Seacrest, Endemol Shine pact for YouTube talent show

Ryan Seacrest Productions and Endemol Shine are making Best.Cover.Ever, a singing competition series that will launch on YouTube this year.

Singer Ludacris will front the series, which will feature Demi Lovato, Backstreet Boys, and Jason Derulo.

The format will see international musicians performing cover versions of hit songs with the best getting to perform with superstar singers.

In the first instance, fans will upload covers of specific Lovato, Backstreet Boys and Derulo songs to the Best.Cover.Ever YouTube channel.

Susanne Daniels, is YouTube’s global head of original content and said at the start of this year that the video platform will go beyond working with YouTube’s digital stars and start working on projects with established TV talent in 2017.

“YouTube is the best place for emerging musicians to be discovered, and Best.Cover.Ever. will encourage these artists to go for their dreams alongside the best in the business,” Daniels said of the Best.Cover.Ever deal. “We’re thrilled that Ryan Seacrest will give new talent the opportunity to shine in front of over one billion fans around the world.”

Ryan Seacrest hosts the outgoing Fox singing competition series Idol and will exec produce the new show. “We couldn’t be more excited to premiere this new talent music competition series exclusively on YouTube,” he said. “Cover songs are a terrific vehicle to help discover fresh talent and YouTube is the perfect platform to do it.”

Eden Gaha, president, unscripted television, Endemol Shine North America, said: “YouTube is the ideal home for Best.Cover.Ever., a ground-breaking competition format that will feature many of the top names in the music industry paired with emerging artists, all under the direction of Ryan Seacrest, Ludacris and our two experienced production teams.”