TheSoul Publishing, Limassol, Cyprus: TheSoul Publishing

Company: TheSoul Publishing
Nomination Submitted by: 5WPR
Company Description: TheSoul Publishing is an award-winning digital studio that produces entertaining, positive and original content for a global audience. One of the world’s most prolific and popular online media companies, TheSoul Publishing reaches more than one billion social followers across Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest, and Snap.
Nomination Category: Company / Organization Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Company of the Year - Media & Entertainment - Large
2022 Stevie Winner Nomination Title: TheSoul Publishing
  1. Which will you submit for your nomination in this category, a video of up to five (5) minutes in length about the achievements of the nominated organization since 1 January 2020, OR written answers to the questions for this category? (Choose one):
    Written answers to the questions
  2. If you are submitting a video of up to five (5) minutes in length, provide the URL of the nominated video here, OR attach it to your entry via the "Add Attachments, Videos, or Links to This Entry" link above, through which you may also upload a copy of your video.
     
  3. If you are providing written answers for your submission, you must provide an answer to this first question: Briefly describe the nominated organization: its history and past performance (up to 200 words):

    Total 200 words used.

    TheSoul Publishing is an award-winning digital studio that produces entertaining, original, and positive content for a global audience. In capitalizing on crave-worthy trends including cutting-edge 3D technology, stop motion, fun live-action, engaging music videos, inspirational craft projects, and vibrant animation, our portfolio of original channels generated more than 16 billion views a month and we reach more than one billion social followers across Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest, and Snap. TheSoul Publishing’s universe of well-known brands includes 5-Minute Crafts, Bright Side, 123 GO!, Avocado Couple, La La Life, Teen-Z, and Slick Slime Sam. 

    [REDACTED FOR PUBLICATION] 

    Headquartered in Cyprus with state-of-the-art studios and offices across Europe and the U.S., our creative team is located in 70 countries on six continents. Upcoming initiatives include expansion across additional social media platforms, podcasts, and streaming platforms like Apple and Spotify; and we’re incredibly excited about the launch of our music division, featuring our first fully digital independent artist.

  4. If you are providing written answers for your submission, you must provide an answer to this second question: Outline the organization's achievements since the beginning of 2020 that you wish to bring to the judges' attention (up to 250 words):

    Total 168 words used.

    We saw consistent subscriber growth, breaking the one billion follower threshold across YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snap, and Pinterest; our global creative team consistently delivered engaging and irresistibly shareable content for all ages—in 19 different languages—distributed via a cross-platform network; in July 2021, we became the first publisher to surpass 100 billion social media views in less than seven months, and social video analytics data shows we had more views than any creator worldwide in both 2020 and 2021 across YouTube and Facebook — that’s ahead of legacy media companies including Disney, ViacomCBS, Comcast, WarnerMedia, and Sony. In addition, we continue to share our content with new global regions, including on Bilibili, one of the fastest-growing video platforms in China. We continued our strong employee growth, with our team more than doubling in size to nearly 3,000 team members from 2020 to the end of 2021. We were ahead of the times by leveraging an entirely dispersed global team, with 80% of the company’s workforce working remotely.

  5. If you are providing written answers for your submission, you must provide an answer to this third question: Explain why the achievements you have highlighted are unique or significant. If possible compare the achievements to the performance of other players in your industry and/or to the organization's past performance (up to 250 words):

    Total 250 words used.

    Between our viewership achievements, subscriber growth, strong distribution partners, unique approaches to the modern work environment and universally accessible content — we’ve created a “class of our own” business model across content creators and digital studios. Our streamlined video production infrastructure allowed us to become one of the most efficient studios in the world. We’re also the most popular — as previously mentioned, social video analytics data shows we had more views than any creator worldwide in both 2020 and 2021. As snackable short-form video continues to emerge as a leading trend in digital video, we’re uniquely positioned to capitalize by producing content across channels where millennials and Gen Z audiences spend most of their time while aiding in user acquisition for these platforms. For example, TikTok took notice and selected us to be a part of its Instructive Accelerator Program, an initiative designed to generate instructive and informative videos from a select group of 25 publishers. As a remote-first company with our use of asynchronous communication (as profiled in Fast Company), we didn’t have to make any major pivots as the pandemic impacted studios worldwide. Without that learning curve, we improved our content output, setting the bar for other video publishers in the digital space. Our unique universal content creation and remote video production strategies are changing the industry standard while revolutionizing company culture by balancing effective collaboration with independent work, and producing sky-high levels of productivity [REDACTED FOR PUBLICATION].

  6. You have the option to answer this final question: Reference any attachments of supporting materials throughout this nomination and how they provide evidence of the claims you have made in this nomination (up to 250 words):

    Total 210 words used.

    • TheSoul Publishing is our official site where you can find information on our award-winning digital studio that produces entertaining, positive, and original content for a global audience.

      • We’re the #1 media publisher by social media views (source: Tubular)

    • Our channels continuously deliver engaging and irresistibly shareable content for all ages (links are to English-language pages, and numbers indicate follower/subscriber counts on global channels). 

      • 5-Minute Crafts: [REDACTED FOR PUBLICATION] Videos on this channel are sure to inspire and ignite the creative spark within all of us.

      • Bright Side: [REDACTED FOR PUBLICATION] Featuring engaging narrated videos that showcase travel and exploration, self-improvement, gadgets, riddles, and pop culture.

      • Avocado Couple : [REDACTED FOR PUBLICATION] Ava & Cado are our favorite animated couple and they want to share the fun with you! Their romantic adventures are sometimes awkward, sometimes spicy, and always hilarious.

      • Slick Slime Sam: [REDACTED FOR PUBLICATION] Have you ever seen talking slime? Well, meet Slick Slime Sam! He’s pink, he’s hilarious, and he’s ready to help with your latest DIY or life-hack project.

      • La La Life: [REDACTED FOR PUBLICATION] An assortment of fun music videos celebrating everyday life and relatable situations.

      • 123GO! : [REDACTED FOR PUBLICATION]  Featuring easy makeup and fashion hacks, lighthearted pranks, and funny observations, 123 GO! delivers entertaining and positive videos about everything trending right now.

Attachments/Videos/Links:
[REDACTED FOR PUBLICATION]