YouTube Red Sets Premiere For First Batch Of Originals

The series Scare PewDiePie is a reality-adventure show from popular Swedish vlogger Felix Kjellberg, while the films range from a YouTube personality’s global tour to a dance flick.

The three feature length titles are a documentary called A Trip to Unicorn Island, following Lily Singh on a 26-city tall.

In the wake of Netflix spreading its wings across the globe, streaming giant YouTube has also stepped up on its original content game with the first batch by YouTube Red Originals all set to premiere on 10 February.

Announced in October, this is the first push for the service since Susanne Daniels took over as VP of YouTube Originals last July. “We have lots more thrills, chills, LOLs, smiles, romances and surprises from more of your favorite YouTube stars coming later this year”, it said. “With YouTube Red Originals, we want to help them tell bigger and bolder stories that delight you, their fans”.

Rooster Teeth’s “Lazer Team”, which was financed in part by $2.48 million from fans on Indiegogo, debuted theatrically last weekend worldwide and notched $1 million in ticket pre-sales.

Lazer Team: In this feature-length action-comedy from Rooster Teeth and Fullscreen Films, four small-town losers stumble upon an alien ship carrying a mysterious cargo, leading to a battle to save Earth from an all-powerful enemy.

YouTube is making the originals available for no extra charge to subscribers of YouTube Red, now launched only in the USA, and also will let users worldwide purchase the films and TV series.

Subscribers paying $9.99 a month can select an audio-only mode for music videos as well as access the full Google Play Music library.

Other YouTube creators whose original content will soon be aired to YouTube Red customers include CollegeHumor, Fine Brothers and Game Theorists.

“These series and movies are just the beginning”, reads a YouTube blog post.