TheSoul Publishing

TheSoul Publishing is a global media publisher, based in Cyprus.[1] Founded in 2016, it focuses on light-hearted engageable video content.[2] [3] TheSoul Publishing’s brands include some of the most-subscribed YouTube channels such as: 5-Minute Crafts, Bright Side[4] 123 GO!, Avocado Couple, La La Life, Slick Slime Sam and Teen-Z.[5] [6]

Though the company is based in Limassol, Cyprus, its videos are produced all across the world. TheSoul has offices throughout Europe and North America, from which it serves its 1.5 billion social followers. [7] It develops videos across 100 channel brands in 19 different languages.[6]

Since October 2022, the company has been headed by Arthur Mamedov as CEO. Prior to his promotion to CEO, Mamedov was the company’s COO from 2016-2022.[8]

History

TheSoul Publishing launched in Limassol, Cyprus in 2016.[9] Founded by Russian developers Pavel Radaev and Marat Mukhametov, it grew out of a company known as AdMe.[10] AdMe was focused on digital advertising and content distribution and based in Kazan, Russia.[11] In the same year as its inception, TheSoul launched its hit channel 5-Minute Crafts. 2017 saw them launch their second most popular channel Bright Side.[12]

In March 2021, TheSoul Publishing was named Digital Studio of the Year by Digiday at its Video & TV Awards.[13] In September 2021 the company published a video launching its virtual YouTuber music artist "Polar",[14] which received over 3 million views by December that year.[15] TheSoul later announced a distribution deal with French record label Believe in December 2021. [16] [17]

In December 2022, TheSoul Publishing acquired a majority stake in the management firm Underscore Talent. [18]

Partnerships

In May 2022, TheSoul Publishing announced a partnership with Retail Monster, to develop licensing and retail programs around its flagship franchise, 5-Minute Crafts.[19] TheSoul is continuing its growth in digital content distribution platforms by expanding operations in Riga and installing a studio in the Origo One business centre by the end of 2022. [20]

In November 2022, TheSoul Publishing launched a partnership with Samsung TV+ which brought 5-Minute Crafts and TeenVee to TV audiences across four European territories: Italy, Sweden, Spain and Benelux.[21] In the same month, TheSoul Publishing partnered with Kidoodle.TV, bringing 5-Minute Crafts, Slick Slime Sam and Baby Zoo to the platform in both English and Spanish languages.[22]

Influence

In 2019, TheSoul said it had 550 employees and produced 1,500 videos a month.[23] In 2021, it was recorded that TheSoul Publishing had 2,100 employees, [24] 80 percent of whom work remotely[25] and follow a 'no meetings' policy.[26] The media publisher has 1 billion subscribers worldwide. [27] Most of its channels feature "life hacks".[28]

It is the largest media production hub in the world and is the largest company on YouTube and Facebook in terms of social media views, ahead of companies like The Walt Disney Company, Viacom (2005–2019), WarnerMedia and Sony Pictures.[29] The company also has a growing influence on Snapchat, Instagram and TikTok.[28] In November 2021, Variety commented that TheSoul Publishing had the 9th most viewed vertical on YouTube, 5-Minute Crafts Family and the highest performing YouTube Short to date with nearly 433 million views.[30] By June 2022, 5-Minute Crafts had amassed a total of 23 billion views.[31]

With an increasing appetite for DIY content across social channels, throughout 2021 TheSoul Publishing set out to adapt content from various DIY-focused channels (including 5-Minute Crafts) for distribution on Pinterest. This activity began with creating 5-Minute Crafts in Portuguese (Ideas Incriveis) and Spanish (Ideas en 5 Minutos) and was recognized by The Drum Awards for the Digital Industries 2021, winning the ‘Best use of Pinterest’ award.[32]

Criticism

In 2018, Vox published an article calling TheSoul's content as being "cringy", "clickbait" and "bizarre", but noted that its output was not overtly political.[33]

Smart Banana was also criticized by Lisa Kaplan in Lawfare for making "history videos with a political tinge". One video claimed Ukraine to be part of Russia, another gave what Kaplan called a "heavily sanitized" summary of Joseph Stalin's time in power before incorrectly claiming that Nikita Khrushchev gave Alaska as a gift to the US, while another predicted that the United States may collapse within twenty years.[12] Following the release of Kaplan's article, the claims were picked up by Rachel Maddow, who likened the videos to Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections on her show.[34] However, this has been criticized; Vice magazine could find no new political content on any of TheSoul's channels in the lead-up to the 2020 election, and described it as more of a content mill than a channel to sway public opinion.[35]

In 2019, TheSoul Publishing apologized for having posted "historically questionable" videos, and removed the content, as well as announcing an editorial decision to no longer create historically-focused videos. They stated that they had never worked with "any government or semi-government organization of any country".[36]

On June 8, 2020, TheSoul's animated stories subsidiary channel "Actually Happened" was taken offline, and references to the channel removed from their website.[37][38] The channel, which had four million subscribers, hosted cartoons of supposedly real events presented as firsthand experiences of American teenagers, but their veracity had been questioned.[39]

References
  1. "How a Start-Up in Cyprus Became the Next Big Thing in Online Content". Hollywood Reporter. Hollywood Reporter. 20 August 2021. Retrieved 2 August 2022.
  2. "What publishers can learn about TheSoul Publishing's road to 1B social subscribers". What's New in Publishing. What's New in Publishing. 18 June 2021. Retrieved 3 February 2023.
  3. "'5-Minute Crafts' Owner TheSoul Publishing Acquires Majority Stake In Underscore Talent". Hollywood Reporter. Hollywood Reporter. 4 November 2015. Retrieved 3 February 2023.
  4. "Digital Studio TheSoul Publishing Dominating in Viewership for Newly Launched YouTube Shorts". Variety. Variety. 18 November 2021. Retrieved 9 August 2022.
  5. "What publishers can learn about TheSoul Publishing's road to 1B social subscribers". What’s New in Publishing | Digital Publishing News. 18 June 2021.
  6. Donnelly, Matt (18 November 2021). "Digital Studio TheSoul Publishing Dominating in Viewership for Newly Launched YouTube Shorts".
  7. "TheSoul Publishing, a major producer of digital content, has acquired a majority stake in Underscore Talent". 6 December 2022.
  8. "TheSoul Publishing Names Longtime COO Arthur Mamedov CEO". License Global. License Global. Retrieved 14 February 2023.
  9. "'5-Minute Crafts' Owner TheSoul Publishing Acquires Majority Stake In Underscore Talent". Hollywood Reporter. Hollywood Reporter. 6 December 2022. Retrieved 14 December 2022.
  10. Rapoza, Kenneth (22 September 2017). "These Two Russian 'Fake News' Outfits Get Billions Of Hits On Facebook". Forbes.
  11. Ganzhur, Elena (27 September 2019). "Станок, печатающий деньги в YouTube: как два приятеля из Казани создали крупнейшую фабрику контента для соцсетей" [A machine that prints money on YouTube: how two friends from Kazan created the largest content factory for social networks]. Forbes.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 24 September 2021.
  12. Kaplan, Lisa (18 December 2019). "The Biggest Social Media Operation You've Never Heard of Is Run Out of Cyprus by Russians". Lawfare. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
  13. "Hulu, 60 Second Docs and Comedy Central Digital are Digiday Video and TV Awards winners in 2021". Digiday. 25 March 2021. Retrieved 25 April 2022.
  14. "TheSoul Publishing Reveals Its First Digital Music Artist". Yahoo. 28 September 2021. Retrieved 23 December 2021.
  15. "Polar – Close To You (Official video)". YouTube. Retrieved 23 December 2021.
  16. McGlynn, Declan (7 April 2022). "Music and the Metaverse: Are we on the brink of a virtual artist revolution?". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 27 April 2022.
  17. "YouTube and Facebook content creator TheSoul Publishing launches music division". Music Week. 21 March 2022. Retrieved 27 April 2022.
  18. "5-Minute Crafts' Owner TheSoul Publishing Acquires Majority Stake In Underscore Talent". The Hollywood Reporter. 6 December 2022. Retrieved 4 January 2023.
  19. "Thesoul Publishing Announces Retail Monster As U.S. Licensing Agent For Global Phenomenon 5-Minute Crafts". Total Licensing. 25 May 2022. Retrieved 14 June 2022.
  20. "'TheSoul Publishing' paplašina darbību Rīgā un meklē darbiniekus". Delfi Bizness. 10 December 2021. Retrieved 1 February 2022.
  21. "TheSoul takes channels to Samsung TV Plus in Europe". Digital TV Europe. 24 November 2022. Retrieved 6 December 2022.
  22. "TheSoul sends 150 eps to Kidoodle.TV". Kidscreen. Kidscreen. Retrieved 13 January 2023.
  23. Read, Max (26 July 2019). "The Egg Is Bigger Than Before, or, Mysteries of YouTube's Third-Biggest Channel". The Cut. Retrieved 24 September 2021.
  24. "Here's what happened when this company banned meetings". Jul 14, 2021.
  25. "'Productivity is through the roof': Why companies are waging war on meetings to tackle burnout". Aug 16, 2021.
  26. "Why modern managers are reviving old-school staff handbooks". Financial Times. Jan 6, 2022.
  27. "What publishers can learn about TheSoul Publishing's road to 1B social subscribers". What's New In Publishing. What's New In Publishing. 18 June 2021. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
  28. Barber, Kayleigh (12 February 2021). "TheSoul grew revenue via platforms with viral social media life hacks". Digiday. Retrieved 24 September 2021.
  29. Roxborough, Scott (20 August 2021). "How a Start-Up in Cyprus Became the Next Big Thing in Online Content". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 24 September 2021.
  30. Donnelly, Matt (18 November 2021). "Digital Studio TheSoul Publishing Dominating in Viewership for Newly Launched YouTube Shorts". Variety. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
  31. "TOP 100 SUBSCRIBED YOUTUBE CHANNELS (SORTED BY SUBSCRIBER COUNT)". Social Blade. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
  32. "The Soul Publishing on crafting a DIY Pinterest strategy to boost brand awareness". The Drum. The Drum. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
  33. Jennings, Rebecca (2018-11-12). "Why YouTube is riddled with bizarre DIY videos". Vox. Retrieved 2021-05-27.
  34. Maddow, Rachel. "Russia working social media to manipulate American voters (again)". The Rachel Maddow Show. MSNBC. Retrieved 2021-05-26.
  35. Koebler, Jason (3 November 2020). "5-Minute Crafts Not Actually Mysterious, Just Good at YouTube". Vice. Retrieved 24 September 2021.
  36. "A message from TheSoul Publishing". TheSoul Publishing. 25 December 2019.
  37. What Happened To Actually Happened - Jarvis Johnson, June 21st 2020
  38. How Actually Happened Got Actually DELETED - Kenlimepie Plus, June 9th 2020
  39. "The fake, creepy world of YouTube's animated story channels". The Daily Dot. 9 April 2020. Retrieved 11 October 2021.
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