Dive Brief:
- Lionsgate and Facebook are teaming up for a new unscripted video series for Facebook Watch called "You Kiddin' Me," a news release announced. Kim Kardashian West serves as executive producer for the show.
- "You Kiddin' Me" — Lionsgate's first series for Facebook Watch — is a celebrity kid-focused prank show inspired by Kardashian West's own family. It aims to offer a glimpse into the family relationships of Hollywood stars as children prank their celebrity parents.
- The 10-episode series will be available on mobile, desktop and Facebook's TV apps. Facebook community members will also be chosen to participate in pranking their favorite celebrities. Producers and celebrity kids will crowdsource the top ideas for pranks from the Facebook community to use on the show.
Dive Insight:
By partnering with Kardashian West for its first Facebook Watch series, Lionsgate is hoping to tap into the massive clout of the "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" reality star and her and her family's power as social media influencers. Facebook Watch has also been struggling to catch the attention of users and advertisers since its August launch. "You Kiddin' Me"'s focus on celebrity kids could ultimately be a bid by Facebook to attract a larger Gen Z audience, as it's losing younger users faster than previously estimated, especially to apps like the video messenger Snapchat. Prank videos are also incredibly popular online on platforms like Google's YouTube, which Watch looks to compete with.
Kardashian West might be the type of celebrity presence that draws audiences across the board to Facebook's premium video tab, as most views to date have typically come from Watch content shared on Facebook's News Feed and not organically, according to reports. The series allowing for audience participation, where users can contribute their ideas and even get in on the pranks, could be a way to drive engagement, as Facebook is looking to put a focus on content that people don't just passively consume but also interact with.
The Kardashian-Jenner clan have continued to extend their influence well past TV, where they made their name, and into channels like mobile and social media. When Kylie Jenner, Kardashian West's younger half-sister, tweeted to her 24.5 million Twitter followers that she doesn't use Snapchat anymore following an app redesign last month, Snapchat's parent company Snap Inc. saw its stock price fall 6.1%, stripping away some $1.3 billion of its market value.
