It's not too frequent but it's also not entirely uncommon to see a how-to video spike in views, particularly when it demonstrates a useful and timesaving skill that challenges how we've been doing things all along. Case in point: "Shucking Corn--Clean Ears Everytime," a homemade video posted in late September that's suddenly seen a big surge in views.

The video has been seen over 1.5 million times in the past few days alone and is still on an upward trajectory, with 400,000+ just yesterday. But unlike most viral videos, which have a balanced or young-leaning audience interest, the audience for this clip has skewed in the opposite direction: it's been most popular with viewers 55-64 years old and has been atop the most-viewed list for viewers in the U.S. above the age of 55.

Interestingly, the video has gone viral not via Facebook or Twitter, but via Yahoo Mail, where many of its views have been originating. You can see the progression in daily views below:



A few weeks ago, we saw a similarly useful clip from Saveur called "How To Peel a Head of Garlic in Less Than 10 Seconds" pick up nearly half a million views.

Speaking of peeling trends, read more about the thousands of videos explaining How to Peel a Banana that are currently on YouTube.