YouTube Originals have enlisted celebrity influencers including Yungblud, Karlie Kloss, Ken Jeong, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Lele Pons, and MrBeast, for a new collection of programmes aimed to 'support, entertain and educate viewers around the world' during the coronavirus lockdown.
Vlogger MrBeast will challenge stars to go head-to-head in a series of online games, singer Yungblud is giving fans an intimate look at his life during quarantine in Los Angeles, and internet personality Pons' series will document her struggles with Tourette Syndrome and OCD.
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Other series premiering later in the year include Celebrity Substitute, a learning-centric series where celebrities like Ken Jeong and Karlie Kloss teach high-school-level lessons, Create Together #WithMe (working title), a miniseries hosted by Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Locked Down (working title), a scripted mystery series shot entirely via smartphone and webcam.
Susanne Daniels, Global Head of Original Content for YouTube, commented, "YouTube’s greatest strength is its ability as a global platform to build community and connection among people from all walks of life. We’re working to develop exciting new original content that is relevant, useful, and entertaining in order to deepen those connections and give people an outlet to come together."
All of the new shows will be available to watch free with ads, part of YouTube’s ongoing strategy of making its new programming available in front the platform’s premium paywall. The shift from SVOD to AVOD has been gradual due to rights negotiations, but the new slate of originals will accompany even more programming being made available for free.