YouTube isn’t just THE go-to spot for adults to find fresh content, but KIDS are all over it!
“Fresh from your feed, here’s the hottest info you need to know, to Win Your Week!”
This phrase rings out every Sunday on Nickelodeon’s YouTube channel with a brand-new episode of Win Your Week is released. The content is targeting tweens with this weekly content exclusive to Nickelodeon’s channel. The goal? To bring tweens the HOTTEST chock full of fun tips, tricks, and general information, network-related or not, and gives these “in the know” kids an upper edge when it comes to knowing what’s HOT.
Win Your Week was developed by Nickelodeon’s digital team and Team Gu’s expert Video Ninja (as we like to call him), Mark Viglione, was tapped to be the go-to editor at kickoff. While it started as an experimental series, the team not knowing how well it could perform, it has become an instant hit that has garnered tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands, of views per episode!
As the sole editor, each week Mark became deeply involved with creating the aesthetic and vibe of the series. Every Monday, he’d be given a script with not much more than the voiceover copy and just a little bit of direction as to where to take it. From there, Mark would create engaging 2-3 minute episodes, full of sound bites from Nickelodeon’s Intellectual Properties, graphics, stock imagery, and User Generated Content. Only a few weeks in, the total run time grew to 5-7 minute episodes that were still engaging and held a stellar retention rate of eyeballs.
It goes way beyond just editing though! This content required Mark to create graphics, to do sound design, and even do some audio mixing, with everything delivered each Friday with the publishing on YouTube each Sunday. With the sheer amount of content that had to be sourced and/or created within a tight turnaround time of 5 days, it challenged Mark more than any other project in his career (and he LOVED IT!).
Mark works directly with a producer, who will write the script, they’d take it through rigorous approval meetings with execs at Nickelodeon, as well as producers on Nick’s YouTube digital team, and then Mark would take it home! It’s not always that easy though. Like with any project, changes get made based on feedback, and despite the scope, Mark would still deliver on time (or even earlier) each week. The sentiment of gratitude was echoed by the main producer Mark worked with each week regarding my role:
“Mark was an integral part of the small team that launched Nickelodeon's Cynopsis Imagination Award [Winning] series, Win Your Week. As the sole editor for the series' launch, Mark helped develop the look and feel of the show and met rigorous weekly deadlines without missing a beat. He's an excellent collaborator and a trustworthy communicator. He feels more like a partner than an editor. With a sharp eye for detail and great creative ideas, you can always count on his cuts to come in perfect. His adaptability was particularly valuable to our team, as he created graphics, audio mixes, and scaled our weekly episode TRTs up from 2 minutes to a whopping 5+ minutes in the same amount of edit time.”
The series has become wildly successful with almost 38 episodes and counting, majority of which Mark has taken on. He was honored to be chosen by his client, Nickelodeon, for building this project from the ground up and the ability to work with fantastic producers each week.
The team submitted an entry to the Cynopsis Imagination Awards, which celebrates the best of children’s programming, under the category of Best Tween Series Exclusively for a Streaming Platform and WON which was announced July 2018! The award now sits on Team Gu’s “shelf of awesome.” The Win Your Week series is continuing full steam ahead with no sign of ending and has solidified itself as a staple playlist on Nickelodeon’s YouTube channel.