Philip DeFranco

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Philip DeFranco
Philip DeFranco by Gage Skidmore.jpg
Philip DeFranco in June 2012.
Born Philip Franchini (Franchina)
(1985-12-01) December 1, 1985 (age 27)
Nationality American
Other names PhillyD, sxephil
Years active 2006–present
Known for The Philip DeFranco Show
Notable work(s) The Philip DeFranco Show, SourceFed
Internet information
Web alias(es) sxephil (YouTube), PhillyD
Web hosting service(s) YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr
Website
phillyd.tv

Philip Franchini[1] or Philip Franchina[2] (born December 1, 1985), better known by his stage name Philip DeFranco or by his YouTube username "sxephil" is an American video blogger and YouTube celebrity. He is most notable for The Philip DeFranco Show, usually abbreviated PDS, a news show where DeFranco presents a news article, and then gives his opinion about it.[3] His videos are centered on current events, sex, politics and celebrity gossip in which he gives his opinion, usually presented in an ironic manner and with frequent jump cuts to create a fast-paced feel. He has over 1 billion views, and over 2.5 million subscribers, and is the 17th most subscribed YouTuber as of March 13, 2012. His second YouTube channel, "PhilipDeFranco", includes a series of vlogs which he calls "The Vloggity".[4]

DeFranco started his YouTube channel in 2006. His large audience led to his winning of a Spore Creature Creator contest and Wired's Sexiest Geek of 2008 award, both open access online polls.

Contents

Personal life [edit]

Philip Franchina was born in The Bronx, New York, United States. His known biological father is Garrett Dick,[5] and he has a step mother who works at a car dealership.[6] He has been a student at the University of South Florida,[7] a biology student at Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College,[2][8] and later a junior at East Carolina University.[9] He currently lives with his girlfriend Lindsay Jordan Doty and their two Yorkshire Terriers Rookie and Ace.[10] In 2007 Phil was living in Florida, but more recently Atlanta.[9] He also worked as a waiter in a number of restaurants while making videos in 2007.[11] DeFranco lived in a car until moving back with his father in Tampa, Florida, on condition that he would return to college which he later failed to do.[12] He is a libertarian,[13] and announced he would vote for Gary Johnson in the 2012 U.S. presidential election.[13][14] DeFranco has stated that he is agnostic.[15] DeFranco has polycystic kidney disease which he inherited from his father and grandfather, and his family has a history of it.[9]

Now, I consider my self agnostic, because I'm lazy. I love football on Sundays but I live on Pacific Standard Time. I hate arguing about anything that can't be proven or disproven with the scientific method, and I find that I live just a generally more happy life when I don't think about those things.

— Philip DeFranco, SKINNY VS CURVY, BAMFs & D-BAGS, The Philip DeFranco Show

YouTube [edit]

2006–2013 [edit]

On September 15, 2006, during his finals at East Carolina University, he created his sxephil YouTube channel.[9][16]

Since his first video, he has amassed over two million subscribers to his videos, which he releases three to five times a week.[17][improper synthesis?]

Before the YouTube partner program was available, he has asked for donations from his viewers after claiming to have run out of money, and selling everything except his Mac, camera and clothes and overdrawing his bank account so he could spend a night in a hotel as he found it too scary sleeping in a car in Brooklyn. The video was eventually deleted.[18][19][20] There are approximately 70 old videos that are unlisted or private as DeFranco finds them too embarrassing.[21]

On three separate occasions, DeFranco has announced he would stop making new videos, then, shortly thereafter gone against his word. The first time was on November 3, 2008, he announced his work on YouTube would come to an end November 3, 2009.[22] "I don't want to overrun my time because it'll mean a lot less to me," explained DeFranco in an interview.[9] "I plan on ending The Philip DeFranco Show, but I definitely want to move on to something else non-Philip DeFranco Show-like."[9] However, on his October 6, 2009, video, he said he would continue the show beyond November 3, 2009,[23] until he posted a video on April 22, 2010 saying that the show has ended. DeFranco stated he would be continuing with his YouTube channel but that he felt the show had become "stagnant" and that it needed to "evolve." As of April 26 DeFranco said he "needed to cancel the show", due to a contract he signed with a company "way back in the day" that allowed them to advertise his show which he would have to agree to. However DeFranco started a new show called "NSFW" or 'Not Safe For Work'. This new show is basically the same as the PDS, but it instead concentrated on what he liked the most about the Philip DeFranco Show. The show returned to its original format and name shortly after this due to an agreement he came to with the company he signed the contract with.[24][25]

DeFranco used his large audience to win the Spore Creature Creator, a game promotion competition, and in doing so beat the Sprouse twins. The winner's prize was to choose which charity would receive a donation of $15,000. He chose the PKD Foundation, an organization dedicated to fighting polycystic kidney disease (PKD), which he attributed to his family's history with the condition.[9] Defranco's large online audience also enabled him to win Wired's Sexiest Geek of 2008 competition, a reader voted contest.[26] "Someone sent it to me, and I was like, really?" says DeFranco.[9] "I kind of just promoted it because I thought it'd be funny for a normal guy to be at the top of the list."[26]

DeFranco says his trick is browsing websites like Technorati to find out what people are currently most interested in.[2]

During August 2007, DeFranco conducted an experiment by uploading a video titled "Big Boobs and You", the videos thumbnail was just like the title, except it the image only flashed for split second. The rest of the video is DeFranco talking. It quickly became his most successful video at the time, with 1.8 million views. From then on he changed his content to sex, gossip, and news.[27]

On February 4, 2009, DeFranco commented on YouTube's new 'Most Popular' tab, saying "It is a mixture of views, audience attention (how long the viewer watches) and ratings. Why promote content that people aren't enjoying even after they watch it?" David Sarno of the Los Angeles Times said "it's one way to minimize the effect of gaming, in which users employ racy thumbnails or video titles to trick viewers into watching less than racy videos."[28]

During December 2010, one of his videos was removed from the front page, although as a YouTube partner, however, his account was not suspended.[29] In 2008, he used footage of the 2008 Toronto propane explosion captured by 24-year-old Saejin Oh without permission, a violation of YouTube's community guidelines. "I’m disgusted by it," said Oh in an e-mail exchange. "Personally, I’m not worried they stole my video or made profit out of it. I’m rather more disgusted by the fact that they used a video of real-life event that caused death of two people to pay tribute to ... a movie." DeFranco declined a request from Wired.com for an interview on this subject. Saejin Oh filed a copyright claim with YouTube, and the video was eventually taken down.[30] The video received over 351,094 views and had running adverts on it, giving DeFranco several thousands dollars of profit from the stolen footage.[31]

In an interview he claimed to have a salary of over $250,000 from a number of sources on the Internet, not just YouTube, but has denied it in several videos.[9] He has been paid by companies to create videos to promote Carl's Jr.'s burgers,[32][33] and the US television series Lie to Me and Fringe.[34] DeFranco is also sponsored by Netflix.

DeFranco was a founding member of The Station, but left only a few months after it was created.[35] DeFranco also created Like Totally Awesome, (LTA) where video reviews submitted by viewers are compiled into a single video. Reviews submitted cover movie, video game or a piece of technology.[36]

An online viewer census showed one third of his viewers are 16 and 17 year old girls.[2]

Hooking Up [edit]

In October 2008, DeFranco co-starred with Jessica Rose and Kevin Wu in Hooking Up, written and acted by Woody Tondorf as a promo from HBOLabs (the online arm of HBO). Hooking Up is a scripted 10-episode Web-based series set at a fictional university where the students spend most of their time emailing and using Facebook, but still manage to miscommunicate.[37]

Guest appearances on Hooking Up have been made by Kevin Nalty, Michael Buckley, and other popular Internet celebrities.[38]

By the show's second day on YouTube, it had received more than 450,000 views, which the NewTeeVee blog considers a success.[39][40] Bobbie Johnson of The Guardian said that many Web surfers had "scoffed at what they see as a cynical attempt to cash in."[41]

2012–present: New Projects [edit]

In early 2012, DeFranco signed with Revision3.[42][43][44]

As of October 29, 2012, the sxephil YouTube channel has uploaded 1000 videos; which have earned the channel nearly 2.25 million subscribers and around 995 million views.[12]

In September 2012, it was reported that DeFranco receives almost 30 million views a month.[45]

DeFranco hosted the 25th anniversary of Discovery Channel's Shark Week, [44][45][46][47]

In January 2013, DeFranco announced that he would be meeting with United States Vice President Joe Biden to discuss the topic of gun laws.[48] Google's official blog revealed that the two, along with Guy Kawasaki would be discussing in a Google+ Hangout.[49] The discussion moderator was revealed to be PBS NewsHour's Hari Sreenivasan.[50]

In 2013, it was announced that DeFranco will be a guest judge on the second season of Internet Icon.[51]

SourceFed [edit]

Main article: SourceFed

SourceFed[52] is a secondary channel launched by DeFranco[53][54] and produced by James Haffner.[55]

DeFranco had The Philip DeFranco Show and SourceFed nominated for awards in the 3rd installment of the Streamy Awards. The PDS was nominated for Best First-Person Series and Best News and Culture Series. SourceFed was also nominated for Best News and Culture Series, as well as Best Live Series. SourceFed's #PDSLive 2012 Election Night Coverage was nominated for Best Live Event.[56]

YouTube's Election Hub [edit]

DeFranco, along with SourceFed co-hosts, Elliott Morgan and Meg Turney, joined journalists at the 2012 Republican National Convention and the Democratic National Convention as part of YouTube's "Elections Hub".[12][57][58] A public relations representative for YouTube stated “Having awesome partners like Philip DeFranco involved will attract younger viewers and he will have a really fresh take on politics".[59] YouTube's "Election Hub" channels for major news networks only received several hundred views, whilst DeFranco's videos on Election Hub received tens of thousands. It was put down to being it being in an 'experimental stage'.[60] Most of the partners of Election Hub, excluding DeFranco, Al Jazeera English and BuzzFeed, struggled to garner 1,000 views of their on-demand content during the RNC.[61] DeFranco, Morgan and Gary Johnson provided commentary following the third debate between Mitt Romney and Barack Obama.[62]

Awards and nominations [edit]

Year Work Category Award Result
2010 sXePhil Best Vlogger 1st Streamy Awards Nominated
2013 The Philip DeFranco Show Best News Series Inaugural IAWTV Awards Won
Best First-Person Series 3rd Streamy Awards Nominated
Best News and Culture Series Won
SourceFed Nominated
Audience Choice for Best Series of the Year Won
Best Live Series Nominated
SourceFed: #PDSLive 2012 Election Night Coverage Best Live Event Nominated

See also [edit]

References [edit]

  1. ^ DeFranco, Philip (28 August 2012). "Also for the 3 of...". Facebook. Retrieved 23 November 2012. "DeFranco is what I started telling people when they kept butchering my real last name which is Franchini pronounced Fran-keeny." 
  2. ^ a b c d Ratner, Andrew (23 September 2007). "For 1 college video blogger, it's a really strange trip". The Baltimore Sun. Archived from the original on 23 September 2007. Retrieved 24 March 2012. 
  3. ^ Michelle Eigenheer (September 11, 2012). "Webshows that make you smarter". The Louisville Cardinal. Retrieved September 21, 2012. 
  4. ^ Lance Trachtenberg (June 1, 2012). "The Vloggity: Intelligent Venting". Placevine. Retrieved March 5, 2013. 
  5. ^ "About PhillyD.tv". Archived from the original on 12 April 2009. 
  6. ^ DeFranco, Philip (January 31, 2012). Whats New, PKD, and Things n Stuff. "my stepmum for the longest time ever to come out here for .. she works for a car dealership" 
  7. ^ YouTubers Try a Different Forum: Real Life
  8. ^ Philip DeFranco. "www.myspace.com/sxephil". Archived from the original on February 19, 2007. Retrieved January 7, 2009. 
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Philip DeFranco is sxephil". Suicide Girls. January 2, 2009. Retrieved 2009-04-04. 
  10. ^ "YouTube Video: 2 dogs, one Phil". 
  11. ^ PhillyD.tv
  12. ^ a b c Dawn C. Chmielewski (August 28, 2012). "YouTube gives wacky anchorman Philip DeFranco greater exposure". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 28, 2012. 
  13. ^ a b Josiah Wampfler (October 1, 2012). "Philip Defranco Comes out In Support of Gary Johnson". Daily Paul. Retrieved October 23, 2012. 
  14. ^ Philip DeFranco (September 30, 2012). "The Lazy, The Liars, and The Misinformed". YouTube. Retrieved October 23, 2012. 
  15. ^ Philip DeFranco (April 30, 2013). "SKINNY VS CURVY, BAMFs & D-BAGS". The Philip DeFranco Show. YouTube. Retrieved May 2, 2013. 
  16. ^ sxephil YouTube profile - Joined: 15 September 2006
  17. ^ "Philip DeFranco Views". Tubemongle. Archived from the original on 2010-11-10. Retrieved 2009-04-04. 
  18. ^ Defranco, Philip. The Weeks to Come (YouTube broadcast). Archived from the original on 2008-06-10. Retrieved 2009-10-29. "Then you can help me out there, on phillyd.tv there's a little donation button if you want to help." [dead link]
  19. ^ "Welcome to sXePhil.com - I'm bringing sXe back". Archived from the original on 2007-02-17. Retrieved 2011-01-29. "Click here to donate!" 
  20. ^ "PhillyD.tv". Archived from the original on 2007-07-12. Retrieved 2012-07-13. 
  21. ^ DeFranco, Philip (September 8, 2010). Philip DeFranco vs. Douchey Past Philip DeFranco. "My main channel says I have 560 videos, when I actually have about 630" 
  22. ^ "End of the Road For Me". YouTube. November 3, 2008. Retrieved 2009-04-04. 
  23. ^ YouTube - Peepshow's Aubrey Has Issues and It May Involve VRNWAAZ
  24. ^ "The Last PDS and How we killed 55.8 Black people in 1787". YouTube. April 22, 2010. Retrieved 2010-04-22. 
  25. ^ "NSFW- BoobQuake 2010". YouTube. April 26, 2010. Retrieved 2012-09-16. 
  26. ^ a b Wallace, Lewis (December 31, 2008). "Sexiest Geeks of 2008, as Voted by Wired.com Readers". Wired. Retrieved 2009-04-04. 
  27. ^ Sarno, David (14 October 2007). "The bait is sexy; be prepared for a switch". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 23 November 2012. 
  28. ^ "Technology". The Los Angeles Times. February 4, 2009. 
  29. ^ "sxephil Gets Censored By YouTube". rocklandusa.tv. January 27, 2008. Archived from the original on 2010-02-12. Retrieved 2009-10-29. 
  30. ^ Wortham, Jenna (August 21, 2008). "Underwire Taking the Pulse of Pop Culture Popular YouTubers ‘Borrow’ Disaster Footage to Spoof Cloverfield". Wired. Retrieved 2009-10-29. 
  31. ^ Michael Learmonth (August 20, 2008). "YouTube Producers Milk Fatal Toronto Explosion For Fun And Profit". Business Insider. Retrieved December 23, 2012. 
  32. ^ YouTube - iJustine Punched me in the Face!!
  33. ^ Burkitt, Laurie (2009-08-24). "Brands Flock to Niche Video Networks". Forbes. 
  34. ^ Hitviews Tapped by FOX to Market 'Fringe' and 'Lie to Me' | Product Placement News
  35. ^ Joshua Cohen (February 10, 2012). "Phil DeFranco Pays Himself $100K a Year". Tubefilter. Retrieved September 1, 2012. 
  36. ^ Liz Shannon Miller (January 13, 2010). "Philip DeFranco Brings Together Aspiring YouTubers for Like Totally Awesome". GigaOM. Retrieved September 1, 2012. 
  37. ^ Wallenstein, Andrew (September 8, 2008). "HBO offshoot launches Web video series". Reuters. Retrieved 2008-09-27. 
  38. ^ Grossman, Ben (September 8, 2008). "Looking For An Online Hit, HBO Tries A Bunch Of YouTube Cewebrities". Silicon Alley Insider. Retrieved 2008-09-27. 
  39. ^ NTV Rerun: What Constitutes an Online Hit?
  40. ^ Russo, Maria (2008-10-03). "Hooking Up: When YouTube stars get all cleaned up?". LA Times. Archived from the original on 2009-05-02. Retrieved 2009-06-04. 
  41. ^ Johnson, Bobbie (October 6, 2008). "The rise and rise of the YouTube generation, and how adults can help". The Guardian (London). Retrieved 2008-10-08. 
  42. ^ Drew Baldwin (January 6, 2012). "Exclusive: Revision3 Exec On Signing Philip DeFranco". Tubefilter. Retrieved September 9, 2012. 
  43. ^ Andrew Wallenstein (January 5, 2012). "Revision3 signs Philip DeFranco". Variety. Retrieved September 9, 2012. 
  44. ^ a b Evan Shapiro (October 2, 2012). "We Have Watched 2,100 Years of 'Gangnam Style'". Huffington Post. Retrieved October 3, 2012. 
  45. ^ a b Sarah Mahoney (September 28, 2012). "Can One TV Brand Reach 10 Billion Devices?". MediaPost. Retrieved October 1, 2012. 
  46. ^ Damian Holbrook (August 16, 2012). "Phil DeFranco Bites Into Shark Week". TV Guide. Retrieved September 1, 2012. 
  47. ^ Newsome, Brad (6 December 2012). "Pay TV: Thursday, December 6". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 16 December 2012. 
  48. ^ Philip DeFranco (January 23, 2013). "MAN SHOOTS D*CK OFF WITH OWN GUN!!". The Philip DeFranco Show. YouTube. Retrieved January 24, 2013. 
  49. ^ Ramya Raghavan (January 23, 2013). "Fireside Hangouts: Join Vice President Biden in a discussion about gun violence". Google Official Blog. Blogspot. Retrieved January 24, 2013. 
  50. ^ Joshua Cohen (January 23, 2012). "Phil DeFranco To Discuss Gun Control With Vice President Joe Biden". Tubefilter. Retrieved January 24, 2012. 
  51. ^ Carly Lanning (February 12, 2013). "RYAN HIGA ON ‘INTERNET ICON’ SEASON TWO AND BEING YOUTUBE’S #3 MOST SUBSCRIBED [INTERVIEW]". New Media Rockstars. Retrieved March 5, 2013. 
  52. ^ "SourceFed". Retrieved 2012-05-24. 
  53. ^ Casey Nweton (2012-02-06). "YouTube’s Phil DeFranco building an empire". SF Gate The Tech Chronicles. Retrieved 2012-05-24. 
  54. ^ "Philip DeFranco's latest YouTube venture is a hit". Daily Dot. 2012-01-30. Retrieved 2012-05-24. 
  55. ^ Will Viharo (2012-05-15). ""Source Fed": lingo that hits bingo". PlaceVine. Retrieved 2012-05-24. [dead link]
  56. ^ "3RD ANNUAL NOMINEES". Streamys. Retrieved January 20, 2013. 
  57. ^ Mark Perigard (August 24, 2012). "YouTube launches ‘hub’ dedicated to ’round-the clock campaign coverage". Boston Herald. Retrieved September 1, 2012. 
  58. ^ Leslie Meredith (August 23, 2012). "YouTube launches 2012 elections hub". Fox News. Retrieved September 1, 2012. 
  59. ^ Matthew Manarino (August 22, 2012). "Philip DeFranco Gets Political On The YouTube Election Hub Channel". New Media Rockstars. Retrieved September 1, 2012. 
  60. ^ Charlie Warzel (September 3, 2012). "YouTube: Now for Political Junkies". Adweek. Retrieved September 6, 2012. 
  61. ^ Fruzsina Eördögh (September 5, 2012). "Why YouTube's Election Hub is Fizzling". Read Write Web. Retrieved October 8, 2012. 
  62. ^ Brittany Cheng (October 23, 2012). "Who Won the Presidential Debate: No One, Romney and Obama Have the Same Foreign Policy". PolicyMic. Retrieved October 23, 2012. 


External links [edit]
Creator
  • Philip DeFranco
Producer
  • James Haffner
Hosts
Guest
Former
  • Kevin Brueck
Related
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Philip_DeFranco&oldid=556070706"