YouTube widens Coachella coverage
Second weekend will be livestreamed, too.
is upping its Coachella game.
The popular video site will begin livestreaming from the Indio, California, music festival Friday for the ninth consecutive year, but for the first time will continue its coverage into the fest’s second weekend.
With Beyonce reigning at Coachella 2018, YouTube had a massive audience of more than 41 million livestreams from the festival viewed from more than 232 countries and territories.
YouTube could connect viewers with more pop cultural moments this year, including a performance by Childish Gambino and the premiere of his new film, “Guava Island,” featuring Rihanna.
The Grammy, Golden Globe and Emmy-Award winning rapper/actor, also known by day as Donald Glover, already delivered a big hit on YouTube with his video for “This is America” earning 12.9 million views in its first 24 hours, making it one of last year’s 10 biggest music video debuts.
Also on the schedule: an Easter Sunday morning performance by Kanye West. YouTube’s livestream (www.youtube.com/coachella) during Coachella’s first weekend starts at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT on Friday and runs through the weekend and will pick up again Friday, April 19.
Viewers can watch across various devices such as smart TVs, computers, tablets and smartphones. You also can watch or listen using the YouTube Music app.
YouTube will offer three simultaneous livestreams with performances by more than 80 artists including Ariana Grande, Janelle Monae, Kacey Musgraves, Khalid, Maggie Rogers, Weezer, Billie Eilish, Chvches, Tame Impala, Wiz Khalifa, and Soccer Mommy. Some content will be available on-demand.
“In many ways if you’re not able to get to the desert, you can do the next big thing and stream” the festival, said Lyor Cohen, YouTube’s head of music. “Instead of the Super Bowl with pizza and beers, this is another opportunity to get a bunch of friends together and watch your fave bands.”
In addition to Kanye West’s Easter morning performance, YouTube’s second weekend from Coachella will include encore and live performances, inYouTube terviews, artist commentary, minidocumentaries and other curated content.
“For years the YouTube Livestream has helped us reach an international audience. I’m still overwhelmed by how many people saw last year’s event across the world,” said festival founder Paul Tollett in a statement to USA TODAY.
The second weekend’s offerings will include profiles of international artists. “We’ve been spending the past few months traveling to artists’ home countries to film their stories,” Tollett said. “Can’t wait for the viewers to enjoy it as much as we have enjoyed putting it together.”
Another artist you may want to watch: BLACKPINK. The K-pop group recently saw its ‘Kill This Love’ music video become the fastest to 100 million views (fewer than three days), and was the most viewed music video debut in YouTube history, with 56.7 million views in its first 24 hours.
YouTube will be broadcasting the band’s performance, scheduled for 11:50 p.m. ET on Friday, on The Beast jumbotron in Times Square.