YouTube has recently announced that it will soon be showing original shows on its website starring today's most bankable celebrities such as Katy Perry, Ellen DeGeneres, Demi Lovato, and Kevin Hart, among others. This move of the streaming website has been deemed as a strategic position to redeem itself from the growing competition in the digital scape.
40 original shows
Facebook, Hulu, Amazon, and Netflix have now become staple names in the video streaming sphere. In a quest to thwart the surging popularity of these platforms, YouTube just revealed that it is producing around 40 original contents featuring stars like Katy Perry, Ellen DeGeneres, Demi Lovato, Kevin Hart, Ryan Seacrest, and a couple of premier YouTubers.
According to YouTube executive Susan Wojcicki, advertisers have been asking the management to produce more original shows in collaboration with celebrities and have been longing to see the Google-owned company make it happen.
As of now, six original shows have been confirmed to be released very soon — two will be headlined by comedienne-host Ellen DeGeneres and pop star Demi Lovato. DeGeneres will be giving fans an exclusive behind-the-scenes access to some celebrities twice each week, while Lovato will bring her followers into the creative process that happens in the making of her new album.
The executive underscored that these shows will be available to audiences across the world free of charge.
More polished, professional contents
With the presence and the persistent popularity of other video streaming platforms, YouTube has been confronted with a greater dilemma to sustain itself on top of the game. Wojcicki, however, noted that the stiff race in the market is not the primary reason for the move.
Over 250 brands had reportedly pulled out their ads from YouTube in the recent months upon knowing that their ads have been shown in "violent and racist" contents, Business Insider said. Wojcicki has apologised for it and vowed to do better by producing more polished and profession contents in the near future.
This is not the first time that YouTube took celebrities at the front of its campaign to shape up content quality. Before also it banked on home-grown YouTube stars to promote itself for example it had already signed agreements with the likes of ESPN and Madonna in 2014 to score the most coveted ultra-high success in video streaming. Such move, however, was deemed run-of-the-mill.
