With the extended circuit breaker period in Singapore, YouTube continues to raise awareness on the importance to #StayHome, with YouTube’s creator community joining the conversation. YouTube Singapore has launched a campaign to encourage Singaporeans to #StayHome and save lives through the platform’s #StayHome #WithMe channel. From Henry Golding and Liv Lo, and Nathan Hartono, to Jianhao Tan, Wah! Banana, Clicknetwork and many more, the campaign features over 50 local YouTube creators, music artists, athletes and celebrities who have all made a home on YouTube.
The campaign expands upon #WithMe—a trend continuing to grow on YouTube over the past 15 years—showcasing how people all around the world find community and engage with one another, especially during this time of crisis. As local celebrity Rebecca Lim in her video notes, “Stay safe, stay home, be socially responsible. Stay strong and treasure the ones you love. We will get through this. Jiayou.”
From “Cook With Me” to “Jam With Me” and “Work Out With Me”, YouTube’s creators and community have used video to help people learn, connect, entertain and thrive. Globally, average daily uploads of videos with “at home” in the title increased over 590% since March 15 compared to their average uploads for the rest of the year while average daily views of videos with #withme in the title have increased by 600% . In Singapore, viewers may watch informative videos like JianHao Tan and Ryan Sylvia’s interview (launching April 30) with infectious diseases specialist Dr. Leong Hoe Nam on his views related to the COVID-19 virus, or entertaining skits such as Singapore’s first interactive choose-your-own-adventure series on YouTube FilterSpell, which emerged out of a first-ever collaboration between The Smart Local and Night Owl Cinematics, supported by the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth.
With places of worship remaining closed to the public during the circuit breaker period, YouTube Singapore has organised a YouTube for Religious Organisations Webinar in Malay and English. The webinar was attended by 170 people with Buddhist, Christian, Catholic and Muslim representation. The webinar is part of the Go Digital with YouTube Webinar Series organised by employees in the Google Singapore office to help local content creators, business owners and organisations get online.
During the month of Ramadan, Muslim.Sg is producing many videos that you can binge-watch in the comfort of your home: a weekly talk show with Asatizah Youth Network, a video where religious teachers answer the most Googled questions on Ramadan and a moving short film about celebrating Hari Raya (Eid) amidst the pandemic.
Ben King, Country Director for Google Singapore, said, “During this extended circuit breaker period, we want to do everything we can to work with the YouTube community and surface content that is relevant, useful and entertaining for Singaporeans. We’re glad to see the positive reception to our Go Digital with YouTube Webinar Series as content creators, business owners and organizations turn to YouTube to deepen connections with their communities. We hope that the #StayHome #WithMe campaign can spread some positive cheer and empower Singaporeans to stay productive and informed during this time.”
The #StayHome #WithMe campaign comes on the heels of other ongoing YouTube initiatives to encourage people to #StayHome. This includes YouTube Original’s free-to-watch access to over 20 of the global platform’s acclaimed library legacy programming titles, allowing fans without a YouTube Premium subscription to watch popular legacy series with ads, from the comfort of their homes. YouTube has also announced a new slate of projects aimed to support, entertain and educate viewers around the world. These new content see celebrities and educators come together to energize distance learning in “Celebrity Substitute” (premiering May 7) including Karlie Kloss working through a coding problem and Ken Jeong giving a Biology lesson; “TWICE: Seize the Light,” an 8-part docu-series on the K-pop girl group (premiering April 29); “Kevin Hart: What the Fit,” (new episodes premiere each Thursday), and a short-form family series, “Create Together #WithMe,” hosted by Joseph Gordon-Levitt (premiering May 2020) featuring the creations of everyday people collaborating to make art on HITRECORD and YouTube while being at home.
Also, as part of YouTube’s continued commitment to families, beginning in May, several new kids & family Originals will launch and be available on YouTube and YouTube Kids. These new Originals will help inspire kids’ curiosity, creativity, resourcefulness and resiliency to facilitate home-based learning even as school closures continue. Over 100 curated playlists are available, and children’s favourite Baby Shark has even started a ‘Wash your hands challenge’ to create awareness of proper hygiene among children.
All #WithMe playlists is hosted on Google Singapore YouTube channel: youtube.com/StayHome
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