BYUtv's sketch-comedy show "Studio C" has helped raise the profile of the cable channel immensely — with a huge assist from YouTube.
The online numbers are staggering. This little, family-friendly program's videos have been viewed more than 212 million times on YouTube — more than 100 million times this year alone. "Studio C" has 461,000 subscribers, and more than 250,000 of those have signed on this year.
This far exceeds what "Studio C" creators Jared Shores and Matt Meese were expecting when they brought their comedy troupe to TV five seasons ago.
"If you had said to me at the time, 'Do you think you will record more than 500 sketches and have over 200 million views on YouTube?' I would have said 'no,' " Shores said, with a laugh.
(Season 6 premieres Monday at 8 p.m. on BYUtv.)
"We weren't really sure what to expect," Meese said. "But we always felt that if people knew about the show, that a lot of people would want to watch it because it's very family friendly.
"YouTube allowed us to get the word out, mostly because the fans kept sharing it."
And nothing has been shared more than the "Top Soccer Shootout Ever With Scott Sterling" video — which featured Meese as a soccer goalie taking the ball to the face over and over again. As of this writing, it's been viewed more than 30.7 million times. And that definitely startled Meese.
"I don't think 'Scott Sterling' is necessarily our funniest, best sketch that we've ever done," he said. "It's just the one that got picked up and shared."
At least 18 other "Studio C" videos have more than a million views; many more are in the hundreds of thousands.
Unintentionally, "Studio C" short comedy sketches were made for YouTube. And YouTube provides two-way communication for the writing team.
"We're always looking to interact and engage with our fans, and YouTube provides a platform for us to do it," Shores said. "It's really valuable as a creator to know what people are responding to, why they like you, how they consume your content. And then that can reflect back into the content."
"People will send ideas all the time, and they'll post them in the comments on YouTube," Meese said. "There's a chance that we're going to see them."
They have turned suggestions into sketches, including a push to parody a certain sci-fi show.
"Strangely, a lot of our fans are also fans of 'Doctor Who,' " Shores said. "Don't ask me why."
What sets "Studio C" apart on TV and online is that the humor is free of sexual innuendo and curse words — a given with the tie to BYU. But Meese and Shores say they don't feel restricted.
"We want to be appropriate so families can sit down and laugh together," Meese said. "And the YouTube numbers are crazy."
That includes 300 million "Studio C" minutes watched this year on YouTube, which is equal to 570 years' worth of video.
Scott D. Pierce covers television for The Salt Lake Tribune . Email him at spierce@sltrib.com; follow him on Twitter @ScottDPierce.