When YouTube Cuts You Off: Get Ellen

What do you do when YouTube funds your channel and then cuts you off? You could A) quit, B) try and go it alone or C) get together with other YouTube channels and build your own network. Best case scenario, C) goes well and D) you sign up Ellen DeGeneres. That’s what happened with Kin Community, a women’s-aimed channel launched last year by Deca, a Web video syndicator/producer. Kin was part of YouTube’s $100 million investment in original channels. And while successful, it didn’t make the cut, as YouTube seems to be focused on younger demographics. Kin didn’t stop producing content; the channel focuses on recipes for events like Meatless Monday for Earth Day and DIY house projects. It has generated nearly 7.8 million views. Since getting news that Kin was on its own, Deca has elected to keep the channel going while building out its female-skewing footprint on YouTube. The company has now signed on to sell ads for channels ranging from Modern Mom (another YouTube 100 channel that didn’t make the cut), EntertainingwithBeth, Lizzie Bennet (which includes The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, a 100-episode online adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice), Mr. Kate, and SarahFitTV. Kin has lined up 50 partners in all. And recently, the company nabbed a deal with Warner Bros. to rep the channel for Ellen, specifically The Ellen Show, which boasts 4.8 million subscribers and close to 1.8 billion views (that’s billion with a b). Deca CEO Michael Wayne said he never considered shutting down Kin. "YouTube gave us a fantastic opportunity through their funding to create a world-class channel and network brand," he said. "Young men and women under 18 had a diverse set of [YouTube] brands that catered to them in gaming, humor, etc. We felt high-quality lifestyle channel brands targeting women 18-49 hadn't been effectively aggregated yet. And we have over 75,000 channel subscribers to promote new-owned channels and partner channels." Kin has already pulled in advertisers such as Diet Pepsi, Target and T-Mobile, and Ellen certainly makes for a nice headliner to push the Kin Community brand forward. "What The Ellen Show has done on YouTube is remarkable," said Wayne. "It is a perfect brand. Kin Community stands for high-quality content that makes women feel connected, and no one does that better than Ellen."

Performance Marketing

When YouTube Cuts You Off: Get Ellen

Deca takes Women's Channel Kin and turns it into video ad network

Mike Shields

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