| “ | Welcome to WatchMojo.com… | ” |
―WatchMojo.com | ||
WatchMojo.com is a Canadian video content producer and publisher headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The company was founded by media executive and entrepreneur Ashkan Karbasfrooshan, Raphael Daigneault, and Christine Voulieris in 2005, with the WatchMojo.com website launching on January 23rd, 2006.
WatchMojo.com is the official YouTube channel for watchmojo.com. The channel uploads 2-3 videos a day, generally consisting of Top 10 Lists. As of May 2019, the channel has garnered over 20.6 million subscribers making it the 3rd most subscribed YouTube channel in Canada.
Some of their videos include other topics such as their series of Superhero Origins and the counterpart Supervillain Origins.
History[]
Ashkan Karbasfrooshan, Raphael Daigneault, and Christine Voulieris co-founded WatchMojo in 2005 after the previous site that Karbasfrooshan was an executive of, AskMen, was acquired by IGN. While at AskMen, Karbasfrooshan ran ad sales while writing on business, pop culture, and lifestyle topics. He launched and wrote AskMen.com's Top 10 lists under various pen names and also served as the resident interviewer, interviewing celebrities and newsmakers like Hugh Hefner and Joe Montana. Throughout 2005, the WatchMojo team experimented with video content formats focusing on streeters, skits, and how-to videos.
In December 2005, Karbasfrooshan and IGN parted ways amicably and on January 23, 2006 WatchMojo.com was launched.
In March 2006, News Corporation, IGN, and AskMen filed a lawsuit alleging that Karbasfrooshan had violated his non-competition agreement, seeking an injunction and requiring Karbasfrooshan to shut down WatchMojo. Maintaining that the lawsuit was frivolous and without merit, Karbasfrooshan represented himself and defended WatchMojo, prevailing in the trial. Karbasfrooshan had no legal training or background but managed to defeat News Corporation's trial lawyers from Fasken Martineau, one of Canada's leading law firms. The case ended with WatchMojo continuing to operate; subsequently, various units of News Corp., including MySpace, Hulu, and IGN, began to license WatchMojo's content.
While many media companies work with WatchMojo to promote their releases and in turn license WatchMojo's videos on their own media properties, Karbasfrooshan has developed into a leading authority on copyright law and Fair Use, writing multiple articles on the topic in his regular MediaPost column.
On June 22, 2016, hackers operating under the name Poodle Corp hacked WatchMojo.com, some video titles were changed to "HACKED BY OBNOXIOUS AND PAIN" and promotes Poodle Corps Twitter account. WatchMojo posted on Twitter telling people that they are aware of the hacking.
Content[]
WatchMojo.com produces close to 100 new videos and over 1,000 minutes of content each month. WatchMojo has evolved into suggestion-based videos which relies on it's users ideas for videos. Majority of the videos are in English, with hundreds of them also in French and Spanish.
The company's mission is to "inform and entertain" and covers the "people, places and things that have shaped pop culture" with short 5-10 minute videos. Over the years, WatchMojo has covered a variety of topics and evolved its programming over the years;
- Categories: (2006-09 focus) such as auto, business and technology, comedy, education, fashion, film, health and fitness, history, lifestyle, music, science and space, sports, travel, and video games.
- Themes: (2009-11 focus) that cut across Categories and include Biographies, Top 10s, Profiles, How To's, Versus, Interviews. WatchMojo has interviewed prominent authors, musicians, actors, directors and newsmakers; including Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, Anthony Bourdain, LMFAO and many others.
- This Day in Video: (2011-12 focus), which covers noteworthy Births, Deaths, Anniversaries and Releases on the date of their anniversary.
- Viewer Suggestions: (2013–present), which are then voted on by other viewers and selected by the WatchMojo team and then converted into videos.
WatchMojo doesn't feature user-created content, nor does it allow for any such thing on it's website. However, users can suggest video ideas and vote for entries on Top 10 Lists.
While the company's content suits both men and women, nearly 85% of the company's YouTube audience is male and over 90% of its YouTube subscribers are men, with 78% of those being 18-34.
Distribution[]
WatchMojo distributes its videos through many different ways;
- Internet: The company uploads videos to YouTube, it's own website and many other media outlets such as AOL, Yahoo and MSN. Videos are also uploaded to many other sites which have a partnership with the company.
- Out-of-home: WatchMojo's videos can be seen in taxi cabs, buses, cruise ships, malls, gyms, airports, gas stations and many other retail outlets.
- Connected devices: Videos can be played through consoles like Xbox due to partnerships, as well as the company's own apps.
- Mobile: WatchMojo's videos can be watched on mobile devices.
Other Channels[]
Currently:
- MojoPlays is a gaming channel.
- MsMojo covers pop culture lists on infotainment topics catered to a broad audience, but with a core viewership of young female millennials & LGBTQ+.
- JrMojo produces safe, educational & fun online content for kids.
- WatchMojoUK produces content made by people from the UK.
Milestones[]
Note: The following dates are according to Social Blade. Dates may vary by one or two days due to differences in time zones.
Subscriber Milestones[]
- 100,000 subscribers: December 14, 2012
- 900,000 subscribers: October 14, 2013
- 1 million subscribers: October 31, 2013
- 2 million subscribers: January 25, 2014
- 3 million subscribers: March 7, 2014
- 4 million subscribers: June 4, 2014
- 5 million subscribers: August 26, 2014
- 6 million subscribers: December 6, 2014
- 7 million subscribers: February 27, 2015
- 8 million subscribers: May 21, 2015
- 9 million subscribers: August 14, 2015
- 10 million subscribers: December 4, 2015
- 11 million subscribers: March 2, 2016
- 12 million subscribers: May 26, 2016
- 13 million subscribers: October 12, 2016
- 14 million subscribers: March 11, 2017
- 15 million subscribers: July 29, 2017
- 16 million subscribers: December 29, 2017
- 17 million subscribers: April 17, 2018
- 18 million subscribers: July 21, 2018
- 19 million subscribers: October 23, 2018
- 20 million subscribers: February 26, 2019
- 21 million subscribers: August 2, 2019
- 22 million subscribers: March 8, 2020
- 23 million subscribers: October 12, 2020
- 24 million subscribers: October 3, 2021
- 25 million subscribers: January 28, 2023
Video View Milestones[]
- 1 billion views: April 3, 2014
- 2 billion views: November 3, 2014
- 3 billion views: March 22, 2015
- 4 billion views: September 10, 2015
- 5 billion views: January 29, 2016
- 6 billion views: May 23, 2016
- 7 billion views: October 24, 2016
- 8 billion views: April 5, 2017
- 9 billion views: June 17, 2017
- 10 billion views: March 3, 2018
- 11 billion views: August 13, 2018
- 12 billion views: February 23, 2019
- 13 billion views: January 23, 2020
- 14 billion views: April 17, 2021
- 15 billion views: December 17, 2021
- 16 billion views: April 17, 2022
