YouTube Canada reveals new creator slate, touts exclusivity as talent war heats up

Nicole Bell

YouTube Canada has unveiled a slate of nine creator-led shows spanning comedy, food, sport, lifestyle and culture at a YouTube Features presentation in Toronto.

The slate includes projects from Olympic athletes Tessa Virtue and Sarah Nurse, chefs Susur Lee and Matty Matheson, and creators including Alexandra Gater, Jeenie Weenie, Julie Nolke and the Kalogeras Sisters.

The Google-owned platform touted the fact the projects would be coming exclusively to YouTube, as competition for digital talent increases and the likes of Netflix and Disney aggressively push into the creator space.

In particular, Netflix has sought to work with and poach YouTube-native talent, prompting the Neal Mohan-led platform to reportedly begin offering multimillion-dollar exclusivity deals to top creators.

During its Toronto event, YouTube also emphasised the fact that its business model “gives creators the freedom to greenlight their own concepts and retain ownership of their intellectual property, while making it easier for brands to harness the power of creators.”

Among the new projects is Dream Apartment Makeover season three from Alexandra Gater, which will again see the home-renovation creator transform a subscriber’s apartment.

Susur Lee and his son Jet Bent-Lee will front Iron Chef Dad vs. The Internet, in which the chef will tackle viral recipes, food trends and other internet phenomena.

Comedy creator Jeenie Weenie will move beyond her sketch-based content with Roots, following her and husband Johnny as they explore their Korean heritage while raising their daughter.

Julie Nolke, meanwhile, will star alongside Kim’s Convenience actor Nicole Power in Becky and Miranda, a dark comedy about two millennial women who also happen to be serial killers.

Sunday Kalogeras, Demitra Kalogeras and Eliana Kalogeras, better known as the Kalogeras Sisters, will star in Hardly Workin’, a reality-comedy series that puts the three creators into unfamiliar jobs.

The event was hosted by US YouTuber Kareem Rahma, who fronts the public-transit interview format SubwayTakes. During the presentation, he revealed he would be bringing the format to Toronto in October.

Elsewhere, Matty Matheson’s Matty’s Farm follows the chef and restaurateur as he builds out a farm in rural Ontario, while hockey player Sarah Nurse will front Sarah’s Side Quests, in which she learns new skills from athletes, experts and creators.

The ninth project is Virtuoso, a new video podcast hosted by three-time Olympic gold medallist Tessa Virtue. The series will see Virtue speak to athletes, artists, entrepreneurs, scientists and other high achievers about their approaches to excellence.

Nicole Bell, head of YouTube Canada, said the slate reflects a growing group of Canadian creators and established personalities using the platform to develop their own programming.

“We’re seeing a new generation of Canadian storytellers and established cultural figures choose YouTube because it gives them complete ownership of their vision,” she said.