Britain’s biggest TikTok stars have gone into lockdown together in a Big Brother style house in West London.
The creative collective, known as Bytesquad, consists of TikTok sensations KT Franklin(19), Sebby Jon (20), Monty (17), Shauni (19), Surface (22) and Lily-Rose(20).
Between them the influencers have amassed over 14 million followers on the platform and rack up an impressive 73 million views per week.
In a bid to urge fans to stay inside during the coronavirus crisis Bytesquad have teamed up with Rise Above – a programme developed by PHE to help 11 – 16 year olds make informed decisions – to show that hunkering down doesn’t have to be dull.
Jan Nixon, Marketing Manager at Rise Above, said: “Now more than ever it is vitally important to urge young people to stay home and save lives.
“Byte Squad is an innovative and creative way we can really engage young people with this message, particularly as insights are indicating some young people believe ‘it won’t happen to me – it’s only happening to old people.’
“That is quite simply not the case and hopefully more young people will follow their example and bunker down – it doesn’t have to be boring, it’s all about staying home and staying healthy – both physically and mentally and a great way to protect your mental health is by getting creative!”
The group’s hi-jinks and escapades will be broadcast in an online show called Bytehouse, which will air for 3 months on the Bytehouse Youtube, TikTok and Instagram channels.
In the house, members of the Bytesquad will be set challenges, film prank videos and create content as a collective.
Bytehouse is the brainchild of Timothy Armoo, the founder of Fanbytes – a Gen Z media group that helps brands like Warner, Samsung, Huawei, Deliveroo and reach a younger audience on social media.
Mr. Armoo, who launched the company at 21 while at university, said: “We are delighted to launch ByteHouse with some of the most entertaining and talented names in TikTok and I’m extremely excited to see what we can cook up.”
“In a world where younger audiences are moving away from linear TV and moving online and more specifically moving to social, it’s ever more important for programming to be created by Gen Z for Gen Z. Our role in this is very simply to just be the curator and let the experts do their thing.”
The first Bytehouse episode aired on Friday, 3rd April.
