TheSoul Publishing

TheSoul Publishing is a media publisher, founded by Russian developers Pavel Radaev and Marat Mukhametov, that operates some of the most-subscribed YouTube channels, including 5-Minute Crafts, Slick Slime Sam and Bright Side.

History

TheSoul was founded by Russian developers Pavel Radaev and Marat Mukhametov.[1][2] It grew out of a company known as AdMe in 2004. AdMe was focused on digital advertising and content distribution. Its original headquarters was Kazan, Russia.[3] It moved to Cyprus in 2016, in the same year it launched its hit channel 5-Minute Crafts. 2017 saw them launch their second most popular channel Bright Side.[4]

On June 8, 2020, TheSoul's animated stories subsidiary channel "Actually Happened" was taken offline, and references to the channel removed from their website.[5][6] 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.[7]

In March 2021, TheSoul Publishing was named Digital Studio of the Year by Digiday at its Video & TV Awards.[8] In September 2021 the company published a video launching its virtual YouTuber music artist "Polar",[9] which received over 3 million views by December that year.[10] TheSoul later announced a distribution deal with French record label Believe in December 2021. [11] [12]

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. [13]

Influence

In 2019, TheSoul said it had 550 employees and produced 1,500 videos a month.[14] In 2021, it was recorded that TheSoul Publishing had 2,100 employees, [15] 80 percent of whom work remotely[16] and follow a 'no meetings' policy.[17] The media publisher has 1 billion subscribers worldwide. [18] Most of its channels feature "life hacks".[19]

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 Disney, News Corporation and 20th Century Fox.[20] The company also has a growing influence on Snapchat, Instagram and TikTok.[19]

In November 2021, Variety commented that TheSoul Publishing had 9th most viewed vertical on YouTube, 5-Minute Crafts Family and the highest performing YouTube Short to date with nearly 433 million views.[21]

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.[22]

Smart Banana was also criticized by Lisa Kaplan in Lawfare for making "history videos with a political tinge". One video positively appraised the leadership of Joseph Stalin, and incorrectly claims that Nikita Khrushchev gave Alaska as a gift to the US; another claimed that the US was the most likely nation to fall within our lifetimes.[4] 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.[23] 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.[24]

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".[25]

Channels

References
  1. McCluskey, Megan (4 September 2019). "This '5-Minute Craft' YouTube Channel Is Captivating the Masses". Time. Retrieved 24 September 2021.
  2. Rapoza, Kenneth (22 September 2017). "These Two Russian 'Fake News' Outfits Get Billions Of Hits On Facebook". Forbes.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. What Happened To Actually Happened - Jarvis Johnson, June 21st 2020
  6. How Actually Happened Got Actually DELETED - Kenlimepie Plus, June 9th 2020
  7. "The fake, creepy world of YouTube's animated story channels". The Daily Dot. 9 April 2020. Retrieved 11 October 2021.
  8. "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.
  9. "TheSoul Publishing Reveals Its First Digital Music Artist". Yahoo. 28 September 2021. Retrieved 23 December 2021.
  10. "Polar – Close To You (Official video)". YouTube. Retrieved 23 December 2021.
  11. 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.
  12. "YouTube and Facebook content creator TheSoul Publishing launches music division". Music Week. 21 March 2022. Retrieved 27 April 2022.
  13. "'TheSoul Publishing' paplašina darbību Rīgā un meklē darbiniekus". Delfi Bizness. 10 December 2021. Retrieved 1 February 2022.
  14. 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.
  15. "Here's what happened when this company banned meetings". Jul 14, 2021.
  16. "'Productivity is through the roof': Why companies are waging war on meetings to tackle burnout". Aug 16, 2021.
  17. "Why modern managers are reviving old-school staff handbooks". Jan 6, 2022.
  18. "What publishers can learn about TheSoul Publishing's road to 1B social subscribers". What's New In Publishing. What's New In Publishing. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
  19. Barber, Kayleigh (12 February 2021). "TheSoul grew revenue via platforms with viral social media life hacks". Digiday. Retrieved 24 September 2021.
  20. 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.
  21. Donnelly, Matt (18 November 2021). "Digital Studio TheSoul Publishing Dominating in Viewership for Newly Launched YouTube Shorts". Variety. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
  22. Jennings, Rebecca (2018-11-12). "Why YouTube is riddled with bizarre DIY videos". Vox. Retrieved 2021-05-27.
  23. Maddow, Rachel. "Russia working social media to manipulate American voters (again)". The Rachel Maddow Show. MSNBC. Retrieved 2021-05-26.
  24. Koebler, Jason (3 November 2020). "5-Minute Crafts Not Actually Mysterious, Just Good at YouTube". Vice. Retrieved 24 September 2021.
  25. "A message from TheSoul Publishing". TheSoul Publishing. 25 December 2019.
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