If you can’t make it down to the Barclays Center in Brooklyn to see Jay Z christen "the most high-tech stadium in sports," you can at least check out the show from the comfort of your own home this Saturday at 9:30PM ET. To launch his Life and Times YouTube original channel partnership, Young Hova will be streaming the final night of his eight-show engagement online, free of charge.
Jay-Z is re-introducing himself to an online audience
As USA Today reports, Life and Times is an extension of the identically-named lifestyle site, launched in the spring of 2011. While the site already produces short clips ranging from interviews with artists to art and technology coverage, the original channel will add much more programming, including a documentary series on the Brooklyn Nets, of which Jay-Z is part owner. "We’re approaching this channel and programming it, not at the level of an MTV or a BET — at least, not yet — but really programming it as a real channel that will have regular content," said the channel’s chief creative officer Michael Hirschorn.
Life and Times is just one of many original channels that YouTube has been rolling out since its official announcement a year ago, like that of our sister site, SB Nation. YouTube is spending an unprecedented $200 million to market the content, in an effort to compete more directly with television for viewer attention and advertising dollars. And so far, things appear to be working. Last month, Ad Age reported that of the more than 100 channels that have launched, 20 are picking up a million views a week, and 25 have more than 100,000 subscribers.