“The Telethon broadens its spectrum by being broadcast on digital platforms and in virtual reality”, explains Saturday, December 4 on franceinfo the godfather of the digital Telethon, Jean-Michel Jarre. With Yaël Naim, Molécule and Minotor, he offers an immersive virtual reality concert that will be broadcast during a show on YouTube or on VRChat, this Saturday from 6 p.m. “Virtual reality can reach a younger audience more distant from television”, estimates Jean-Michel Jarre, especially as YouTubers, gamers and influencers participate in this digital Telethon. “We hope that the donations return to what they were before the Covid-19 pandemic and even more if possible!”, he ambitions.
franceinfo: What is the digital Telethon?
Jean Michel Jarre : This year, the Telethon is broadening its spectrum by being broadcast for the first time on digital platforms, but also in virtual reality. The evening will begin with the replay of the concert I gave in the virtual Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral on the occasion of New Year’s Eve 2021, of which Radio France was a partner, and which brought together at the time more than 75 million people in the world. This shows that virtual reality can reach very widely, beyond borders, a younger audience more distant from television.
Should this allow us to collect more than the 77 million euros in donations collected in 2020, which was the lowest level for 20 years?
We hope so! We hope that all young people can also in turn be a kind of Telethon ambassadors to their families and those around them so that the donations return to what they were before the Covid-19 pandemic and even more if possible. !
What will the immersive virtual reality concert that Yael Naïm, Molécule, Minotor and yourself offer this Saturday evening look like?
As far as I’m concerned, it will therefore be the replay of the concert I did in virtual Notre-Dame de Paris during New Years Eve 2021. I will be with my digital double, my avatar, in the middle of the cathedral. For those who have virtual reality glasses, they can be inside Notre-Dame and for those who will be in front of their computer, their tablet or their smartphone, by passing their finger on the screen, they will be able to walk in the cathedral and have different points of view as if they are in a room and they turn their heads to look at what is happening to the right and to the left.
# TelethonDigital : our ambassador @Jean Michel Jarre was with us for the launch of the 2021 edition! What better representative to talk about solidarity in the digital age?
Thank you again to him, and see you at the beginning of December for unpublished virtual concerts. pic.twitter.com/oJj1lsGXmM– Digital Telethon (@TelethonDigital) October 13, 2021
In addition to virtual concerts, YouTubers, gamers, and influencers participate in the digital Telethon on the model of the Z Event which raised more than 10 million euros last month for Action Against Hunger. This generation is revolutionizing charity events!
Yes, what is interesting with this new edition of the Digital Telethon is precisely that the younger generations being touched by this presence of YouTubers and influencers can themselves become Telethon influencers to increase donations. And then what is also extraordinary with virtual reality in the context of the Telethon, is that people with disabilities can enter virtual universes. With their digital doubles, they can fly, hover, dance … This is also the charm of the digital Telethon. It’s not just an abstract technology, it also allows you to connect with people who are geographically isolated or because of disabilities.