We won't see all the top commercials until they officially debut on Sunday, but many brands have posted "teasers" and other sneak peaks well ahead of the game. And some of these clips have already drawn millions of views, specifically some of those posted by car manufacturers.
Last year, Volkswagon posted it's big hit, "The Force" a few days ahead of the game, and it was seen over 5 million times heading into the weekend. This year, we're a week out and Volkswagen's teaser for its latest Star Wars-themed spot has over 10 million views since it was posted on the 18th.
Honda, though at the time the brand was unknown, posted a "teaser" starring Matthew Broderick last week that created a lot of stir among fans of 1986's "Ferris Bueller's Day Off." Since last Thursday, the Bueller teaser has been seen over 4 million times, with as many as 1.5 million views on Friday.
Today, the full-length extended version was released and immediately drew lots of buzz on pop culture, business, and automotive blogs. You can see it here.
Other manufacturers who've also posted ads include Hyundai, Suzuki, and Audi, who's ad also has over one million views.
Once a sub-set of UK bass music, the genre exploded last year, with electronic music festivals drawing tens of thousands of fans and acts like Skrillex topping charts. (Facebook’s year-end rankings of the most-played songs on their site found not one but two Skrillex jams in the top ten.) One could argue that the soaring popularity of dubstep – and the growing acceptance of club music in general – was the top trend in music last year.
Like they always do, YouTube users embraced the growth of dubstep, using it in endlessly creative ways – from amateur dance numbers to a capella covers. (There’s even a channel dedicated to dubstep “lyrics.”) Let’s take a look at some of the most popular bass-rocking clips from last year.
Marquese Scott, from the dance crew RemoteKontrols, kicks us off with this incredible one-shot video. With a dubstep remix of Foster the People’s “Pumped up Kicks” behind him, Scott shows off his chops. Scott has been featured on “So You Think You Can Dance” and “America’s Got Talent” (in addition to our site, The Feed.) He also racked up nearly 30 million views with this video. How can a dance be so robotic and yet so fluid? That, friends, is the power of dubstep.
It's a trend that's been going on for more than a month, but in the past week or so, we've seen the "Stuff ___ Say" trend has seen a new shift in style and popularity. Whereas initially the trend was focused on demographics and other cultural criteria -- race, gender, interests, clubs -- we've started to see way more localized versions popping up in YouTube's trending video feeds.
For example, in the past few days we've seen from a number of cities across the United States. These are among the estimated several thousand videos that exist as a part of this trend.
(Note: Some contain adult language)
Los Angeles
Minnesota
Toronto
Silicon Valley
San Francisco
Washington
Miami
Chicago
These are just a few, and you've probably seen ones for other cities floating around (drop them in the comments!). California seems to be particularly well represented, and the New York take, which first went viral last week, has been seen upwards of 2.6 million times.
Today marks one year from the start of Egypt's revolution, a time marked by demonstrations, marches, and, in some cases, clashes between citizen's and police and other security forces.
To commemorate the occasion, many Egyptians gathered once again in Tahrir Square in large numbers. You can see some of the footage -- which, like many of the events of the initial revolution, was filmed by citizens and other bystanders -- at CitizenTube or in the playlist below:
(Use the arrows to navigate between videos or watch them all here.)
For amateur and professional photographers and videographers living at high latitudes, the aurora boralis, aka the Northern Lights, are popular subject matter... when they appear, that is. This week, the lights, which are normally visible in areas close to the arctic circle, were seen as far south as Scotland and England.
In the past, these sightings have generally caused a surge in uploads. Below you can see some of the numerous videos posted by those who were lucky enough to witness the phenomenon this week.
(Use the arrows to navigate between videos or watch them all here.)
Palm Springs, California witnessed a sudden, intense wind storm this weekend that left many trees down and homes without power. Some of the gusts were reportedly 80-90 miles per hour.
A number of residents captured video of the unusual weather occurrence and posted them to their channels on YouTube. We've collected eight of them in the playlist below.
(Use the arrows to navigate between videos or watch them all here.)
This post was authored by Will Goodman, managing editor of CBSNews.com's The Feed, for a YouTube Trends series exploring viral video phenomena.
One of the most amazing things about the rise of YouTube videos and Internet culture is that there is no limitation to the kind of material that can go viral. Once upon time the domain for what would spread on a large-scale level was largely limited to the land of LOLs, FAILs, cats, babies and a few other Internet-popular subjects that tended towards the least-common denominator (no offense meant to cats or babies).
But no more! Now viral videos can broaden your mind and educate while also entertaining you. Let’s put the focus on learning today, particularly on the subject of science, and kick things off with one of the most recent entries to hit The Feed, though also the closest to the aforementioned topics of old (in this case, something of a FAIL).
Was there chemistry involved? Yes. Did you learn a lot from it? Maybe not, but there is definitely a lesson in here on avoiding putting liquid nitrogen in a closed container unless you’re looking to cause some damage (most likely to yourself). But fear not, because that was just a recent example to engage you and now we turn our focus towards actually educating and expanding your mind, which is exactly what our next video does in the most amazing of ways.
The latest edition of Google's Think Quarterly -- the Speed edition -- explores some interesting Trends-related insights and background that are definitely worth exploring:
This game/tool uses YouTube Trends data to help us understand what separates the fastest rising videos on YouTube from others. Click the image below to play and see how much you know about viral phenomenon on YouTube:
At this point, we all know the story of the Talking Twin Babies from Brooklyn, who became famous around the world for their unintelligible conversation. But now, click the image below to hear the story from the family's perspective via a Joe McDermott cartoon strip:
Whether you've been spending lots of time on YouTube or checking out your social media feeds, one video trend seems to be completely inescapable in 2012: the "S*** __ Say" trend.
It's one that started back in 2011, with the "S*** Girls Say" series, which launched on December 12th. Episode one, below, has over 10 million views and overall the videos on the channel have over 17 million total views.
The series was so popular -- and simple in concept -- that it spawned all manner of parodies and remakes. We can now estimate that there are well over 500 instances of these videos on YouTube from the past month.
The topics vary from ethnicity to career to other social commentaries. Some people have been using them to promote their businesses as well. The playlist below contains a handful of diverse examples, some popular, some controversial.
(Use the arrows to navigate between videos or watch them all here.)
The most recent hit in the trend has been "S*** Nobody Says," a natural evolution that's now been seen close to 2 million times in the past week.
On Friday, a cover of the song "Somebody That I Used to Know" performed by Walk Off the Earth began to draw attention for its use of just one guitar and five performers for all the music. By Sunday, the video was averaging three million views a day, with most of the viewers coming across it as it was shared on social media sites.
The band, which has posted videos on its channel dating back to June of 2009, had drawn a significant 4.8 million views up until last Thursday. But since then, their work has been seen almost 20 million times around the world.
Today, it remains one of our most shared and most viewed clips. It's the most viewed video in Germany, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, and Sweden.
The "Honey Badger" video, the most popular episode from the funny Randall's Animals channel in which nature documentaries are given very amusing voiceovers, was one of the cult viral hits of 2011. Unlike many other viral videos, "Honey Badger" never saw a sudden dramatic spike in viewership an instead picked up its 31 million views gradually through out the year, starting all the way back in January, when it was first posted.
The video became so popular that as LSU cornerback Tyrann Mathieu got noticed for his outstanding defense, his fans/teammates actually gave him the nickname "honey badger" for his tough play on the field. Now, the popularity of the of the video and Mathieu, who was up for a Heisman trophy this year, have become inextricably linked, as evidenced by the search chart below.
The day Randall's clip saw its biggest spike in views: December 3, the day LSU won the SEC championship and locked up their invitation to the National Championship game. Tonight, his team plays Alabama in that NCAA title game, and so Randall might once again find some new fans.
Italy's Mount Etna, which is in Sicily and is Europe's highest active volcano, is erupting once again, and numerous videos are being posted from nearby the volcano.
(Use the arrows to navigate between videos or watch them all here.)
There were several occasions last year where footage of the Etna volcano was seen trending on YouTube.
Ben Breedlove, a young man from Texas, captured the attention of millions of people around the world last week. The teenager, who suffered from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and said he had "cheated death" on three occasions, passed away on Christmas day and left a history and personal message on YouTube.
Breedlove is YouTube's top rising search, globally, of the past 7 days thanks to the heartbreaking videos he posted just before his untimely passing.
Like a lot of talented young people, he had a YouTube channel -- two actually -- breedlovetv and OurAdvice4You, which he used to shared his advice and thoughts with the world. Videos on those channels had been seen 4.7 million times before the 25th. A third, TotalRandomness512, was used to house the two "This is My Story" videos above, which have already been seen well over 6 million times.
In the past week, over 1,000 videos tagged with his name, many of them personal tributes and remembrances, have been posted to YouTube. His memorial service was a also a spiking search over the weekend.
The style of Breedlove's videos is not new, but had a strong emotional impact. Below is a playlist with a selection of tributes, using the same visual reference:
