PetSmart Charities and Ryan Reynolds' Maximum Effort launches social media campaign ahead of King Charles' Coronation

Photo credit: Maximum Effort

Non-profit PetSmart Charities of Canada, the leading funder of animal welfare in Canada, has partnered with Ryan Reynolds' Maximum Effort and PetSmart to shine a light on an important cause: uniting adoptable pets with loving homes to help relieve overcrowded and struggling shelters. They have teamed up to create a new video, released on YouTube and social media today, featuring comedian Dana Carvey who reprises his memorable impersonation of King Charles III and encourages viewers to adopt a dog through PetSmart Charities of Canada.

Ahead of the Coronation, Carvey's King Charles makes the connection between his name and that of the beloved family dog breed, a Cavalier King Charles spaniel, and asks that viewers refrain from buying a King Charles spaniel on Coronation Day and instead adopt a shelter dog.

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Taylor Swift breaks Spotify and YouTube records for ‘Look What You Made Me Do’

You might love it or you might hate it but Taylor Swift’s new single “Look What You Made Me Do” has already started breaking records. There’s the global first-day streaming record on Spotify. It logged over eight million same-day streams on the service after it was released late Thursday. Another is on YouTube. The song’s lyric video got over 19 million same-day views on Saturday.

Swift is set to unveil the song’s music video at the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards and we won’t be surprised if that clip smashes another record. “Look What You Made Me Do” was written and produced by Swift together with frequent collaborator Jack Antonoff (from bands Bleachers and fun.). The song is the first single off of Swift’s upcoming album Reputation, which is set to come out on November 10.

Source: Billboard

YouTube launches new Spotlight on Canada channel

Discovering new and buzz-worthy Canadian content on YouTube just got easier. Launching today,  YouTube Spotlight Canada channel will showcase Canada’s top stars in both French and English, alongside emerging Canadian talent.

Every month, YouTube Spotlight Canada will highlight the creators and the videos that have Canada clicking, watching and sharing. The channel will also feature themed playlists to help Canadians explore trending topics and news stories.

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YouTube introduces mobile live streaming

Mobile live streaming is such a ubiquitous feature on major platforms that it comes as no surprise YouTube is adding it to its service. At the moment though, it is open to creators with over 10,000 subscribers. The feature is baked into YouTube’s mobile app and just like what you’d see on Facebook or Instagram, you just need to hit the capture button and then you go live. Mobile live streams get the same features as usual YouTube videos. These can be searched for, found through recommendations and playlists, and protected from unauthorized us. When it was debuted back at VidCon 2016 in beta, one of the first users who got to try it out was Canadian creator UnboxTherapy. Now, it’s open to more users and YouTube promises it’ll be available to more creators soon.

Launching alongside mobile live streaming is a new way for creators to earn revenue from the feature. Called Super Chat, it’s a monetization tool that’ll allow fans watching live streams to stand out from all the commenters and grab the creator’s attention by purchasing chat messages. These will be highlighted in bright colors and will be pinned to the top of the chat window for up to five hours. It also helps creators earn a bit of extra money from their supporters.