New Division, Focusing on Nonfiction Programming for Digital Platforms, Hits Its Stride Straight Out of the Gate with Its Flagship Series “107 Facts,” Accruing More Than 54 Million Views in Less Than Six Months

NEW YORK—November, 2015—Frederator Networks is getting bigger!  The studio behind such hugely popular animated franchises as Bravest Warrior and Bee & Puppycat, is expanding its internal production output with the launch of Frederator Flux Productions .  Frederator Flux will focus on developing and launching non-scripted news and information programming . The division has exploded out of the gate with the blockbuster success of its initial unscripted franchise  107 Facts.  The irreverent series, spotlighting fun facts about favorite properties including Family Guy, Minions, and SpongeBob Square Pants, among others, has become an instant hit garnering more than 54 million views.  The new show is just the start of an exciting slate of original series Frederator Flux will debut over the coming months.

Fred Seibert, Head of Frederator Networks, said, “There’s definitely an appetite for the kinds of nonfiction programming that we have tapped into Frederator Flux to create, as evident from the breakout success of 107 Facts.  The new types of shows coming from this division will truly compliment the trailblazing animation programming our studio and network has become globally known for.”

The new show from Frederator Flux, 107 Facts, has had a halo effect on Channel Frederator Network with Channel Frederator adding 477,000 subscribers and Cartoon Hangover adding 243,000 subscribers since the launch on both channels.  These numbers greatly exceeded projected growth for the two channels in 2015.  Audience retention and stickiness for the popular show surpasses other top franchises as well.  107 Facts boasts an average watch time of more than nine minutes for each episode.  The series also receives on average five thousand comments per video, which has generated more than 126,000 comments lifetime.  In addition, the series has generated more than 700,000 likes, 36,000 shares via YouTube and 440,000 additions to playlists.

Animation luminary Fred Seibert created Channel Frederator Network with a “Declaration of Cartoon Independents” as its foundation, making it the home to creative and disparate vision for all styles of animators.  Designed as a collaborative forum through which independent voices can be heard, seen, and supported by one of the foremost pioneers in animation, Seibert himself, Channel Frederator Network is the premiere network for animators.  The network continues to attract re hot animated channels including David Firth’s Salad, FlashFacilitoChips, Domics, FlyingPanda 1990, CyberToons, Lee Hardcastle, Dramatic Parro, and ODS Dubbing.

About Frederator
Frederator operates Frederator Studios and Frederator Networks.  Frederator Studios makes cartoons for television, movies, and the Internet. It was founded by serial media entrepreneur and former Hanna-Barbera president Fred Seibert in 1998 as a unique incubator for big animation ideas by producing original cartoons. More than 200 short films have resulted in 16 hit series for television and the Internet, including Butch Hartman’s The Fairly OddParents on Nickelodeon and Pendleton Ward’s Adventure Time on Cartoon Network.  Frederator is in partnership with Sony Pictures Animation to develop and produce animated feature films, and with YouTube to create television-quality cartoons on the Internet.

Frederator Networks programs the online channels Channel Frederator and Cartoon Hangover as well as manages the Channel Frederator Network, a YouTube based animation and entertainment multi-channel network.  Launched in late 2012, Frederator’s Cartoon Hangover channel includes the hit series Bravest Warriors created by Pendleton Ward, Natasha Allegri’s Bee and PuppyCat, which has gone to series funded by the biggest animation or web series Kickstarter campaign ever, as well as many new shorts from the world’s future animation superstars. Frederator has offices in Burbank, CA and New York, NY. 

http://youtube.com/channelfrederator

http://Channelfrederatornetwork.com

http://frederator.com

MCNs provide no value, the future is about Networks!

Fred Seibert, founder/CEO of Frederator Networks and co-founder Thirty Labs, will focus on the future of media networks on and off YouTube in his presentation, The Era of the MCN is Over, Long Live the Network, at the first ever Stream Con NYC, this Friday, October 30 at 10AM, Panel Room 3 (91E09) at NYC’s Javits Center.

This session, which is open to Industry Track passes, will also feature a Q&A with Fred.

Fred, was the first creative director of MTV, the president of Hanna-Barbera cartoons, incubated Tumblr and sold Next New Networks, one of the first MCN’s, to YouTube. Frederator Networks is home to Channel Frederator, Frederator Studios and Cartoon Hangover, which have brought viewers properties including Adventure Time, The Fairly OddParents, Bravest Warriors and Bee & PuppyCat.

A partnership between LeftField Media and Tubefilter, Stream Con NYC is a three-day digital content and creator convention that will be held October 30-November 1, 2015.

I wouldn’t miss this one!

- Gwen

Photo by Gage Skidmore, Vidcon 2014

This month marks the 34th anniversary of MTV: Music Television, the first 24-hour music video TV channel. The launch of MTV was big, REALLY BIG, for viewers as well as those in TV, music, entertainment, advertising - really everyone. The debut of MTV at at 12:01 am on August 1, 1981 was possibly even bigger for those that created and launched the channel. It was a revolution.

Fred Seibert, Frederator Networks Founder/CEO, was one of those people on the original team. I asked him a few questions about what it was like and how the iconic MTV logo came to be.

What was your job at MTV in 1981?

I was the original creative director at MTV. My team took on the responsibility of defining the look, sound, and actually vocabulary –the words we used– of this new fangled music channel. Our parent company already owned The Movie Channel and Nickelodeon, and there was nothing else on television that didn’t have any “TV shows,” no start and stop times, or hosts or hostesses without suits, ties and gowns.

Above: That’s Fred in his MTV office in 1981. Photo by Alan Goodman.

Who was the ‘boss of you’ and put the MTV team together?

​Bob Pittman was the boss and gatherer. He put together what eventual MTV CEO Judy McGrath called ‘the most unemployable ​motley crew in media,’ which except in my case wasn’t literally true. Bob found the team leaders from all sorts of other media enterprises; women’s magazines, low level TV production, the record business, or in my case, commercial radio. And from there, we all populated our departments from mutts at the outer reach of small cable operators, porn producers, and early reality shows.

How did the MTV logo happen?

​The day in June 1980 that Bob handed me the memo​ about “The Music Channel” I combined my obsessions with LP cover graphics, media promotion and personal ambitions and volunteered to lead the new channel design. But I had a dilemma.

All the great music designers were sitting out there, not knowing that I had the keys to the next big thing in music. I admired their work beyond description, but I was scared that going to the “big guys” would be expensive (we were a startup with limited budgets)​ and I’d be intimidated by them. And I was worried that if the look was determined by a renowned designer they’d get all the credit, and where would that leave me?

On the other hand, my best friend from childhood, Frank Olinsky, was an amazing artist with a new design collective, Manhattan Design, and a music obsessive that made me look like an amateur. The firm was hungry, excited, and talented. And, I’d probably get a louder voice in the creative process, which also interesting.

My creative partner, Alan Goodman, and I settled quickly on Frank and Manhattan Design. We worked with them for a almost a year, going through probably 500 sketches and ideas, many of them before we’d even settled on the name “MTV: Music Television” before we selected the now famous icon.

Check out Frank Olinsky’s take on how the MTV logo came about, and more from Fred on the logo too.

Did the network IDs grow organically out of the logo or were they a separate idea?

Early on Bob Pittman and I jammed about how to visually identify the channel. What were our equivalent of AM radio jingles? Bob pitched me the notion of an animated cow vomiting up our logo (really) and I realized that, for me, the IDs could make up for the fact that I missed the LP graphics revolution; they could be our own “album covers,” the distinctions that helped solidify our position in world culture. (Yes, I’ve always had pretentious thoughts.)​

Are logos and brand IDs still as important today on YouTube and other internet outlets?

I think “branding” as it’s now called (back in the day, I would clumsily say we needed to “make the logo the star”) is more important than ever in our world of hyper voluminous digital media. We all need beacons to guide us to our favorite things. ​

Did you know you were doing something that was groundbreaking and would shake up the status quo of the time?

Strangely enough, yes. At least, we told ourselves we were changing the world. I think it was to make us not feel bad about how hard we were working. ​

Startups can be enormously fun and frustrating because in many ways you get to make up your path.

With startups trying ideas and failing is often embraced as much as trying and succeeding. Do you have any memorable failures from that time?

​Oh boy, there are probably too many.

In 1980, my first job at MTV Networks (then called WASEC, co-owned by Warner Communications and American Express) was at The Movie Channel, where I ran the on-air promotion department (heck, I was department), writing, directing, producing, editing all the interstitial material for the network. The conventional wisdom of the day was that only paid movie channels would work, and work like crazy (“look at all the coin HBO is reaping!), with estimates that 100 million homes would have two or more of these channels by 1984. It didn’t work out that way –an understatement (35 years later, HBO has less than 30 million subscribers)– and the company sold The Movie Channel in 1983, making way for us to concentrate on basic, ad supported cable channels with MTV and our sister channel Nickelodeon.

The biggest failures were actually with the "Big 3” networks, with ABC’s and CBS’ entry being the most visible.

CNN got attacked by ABC and Westinghouse who thought Ted Turner was a fraud and blowhard, and that they knew better how to do news than this Southern interloper. Ted beat back their Satellite News Channel within four months!

All the network people thought those of us in cable were making cheap crap, not “real” TV, and CBS was the noisiest of all, starting CBS Cable in late 1981. It lasted just over a year, proving that cable was a completely different medium than “real” television.

And then, Ted Turner got too big for his britches when he attacked MTV for allegedly playing sexually and violently explicit music videos and started Cable Music Channel. We started VH1 and put him out of the music biz in one month!

Cable was pretty rough and tumble in those days.

Thanks Fred!

Maybe you know everything about the launch of MTV - and maybe you don’t - give your knowledge a test at Flavorwire’s 25 Things You Didn’t Know About MTV’s First Broadcast. I warn you though - getting The Buggles - Video Killed the Radio Star out of your head is always a challenge! We can’t rewind we’ve gone to far.

That’s all,

Gwen

“‘The creator always comes first.’ And so far, Frederator has yet to go back on its word.”

That statement is the foundation of Fred Seibert’s Frederator Networks. Furthermore, Matt Gielen, Director of Programming and Audience Development at Frederator Networks, speaks and writes about creator importance and support on a regular basis.

Inside ChannelMeter focuses its new MCN Spotlight series on Channel Frederator.

The article gets how Channel Frederator meshes its data driven information and individual human attention to bring out the best in creator support and programming.

What are the results of Channel Frederator’s efforts? MCN Spotlight says, “When we compared their growth over the last quarter, we found the median subscriber growth of Channel Frederator partners was 50% more than that of other YouTube channels. And in terms of view growth, Channel Frederator partners outperform other channels, too.”

That’s all

Gwen

What’s next for the online video industry?

Good question - and one that will be the center of tomorrow’s VidCon panel Where Do We Go From Here? Predictions for the Future , Friday, July 24, 2015 at 11a in the Ballroom.  

Moderated by Rich Greenfield, Media Futurist, Media & Tech Analyst BTIG, the session takes place at 11 am in the Ballroom and features panelists:

Fred Seibert, Founder/President of Frederator Networks

Dean Gilbert, Executive Chairman of Victorious

Justin Fuisz, Founder and CEO Fuisz Media

Richard Raddon, Co-CEO ZEFR

Yes, we know you are out late tonight, but, get up on time tomorrow (again, that’s Friday, July 24, 2015 for those who have already lost track of the days) and you’ll hear some well calculated predictions of what will follow the initial online video revolution we are passing through now. Oh yeah, the plan is to revisit these predictions over the next few years to see how accurate the panelists were. 

That’s all -

Gwen

VidCon 2015 is up and running and if you are quick and lucky you’ll be able to get in the room for the three different discussions where Matt Gielen Frederator’s Director of Audience Development will be a panelist, moderator and/or speaker.

Matt has a ton of great and useful information and ideas to help build your brand and audience and maintain it too. What that means is for you is – don’t miss out. Matt’s first panel is this afternoon, followed by two more tomorrow (see below for details).

Thursday, July 23, 2015

Measurement Mess – Making Data Driven Decisions (3:30 pm Room 304 AB)

This discussion will focus on what success means for brands and media and how to measure that success. Matt is knee deep in each day in every piece of data available to help make programming decisions at Frederator.

When I asked Matt if he was looking forward to this panel he said the thing about this discussion he was most excited about is, “Our programming team lives and breathes this stuff every day so I hope to have a lot to add. The panel is made up of some of the biggest brains in this field. I’m sure we’ll be covering everything from algorithm, analytics and programming. Given the panelists, my guess is that it’s going to be chockfull of practical best practices and strategies people can take to build their audiences.”

The panel will be moderated by Colin Decker, GM Discovery Digital Networks, and joining Matt as panelists are Matthew Patrick, Creator and President The Game Theorists / Theorist Inc. Consulting and Rob Gabel, Founder and CEO Tubular Labs.

Friday, July 24, 2015

The Challenges of Animation (3:30 pm Room 210)

Matt serves as the moderator for this creator panel, which looks at the business of original independent animation on YouTube and online video in general. Matt says that they’ll talk about a range of topics, “We’ll be discussing everything from how YouTube as a platform effects animators, how animators get around that, where does parody content fit in, does making content for YouTube change the way they tell stories, etc.”

This panel is comprised of heavy hitters in the area including: Swoozie, Leigh Lahav (OnlyLeigh), Daneboe and Natasha Allegri.

Friday, July 24, 2015

Make More Money and Grow a Bigger Audience with YouTube TrueView (5:30 pm Room 304 AB)

Matt says his plan for this industry discussion is to “blow at least 4 minds!” Matt will discuss how Frederator has used Google’s TrueView ad platform on YouTube to help Channel Frederator Network’s millions of views, hundreds of thousands of subscribers and six-figure revenue. He says, “this is the single biggest thing creators and MCNs are NOT doing to help their audiences grow because it is insanely hard!”

OK – go and listen up to what Matt’s got to say. Go now – you can eat later!

That’s all –

Gwen

Channel Frederator averages upwards of “400 million monthly viewers,” explains Frederator Networks‘ founder and President, Fred Seibert, in a new profile by Jefferson Graham for USA Today. Fred goes on to say that he “predicts he’ll top 700 million by year’s end, and 1 billion by 2016.”

The article also features an audio interview with Fred on Jefferson’s Talking Tech podcast.

All that and Fred continues to be one of the most approachable leaders/chiefs in the entertainment industry!

Sure you’ve heard a story here and there about an executive who, in passing, say they’d talk to you about your career or a project. How many of those folks actually do that? Probably just a few people, or maybe just one. Fred also encourages the conversation.

If you didn’t previously get the chance to listen to Fred as a panelist on Talking Tech from June 2015 – find out more about that, and some of Fred’s other appearances, at Frederator Times.

Thanks and check back for Vidcon 2015 this week.

Gwen

More Frederator in London, so grab a cup of tea and read on.

Frederator’s Founder/CEO and serial entrepreneur, Fred Seibert took part in Film London’s event, Animating For the Internet Age, held at the YouTube London Space on June 25, 2015.

This industry exclusive summit featured Seibert and a panel of other noted entrepreneurial filmmakers Mike Bell (Simon’s Cat), Jesse Cleverly (Wildseed Studios) and Jonti Picking (Mr. Weebl). Each of these panelists is known for using their respective skills and vision to make their properties successful on the internet, resulting in huge numbers of views and subscribers.

Film London’s mission is to underscore, support and strengthen London’s vital and growing animation industry by helping to boost production, facilitate co-production opportunities and create jobs.

The Animating For the Internet Age panelists discussed the changing world of producing animated content. Topics touched on included that It isn’t just about pitching a concept and getting someone to order a program anymore, and that the internet allows artists to put their ideas out there – take risks, fail and learn.

Speaking about animation and the internet, Seibert explains, “Today the internet has enabled a new global golden age of animation; talented animated filmmakers can become stars in whatever location they choose to work, with audiences of more than 1 billion people. London has always hosted one of the world’s great animation communities, and now they have a chance to gain viewers everywhere.“ 

Additionally, Fred said, “The internet helps me find & support new & independent talent. There’s not AN audience but 1000s of audiences out there.”

Adrian Wootton, Chief Executive of Film London and the British Film Commission, said: “Animating for the web is an area of rapid growth. It represents a world of opportunity for London animators willing to explore the new channels at their disposal, especially since these projects can claim our generous Animation Tax Relief. The capital is a real hotbed of talent and expertise, but like every industry we need to adapt to exploit new business models. This means that being able to host a legendary animation guru like Fred Seibert was not just a pleasure and a privilege, but also presented our audience of London animators with an invaluable opportunity to hear from someone at the industry’s forefront, along with insights from some of the UK’s most innovative online success stories.”

Until next time London!

Thanks –

Gwen

Last week was a busy one for Frederator founder Fred Seibert. Well, to be honest, to know Fred is to know that every week is a busy week!

Sugar Peas!!! The RallyFlix team hosted a Bravest Warriors Season Three Preview Party in New York City on Monday, June 1, 2015. Fred spoke at the event, which featured favorite episodes of Bravest Warriors, a behind-the-scenes documentary about the animated series and the premiere of Season Three! A splendid time was had by all. (Artwork above by Tyson Hesse)

RallyFlix will hold another Bravest Warriors screening in London on June 24. If you haven’t checked out RallyFlix - you should. Rallyflix invites you, the fans, to take control of your local cinemas. Rally with other fans and bring your favorite content or Youtubers to a big screen.

Fred was the subject of the Children’s Media Association’s most recent installment of The Red Chair Series on Wednesday, June 3, 2015, in Fordham Law School in New York City.

With Fred in one red chair and Amy Friedman–a CMA Board member, President of Redhead Consulting, and Senior Advisor at Scratch, Viacom’s in-house creative S.W.A.T. team–in the other, they discussed Fred’s life and career in music, advertising, TV and the internet. Amy and Fred have known each other for about 30 years and have worked together several times.

Among the topics that Fred and Amy touched on were how much opportunity people who want to be in animation have today versus when he began in the industry. Today, according to Fred, animators can go ahead and make their work and post it on the Internet, specifically on sites like Tumblr, which is a great way for artists to showcase their work to be seen by all sorts of people. Not so many years ago, a creator went to an animation studio or a TV network to pitch, and if they said no, that was that.

The Red Chair Series features one-on-one conversations with well-known and successful individuals of the children’s media business. The two red chairs sat in Amy’s office at Nickelodeon for many years where she had many creative conversations with all sorts of people.

Fred then hopped on a plane for LA, and on Thursday, he was a panelist on USA Today’s Talking Tech roundtable podcast, live from Tunein Studios, hosted/produced by Jefferson Graham.

The topic of discussion on Talking Tech ranged from music to what will be featured at tomorrow’s Apple Worldwide Developers Conference, where Apple offers a peek at new products/software, to authenticating your online identity on various sites with Karma, a new LA-based start-up, and last but not least, online cartoons.

In addition to Fred, other panelists included investor/advisors Peter Csathy, CEO of Manatt Digital Media and Mike Vorhaus, President of Magid Advisors, as well as Crystal Rose, Co-Founder of Sensay, which offers on-demand help via chat and Zach Schiff-Abrams, Co-Founder of Karma, a new start-up that designed to help you manage your online reputation. (Black and white photos of Fred from Jefferson Graham’s Facebook page).

Check out this edition of the podcast here.

Whew!

Gwen