If most television networks can have talk shows featuring celebrities, why not YouTube?
The “Partners Project,” which started last month, is being positioned as the talk show of YouTube, featuring contributors who have drawn online audiences of millions. Among the first guests were an aspiring actress, Justine Ezarik, who created “iJustine” to share videos about her life; and Dane Boedigheimer, who started “The Annoying Orange,” an animated series about talking fruit.
The weekly series is hosted by Shira Lazar, a longtime video blogger who contributes to CBS News. The segments run for 8 to 10 minutes each. In an interview, Ms. Lazar said the celebrity quotient on YouTube was high enough to support a stand-alone series.
“People are creating careers on YouTube,” she said in Las Vegas last week, where she was attending the Consumer Electronics Show. “This community needs someone telling their stories.”
The talk show, in a sense, gives an edge to aspiring video stars. One of the chief lessons learned so far, Ms. Lazar said, is to have a predictable schedule and a reliable format. The “Partners Project” posts a new interview each Thursday.
Its most recent interview, with Joe Penna, demonstrates how the stars of YouTube are widely followed online but still obscure to much of the public. Mr. Penna, 23, has amassed 1.6 million subscribers and 206 million video views for his playful music videos under the name “MysteryGuitarMan.”
“A little bit over a year ago I was sleeping on the floor, stealing my neighbor’s Wi-Fi and going to, like, a soup kitchen to be able to eat. And now I have my own studio” in Los Angeles, Mr. Penna said in the YouTube interview with Ms. Lazar.
YouTube has been working hard to cultivate more stars like Mr. Penna. YouTube most recently gave away $1,000 to 500 of its video-producing partners in the form of credits at a camera equipment store. The money, it said, would help them “produce even higher quality videos and ultimately drive bigger audiences to their work.”
.
