Bedtime story-telling grandma becomes YouTube sensation
<p>You might think cute cats, adorable dogs, beauty gurus, gamers and daredevil teenagers are the stars of YouTube, but in Germany, an unexpected viral sensation has taken the nation by storm. Helga Sofia Josefa, an 85-year-old grandmother, has proven a hit on the website, sharing videos of herself reading bedtime stories.</p>
<p>Known on YouTube by the username <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSSUG_vo76v04FKRnsWavMA" target="_blank"><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">“MarmeladenOma”</span></strong></a> (“Jam Grandma”), Josefa has an impressive 121,000 subscribers to her channel, and her videos have racked up more than three million views. The doting octogenarian never refers to her subscribers and followers as such, however, preferring to call them her “grandchildren”.</p>
<p>The idea for the YouTube channel came from one of her real grandchildren, Janik, who helps his grandma run her page. Despite recording only a few hundred viewers when they began, Josefa’s audience exploded after popular German video game live-streamer Gronkh introduced her to his 640,000 followers.</p>
<p>The gorgeous gran has been inundated with messages from her adoring fans, thanking her for helping them wind down and even fall asleep. “That's our intention. And also that these fairytales aren’t lost,” she told German TV program <em>heute-show</em>.</p>
<p>Josefa and her grandson have recently been nominated for a German web video award for best livestream, the winner of which will be decided on June 1. Good luck!</p>
