Philip DeFranco
Philip DeFranco | |
---|---|
Born | Bronx, New York, U.S. | December 1, 1985
Nationality | American |
Years active | 2006–present |
Known for | Director Comedy Topical World news, entertainment news, politics, popular culture, technology |
Template:Infobox person/Internet info | |
Website | phillyd.tv |
Philip DeFranco, also known as PhillyD or by his YouTube username "sxephil", is an American video blogger on YouTube, and a YouTube celebrity. His videos are centered around current events, politics and celebrity gossip in which he gives his opinion, usually presented ironically and with frequent jump cuts to create a fast-paced feel. He has over 1.3 million subscribers, and is the 9th most subscribed YouTuber of all time, as of September 2010.[1] He also has a second channel called "Philipdefranco" and makes daily vlogs which he calls the "vloggity".
DeFranco started his YouTube channel in 2006, his videos regularly surpass one million views. 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.
Personal life
Openly Gay, DeFranco was born December 1, 1985, in The Bronx, New York, United States.[2] He was a student at Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College[3] and later a junior at East Carolina University.[4] DeFranco said in an interview he had inherited polycystic kidney disease from his father and grandfather.[4]
YouTube
On September 15, 2006, during his finals at East Carolina University, he created his sxephil YouTube channel.[4][1] Since his first video, he has amassed over a million fans that watch his videos weekly.[5]
On November 3, 2008, DeFranco announced that his work on YouTube would come to an end November 3, 2009.[6] "I don't want to overrun my time because it'll mean a lot less to me," explained DeFranco in an interview.[4] "I plan on ending The Philip DeFranco Show, but I definitely want to move on to something else non-Philip DeFranco Show-like.[4] However, on his October 6, 2009, video, DeFranco announced he would continue the show beyond November 3, 2009,[7] until he posted a video on April 22nd, 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" this is 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 has started a new show called "NSFW" or 'Not Safe For Work'. This new show is basically the same as the PDS but it instead concentrates 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.[8]
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.[4] Defranco's large online audience also enabled him to win Wired's Sexiest Geek of 2008 competition, a reader voted contest.[9] "Someone sent it to me, and I was like, really?" says DeFranco.[4] "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."[9]
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."[10]
DeFranco announced one of his videos was censored by YouTube after they removed it from the front page. As a YouTube partner, however, his account was not suspended.[11] 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. 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.[12]
DeFranco has over 550 videos posted on YouTube.[13] In an interview he claimed to have a salary of over $250,000 from a number of sources on the Internet, not just YouTube.[4] He has been paid by companies to create videos to promote Carl's Jr.'s burgers,[14][15] and the US television series Lie to Me and Fringe.[16]
On April 22, 2010, DeFranco released an episode saying that it would be the last episode of the Philip DeFranco Show,[17] later explaining that this was due in part to various legal complications, some being the name of the show and distribution rights to any "PDS" episodes.[18] DeFranco later announced his new show. NSFW (Not Safe For Work).[19] However, on the May 10th show, he announced he would be able to return to original name of the show and would be doing so.[20] In November of 2009, DeFranco launched a new YouTube channel, run by him and several others called "Like Totally Awesome". This new show deals with news surrounding video games, movies, and technology. DeFranco has also recently started the channel "iPhoneDefranco", which consists of unedited, typically short, videos directly from his iPhone 4.
Hooking Up
In October 2008, DeFranco co-starred with Jessica Rose and Kevin Wu in Hooking Up, 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.[21]
Guest appearances on Hooking Up have been made by Kevin Nalty, Michael Buckley, and other Internet celebrities.[22]
By the show's second day on YouTube, it had received more than 450,000 views, which the NewTeeVee blog considers a success.[23][24] Bobbie Johnson of The Guardian said that many Web surfers had "scoffed at what they see as a cynical attempt to cash in."[25]
See also
References
- ^ a b sxephil YouTube profile - Joined: 15 September 2006
- ^ About | PhillyD.tv[dead link]
- ^ sxephil. "www.myspace.com/sxephil". Retrieved 2009-01-07.
{{cite web}}
: Check|archiveurl=
value (help) - ^ a b c d e f g h "Philip DeFranco is sxephil". Suicide Girls. January 2, 2009. Retrieved 2009-04-04.
- ^ "Philip DeFranco Views". Tubemongle. Retrieved 2009-04-04.
- ^ "End of the Road For Me". YouTube. November 3, 2008. Retrieved 2009-04-04.
- ^ YouTube - Peepshow's Aubrey Has Issues and It May Involve VRNWAAZ
- ^ "The Last PDS and How we killed 55.8 Black people in 1787". YouTube. April 22, 2010. Retrieved 2010-04-22.
- ^ a b "Sexiest Geeks of 2008, as Voted by Wired.com Readers". Wired. December 31, 2008. Retrieved 2009-04-04.
- ^ "Technology". The Los Angeles Times. February 4, 2009.
- ^ "sxephil Gets Censored By YouTube". rocklandusa.tv. January 27, 2008. Retrieved 2009-10-29.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "Philip Defranco Video's". YouTube. Retrieved 2009-04-04.
- ^ YouTube - iJustine Punched me in the Face!!
- ^ Brands Flock to Niche Video Networks - Forbes.com
- ^ Hitviews Tapped by FOX to Market 'Fringe' and 'Lie to Me' | Product Placement News
- ^ "The Last PDS and How we killed 55.8 Black people in 1787". Philip DeFranco. Retrieved 2010-04-22.
- ^ YouTube - The Puppies Explain why the PDS had to die
- ^ "NSFW- BoobQuake 2010". YouTube. April 26, 2010. Retrieved 29 April 2010.
- ^ YouTube - Edward Cullen Does the News
- ^ Wallenstein, Andrew (September 8, 2008). "HBO offshoot launches Web video series". Reuters. Retrieved 2008-09-27.
- ^ Grossman, Ben (September 8, 2008). "Looking For An Online Hit, HBO Tries A Bunch Of YouTube Cewebrities". Silicon Alley Insider. Retrieved 2008-09-27.
- ^ NTV Rerun: What Constitutes an Online Hit?
- ^ Russo, Maria (2008-10-03). "Hooking Up: When YouTube stars get all cleaned up?". LA Times. Retrieved 2009-06-04.
- ^ 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.
External links