a sneak peek into all the behind-the-scenes action.

The YT Fan Fest is all about interacting with awesome people like yourself so let me know what questions should I ask everyone on the red carpet? Share your questions with me in social with #AskLaToya and I might pose your question to the YouTube performers!


Come on down and join us in person, red carpet arrivals start at 5:00 p.m. on the north side of the Dundas Square. Come and see your favourites, like Bethany Mota, Superwoman, David Choi, Mike Tompkins and Jenna Marbles - they’ll be signing autographs, taking selfies and blowing kisses! And don’t forget to share your pics with #YTFFTO and you might catch them live on the big screen.

I can’t wait for the big show which starts at 8:00 p.m. and it’s going to be a mashup of comedy, music, interactive performances, collaborations… everything you love about YouTube, live on stage. You won’t want to miss it! And if you can’t make it in person, check out the YouTube FanFest YouTube Channel to catch the entire show afterwards.

See ya there crazies!


New original content from top YouTube creators

At YouTube, we have a core belief: we only succeed if our creators do.

After launching the Creator Hub to help creators get the most out of YouTube from anywhere in the world and opening YouTube Spaces in the U.S., the U.K., Japan and Brazil, we decided to take an even bolder step to invest in ambitious projects from our top creators. Today, we’re announcing partnerships with four top creators to help bring their next big original series to life on YouTube:

  • Since launching their first YouTube channel in 2007, the Fine Brothers’ channels have amassed over 17 million subscribers and over 3 billion views as well as earning a Daytime Emmy. They’ll continue the hot streak with their new scripted comedy series that takes a satirical look at the world of singing competition shows, produced in partnership with Mandeville Films.
  • For six years, Prank vs. Prank have waged an epic prank war on each other in front of an audience of nearly 14 million subscribers and generated nearly 3 billion views on their two channels. In their forthcoming series, celebrity guests join Jesse and Jeana to pull off their most ambitious pranks yet. 
  • Joey Graceffa has built a devoted fan following of over 5 million subscribers, cumed over 600 million views and earned two Teen Choice nominations through his channels’ daily vlogs, scripted series and short films. Now Joey will lead an all-star cast of YouTubers in his all-new murder mystery reality series.
  • For a decade, Smosh has entertained a YouTube fanbase of over 35 million subscribers across their channels with comedy sketches that have generated over 7 billion views. In their new comedy series, we’ll see Ian and Anthony working at a theme restaurant where out-of-control kids and crazy parents are all in a day’s work.

We’re also excited to announce a new collaboration between YouTube and AwesomenessTV. Together, we’ll release several feature length films over the next two years, all driven by YouTube stars and developed and produced by AwesomenessTV’s Brian Robbins. The films will all premiere globally on YouTube before they become available elsewhere, setting what we believe will become a new distribution paradigm for years to come. We hope to release our first film this fall, with more details to come soon.

We hope that these new series and feature films, as well as those that follow, give top creators a new way to showcase their talent to fans on YouTube.

Alex Carloss, Head of YouTube Originals recently watched “Me at the zoo.”

Source: YouTube Blog