What Is 'The Amazing Digital Circus'? What to Know About the YouTube Series

The Amazing Digital Circus is taking over YouTube, and it's not slowing down any time soon. From Glitch Productions, the psychological drama centers on a woman who gets trapped in a crazy virtual world with five other humans who are subject to the whims of wacky A.I. and their own personal traumas. The pilot episode was released on Oct. 13, 2023 and was renewed for more episodes not long after. The series is written, directed, and produced by Gooseworx, with the voice cast including Lizzie Freeman, Alex Rochon, Michael Kovach, and Sean Chiplock.

According to Glitch Productions' official website, they completely self-funded The Amazing Digital Circus. The pilot episode reached two million viewers on the first day, and within a month, had over 100 million views. As of the time of this writing, the episode now has over 300 million views. The pilot is just less than 30 minutes, which could be a factor for why it's been doing so well, on top of the unique animation style and plot.

Despite its success, don't expect The Amazing Digital Circus to come to a streaming service any time soon. Glitch general manager and development producer Jasmine Yang shared with Cartoon Brew that they are a "YouTube-first company" and they "believe very strongly in the future and potential of YouTube for long-form animation." There aren't any plans to move the show off YouTube and onto a different platform, such as Netflix, and Yang and the team are firm with their decision.

While it was previously unknown what the future of The Amazing Digital Circus looked like, Episode 2 will be here very soon. A trailer for Episode 2 of The Amazing Digital Circus was recently released, revealing that it will be out on May 3. Glitch Productions previously posted on  on X (previously known as Twitter) that they are raising funds in order to do a full season. Fans can support the series by buying merchandise and watching the pilot episode, along with other clips and soon-to-be second episode on YouTube.

Hopefully much more of The Amazing Digital Circus will be on the way, but the long wait for Episode 2 will surely be worth it when it finally premieres in full on YouTube on Friday, May 3. For now, fans can watch the pilot episode on YouTube and continue supporting Glitch Productions and Digital Circus in anticipation of the new episode.