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On the heels of Comic-Con, YouTube has set aside a week spotlighting geek-themed programming.
Geek Week will officially take place from Aug. 4-10, and like the star-studded Comedy Week in May, will include talent from some of YouTube’s popular channels like Felicia Day‘s Geek & Sundry and Stan Lee‘s World of Heroes, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. Additionally, a new trailer for Marvel’s Thor: The Dark World — which hits theaters Nov. 8 — will debut during the week.
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The week will be broken down by themed days, an effort to cater to niche audiences. Geek Week will kick off with Blockbuster Sunday, celebrating iconic characters, movies and shows that define geek culture (hosted by FreddieW); Global Geekery Monday, featuring anime from Tokyo, comic book heroes from Delhi and Doctor Who (hosted by YOMYOMF); Brainiac Tuesday, centered on science and education (hosted by Veritasium and The Spangler Effect); Super Wednesday, exploring superheroes, the supernatural and the weird (hosted by Stan Lee’s World of Heroes); Gaming Thursday, centered on game-inspired series and video games (hosted by Macinima and Polaris); and Fan Friday, which includes sci-fi cooking, cosplay and nerd debates (hosted by Geek and Sundry). Saturday will compile the video highlights from Geek Week.
During the seven-day celebration, produced with Chris Hardwick‘s Nerdist, YouTube will highlight more than 100 channels, debuting new videos, series and collaborations in addition to featuring some of the most popular videos on YouTube.
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“Geek culture is in full regalia right now, and it certainly is the case on YouTube, as well. Eleven of our top 20 channels are actually in ‘geek-hood’ or could classify in the ‘geek’ category,” Danielle Tiedt, vp marketing at YouTube, tells THR. “Seven of the top 10 grossing films from 2012 are all about geek culture [and] top comedies like The Big Bang Theory. It’s everywhere we look. We’re excited to celebrate geek culture on YouTube.”
For YouTube’s part, scheduling Geek Week in August was a decision that was made after they noticed that streams ticked up by their core audience, which Tiedt dubbed “Gen C” (Generation Content). “We have a lot of heavy YouTube viewing in August,” she says, adding that Geek Week is seen as an opportunity to “really engage with our community.”
With Comedy Week and now Geek Week, YouTube hopes to branch out with other weeklong initiatives. “We’re constantly looking at new ways to highlight our awesome partner content,” Tiedt says. Though she was not ready to announce anything in the works, Tiedt hints that “there’s a lot of really exciting genres across YouTube that we’re excited to highlight.”
Follow YouTube’s Geek Week at www.youtube.com/geekweek beginning Aug. 4.
E-mail: Philiana.Ng@THR.com
Twitter: @insidethetube
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