Let's Player and YouTube juggernaut PewDiePie is set to star in a new reality show on the newly-announced YouTube Red subscription service, starting next year.
Felix Kjellberg, aka PewDiePie, will be branching out from his typical Let's Plays starting next year on YouTube Red, in a series entitled 'Scare PewDiePie.' The news came following Google's announcement that YouTube would be premiering a new, ad-free subscription-based service entitled YouTube Red.
Much like last year's media stunt with PewDiePie promoting the film As Above, So Below, PewDiePie will be facing untold real-life scares emulating some of his favorite video games in his new reality show. Scare PewDiePie will have a full team behind it, rather than just PewDiePie himself, with Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman stepping in to produce the series. Specifics of the series remain to be seen, with the title not set to begin until 2016.
PewDiePie's step into the new YouTube frontier doesn't come as much of a surprise. PewDiePie initially made his channel successful by shrieking in terror while playing horror games like Amnesia, so returning to his horror roots is a reasonable choice. Additionally, PewDiePie has been ranked as the number one earner on YouTube for quite some time, and Google is no doubt hoping to attract his nearly 40-million strong 'Bro Army' of viewers to the subscription service.
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With $7.45 million in earnings last year, an appearance on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and even book deals under his belt, PewDiePie doesn't show any signs of slowing down. While many gamers bristle when PewDiePie is so much as mentioned, his massive list of subscribers continues to climb. However, a large amount of PewDiePie fans undoubtedly enjoy his programming in part due to it being completely free. In addition, PewDiePie is sure to have a large number of underage subscribers who will be unable to sign up for YouTube Red without a parent's permission. While the addition of ad-free videos, subscriber-only programming, and the ability to download videos will probably propel YouTube Red towards success, PewDiePie may not generate as much revenue for YouTube Red as Google hopes.
On the other hand, PewDiePie fans who are capable of subscribing to YouTube Red probably will. While his channel is free, pre-orders for PewDiePie's book sent the title skyrocketing to #1 in Teen books on Amazon, and has kept it there for four months, despite it only releasing yesterday.
Would you subscribe to YouTube Red to watch more PewDiePie videos? Let us know in the comments.
Source: YouTube