Leading Digital-First Media Company UNDERKNOWN Celebrates Stellar 5 Years of Inspiring the Next Generation

TORONTO, Dec. 9, 2021 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Underknown, the innovative digital-first media company producing award-winning factual content, is celebrating their 5-year anniversary. Best known for their Webby Award-winning series "What If", Underknown produces attention-grabbing, factual video content viewed by over 87 million monthly viewers in up to 10 languages - all searching for the underlying truth of how our world operates, and how it came to be.

In just 5 years Underknown has grown their slate of captivating web series to 6, with over 17 billion total views, informing and motivating their audiences to live more knowledgeable lives. By exploring complex subjects in fun and engaging ways, they've attracted the interest of millions of followers newly engaged in science - all with the goal of making the planet a better place. Underknown now boasts nearly 50 million followers and 648 million average views per month.

Underknown has started catching the attention of some of the biggest media companies in the world. Currently, they are working with Re:wild, a new environmental organization founded by a group of renowned conservation scientists together with Leonardo DiCaprio, to produce Snap Inc.'s newest Snap Originals series, "Planet Rewild". Premiering in 2022, "Planet Rewild" depicts what the Earth will look like in the coming decades if we don't learn to "rewild" our planet - and also offers a vision of the flourishing ecosystems that could emerge if we allow the wild to be restored.

"To think that in just 5 years, we've gained almost 50 million followers and created content that has been viewed 17.5 billion times is still a little hard to wrap my head around," says CEO and Co-Founder, Steve Hulford. "We are certainly excited about our current success but know that we've just begun to scratch the surface of our capabilities and are even more excited about the next 5 years and beyond."

Mr. Hulford has been a forward-thinking force behind the creation and continued rising success of Underknown since its humble inception in 2016. With his co-founder and Chief Creative Officer, Raphael Faeh, they have built the company up to 165 people globally. One of the keys to their success is their innovative use of data-driven storytelling, as they build narratives around sets of data with visualizations that help convey the meaning of that information in an easy-to-understand, yet compelling fashion.

"Underknown uses a data-driven decision-making process to guide strategies that align with our goals, objectives and initiatives," said Chief Creative Officer and Co-Founder Raphael Faeh. "By relying on data first and intuition second, Underknown's process of utilizing facts and real metrics to make informed decisions provides valuable and unique insight on what content goes out to the public."

This approach led to the incredible success of their first series "What If", which was ranked the number-one most viewed science and technology series in the world by Tubular Labs. It also won its first Webby Award last year and picked up awards for "Best Storytelling" and "Best Use of Video" at this year's Shorty Awards. A futuristic TV drama-doc series based on "What If" is currently underway from director, writer and producer Brad Peyton and visionary physicist Michio Kaku, via Thunderbird Entertainment's Great Pacific Media.

Underknown also uses data to create new series. For example, in analyzing the data from "What If" they found that hypotheticals about surviving extraordinary situations were particularly popular and used this insight to create their next show "How to Survive". This same data-driven process shaped their current slate of 6 series which continue to expand into new languages and territories.    

Underknown's impact is not limited to the popularity and growth of their shows. Their unique way of boiling down complex subjects in fun and engaging ways caught the attention of the U.S. House of Representatives, which invited Underknown to attend Digital Day on the Hill in Washington, D.C. to share some insights into how they do it.

The Radio Television Digital News Association Canada honored Underknown for their LIVEMEDAID fundraiser in 2020 which raised money for Doctors Without Borders and frontline healthcare workers to help continue the ongoing healthcare relief efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Looking ahead, Underknown is developing a show in 2022 that will be completely developed in the Unreal game engine. This virtual reality environment allows them to create highly realistic animation sequences that they can render scenes for their next show "VS" (Versus), where they will pit two animals against each other from different millennia. This advancement will also allow Underknown to learn and develop their brand of storytelling for the metaverse.

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About Underknown:
Underknown is a digital-first media company that specializes in creating short-form web series for social video platforms. Underknown's mission is to create fun, engaging and educational content that educates the world about science and the humanities. Underknown is a Toronto-based global multiplatform digital video company.

For more information, visit https://underknown.com.

UNDERKNOWN'S SHOWS

"WHAT IF"
"What If" is a Webby Award-winning science documentary web series that takes you on an epic journey through hypothetical worlds and possibilities, some in distant corners of the Universe, others right here on Earth. Each scenario examines a scientific theory, research or fact through hypothetical questions that fascinate and engage. By combining human perspectives with an almost inexhaustible pool of science-based imaginations we get a glimpse into humankind's delicate existence in an otherwise hostile Universe.

#1 science show on social media, according to Tubular Labs (Oct 2019, March & April 2020)
300 Million avg. monthly views across platforms
12 Billion watched minutes across Facebook, YouTube and Snapchat so far
37 Million followers and subscribers across platforms

"HOW TO SURVIVE"
There are a thousand ways to die, but a thousand ways science can save you. Whether it's an earthquake, pandemic or shark attack, "How To Survive" explains how to endure life-threatening moments by employing statistical facts combined with survivor stories. Escape a tsunami? Run to the hills. Sinking ship? Collect rainwater (you'll need it). "How To Survive" will entertain - and keep you alive.

200 episodes since launch in April 2020
200 Million avg. monthly watched minutes across platforms
3.5 Million total followers across Snapchat, YouTube and Facebook

"YOUR BODY ON"
The human body has become a lab for the fitness gurus, biohackers and food scientists of the world to try out their most far-fetched body experiments, filling our feeds with fasts, muscle hacks and hygiene stunts. In "Your Body On" we dive into the fitness and wellness trends filling our newsfeeds by doing what we do best: Putting the human body to the "What if" test. Launched in April 2021, "Your Body On" is the latest addition to our family of show brands.

30 Million monthly unique viewers across platforms
100+ Million watched minutes every month across platforms
3 Million total followers across Snapchat, YouTube and Facebook

"CRAZY CREATURES"
A mind-blowing destination where you'll discover beasts large and small doing what just comes naturally to them, even if it is kind of disgusting. Evolution has carefully crafted some of the grossest, slimiest and strangest beings you can imagine, and it's all been done for a reason. Find out for yourself why, when it comes to the survival of the fittest in the world surrounding Homo erectus, you need to be strange to survive.

1.5 Million total followers across Snapchat, YouTube and Facebook

"ORIGINS OF FOOD"
We know when we love it. We definitely know when we hate it. The taste, smell, appearance and texture of the popular culinary creations we nosh on today all started somewhere, and "Origins of Food" blends the history and culture behind what we eat into bite-sized morsels of fun, informative stories that will appeal to everyone. From exotic ingredients that make or break a dish to that favorite sauce we can't live without, this series mixes mouthwatering visuals with eye-popping facts about ordinary and not-so-ordinary edibles. Food is a universal experience unifying people, cultures and countries. "Origins of Food" aims to do just the same.

*Recently launched, metrics not yet available

Media Contact

Richard Stafford, Jive PR + Digital, +1 (310) 384-5753, [email protected]

SOURCE UNDERKNOWN