Reddit, Google Plan Branded Series Powered By Upvotes

Reddit is getting into the world of original programming, and naturally, its video content will be driven by its vast, highly-opinionated user base. On the social content aggregator’s YouTube channel, co-founder Alexis Ohanian has shared an intro video for Formative, an upcoming web series sponsored by Google that will profile specific entrepreneurs chosen by the Reddit community.

In terms of its content, Formative–which will be produced by agencies Acres and Essence—probably won’t be that different from other series about innovative individuals, such as Yahoo’s World 3.0 or Vox Media’s Courageous Leaders. It will pay particular attention to the moments at which the lightbulbs clicked on in its subjects’ respective heads. “Just about every crazy, world-changing idea begins its momentum with a single formative moment,” explains Ohanian in the intro video.

Formative’s most interesting wrinkle concerns the manner in which its subjects will be chosen. Ohanian has posted a thread to the /r/entrepreneur subreddit

in which he asks readers to suggest some people they’d like to see profiled in the series. So far, users have named some predictable choices, like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, as well as some deeper cuts, like filmmaker Casey Neistat and GoPro founder Nick Woodman. Despite Reddit’s penchant for trolling, Tom Cruise’s name hasn’t come up just yet.

Once its subjects are chosen and its eight episodes are filmed, Formative will see release on Upvoted, an upcoming news site created by Reddit. While we wait for it to arrive, there’s plenty on other content on Reddit’s YouTube channel, including some video versions of the site’s famous “Ask Me Anything” threads.