Move over YouTube! TheWeedTube, the premier digital video platform for cannabis-focused content creators, will launch a new app for iOS and Android devices on April 20, 2019—coinciding with the date widely recognized as a national holiday for cannabis culture.
TheWeedTube mobile app and seminal website started as a grassroots effort by a group of deleted YouTubers seeking a safe home for their content after the company completely wiped out their widely followed cannabis-focused accounts without warning or explanation.
To achieve their shared goal, the group crowdfunded $15K in three days to launch TheWeedTube.com in March 2018. The website has become one of the fastest growing platforms in cannabis, and besides providing a protected content hub, it is the first video-based social network to provide monetization options to cannabis influencers and to offer cannabis companies commercial-style advertising.
“TheWeedTube was born out of a desire to stop censorship. We were a small, tight-knit group seeking an outlet to share our stories, beliefs and entertainment without worrying about being silenced,” said Arend Richard, TheWeedTube co-founder and influential content creator AKA The Gay Stoner (deleted from YouTube with 120K subscribers). “We are humbled at how the larger cannabis world has embraced the concept, from supporting a community-funded website one year ago, to the launch of TheWeedTube app today.
As a platform for the creators, by the creators, we stand by our mission to provide for the community, empower our contributors, change the perception of cannabis for the positive—and just have fun.”
Along with easy sign-up functionality, and the ability to upload videos, TheWeedTube app includes push notifications—users who subscribe to creators’ channels will be alerted whenever new videos are posted—a feature that YouTube no longer makes readily available. Creators are also able to share content on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter directly from TheWeedTube app, all of which help to maximize exposure for creators and their work.
TheWeedTube.com currently features profitable creators with large subscriber bases such as co-founder MacKenzie McKurry AKA MacDizzle420(formerly of the HighRiseTV YouTube channel, deleted with more than 200K subscribers) and Sasha AKA SilencedHippie (deleted from YouTube with 429K subscribers), but anyone 21+, legal in their respective location, and/or is a legal medical cannabis card holder can upload original videos via the site, and now the app. Users can also share and comment on cannabis-related videos whose topics range from product reviews to cooking with cannabis to industry-focused expertise and much more. All creators have the opportunity to monetize their videos, with the threshold being 4,200 views.
And while the site and app’s core function is a celebration of cannabis, Richard and his co-founders encourage users to branch out by uploading videos that go beyond the bud, such as gaming, travel, fitness and other topics that cater to the brand’s adult demographic. TheWeedTube team is proud to have more liberal content guidelines than YouTube—think HBO as compared to network television.
“We want TheWeedTube to be a place where PG-13 and R-rated content for mature audiences can not only exist, but thrive,” Richard added.
TheWeedTube brand has also expanded its base through a strategic partnership with Dank City, a social media marketing company specializing in cannabis products and brands whose high-profile representatives include Tommy Chong, the iconic actor, comedian and cannabis rights activist.
The launch of the mobile app will coincide with a redesign for TheWeedTube.com, which also debuts April 20.