Comedy and positivity fill new YouTube Red Originals

By

PewDiePie takes on horror games in new YouTube Red reality series.
PewDiePie takes on horror games in new YouTube Red reality series.
Photo: YouTube

YouTube takes on the original content business with four new original series and movies from popular creators, including PewDiePie, Lily Singh (IISuperwomanII), Rooster Teeth and AwesomenessTV.

Called YouTube Red Originals, the new content is only available to subscribers. You can sign up for a free 30-day trial, though, or settle for short previews, if you’re not ready to take the plunge.

The three films and one series focus on the inspirational and the hilarious. Both should do well with YouTubers in search of meaning and a few chuckles, but whether the new initiative will catch on with viewers already paying for things like Netflix and Hulu is yet to be seen. YouTube is a massive business thanks to the economies of scale and advertising; it’s foray into paid content is new.

Lily Singh is an Indo-Canadian vlogger and comedian who ranks 8th on the list of highest-paid YouTube stars. Filmmakers Astronauts Wanted documented her 26-city global tour, A Trip to Unicorn Island, a live show in which Singh promotes the idea that happiness is the only thing worth fighting for.

Machinima-maker Rooster Teeth teamed up with Fullscreen Films to produce a feature-length action-comedy called Lazer Team about four small-town “losers” who find an alien ship full of mysterious cargo and go on to fight to save Earth from a powerful alien enemy.

Felix Kjellberg (aka PewDiePie) the highest paid YouTuber, continues to do what he does best: play video games and make funny voices. In this series, Scare PewDiePie, the Swedish superstar inserts himself into scary situations inspired by horror games, like Outlast.

AwesomenessTV, a self-avowed “youth channel” brings on the inspiration with Dance Camp, a film that shows the power of dance to unleash your passions and discover yourself.

YouTube Red plans to expand its exclusive offerings in the days to come with even more movies and series, including reality show Fight of the Living Dead, which will put your favorite YouTube personalities into the zombie apocalypse.

What do you think? Will you be subscribing to YouTube Red to catch these new shows? Or will they just get copied and pirated, anyway?

Source: YouTube

Newsletters

Daily round-ups or a weekly refresher, straight from Cult of Mac to your inbox.

  • The Weekender

    The week's best Apple news, reviews and how-tos from Cult of Mac, every Saturday morning. Our readers say: "Thank you guys for always posting cool stuff" -- Vaughn Nevins. "Very informative" -- Kenly Xavier.