Rooster Teeth’s network of YouTube channels has a total of more than 25 million subscribers.

If you’re older than 21 there’s a good chance you’ve never heard of Rooster Teeth or its fiercely dedicated fan base.

But for hundreds of thousands of people who consume millions of Rooster Teeth videos every month it’s the biggest thing on the internet.

In the last 12 years Rooster Teeth has grown to become one of the biggest networks of channels on YouTube, racking up more than 4.1 billion views on its primary channel alone. 

Gus Sorola helped found the video production company in 2003 that got its start using video games to act out short, animated comedies. 

While Rooster Teeth’s most distinguishing feature is its massive fandom, that’s built on the back of a long stream of video content that makes up its core business.

Rooster Teeth helped popularise the machinima film genre (manipulating video games to create cinematic content) with its first series Red vs. Blue.

The series is still running 12 years later, and nearing its 400th episode. It’s currently the longest running web series and American sci-fi series of all time.

It’s not all about video games though. The company produces a large catalogue of shows across a number of genres, including RWBY, the first western anime series to be distributed in Japan.

Sorola believes Rooster Teeth has become so popular in part because it combines the strengths of online and traditional productions to build its community.

The team is big on direct interaction with its fans but it’s also big on consistency. Shows are available at the same time and day every week, so fans make it part of their schedule, like a traditional TV show. 

The company is currently promoting its first live action feature film, a sci-fi comedy called Lazer Team. The film broke records on crowdfunding site Indiegogo when it raised $US2.4 million. 

Rather than distribute it on the internet, Rooster Teeth is initially allowing fans to buy tickets to see the film at the movies through cinema crowdfunding site Tugg.

The appeal of this approach is that as long as there are enough people in a given area who want to see the film (usually around 50), the local cinema will show it.

Rooster Teeth continues to combine online and traditional approaches going forward, recently formalising the process to identify and greenlight new series. But at its core, the approach remains the same as it was more than a decade ago.

« We want to make things that we would find entertaining, » says Sorola.

« The evidence is there. If we like it, chances are there’s an awful lot of people out there who would like it too. »

 – SMH

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