What’s Trending To Host First-Ever 24-Hour Charitable Stream On Live.ly App

Shira Lazar, the CEO and founder of online media brand What’s Trending, and her boyfriend, Bart Baker — YouTuber and musician — are both noted stars on Livel.ly, a burgeoning livestreaming platform from the makers of popular lip-synching app Musical.ly. Baker, who frequently appears in Live.ly broadcasts with Lazar, has said that he’s received six-digit view counts on certain broadcasts — and generated a whopping $30,000 in revenue during those streams.

Now, on Giving Tuesday — held the day after Cyber Monday in order to encourage charitable giving — Lazar and Baker are hoping to channel their massive following to help combat childhood cancer.  The duo will host a 24-hour livestream produced by What’s Trending in partnership with Musical.ly kicking off today at 4:00 pm ET. All funds raised during the stream — which is the first 24-hour broadcast on Musical.ly, according to What’s Trending — will go to The Pablove Foundation, which funds pediatric cancer research and also seeks to improve the lives of children living with cancer through the arts.

The stream will feature appearances from musicians and influencers including Austin Mahone, Bratayley, Trevor Moran, Jojo Siwa, Brent Rivera, and Jake Paul

— with others joining via Live.ly’s guesting feature. Viewers will be able to donate virtual “gifts” during the broadcast — a currency by which all creators are able to monetize on Live.ly.

“We are constantly searching for innovative ways to use social media to give back and I couldn’t think of a better way to use the Musical.ly and Live.ly platforms and communities,” Lazar said in a statement, “harnessing the power and voices of young people and together supporting The Pablove Foundation’s quest to fight childhood cancer — with love.”

Musical.ly was founded in 2014 and has today amassed a community of roughly 160 million users, who turn to the app to share short videos of themselves lip-synching, singing, and dancing. Live.ly, which launched last June to much fanfare, aims to leverage Musical.ly’s user base as an audience for live streams. What’s Trending, which boasts over 125 million YouTube views since its founding in 2011, is no stranger to charitable streams. The company’s annual Tubeathon, for instance, is held during the holidays and annually benefits Covenant House, a nonprofit serving homeless youth.