Netflix kicked things off with Black Mirror: Bandersnatch and then the OG Choose Your Own Adventure creators decided to team up with Amazon and Alexa. Now it looks like YouTube wants to get in on the whole interactive bandwagon as they are reportedly developing programs that will use this storytelling format. While this “genre” became popular back in the 80s and 90s, now is the perfect time to revisit this because of all the new technology and devices that are available.
YouTube will now be developing this kind of interactive programming under a new unit that will be led by Ben Relles. He has been working on the unscripted programming of the video platform and now will be looking at ways that viewers will be able to interact with the story of a show and watch the outcome of the story based on the choices they’ve made.
According to Susanne Daniels, the head of original programming for the Google-owned company, Relles is the best choice to head this new unit as he understands well how the platform will be able to enhance the content that they want to bring to users since he has been with YouTube for 8 years already. “We now have amazing new tools and opportunities to create and tell multilayered and interactive stories,” Daniels said.
While Netflix has a headstart in developing these interactive type of stories, there is a lot of space left to explore. The video streaming service will be releasing their next choose-your-own-adventure series, You vs Wild where viewers will either try to save or kill Bear Grylls. Chooseco LLC, the original publisher of the Choose Your Own Adventure books, of course sued Netflix over this but has also teamed up with Amazon to bring you interactive stories that you can play on any Alexa-supported device.
YouTube is no stranger to interactive elements as they have been experimenting with interactive advertisement. But having an interactive show will be a different matter altogether and would require a bit more time and investment as well as creativity. Hopefully we get more news soon as to this new experiment from YouTube.
VIA: Bloomberg
