YouTube creators will chat with famous authors in new series 'BookTube'
It will debut on October 17th with Malcolm Gladwell, followed by an episode with Margaret Atwood.
YouTube will debut a new "book club" series on October 17th as a follow to its successful Michelle Obama special, which garnered over over 1.5 million views since March. The show is aptly called BookTube, and like the former first lady's special where she talked about her memoir, the series will feature famous authors who'll discuss their books with creators from the platform. Malcolm Gladwell will open the series to talk about his new book Talking to Strangers, followed by Margaret Atwood (The Handmaid's Tale), James Patterson (the Alex Cross series) and Melinda Gates (The Moment of Lift).
According to Variety, YouTube is now investing more money into educational content and spending less on originals. Some of the most viewed videos on the platform fall under the category, after all, such as DIY and How-to tutorials. YouTube Learning head Malik Ducard told the publication: "We're committed to empowering both the creators who want to share their knowledge with the world and the users who come to our platform to learn -- from home improvements to the basics of physics to grammar lessons."
Aside from BookTube, YouTube is launching more educational shows over the next weeks and months. Could You Survive the Movies will premiere on October 21st and will explore if we can survive scenarios in films, such as living in the jungles of Jumanji or time traveling on a DeLorean. It's also launching an eight-part series entitled Age of AI with Robert Downey Jr. in December.
