Google’s YouTube unit will celebrate the special geekiness of geeks with its first-ever “Geek Week” event that will provide a wide range of special geek-aimed content from Aug. 4 to 10.
“There’s never been a better time to be a geek,” according to a July 24 post by the YouTube team on the YouTube Official Blog. “From ‘Game of Thrones’ and ‘The Big Bang Theory,’ to ‘Harry Potter’ and ‘The Avengers,’ geek culture is everywhere, attracting and connecting ever-expanding audiences. Today’s obsession with all-things-geek has sparked a global community on YouTube, enabling fans around the world to express their love of superheroes, comics, gaming, science and sci-fi.”
With that in mind, the YouTube team is gathering its video resources to highlight and recognize the lives of geeks for one special Geek Week, according to the post. “With more than half of our top 20 non-music channels dedicated to geek culture, YouTube has become a top destination for fans everywhere to create, share and watch geek content.”
The event is being produced in conjunction with geek powerhouse Nerdist in the U.S. and Channel Flip in the U.K., according to the post, and will “showcase more than 100 channels that fans love, unveiling new videos, series premieres and creative collaborations, as well as highlighting some of the best geek videos and shows already on YouTube.”
Each day of Geek Week will have a special theme and will be hosted by a different YouTube channel that will introduce the highlights of the day in a special daily video, according to the post.
Aug. 4 will be Blockbuster Sunday, which is being slated as “a celebration of the iconic characters, movies and shows that define geek culture—plus a spotlight on the best original YouTube sci-fi, fantasy and animation.” The day’s events will be hosted by FreddieW in the U.S., with new content from Tomska in the U.K., according to the post.
Aug. 5 will be Global Geekery Monday, featuring Anime from Tokyo, comic book heroes from Delhi, and a celebration of the classically geeky television series, “Doctor Who,” according to the schedule. The day’s events will be hosted by YOMYOMF in the U.S., and including a special new episode of the British cult children’s TV show “Knightmare.”
Aug. 6 will be Brainiac Tuesday, featuring content from science, education and knowledge channels on YouTube, according to the schedule. The day’s events will be hosted by Veritasium and The Spangler Effect in the U.S., with an epic stunt from Head Squeeze and Flow from the U.K.
Aug. 7 will be Super Wednesday, featuring content that will include parodies to real-life superpowers, and the exploration of superheroes, the supernatural and the super-weird, according to the post. A special offering just for Geek Week is a trailer for Marvel’s upcoming film, “Thor: The Dark World.” The events are hosted by Stan Lee’s World of Heroes in the U.S.
Google’s YouTube Celebrates Its First-Ever ‘Geek Week’
Aug. 8 will be Gaming Thursday, featuring a host of activities aimed at gamers, including live play-throughs, video games in real life, game-inspired original series and more, according to the schedule. The day’s events will be hosted by Machinima and Maker Studios’ Polaris in the U.S., with a Guinness World Records gaming attempt live stream from the U.K.
Aug. 9 will be Fan Friday, featuring sci-fi-themed cooking, costume play and “impassioned nerd debates as YouTube’s biggest fans take center stage,” according to the post. The day’s events will be hosted by Felicia Day of Geek & Sundry in the U.S., with an ultimate geeky quiz by Crabstickz from the U.K.
YouTube will also release “Easter Eggs” all week on the site, giving observant geeks chances to collect online badges from the eggs and select #geekweek videos when logged in and visiting the special Geek Week channel, according to the post.
In May, YouTube turned eight years old, having launched in May 2005 as a video-sharing Website where people could post their creative works and watch to see if they gained any footholds. YouTube’s popularity has been huge, with the site receiving more than 100 hours of uploaded video from creators each minute. All of that video content is being created by millions of partners and contributors, some of whom have become very popular through the growing site.
Also in May, YouTube announced a new pilot program through which viewers will be able to buy premium video content for fees starting at 99 cents per month to reward video creators for their labors while encouraging the development of better video for the huge online audience.
Some of the paid content at the start of the pilot includes “Sesame Street,” which will offer full episodes on their paid channel when it launches, as well as “Ultimate Fighting Championship” (UFC), which will offer classic fights such as a full version of their first event from UFC’s new channel.
In March, YouTube announced that it has grown to providing video content for more than 1 billion viewers per month. The popular video-sharing site has helped launch the careers of a slew of entertainers and made celebrities out of ordinary citizens, thanks to viral videos.