Philip DeFranco

Early life

Philip Franchini was born in The Bronx, New York City. He has a stepmother who works at a car dealership. He is of Italian descent.

He has been a student at the University of South Florida, a biology student at Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College, and later a junior at East Carolina University. In 2007, Phil was living in Florida, and later Atlanta. He also 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 later did not do.

Early years (2006–2011)

DeFranco began his YouTube career during his finals at East Carolina University when he created his sxephil YouTube channel, calling it The Philip DeFranco Show, in which he talks about "newsie type stuff, and things that matter to [him] today."

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 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".

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.

DeFranco used his large audience to win 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, a reader voted contest.

In 2009, he claimed in an interview to have a salary of over $250,000 from a number of sources on the internet, not just YouTube, but later denied it in several videos. In February 2012, DeFranco claimed he paid himself $100,000 a year, and reinvests the rest back into his company. He has been paid by companies to create videos to promote Carl's Jr.'s burgers, and 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 also launched Like Totally Awesome (LTA), in which video reviews submitted by viewers are compiled into a single video. Reviews submitted cover movies, video games, and technology. 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. Mekanism, an advertising agency, was hired to promote him. In July 2010, along with Toby Turner, DeFranco co-created CuteWinFail, an online series which has been described by one ReadWrite writer as "essentially the YouTube equivalent of America's Funniest Home Videos."

Hooking Up

In October 2008, DeFranco co-starred with Jessica Rose and Kevin Wu in Hooking Up, written and acted by Woody Tondorf as a promo from HBOLabs (the online arm of HBO). Hooking Up is a scripted 10-episode Web-based 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 have been made by Kevin Nalty, Michael Buckley, and other popular Internet celebrities.

By 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 had "scoffed at what they see as a cynical attempt to cash in."

Discovery/Group Nine years (2012–2017)

In early 2012, DeFranco signed with Revision3. Later in the year, DeFranco hosted the 25th anniversary of Discovery Channel's Shark Week.

In September 2012, it was reported that DeFranco receives almost 30 million views a month.

In January 2013, DeFranco announced that he would be meeting with United States Vice President Joe Biden to discuss the topic of gun laws. Google's official blog revealed that the two, along with Guy Kawasaki would be discussing in a Google+ Hangout. The discussion moderator was revealed to be PBS NewsHour's Hari Sreenivasan. The following month, it was announced that DeFranco will be a guest judge on the second season of Internet Icon.

In May 2013, 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, the Senior VP of a new Revision3 subsidiary, Phil DeFranco Networks and Merchandise. DeFranco spoke with Jon Erlichman about his partnership with Revision3 following the deal. In October 2013, as part of his new network, DeFranco launched another channel, ForHumanPeoples.

In November 2013, DeFranco was a special guest 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 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 a Twitch live-stream show. In addition, DeFranco launched a family vlogging channel, The DeFranco Fam, in March 2015.

During this time, DeFranco's show transitioned from a show primarily discussing pop culture, celebrities, and gossip into a show covering a wide variety of news topics.

SourceFed

In January 2012, DeFranco launched SourceFed, which at the time was produced by James Haffner.

DeFranco had The Philip DeFranco Show and SourceFed nominated for awards in the 3rd installment of the Streamy Awards. The PDS 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. SourceFed's #PDSLive 2012 Election Night Coverage was nominated for Best Live Event.

DeFranco, along with SourceFed co-hosts, Elliott Morgan and Meg Turney, joined journalists at the 2012 Republican National Convention and the Democratic National Convention as part of YouTube's "Elections Hub". Later, in May 2013, SourceFed Nerd, a branch of SourceFed, was launched.

In June 2013, DeFranco sold SourceFed along with the other channels under his DeFranco Creative portfolio to Revision3. DeFranco also became an executive of Discovery Digital Networks. In June 2016, DeFranco clarified that he has "no hands on the creative decisions [made] on [SourceFed]."

On March 20, 2017, the four hosts of SourceFed's primary channel at 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.

Merchandise

DeFranco's merchandise line is ForHumanPeoples. The line's website was launched by DeFranco in 2011, two years before DeFranco launched a YouTube channel based on the clothing line. Like SourceFed, and its Nerd spinoff, the FHP channel is part of DeFranco's network.

In October 2013, the FHP channel uploaded a video pairing Joe Bereta's daughter, Hayden Bereta, with designer Cory Nakamura, and the Generosity Water charity. The video features Hayden Bereta drawing a superhero design, at the instruction of Elliott Morgan, which was then transferred into a shirt design, with proceeds from shirt sales going to the charity.

Creating a News Network (2017–present)

One of DeFranco's long held goals is that he would one day be able to run his own news network. On May 1, 2017 this became closer to a reality. Philip DeFranco made the announcement in a YouTube video that he has regained control of all of his properties (Including the PDS and PhillyD channels) and is working towards building 'The Philip DeFranco Network', of which Philip DeFranco is the founder and CEO. DeFranco has also announced changes to scheduling and showed some B-Roll of his new office space. DeFranco also created the production company Rogue Rocket to oversee production of his current content, along with its expansion.

Upon becoming an independent creator once again, DeFranco launched the 'DeFranco Elite' initiative on the popular fan-funding website Patreon. Viewers of DeFranco's content can donate a small fee each month and receive extra incentives. The money raised from Patreon will allow DeFranco to further fund his News Network venture along with the money he has already invested. DeFranco outlined hopes to increase the volume of videos on his main channel, also his second channel, Philly D. Initially, the channel was used for behind-the-scenes for his main series, but now it serves as a channel where DeFranco vlogs about life events, such as announcing his first child's then upcoming birth. The channel has now transitioned into making "cine-vlogs", which includes the various mishaps and banter had by him and his staff. These are filmed by his old YouTube friend, Joe Nation. DeFranco credits Steven Crowder's and Rooster Teeth's respective paid subscription services as inspirations for his own.

Rogue Rocket staff

DeFranco's production company Rogue Rocket currently has 17 staff members:

Viewer demographics

In a tweet on May 19, 2017, DeFranco revealed his viewership at that time to mainly consist of people between the age of 18 and 34. In the tweet, he writes "Yesterdays video was age-gated w/ ads removed. Luckily 95% of you that watch are 18+ and we're now a fan funded show.". Shown data from a one-month period leading up to the tweet is as follows:

Influence

Due to joining YouTube in 2006 and soon gaining a sizable audience on the website, DeFranco has been described by Lucas Shaw of TheWrap 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". David Cornell of The Inquisitr News writes that DeFranco is "one of the leading sources of news" on YouTube, later adding, "Philip DeFranco is a YouTube success story." Alex Iansiti of Huffington Post noted, "The Philip DeFranco Show is a great example of a media company to sprout out of YouTube". 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".

Personal life

DeFranco has polycystic kidney disease which he inherited from his father and grandfather.

Politically, he is a libertarian. Additionally, DeFranco announced he would vote for Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson in the 2012 U.S. presidential election. DeFranco says that he has used cannabis in the past, stating, "I have a prescription and I take it to sleep. Also if it makes the movie I'm falling asleep to 10x funnier, that is a side effect I am ok with." DeFranco has described his political views as, "fiscally conservative, socially liberal, for the most part." DeFranco says he was raised Roman Catholic, but states that he is atheist.

As of 2015, DeFranco lives in Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles with his wife, travel vlogger Lindsay Jordan DeFranco (née Doty), their son Philip James "Trey" DeFranco III, and their two Yorkshire Terriers. DeFranco proposed to Lindsay, then his longtime girlfriend, on August 16, 2013 at his "DeFranco Loves Dat AZ" show in Tempe, Arizona. The proposal was set up by a question from the audience to Lindsay, asking if she thought she and DeFranco would ever marry. DeFranco responded by proposing to Lindsay on stage. Lindsay said "yes" just when her parents appeared on the stage. Lindsay recounted the story while shopping for her wedding dress on TLC's Say Yes to the Dress: Atlanta, Season 8 Episode 6, "I Do...Does Dad?", airdate Jan. 16, 2015. On October 8, 2013, DeFranco and Lindsay announced they were expecting their first child in April. Their son, named Philip James "Trey" DeFranco III, was born on April 22, 2014. Their wedding took place on March 7, 2015, and was noted for being amply captured on social media. On February 24, 2017, the couple announced they were expecting a second son, to be named Carter William DeFranco, in September.. Their second son and child Carter William DeFranco was born on September 8, 2017.