Philip James DeFranco (born Philip James Franchini Jr. ; born December 1, 1985), commonly known by his online nickname PhillyD , and formerly known as sxephil , is an American media host and YouTube personality . He is best known for The Philip DeFranco Show , a news commentary show centered on current events in politics and pop culture .
103-530: SourceFed was a YouTube channel and news website created by Philip DeFranco in January 2012 as part of YouTube's original channel initiative , and was originally produced by James Haffner. The main SourceFed channel mainly focused on popular culture , news, and technology. SourceFed was a part of DeFranco's portfolio of Internet-based media properties, including his own eponymous news YouTube series . That portfolio
206-451: A Twitch live-stream show. In 2017, DeFranco announced he was no longer working with Group Nine Media and would instead be an independent creator again. In addition to this, DeFranco announced the launch of DeFranco Elite, a crowdfunding initiative on Patreon ; DeFranco Elite functioned as a way for fans to help fund The Philip DeFranco Show , which DeFranco stated would help avoid the series' funding to be tied to YouTube ad revenue. By
309-669: A reader-voted contest. In October 2008, DeFranco co-starred with Jessica Rose and Kevin Wu in Hooking Up, written and directed by Woody Tondorf as a promo for HBOLabs (the online arm of HBO ). Hooking Up is a scripted 10-episode web series set at a fictional university where the students spend most of their time emailing and using Facebook , but still manage to miscommunicate. Guest appearances on Hooking Up were made by Kevin Nalty , Michael Buckley , and other popular Internet celebrities. By
412-436: A "crisis of credibility problem" for mainstream media outlets. Beginning in 2016, DeFranco became notably critical of YouTube's advertising policies, as they would begin to result in widespread demonetization–a term describing an incident in which something triggered YouTube's system to remove advertisements from a video–for creators across the platform. DeFranco's criticism of YouTube regarding this topic would continue in
515-504: A $ 50 million grant from the federal government for convention security. The city spent roughly $ 25 million on its police force. Some of the money has been allocated to police bicycles ($ 303,596), software ($ 61,000), and a 'command center upgrade' ($ 704,795). The city also spent $ 937,852 on officers from neighboring forces. In anticipation of protest activity, the city of Charlotte passed a variety of new ordinances. These include: These ordinances were permanent and remained effective after
618-588: A 20% chance of storms would you cancel 24 hrs prior?" The date of Obama's acceptance speech caused the National Football League to move the Kickoff game , normally on a Thursday, to Wednesday, September 5, to avoid a conflict. This in turn caused the DNC to move Joe Biden's vice presidential acceptance speech, normally held the day before the presidential acceptance speech, to Thursday, before Obama's speech, to avoid
721-418: A blog of the same name, was one of these channels. DeFranco revealed that he acquired the funding to launch the channel by originally promising YouTube that the channel would be run as a "celebrity gossip channel", and that it would consist of a single show rather than multiple different shows. However, DeFranco negotiated for less funding, in return to have creative control over the channel's content. The funding
824-477: A choice between a nation that slashes funding for our schools and guts Pell Grants , or a nation that invests more in education. It's a choice between a politician who rewards companies that ship American jobs overseas, or a leader who brings jobs back home...this is the choice before us … Our choice is a man who has always chosen us. A man who already is our president, Barack Obama", with the Global Post describing
927-687: A computer and camera. He worked as a waiter in a number of restaurants while making videos in 2007. DeFranco lived in a car until moving back with his father in Tampa, Florida, on condition that he would return to college, which he ultimately did not do. DeFranco was raised Catholic but later identified as atheist . On September 15, 2006, DeFranco created his YouTube account during his finals at East Carolina University , originally registered as "sxephil", in which he talks about "newsie type stuff, and things that matter to [him] today." DeFranco has cited his early influences as Ze Frank , Dane Cook , and
1030-578: A conflict with the NFL game. The convention was the first Democratic convention scheduled for only three days since 1948 , joining only the 1972 Republican National Convention as the only conventions in modern convention history to be scheduled for three days. In the opening session on September 4, the keynote speech was delivered by then-37-year-old San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro . In his speech, Castro stated that "the Romney-Ryan budget … doesn't just pummel
1133-432: A cult following and turned his YouTube show into a bonafide media empire." Politically, DeFranco has described himself as "fiscally conservative, socially liberal, for the most part." He expresses support for LGBT rights , including gay marriage and transgender identity, but he holds conservative views on company taxation. While on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, DeFranco stated that prior to moving to California he
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#17328980528041236-438: A five-hour live event hosted by SourceFed and DeFranco, was nominated for a Streamy Award for Best Live Event . Philip DeFranco later created a spinoff channel, SourceFedNerd (stylized as SourceFedNERD ), which was announced on May 16, 2013. In June 2013, Philip DeFranco sold SourceFed along with the other channels under his DeFranco Creative portfolio to Revision3 . DeFranco also became an executive of Revision3 and
1339-415: A live event from YouTube Space LA. The show contained live versions of the weekly recurring shows and spoof bits done by the hosts. On June 9, 2016, SourceFed uploaded a video titled Did Google Manipulate Search for Hillary? , discussing whether or not Google manipulated search results to display Hillary Clinton in an untruthful positive light. This video was uploaded at the tailend of the primaries for
1442-415: A news cycle. When covering shootings , DeFranco only reports on known facts at the time and has a policy to not use the perpetrator's name or image. Following PewDiePie 's December 2019 announcement that he would be taking a break from posting on YouTube, CNN published an article about PewDiePie, focusing on his past controversies; DeFranco cited this CNN article when he addressed what he referred to as
1545-636: A news network. Along with the staple news show ( 20 Minutes or Less ), five additional shows began airing within the first month of the channel's January 2012 launch: Curb Cash , One On One , DeFranco Inc.: Behind the Scenes , Comment Commentary and Bloopers . Curb Cash ended in March 2012. The New Movie Thing Show , a movie review series, and a movie club-style series titled The SourceFed Movie Club were launched in May 2012. Since then, SourceFed has debuted new additions to
1648-678: A news story covering various charities' refusal of donations from Reddit , following the then-recent celebrity nude photo leaks . The video received criticism from the SourceFed fanbase, and according to StatSheep, the channel lost over 20,000 subscribers. DeFranco took to Reddit, stating that the significant drop in subscribers was either due to "an error of that individual stats website or YouTube removing dead accounts." Additionally, in response to requests or demands in favor of removing or firing any hosts, DeFranco stated, "No. I let SourceFed control their own creative." The video has slightly more dislikes than likes. On February 27, 2015, SourceFed hosted
1751-457: A night in a hotel as he found it too scary sleeping in a car in Brooklyn . An online viewer census from 2007 showed that one-third of his viewers were 16- and 17-year-old girls. In the same year, DeFranco opened his second YouTube channel, " PhilipDeFranco ", which includes a series of vlogs which he calls " The Vloggity ". He streamed on BlogTV twice a week and took a cut of the revenue which
1854-469: A non-profit called "New American City, Inc.", which was run by the directors of the convention host committee. New American City, incorporated on April 4, 2011, existed to "defray administrative expenses incurred by the host committee organizations". (The host committee, in turn, provided "goods, facilities, equipment and services".) Donors to this group included Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Duke Energy . The Party's convention funds were stored in
1957-652: A playground game, claiming the amount would be a world record. SourceFed also made appearances at VidCon in 2014, 2015 and 2016. In April 2014, it was announced that Elliott Morgan and Meg Turney would both be leaving SourceFed by the end of the month. They were the first hosts to ever leave SourceFed , something which would occur frequently after their precedent. Morgan and Turney, like the hosts which would leave after them, appeared in other online media promptly after their departures; Morgan would work with Mashable , while Turney would become part of Rooster Teeth 's personnel. In September 2014, Zaragoza and Newton hosted
2060-436: A sizable audience on the website, DeFranco has been cited as a pioneer of both YouTube and new media , in general. Lucas Shaw of TheWrap described DeFranco as "one of the first video bloggers to find success on YouTube, and has since built", as well as having an, "entrepreneurial spirit and understanding of YouTube". DeFranco was described by The Washington Post as part of the first generation of YouTube's creators, with
2163-568: A third vote with the same result. Villaraigosa then declared the amendment passed, causing an eruption of boos on the floor. Bill Clinton officially nominated Obama for re-election and Obama was nominated unanimously by the 5,556 delegates of the convention. During the roll call, Mississippi delayed its vote so Ohio could give Obama the nomination, putting the tally over the top of 2,778 votes. The roll call continued while delegates started to leave and ended with Wyoming casting its votes in an almost empty hall. The Balloting: Vice President Biden
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#17328980528042266-468: A variety of topics. Episodes of the series were presented in a comedic daily newscast format. During his tenure on the series, Bereta was its head writer. Early in its run, SourceFed's news series was titled 20 Minutes or Less , as five news stories would be covered daily throughout separate videos totaling 20 minutes or less. Due to only presenting five stories a day, stories covered on SourceFed often "cross-pollinated", or were influenced by news stories on
2369-512: A video from the online outlet SourceFed that went viral this year, and quickly garnered headlines on conservative news sites like Breitbart and InfoWars ." Business Insider replicated the experiment shown in the video and found similar results. The video also drew responses from Google and Donald Trump (the Republican Party 's then-presumptive nominee for President of United States). Google defended its search engine; one representative of
2472-487: A video series called The Quad . The show was run by Sarah Penna , the creator of the YouTube multi-channel network Big Frame. Early in his YouTube career, Penna aided DeFranco, securing him coverage in news articles and magazines, such as Fast Company . One of those articles mentioned that DeFranco frequently collaborated with the advertising agency, Mekanism . DeFranco entered the 2010s having his "sxephil" channel as
2575-406: Is "one of the leading sources of news" on YouTube and one of the platform's success stories. Julia Alexander of The Verge has similarly described DeFranco as "one of the most notable voices on the site," while the publication's Lizzie Plaugic described DeFranco's content as being more akin to that of a gossip or tabloid outlet . Plaugic wrote "the biggest differentiators of gossip channels are
2678-541: The 2012 Democratic National Convention and the 2012 Republican National Convention , and joined journalists during live coverage streamed at the end of each night of the conventions. 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". 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
2781-635: The 2012 Republican National Convention and the Democratic National Convention as part of YouTube 's "Elections Hub". The Philip DeFranco Show and SourceFed were nominated for awards in the 3rd installment of the Streamy Awards . In September, it was reported that DeFranco received almost 30 million views a month, while by October, his channel was noted to have accumulated 2 million subscribers. The Philip DeFranco Show and SourceFed were nominated for Streamy Awards ; The PDS
2884-553: The 2016 United States presidential election , with Clinton being the Democratic Party 's presumptive nominee for President of the United States in the 2016 election . Matt Lieberman, the host for the video, suggested that Google's autofill feature pulls up results for Clinton's crime reform, despite "hillary clinton crime" being a more popular search term than "Hillary Clinton crime reform". Lieberman did emphasize that SourceFed
2987-535: The DaddyOFive child abuse story—were among those most cited by online and mainstream media publications. In his stories covering the DaddyOFive channel, DeFranco highlighted the channel's creators Mike and Heather Martin, and the abuse they inflicted on their children in videos posted on the channel. DeFranco's coverage and criticism of the channel sparked a community backlash and heightened media attention that led to
3090-909: The Oklahoma Primary to receive as many as seven delegates. However, the DNC has declared him as "illegitimate" because he failed to inform the Oklahoma Democratic Party of the names of his delegates. As such, no Terry delegates were in attendance. Keith Russell Judd and John Wolfe, Jr. , who have also both qualified for delegates to the convention by virtue of their performances in West Virginia (in Judd's case), Arkansas and Louisiana (in Wolfe's), faced similar obstacles to having their delegates seated. Wolfe commenced legal proceedings to have delegates in his name seated but lost his case one week prior to
3193-444: The PDS . SourceFed News stories were also referred to as "white wall" videos. George Watsky 's music was commonly used throughout the series in the background. In addition to daily news coverage, the SourceFed channel produced and uploaded several shows. From May to December 2012, Deadline Hollywood tracked the weekly views of all the original premium channels on YouTube. The channel
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3296-674: The Spore Creature Creator , a game promotion competition, and in doing so beat celebrities such as Stan Lee , Katy Perry , and Elijah Wood . 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. DeFranco's large online audience also enabled him to win Wired ' s Sexiest Geek of 2008 competition,
3399-561: The Vlogbrothers . Early on, he began calling his news-centered videos The Philip DeFranco Show . All of his sxephil videos from before March 13, 2017, have been made private or deleted from the channel. Before the YouTube partner program was available, he 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
3502-512: The YouTube Original news channel SourceFed and its nerd culture spinoff SourceFed Nerd , gaming channel Super Panic Frenzy , and family vlogging channel TheDeFrancoFam . His primary channel has accumulated over 6.5 million subscribers and 1.5 billion views, as of January 2024. Over his decade-long YouTube career, he has been cited as a pioneer of YouTube and news coverage online, and has won various awards for his online content. DeFranco
3605-579: The Barack Obama she fell in love with as well as the strength of the American Spirit and those in the military. "I've seen it in our men and women in uniform and our proud military families…in a young man blinded by a bomb in Afghanistan who said simply, 'I'd give my eyes 100 times again to have the chance to do what I have done, and what I can still do." Jim Rutenberg, of The New York Times , described
3708-477: The Martins losing custody of two of their children, and ultimately being charged with and found guilty of child neglect. Another topic DeFranco was noted by media publications for covering in 2017, was that of demonetization of YouTube creators. DeFranco continued to be frequently cited as critical of the platform, regarding issues involving ad revenue and demonetization, with noted criticism of ads being allowed on
3811-718: The Senior VP of a new Revision3 subsidiary, Phil DeFranco Networks and Merchandise. In October, as part of his new network, DeFranco launched the ForHumanPeoples channel, based on his clothing and merchandise line. In November 2013, DeFranco was a special guest in a live pre-show simulcast for the Doctor Who 50th anniversary from YouTube Space LA. Additionally, DeFranco has organized live shows and meetup events in locations such as Arizona , Los Angeles , and Toronto . DeFranco aspired to have launched channels within his network by
3914-471: The Senior Vice President of Philip DeFranco Networks and Merchandise as a result of the move. In June 2016, DeFranco made his earliest public clarification that he has "no hands on the creative decisions [made] on [SourceFed]," and while discussing the cancellation of SourceFed in 2017, DeFranco detailed that after selling his DeFranco Creative umbrella to Revision3, he began to have less involvement on
4017-525: The US television series Lie to Me and Fringe . DeFranco was a founding member of The Station , but left only a few months after it was created. DeFranco's early attempts at launching channels with scopes outside of his eponymous news series included BamBamKaboosh and TheDeFrancoUpdate . DeFranco also launched Like Totally Awesome ( LTA ), in which video reviews of a movie, video game, or technology were submitted by viewers and compiled into an episode of
4120-841: The YouTube channels of mainstream talk shows but not on those of native creators. Due to hot-button topics that can arise when delivering the news, DeFranco's content is particularly prone to being deemed "unfriendly" to advertisers. In June 2017, DeFranco's channel was cited by The Verge as having over 5.4 million subscribers. DeFranco's subscriber growth slowed down in 2017, although his channel's monthly views continued to yield growing numbers. In October 2018, BetterHelp gained attention from YouTube personalities after concerns were raised about alleged use of unfair pricing , paid reviews from actors, and questionable terms of service. Along with creators like Shane Dawson , DeFranco faced backlash for being among their most high-profile supporters. Both DeFranco and BetterHelp CEO Alon Matas addressed
4223-409: The YouTube platform and detailed his progress on developing a network; he hired a six-person research and investigative team, curated hosts for short- and long-form content, and tested a morning podcast, among other things in preparation for the network's launch. Months later while at VidCon , he stated that he saw himself walking from hosting the PDS within three years, saying "I don't know how to do
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4326-633: The audience as "adoring and appreciative" and the speech as "powerful words, and the audience responded with gratitude." First Lady Michelle Obama gave the final speech of the evening, stating that "Barack knows what it means when a family struggles...he knows what it means to want something more for your kids and grandkids. Barack knows the American dream because he's lived it, and he wants everyone in this country to have that same opportunity, no matter who we are, or where we're from, or what we look like, or who we love." Her speech lasted 25 minutes and focused on
4429-428: The channel in 2012. All but Zaragoza would eventually leave the channel throughout 2014 and 2015. However, these hosts later made guest appearances on the channel after their departures, and Morgan specifically was briefly brought back on the main channel to host The Study . Ross Everett was introduced as the seventh on-camera host, after spending time as a writer for the series. In April 2014, DeFranco announced Everett
4532-425: The channel launched in 2012, YouTube content creator Joe Bereta of Barats and Bereta , actor Elliott Morgan , and comedian Lee Newton , were introduced as the original three hosts of SourceFed. DeFranco, who hand-selected the three, also appeared as a host for the channel's first two weeks. DeFranco also hand-selected a second batch of three hosts (Trisha Hershberger, Meg Turney , and Steve Zaragoza ) who debuted on
4635-551: The channel's lineup. As additional content was being introduced, the SourceFed crew expanded, adding hosts and editors to its team. In early 2012, the Maxim Hot 100 voting website crashed on multiple occasions. Bereta and Morgan claimed that these crashes coincided with them telling their audience through 20 Minutes or Less to vote for Newton as a write-in candidate. Maxim did not address their claims, but did come out with an article noting that Newton had "list potential". In May, it
4738-499: The channel, before having no involvement at all. During 2013, SourceFed was announced to be a sponsor of that year's VidCon, as well as special guests of the event. The event would be held in August. During the event, the couch featured on Comment Commentary was "eaten" by Sharkzilla, the mascot of Shark Week . DeFranco previously hosted Discovery Channel's Shark Week event. While at VidCon 2013, DeFranco gathered 554 people to play Ninja,
4841-571: The city. After North Carolina voters passed Amendment 1 , on May 8, 2012, banning same-sex marriage in the state, several groups called for the DNC to pull the convention out of Charlotte. Unions also complained about North Carolina's labor laws. However, the DNC said that they would still proceed with their plans to hold it in the state. The leader of the Democratic National Committee Debbie Wasserman Schultz verified in an interview that North Carolina
4944-421: The coalition. Demonstrators said they want to call attention to the influence of corporations on politics as well as the role of the military-industrial complex in US politics; they scheduled a dance party to honor then-imprisoned soldier Chelsea Manning . One group of undocumented immigrant workers travelled to the convention via bus, "The Undocubus." They risked deportation if arrested. Charlotte received
5047-598: The company in August 2016. With Bereta, Hershberger, and Newton's departures in late 2014 and early 2015, new hosts were brought on. On February 24, 2015, Sam Bashor accepted an offer to become an official host on the SourceFed and SourceFedNerd channels. He was previously a writer for the channels and made several appearances in videos. He was also the host for DeFranco's merchandising branch, ForHumanPeoples. Early 2015 would also see YouTube personality Bree Essrig , as well as Australian TV & radio host Maude Garrett join in hosting SourceFed. Early 2016 saw Mike Falzone join
5150-401: The company stated "Google Autocomplete does not favor any candidate or cause. Claims to the contrary simply misunderstand how Autocomplete works." A Snopes fact check on the video rated its claims as "false". Trump stated that if SourceFed's claims were true, "it is a disgrace that Google would do that." SourceFed uploaded a follow-up video, featuring Lieberman responding to the reception that
5253-472: The convention. The deadline for cities to submit letters of interest was January 11, 2010. In March 2010, the DNC emailed interested cities request for proposals . The deadline for cities to respond was May 21, 2010. On June 30, 2010, the DNC announced the four finalist cities. All three dates of the convention were held at the Time Warner Cable Arena . The last night, Thursday, September 6,
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#17328980528045356-474: The crowd as "electrified" by her remarks, "her impassioned delivery drawing the crowd to its feet." The speakers for the day included: The speakers for the day included: David Foster was identified as a former employee of Bain Capital, advertised as an employee of GST Steel during Bain's acquisition of the then-bankrupt company in 2001, after Romney had taken a leave of absence for the company. Foster, however,
5459-411: The end of 2013, though due to "the logistical complications of joining Discovery, adding staff and strategizing the future," those plans did not materialize. DeFranco later planned 2014 to be the year that he would begin launching new channels. These plans once again fell through, but in 2015, DeFranco was involved in the launching of Super Panic Frenzy , a gaming network, including a YouTube channel and
5562-498: The end of the convention. The camping prohibition was used to evict Occupy Charlotte from its encampment in January 2012. . A request by Occupy Charlotte to enjoin enforcement of the camping prohibition was rejected by a State Court judge in March 2012. The DNC was designated a National Special Security Event , and the Secret Service and Department of Homeland Security did some of the policing. The Charlotte Police Department
5665-404: The end of the year, The Outline noted that DeFranco had over 13,000 Patreon subscribers donating an amount of money that while undisclosed was enough to rank him within the platform's top 20 creators. In 2019, DeFranco was earning approximately $ 50,000 a month from Patreon. DeFranco's coverage of issues concerning YouTube culture—such as PewDiePie 's alleged anti-Semitism controversy and
5768-546: The featuring of Russian warships. Protest activity and demonstrations was anticipated at the convention. Over ninety organizations gathered into a group known as the Coalition to March on Wall St. South, and declared their intention to protest at the convention. The left-leaning coalition reflected the rhetoric and ideology of the Occupy Wall Street Movement , and several Occupations from North Carolina endorsed of
5871-482: The fifth-most subscribed on the platform. In July 2010, DeFranco attended the first VidCon event, where he was a speaker. Also in the month, DeFranco co-created CuteWinFail , along with Toby Turner ; the online series was described by Fruzsina Eördögh of ReadWrite as "essentially the YouTube equivalent of America's Funniest Home Videos." DeFranco launched a merchandise line called ForHumanPeoples in 2011. In January 2012, DeFranco launched SourceFed , which at
5974-585: The first of these correspondents was Maria Sosyan. In addition to the website and YouTube channel, the Rogue Rocket network also comprised a podcast named A Conversation With , in which DeFranco hosts and interviews a subject. In 2020, YouTube tapped various YouTubers, with DeFranco amongst them, to interview Anthony Fauci , with the goal of bringing information related to the COVID-19 pandemic to younger audiences. Due to joining YouTube in 2006 and soon gaining
6077-503: The floor of the convention to reinsert language invoking God and recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital. Convention chairman Antonio Villaraigosa put the amendment to a voice vote requiring a two-thirds majority for passage. After the first vote was indecisive, Villaraigosa called for a second vote, which was again met with an equal volume of "ayes" and "nos". A woman standing to his left said, "You've got to rule, and then you've got to let them do what they're gonna do." Villaraigosa called
6180-403: The following years. Dating as far back as 2008, DeFranco has been frequently cited as pondering a potential end to his eponymous news series or an exit from the platform altogether. DeFranco's reasons for this have varied from a personal want to "not overrun [his] time" to being frustrated with the platform's unstable revenue source. In April 2018, DeFranco again expressed frustrations with
6283-489: The hosts. Philip DeFranco tries to position himself as an objective, buttoned-up talk show host, even though his eponymous show is all about his take on the biggest names in YouTube drama." DeFranco's ventures in creating an online media network have also been noted. Alex Iansiti of Huffington Post (now HuffPost ) noted, " The Philip DeFranco Show is a great example of a media company to sprout out of YouTube". Variety similarly expressed that DeFranco has "built upon
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#17328980528046386-615: The issue, giving statements to Polygon 's Julia Alexander. On October 15, DeFranco tweeted that he had formally ended his relationship with BetterHelp. DeFranco launched Beautiful Bastard in February 2019, a line of hair care named after his catchphrase from the introductions of his news show. Since regaining control over his properties from the Discovery Network in May 2017, DeFranco has been working towards broadening his content and reach. He began work on Rogue Rocket and would launch
6489-473: The main channel as the host of a revised form of #TableTalk , which was brought back to SourceFed's main channel content output. Scully and Garrett both announced their departures from SourceFed in August. Coinciding with their departures, Ava Gordy and Candace Carrizales were introduced as hosts on the main SourceFed channel. The main series on the SourceFed channel was SourceFed News . The series featured 1–2 hosts presenting news stories, and covering
6592-407: The middle class, it dismantles it...it dismantles what generations before have built to ensure that everybody can enter and stay in the middle class" and that "Now we need to make a choice...a choice between a country where the middle class pays more so that millionaires can pay less, or a country where everybody pays their fair share, so we can reduce the deficit and create the jobs of the future. It's
6695-408: The news he covers and comments on, stating "I have to see several news sources that I trust." On this, Polygon has stated that DeFranco expressed paranoia relating to the need to ensure that stories are completely correct. DeFranco also likes to incorporate a "human side to every story," and has been known to specifically highlight optimistic or feel-good stories to counter the typical grittiness of
6798-489: The news network on April 22, 2019. The network's launch was accompanied by a website. A YouTube channel for the network, produced by Amanda Morones and featuring news story breakdowns launched in July; these breakdowns are presented in longer formats (such as 10- to 30-minute mini-documentaries) than those seen on The Philip DeFranco Show . Instead of being hosted by DeFranco, the channel features an on-camera cast of correspondents;
6901-875: The publication writing, "there are the originals, the older ones who became famous on YouTube when the only sort of Internet fame that existed was random viral stardom: Phil DeFranco, Jenna Marbles and Hannah Hart , for instance." The Los Angeles Times has described DeFranco as, "the Walter Cronkite for the YouTube generation who generates hundreds of headlines in under 10 minutes". Sarah Kessler of Fast Company has referred to DeFranco as his generation's " Jon Stewart , if not Rupert Murdoch and News Corp ". HuffPost has also likened DeFranco to Stewart, as well as Stephen Colbert and Bill Maher , commending DeFranco's ability to balance "important, controversial, and potentially dry topics" with pop culture stories. David Cornell of The Inquisitr News wrote that DeFranco
7004-453: The reason that they subscribed to the channel. SourceFed was one of the most popular YouTube original channels, as the channel earned over 20 million monthly views. Due to its success, SourceFed was among the 30-40% of original channels to be renewed by YouTube in November 2012. On July 14, 2013, the SourceFed channel reached one million subscribers. The Wall Street Journal noted that it
7107-573: The required 2,778 delegates to secure the presidential nomination. He had previously announced that Vice President Joe Biden would remain as his vice presidential running mate in his re-election bid. As of 2024, this was the most recent time that the Democratic Party nominated a ticket without a woman. The convention was the 47th Democratic National Convention. First Lady Michelle Obama announced on February 1, 2011, in an email to supporters that Charlotte, North Carolina , had been chosen as
7210-832: The show I'm doing now in three years without phoning it in." He also added that he would remain online in some capacity, expressing, "in some way, I will always want to make a show and have that interaction, and I think that will evolve." DeFranco has polycystic kidney disease which he inherited from his father and grandfather. He has a younger sister named Sabrina. As of 2020, DeFranco lives in Encino, Los Angeles , with his wife, media literacy and mental health advocate Lindsay Jordan DeFranco (née Doty), and their two sons. DeFranco proposed to Doty, then his longtime girlfriend, on August 16, 2013, at his "DeFranco Loves Dat AZ" show in Tempe, Arizona . Their first son, named Philip James "Trey" DeFranco III,
7313-539: The show's second day on YouTube, it had received more than 450,000 views. Bobbie Johnson of The Guardian said that many Web surfers have "scoffed at what they see as a cynical attempt to cash in." In 2008, he stated in an interview that his listed salary of $ 250,000 from a number of sources on the Internet, including and beyond YouTube , was initially a joke, but would become accurate. He has been paid by companies to create videos to promote Carl's Jr. 's burgers, and
7416-483: The site for the 2012 Convention. The event was the first nominating convention of a major party ever held in North Carolina . Charlotte had beaten three other finalists, Cleveland , Minneapolis and St. Louis . It was expected that Charlotte's hosting of this event would generate more than $ 150 million for Charlotte and surrounding metropolitan areas and bring over 35,000 delegates and visitors. North Carolina
7519-688: The start of the convention. The Democratic Party announced in February 2011 that it would not accept corporate donations to fund the convention. This decision was made to increase the party's populist appeal and create distance from Bank of America and the financial industry. In June 2012, the convention was $ 27 million short of its fundraising goals and consequently canceled some planned events. The previous DNC raised $ 33 million from corporate donors. The Obama campaign also received less in union donations than it did in 2008. Corporate sponsors were able to make in-kind donations such as transportation, as well as to host parties. They could also donate to
7622-458: The time was produced by James Haffner. This came around the same time in which DeFranco signed with Revision3 , a multi-channel network . In February, DeFranco stated he paid himself $ 100,000 a year, and reinvests the rest back into his company. Later in the year, DeFranco hosted the 25th anniversary of Discovery Channel 's Shark Week . DeFranco, along with SourceFed co-hosts Elliott Morgan and Meg Turney , joined journalists at
7725-424: The time, the SourceFed channel had amassed just over 1.7 million subscribers and 906 million video views in its run. DeFranco clarified on Twitter that he had no involvement with the decision to dissolve SourceFed Studios. The final Nerd and People Be Like videos were released on March 24, 2017. SourceFed's final video was also uploaded, which doubled as the intro for the channel's 6 hour final live stream. When
7828-439: The time—Ava Gordy, Mike Falzone, Candace Carrizales, and Steven Suptic—released a video addressing the cancellation of SourceFed as well as its SourceFedNerd and People Be Like spinoffs. They also announced the schedule for the channel's final week; a podcast, a Comment Commentary episode, a usual white wall-styled video, and a live-streamed farewell video were announced for Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, respectively. At
7931-507: The video received. In late 2016, the newly formed media company Group Nine Media acquired SourceFed Studios's parent company Revision3 (which was renamed as Seeker ) from Discovery Digital Networks. Seeker and SourceFed Studios were merged along with Thrillist , NowThis News , and The Dodo into Group Nine, which then decided to close the SourceFed Studios network. On March 20, 2017, the four hosts of SourceFed's primary channel at
8034-400: Was "ultra-liberal". Starting a business there caused him to lean more center . He voted for Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson in the 2012 United States presidential election , but he no longer labels himself a libertarian. DeFranco has criticized the perceived authoritarian nature as well as Twitter activity of former U.S. president Donald Trump . DeFranco has noted he likes to verify
8137-520: Was a closely contested state in the 2008 presidential election , with Barack Obama winning the state's 15 electoral votes by just 13,692 votes (out of more than 4.2 million votes cast) and Democrats Kay Hagan and Bev Perdue winning close elections for U.S. Senate and Governor , respectively. On October 28, 2009, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) sent out letters to potential host cities seeking their interest in bidding for
8240-496: Was a farewell livestream broadcast on March 24, 2017. Around the time of the closure of SourceFed Studios, the SourceFed channel had accumulated over 1.7 million subscriptions and 900 million video views. SourceFed was an idea Philip DeFranco had been considering as an evolution of his own YouTube series, The Philip DeFranco Show ( PDS ). In an interview with Forbes , DeFranco stated that he originally wanted to turn his daily show into several daily segments. He added that there
8343-410: Was a featured as a guest judge on the second season of Internet Icon . Later, in May, SourceFed Nerd , a branch of SourceFed , was launched. In the same month, DeFranco's assets, including The Philip DeFranco Show and SourceFed , were acquired by Revision3 , which itself was a subsidiary of Discovery Digital Networks . Upon the acquisition, DeFranco became added as an exec of Revision3,
8446-515: Was a gathering, held from September 4–6, 2012, at the Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte, North Carolina , in which delegates of the Democratic Party nominated President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden for reelection, in the 2012 United States national election . On April 3, 2012, President Barack Obama won the Maryland and District of Columbia primaries, giving him more than
8549-458: Was also responsible for the areas outside the convention venues. Police noted that it would be relatively easy to surround protestors in the city's downtown business district, which is enclosed by expressway. By contract the DNC required Charlotte to create a demonstration area for people to exercise their First Amendment rights. Eventually the city of Charlotte became an open Free Speech Zone with peaceful protests, pickets, and pamphlets throughout
8652-423: Was announced that Lee Newton placed 57th on the 2012 Maxim Hot 100 list. In March 2012, Philip DeFranco announced that he would take the SourceFed crew to VidCon 2012 . There, Bereta, Morgan, Newton, and Zaragoza, along with DeFranco, held a Q&A panel and performed. SourceFed hosts Meg Turney and Elliott Morgan, along with Philip DeFranco, presented a series of videos as part of YouTube's "Election Hub" during
8755-689: Was born Philip James Franchini Jr. in The Bronx , New York City , New York . He is of Italian descent. He has a stepmother who works at a car dealership. He was a student at the University of South Florida (USF), a biology student at Asheville–Buncombe Technical Community College , and later a junior at East Carolina University . In 2007, DeFranco lived in Tampa, Florida , and later Atlanta , Georgia. Once in Florida, he used his USF student loan to purchase
8858-488: Was born in 2014. The couple married on March 7, 2015, and it was captured on social media. Their second son, Carter William DeFranco, was born in 2017. In 2019, Lindsay launched Not So Fast, a media literacy campaign. The couple moved into their Encino home in late 2019 after previously living in San Fernando and Sherman Oaks . 2012 Democratic National Convention The 2012 Democratic National Convention
8961-411: Was chosen due to the controversy in the state and stated that it is "a critical battleground". When questioned about being able to raise the funds for the convention Schultz stated "We're not having a hard time raising the funds", contrary to reports. Randall Terry , a vocal pro-life advocate and former Republican congressional and state senate candidate, received a large enough percentage of votes in
9064-504: Was confusion among his audience when this format was tested, convincing DeFranco that he would need to create a new series to not alienate, but grow his audience. The SourceFed YouTube channel was created in April 2011. In late 2011, YouTube began its $ 100 million funding of original or premium content channels . Due to DeFranco's position as a YouTube partner, the website offered him funding for an original channel. The SourceFed channel, based on
9167-489: Was consistently one of the top original channels every week. On May 26, 2012, the SourceFed YouTube channel reached the 100 million video view milestone. On August 1, 2012, SourceFed became the first of the YouTube original channels to reach 500,000 subscribers. In celebration of the event, 20 Minutes or Less uploaded a special video onto SourceFed that featured clips of SourceFed's audience congratulating them and stating
9270-635: Was hard to figure out why the simplicity of the idea behind SourceFed was able to receive mass appeal. After winning the Streamy Audience Choice Award for Series of the Year, SourceFed's The New Movie Thing Show was criticized by The Atlantic . The publication wrote "The audience pick for series of the year went to SourceFed, which consists of short clips of people explaining things in loud, fast voices," and "It's not even close to quality programming. Just something goofy to watch online." SourceFed
9373-431: Was motivated more by an inability to fill the 70,000-seat stadium and the possibility that empty seats would show a lack of enthusiasm. The risk of severe weather wasn't high; Charlotte NBC affiliate WCNC-TV chief meteorologist Brad Panovich tweeted that the "[s]evere threat is almost zero Thursday night & chance of rain is 20%", adding, "It's a simple question...if you had a Panthers game, concert or soccer match with
9476-440: Was moved back to his writing position. However, near the end of the month, Everett announced his departure from SourceFed in a Tumblr blog post. Amidst the 2014 departures of Everett, Morgan, and Turney, SourceFed brought on William Haynes , Matt Lieberman, and Reina Scully in March 2014, serving as the de facto replacements for the former. While Haynes and Lieberman stayed on with SourceFed through its cancellation, Scully left
9579-540: Was named DeFranco Creative and later renamed SourceFed Studios when acquired by Discovery Communications ' Revision3 . On March 20, 2017, the cancellation of SourceFed, along with its still-active sister channels, was announced. The closure of the SourceFed Studios network was decided by the newly formed Group Nine Media , led by Discovery Communications , which was formed as a merger between SourceFed Studios and four other networks in October 2016. The final SourceFed video
9682-558: Was never a GST Steel employee; instead, he was an employee of the United Steelworkers of America assigned to organize the local chapter of the union. The original 2012 party platform caused controversy after it was written, because the typical invocations and references to God and God-given rights were omitted, and language affirming the role of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel was removed. On Wednesday, September 5, former Ohio Governor Ted Strickland introduced an amendment on
9785-416: Was nominated by voice vote. The speakers for the day included: Pledge of Allegiance: Live Music Performances: During the last night, as Senator Kerry and retired Admiral Nathman spoke, there was a montage of military ships and aircraft, as a tribute to veterans ; the ships were Russian warships , and the aircraft were Turkish F-5s . The Democratic National Convention Committee later apologized for
9888-437: 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 and its "#PDSLive 2012 Election Night Coverage" program was nominated for Best Live Event. In January 2013, DeFranco took part in a Google+ Hangout with United States Vice President Joe Biden and Guy Kawasaki , discussing gun laws . In February, DeFranco
9991-491: Was nominated for four awards at the 3rd Streamy Awards , winning in the Audience Choice for Series of the Year category. The following year, SourceFed won the award for News and Current Events Series. In the text these references are preceded by a double dagger (‡): Philip DeFranco DeFranco has also been involved in the creation of other successful channels on YouTube, including personal vlog channel Philly D ,
10094-559: Was not accusing Google of any crimes, instead calling the manipulation "deeply unethical and wrong but not illegal." Lieberman also added that there is no evidence to suggest collusion between the Clinton campaign and Google, but went on to claim that "the intention is clear: Google is burying potential searches for terms that could have hurt Hillary Clinton in the primary elections over the past several months." The video attracted considerably more media attention than other SourceFed uploads, as it
10197-427: Was originally scheduled to be held at the 72,000-seat Bank of America Stadium , where presumptive presidential nominee Barack Obama was to deliver his acceptance speech. After Convention officials insisted that they would hold Thursday's activities at the stadium "rain or shine", the venue was moved to the 20,000 seat indoor arena "due to thunderstorm threat." Some in the media questioned the move, wondering whether it
10300-446: Was provided by YouTube, as the channel was part of YouTube's original content initiative. DeFranco hand-picked the first six hosts of SourceFed: Joe Bereta , Elliott Morgan , Lee Newton , Steve Zaragoza , Trisha Hershberger , and Meg Turney . Additionally, SourceFed was originally produced by James Haffner. The channel launched as an original channel on January 23, 2012. In 2012, Reuters reported that DeFranco had plans to create
10403-466: Was put down to it being in an 'experimental stage'. 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. During the videos, Turney predicted that the DNC will not make a difference for young voters. During the conventions, SourceFed uploaded videos explaining them. #PDSLive 2012 Election Night Coverage ,
10506-487: Was referred to in posts by USA Today , The Washington Times , Business Insider , and The Globe and Mail , among other outlets. Shane Dingman, writing for The Globe and Mail opined that "This conspiracy theory post is not typical fare" for SourceFed. Nick Corasaniti of the New York Times wrote that the "conspiracy theory [about Google suppressing negative news in search results about Hillary Clinton] began with
10609-629: Was up to $ 12 CPMs . In August 2007, DeFranco conducted an experiment by uploading a video titled "Big Boobs and You". The video's thumbnail image was what the title described, except that the image only flashed for a split second . The rest of the video's content was 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 . In 2012, YouTube redesigned their website, as videos with cleavage thumbnails attracted many clicks but were abandoned instead of being watched. DeFranco used his large audience to win
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