F Is for Fails: #10YearsofYouTube

May 07, 2015

It’s comforting to remember that everyone fails from time to time. And if you ever forget, just go on YouTube.

That said, it wasn’t long ago that if you fell on your face doing something, the people present for your tumble were the only ones who got to see it. (Can you imagine?) Thankfully, in 2015 we share mishaps and faceplants at a global level in minutes. And make no mistake, fails are now an international phenomenon.

In 2008, the top three countries whose citizens were most likely to search YouTube for the word ‘fail’ were the United States, Australia, and Canada. In 2015, the top three are now Lithuania, Norway, and Latvia -- countries whose official languages don’t even include the word. In fact, Lithuania has topped the list of countries whose citizens are most likely to search YouTube for fails each year since 2011.

There are fail-loving standouts in the US, too. According to YouTube search data, Utah has the highest density of YouTube searches for the word ‘fail’ out of any state. Alaska ranks second, followed by Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, North Dakota, and Iowa. The state least interested in searching for fails? Virginia. Turns out a Virginian is about half as likely to search for fails on YouTube as a Utahn. So Virginia is for lovers, just not lovers of fail videos.

Videos of people failing have been a part of YouTube's DNA from the very beginning -- the second video ever uploaded to YouTube was someone falling off his snowboard. Here’s to 10 more years of failing (safely!) and never forgetting that everyone’s human (or, in some cases, animal).

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Happy Mother's Day (Love, YouTube)

May 06, 2015

Everyday, mothers around the world turn to YouTube to learn, connect, grow, and take (and offer us) a well-deserved break. In celebration of this upcoming Mother’s Day, we wanted to take a moment to share a special “thank you” to the millions of moms out there making the world go ‘round. YouTube wouldn't be the same without you. (For more Mother’s Day appreciation, head on over to our Agency Blog.)

Happy Mother's Day, Moms, and thank you for all that you do!

Posted by Netta Gross

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D is for Dance: #10YearsofYouTube

May 05, 2015

So you think you can dance? Apparently so do countless YouTube fans around the world who’ve uploaded more than 24 million dance-related clips in the last ten years. And while some might be a bit more graceful than others, these twerkers, shakers, flashmobbers, b-boys and ballerinas can have some serious, serious moves.

Since launching 10 years ago, YouTube has been the internet’s go-to place for dance fanatics and aficionados alike. For proof, look no further than the now classic 2006 video Evolution of Dance. The one time most-viewed video on YouTube has earned more than 291 million views to date, and is still being watched almost 1000 hours a day, on average, nearly 9 years later. And given the way dance has evolved on YouTube in the years since, it might be time for another sequel. Series like Where The Hell is Matt? -- which to date has been viewed more than 48 million times in more than 200 countries and territories -- have helped make the world feel like a much smaller place, while mesmerizing dancers like Marques Scott have propelled once niche dance communities into the forefront of our cultural zeitgeist.

Dancing on YouTube has even transformed the way some of us express love, with dramatic proposals and in-depth wedding dance routines making endless headlines while clocking in hundreds of years of watchtime. We’ve seen epic dance routines from the likes of Psy, Maddie Zeggler and Kiesza launch careers and witnessed a twerking phenomenon that nearly broke the internet.

And then of course, there’s the Harlem Shake, which at its peak brought in almost 40,000 videos a day to YouTube, nearly topped Google search trends in 2013 and pushed an artist with no previous chart history to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. All things told, the estimated 2.3 million Harlem Shake clips have driven more than 4.7 billion YouTube views. To put things in perspective, there was a two month span where “Harlem Shake” had more trending search interest on YouTube than the word “Dance.” Let that sink (or shake) in for a minute...

If history has taught us one thing, the next 10 years of YouTube are guaranteed to be filled with an endless evolution of new dance trends. Until then, here’s just a small taste of what we’ve seen so far.

-- Kevin Meenan

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C Is for Covers: #10YearsofYouTube

May 04, 2015

One of the most powerful ways a talented star-to-be becomes known is by putting his or her unique spin on a hit song and simply pressing "upload." Below, a few highlights from the first decade of creative covers and collaborations on YouTube:

In 2011, when a multi-talented couple covered Chris Brown's "Look At Me Now" with spunk and a stripped-down hip-hop sound, the world listened, lifting the duo known as Karmin to fame. Quickly after, Karmin signed to Epic Records, released an EP in 2012 that peaked at 33 on the US Album chart, and topped singles chart with "Hello" and "Brokenhearted." Still on an upward trajectory, they’ll release their second album this fall.

In 2012, Lindsey Stirling, a female violinist from Santa Ana, California, emerged as a rising star after collaborating with Pentatonix on a cover of the Imagine Dragons hit "Radioactive." (That was after being told she wasn’t "good enough" on "America's Got Talent," Season 5. Thank goodness that didn’t stop her.) She’s since started a channel on YouTube that’s grown into a force backed by over 6M subscribers, placing her in the top 25 trending music channels on YouTube.

When the songs of Frozen hit YouTube in late 2013, "Let It Go" became the anthem for people of all ages, but no one cover hit the top spot. Instead, another song from the movie -- a wistful duet between two sisters -- became one of the biggest covers in the history of YouTube. That’s thanks to a talented family and film crew called Working With Lemons. They brought that duet to life in music vid form with their rendition of "Do You Want to Build a Snowman?" (which is now at 139M views and counting). The family continues to cover and parody more songs from Frozen and Tangled for their 400,000+ subscribers.

Check out our Spotlight Playlist for more from YouTube’s talented collaborators and cover artists:

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B Is for Beauty: #10YearsofYouTube

May 03, 2015

In the past 10 years over 5 billion hours of beauty tutorials and explainers have been uploaded to YouTube. That’s about 100,000 years worth of contouring, eyelash curling, makeup reviews, and hairstyle how-tos.

And today, beauty tutorials are among the most viewed instructional videos on the platform, due in part to the intimate, immediate access they provide to the world of beauty. For the first time ever, every makeup artist, hair stylist, beauty guru, and his/her unique techniques and experiences are available to anyone who wants to look and feel their most fabulous -inside and out.

Among those gurus are the prolific Michelle Phan and the U.K.’s most popular beauty creator, Zoella. For Zoella in particular, her 7.8 million subscribers see her as a role model they can trust—and whose closet they’d love to raid. In the five years since she launched her channel, Zoella has also found widespread success offline, first by starting her very own makeup line and then by publishing a novel that surpassed even J.K. Rowlings’ debut in first-week book sales.

Through these accessible and personal how-tos, YouTube also provides a space for previously under-represented beauty communities to take center stage. Shameless Maya is one beauty creator who gives the African American community guidance on how to style curly hair. And the one and only Bunny Meyers (Grav3yardgirl) proves that personality is the most essential ingredient of any and every look. And that’s truly a beautiful thing.

In the spirit of celebration, let these classic tutorials make your world a little more creative and a little more gorgeous, just as they did for millions of other viewers:

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A Is for Animals: #10YearsofYouTube

May 02, 2015

By the time you’ve finished reading this post, YouTube viewers around the world will have watched just about 2.5 years worth of animal-related videos. From corgi stampedes, to otters holding hands, to tiny hamsters going on dates, screaming goats, lions, crocodiles, even buffalo battling it out in the wild—still one of YouTube’s earliest and most memorable hits - pet and animal videos stand out as a classic YouTube genre loved by viewers everywhere.

And then there are the cat videos. Everybody’s heard the joke that YouTube’s success is owed to our feline friends. And while this isn’t quite true (little known fact: dog video searches began surpassing cat searches back in 2010), we proudly dedicate this first birthday post, in part, to those tabbies that continually warm our hearts and touch our funny bone.

Indeed: there are approximately 10 million cat videos on YouTube right now, meaning the world has uploaded an average of one to two cat videos per minute over the last 10 years.

For some, one upload leads to global stardom. Grumpy Cat, for instance, was featured in two New York Times best selling books and a Lifetime movie starring Aubrey Plaza. The Keyboard Cat meme, a 2007 video showing a cat playing the piano, has become so popular it made appearances at the MTV Music Awards and The Colbert Report. Nothing less than trailblazers, these kitties paved the way for cats such as Maru, Lil Bub, Colonel Meow, and Simon’s Cat to become some of today’s biggest stars on YouTube.

So, from surprised kitties to talking dogs to sassy honey badgers, thanks for sharing all that’s awesome, “awwww” worthy and awe-inspiring about our dearest furry friends.

Here are some highlights from the wide world of the YouTube Animal Kingdom:

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Celebrating 10 Years of YouTube

May 01, 2015

On April 23, 2005, history was made. An 18-second clip about how cool elephants are was shot at the San Diego Zoo and uploaded to a then-private video sharing site called YouTube.

That May, YouTube launched in beta before becoming available to the wider public six months later. Ten years have now passed, and that site has grown to become not just the biggest video platform on the web—a community of more than one billion people, where hundreds of millions of hours of video are watched and billions of views are generated every day —but one of the largest and most diverse collections of self-expression in history.

YouTube is a portrait of our global culture, seen through the lenses and perspectives of people around the world. It is a portrait built by a creative community of bold and fearless individuals. Built by comedians, gamers, activists, artists, performers, teachers, and pranksters. Built with cats and rainbows and blenders and ninjas and unicorns. It was built on the silly. It was built on the profound. It was built by you.

And 10 years in, you continue to redefine how the world experiences music, entertainment, and news. How the world laughs and how the world learns. How we shape political events and how we connect over the things we love.

You’ve helped turn creators into the biggest names in entertainment. You’ve given people opportunities to share their voice and talent no matter where they are from or what their age or point of view. You built a world where little ideas can bring about amazing things and where amazing things can bring little delights to each of us.

So in honor of our 10th birthday, we’re celebrating you, our YouTube community. Every day over the next 26 days, we’ll take a look back at some of the most memorable moments, from the silly to the profound, that you’ve shared on YouTube in the last 10 years. It’s YouTube from A to Z. Literally.

You can follow our celebration throughout the month of May on our YouTube Trends blog.

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Trending This Week: Inventive Ways of Dealing With Loud Neighbors; Calling Out Catcallers

April 24, 2015

Dealing With Loud Neighbors -- The Olan Rogers Story

In Olan Rogers's latest video, the funnyman-creator describes a revenge plan he plotted against his outrageously loud neighbor that involved a well-placed Craigslist ad, a fictional owl named Lil BB, and 208 tons of glitter. As a storyteller, Rogers is one of the most beloved emerging creators on YouTube, and one of the things that makes him so adored by his nearly 54,000 subscribers is the time and energy he invests in establishing personal relationships with each of his fans. Through the proceeds he makes from his clothing line and Soda Parlor, Rogers has set up a college scholarship fund for his YouTube supporters. [Disclaimer: there is not enough time nor characters in a word document for me to fully disclose how much I adore Olan Rogers. It was a common occurrence during my time at YouTube Nation, that once I started playing a Olan Roger’s video, I would be in fits of laughter for a good 11 minutes and no producer, nor writer who needed to question me for a segment, would be able to break the cycle of giggles. So I admit some bias.]

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Trending Now: The Beautiful Eruption Of Chile's Calbuco Volcano

April 23, 2015

In the 24 hours since the eruption of Chile’s Calbuco volcano yesterday, YouTube has already seen well over a thousand videos uploaded on topic with combined views in the millions. As news organizations and local residents capture video of this once-in-a-lifetime event, YouTube’s #Popular page has collected some of the most spectacular Calbuco explosion videos in this playlist:

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Trending This Week: Tubular Tinder; Hoff ROFL's

April 17, 2015

All of your dreams just came true: David Hasselhoff just released the most incredible music video of all time. Now before you roll your eyes and say -- Darude “Sandstorm” is the best of all time! -- let me just paint you this picture.

David Hasselhoff Wins the Internet

All of your dreams just came true: David Hasselhoff just released the most incredible music video of all time. Now before you roll your eyes and say -- Darude “Sandstorm” is the best of all time! -- let me just paint you this picture. The video begins on the set of a 1980s action movie, David Hasselhoff sings “True Survivor” over the unfolding action of a cop going back in time to stop Hitler from rising to power. There are dinosaurs, explosions, men riding on the backs of wolves, and at the center of it all, a Hoff that will not be Hasseled. The video is a preview for Hasselhoff’s upcoming movie “Kung Fury” and has gained over 1.2M views in the first 24 hours. Funded entirely through a Kickstarter, “Kung Fury” will be a 30-minute movie released exclusively online May 28. Upon the release of this music video, the former Baywatch star states, “The song is perfect for me as I really am, in real life, a True Survivor.” Perfection.

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What Does It Take To Reach One Billion Views?

April 15, 2015

A movement is afoot to get Taylor Swift's “Shake It Off,” the jam of last fall and winter, to a billion views on YouTube. Taylor has accomplished everything else, so this would be just one more accolade to add to her achievements. But it may be harder than the Swifties think it will be to get her to a billion -- not many people have accomplished it.

A billion views. It's a number with quite a history. It's a number of which people have taken notice Gangnam Style. The second to reach a billion views was Justin Bieber's Baby.
because at some point, every billion-number measure was thought unachievable. In fact, only two videos have ever achieved the big B. The first to do it was Psy's
Baby was uploaded in February 2010. It was a phenomenon that was YouTube's most-viewed video for over two years. It took Baby 1,474 days, a little over four years, to reach a billion views, but when it got there, Baby had already been beaten to the billion-view mark by Psy's Gangman Style. That video, uploaded in July 2012, took only 160 days to reach a billion views. Since then, Gangnam Style has actually hit a billion again. It reached its second billion 527 days after it reached its first. It could hit 3 billion in the time it took Baby to reach its first billion.

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Trending This Week: Unexpected Collaborations; Email IRL

April 10, 2015

Natalie Tran - Asians in Media Talk

You may not have heard of her, but Australian comedian Natalie Tran is one of the most popular Asian creators on YouTube, with more than 530M views to her channel and a loyal audience of 1.3M subscribers. In this recent talk, Tran addresses Brown University students about her experiences working in media as an Asian woman. By blending comedy and her personal experiences with racism, Tran takes the overwhelmingly complex issue of race and representation and makes it accessible. Tran is just one of many Asian creators who have found YouTube a place where they are no longer confined to stereotypical roles and they can create content that more truthfully represents their community. Other pioneers of this movement worth checking out: Wong Fu, Timothy DeLaghetto, Kina Grannis, Ryan Higa, the Fung Brothers, David So, BubzBeauty, Mike Song, and KevJumba.

Wiz Khalifa - See You Again ft. Charlie Puth [Official Video] Furious 7 Soundtrack

Garnering more than 15M views in 5 days, Wiz Khalifa's "See You Again" (featuring Charlie Puth) has become one of most popular tracks of the year so far, peaking on April 8 with more than 12.5M views in one day (only Taylor Swift's "Shake it Off" had more views per day this year). The song, featured in the latest installment of the Fast and the Furious series, "Furious 7," serves not only as the soundtrack's title track, but as a somber tribute to the late Paul Walker, with thousands of fans paying respect to the franchise's star in the video's nearly 20k comments.

Email In Real Life

In their latest sketch “Email in Real Life,” Comedy duo Tripp and Tyler present what life would be like if email norms replaced social ones. The video is a follow up to their sketch “Conference Call In Real Life,” which has earned over 9M views over the last year. Lesser known fact: Tripp and Tyler are nine year YouTube veterans, and through the popularity of their channel, have gone on to write an original book (long before YouTubers writing books was cool) and host live comedy shows around the US.

WHEN U COLLAB WITH RANDOM PEOPLE IN PUBLIC. (and one of them is actually amazing...)

Following their underground hits, "WHEN YOU'RE BORED ON A PLANE" and "WHEN U COLLAB WITH THE PIZZA GUY," Australian DJ duo Mashd N Kutcher are back with another club banger made up of the beeps, buzzes and voices of everyday people, places and things. The video, released only 24 hours ago, has already amassed more than 600k views and is quickly on its way to becoming one of the pair's top performing videos.

- Carly Lanning & Christine Huang

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Trending This Week: Computer Love; You Got Darude'D

April 03, 2015

For more trending videos, check out our playlist!

Everyone’s favorite Star Wars robot has finally found love. This short fan film follows R2-D2 through the highs and lows of his passionate relationship with a local mailbox and ultimately, what one droid will do to find his true love. Think “Walle,” meets “Star Wars,” meets “You’ve Got Mail,” and just try not to fall for this three minute heartwarmer. The film is a collaboration between director Evan Atherton, the R2 Builders’ Club, and Lucasfilm effects artist Landis Fields, who actually took time off from working on “The Force Awakens” to work on this short. This past weekend, the film debuted at the Sonoma International Film Festival before being uploaded onto Atherton’s personal YouTube channel where it has since received extensive news coverage and fan support.

Mime Through Time Map by SketchSHE

The Australian female comedy trio SketchSHE have done it again, gaining over 8M in just 72 hours for their video “Mime Through Time." Like in their hit “Bohemian Carsody” of a few weeks ago (which has amassed over 19M views and continues to climb), "Mime Through Time" is an impressive display of the various talents of SketchSHE, including choreographed dance routines, costume changes, and very serious pantomiming of popular songs all from the seats of their parked car. But “Mime Through Time” takes it to the next level with group members Shae-Lee, Lana and Madison covering not just one song but many - with styles spanning the seven decades from the 1940s to now. With this latest installment, the trio has now amassed over 24.1M views - a massive number for a channel less than four months old.

Sia- Big Girls Cry (Official Video)

Yesterday, Sia released "Big Girls Cry," the third in her series of mesmerizing music videos starring the inimitable Maddie Ziegler. The video is a departure from Sia's previous pieces, featuring her young dance muse not in motion, but rather, standing in one place, reflecting the song's sentiments through facial expressions and wild gesturing of her hands and feet. Even without elaborate choreography and lyrical movement, "Big Girls Cry" is on track to becoming another Sia hit - receiving nearly 5M views in less than 24 hours.

Darude - Sandstorm

Did you mean - "Darude: Sandstorm by Darude?" Cuuuz... we're pretty sure you did. ;) As part of this year's April Fool's Day celebration, we decided to add a little nineties trance / niche memery to your day (you're welcome!). Through a bit of heavy-handed recommending, a couple of nifty new features, and some very clever social, this 15 year old electronica earworm resurfaced as one of the top viewed videos of April 1, coming in at no. 16 with 1.9M+ views - just above "Chandelier" and "FourFiveSeconds." The day also proved to be the video's best performing ever by a long shot, receiving ~1500% more views on April 1st than its second best day - March 6 2015, when it received ~126k views.

- Christine Huang & Carly Lanning

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Who is Trevor Noah? How The South African Comedian Soared On YouTube

When Comedy Central announced that South African comedian Trevor Noah would succeed Jon Stewart as the host of “The Daily Show,” the world scratched its collective head. Who is this guy and what makes him qualified to follow the larger-than-life personality of Stewart?

In a matter of hours, search interest on both Google and YouTube for “Trevor Noah” skyrocketed. Compared to the previous day – Sunday, March 29 – search volume increased 2157% day-over-day on YouTube as people around the world sought to learn more about the unknown Noah.

While millions were hearing Noah’s name for the first time, the comedian’s long history on YouTube demonstrates that he has, in fact, engrossed a global audience with his unique humor and life perspective for years. As the mixed-race son of a black Xhosa mother and a white Swiss father growing up in post-apartheid South Africa, Trevor developed an uncanny ability to perceive and articulate nuanced social issues at a unique time in a unique place.

In the 2012 documentary about his rise in South African comedy, You Laugh But It’s True, Noah explains how his personal experiences shaped his comedy: “I’ve lived a life where I’ve never really fit in, in any particular way. Even now people still debate what I am…. When you get older it’s cool because you’ve lived everywhere and nowhere. You’ve been everyone and no one. So you can say everything and nothing. And that’s really what affects my comedy and everything that I say.”

Noah's first major release on YouTube was of his first comedy special, The Daywalker, in 2009. Since that year, videos about “Trevor Noah” (uploads with references to his name in their title, description and keywords) have grown dramatically every year, increasing by 265% from 2013 to 2014.

Among these videos, 12 have earned more than 1 million views, including 9 from his own channel which includes highlight clips from his standup performances and other projects. Noah’s global popularity began growing in 2012, when clips of his “Crazy Normal” special started spreading on YouTube. Since then he has successfully increased his reach every year by performing live shows and releasing new clips from those performances, most notably with “It’s My Culture” in early 2014. This strategy allowed Noah to reach new people with new content while driving additional views to his back catalogue of earlier videos.

Now that the announcement has brought him to the forefront of global popular culture, people are turning to YouTube to learn more about Trevor Noah. In the two days of March following Monday’s announcement, uploads and views related to him more than doubled the totals accumulated during the prior 29 days of the month. Considering these statistics, and Noah’s long history with comedy, the news of him succeeding Stewart seems a little less surprising. This week may have been the first time many of us heard the name Trevor Noah, but it won't likely be the last.

- Robert Weeks

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Who Would Be The NBA's 2015 MVP Based On YouTube?

April 01, 2015

As the NBA's regular season draws to a close, fans find themselves engaged in the usual, heated discussion over who should be the NBA's Most Valuable Player. The conversation about the league's MVP has coalesced around three players: Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors, James Harden of the Houston Rockets, and the Oklahoma City Thunder's Russell Westbrook whose play during the second half of the season forced his name into the discussion. Some are suggesting it's the most interesting MVP race in ages.

The MVP award is given to the best performing player of the NBA's regular season, and it’s voted on by sportswriters and broadcasters who watch these athletes perform night in and night out, as well as the NBA audience who also gets to share a vote. And with so much video on YouTube about these players, we thought your time spent on YouTube should count too. So here’s the NBA MVP as decided by your YouTube searches, uploads and watchtime for this regular season from October 28 to March 22.

Search winner: Stephen Curry is hands-down the winner here with three times the searches as James Harden, and more searches than Russell Westbrook and James Harden, combined.

Upload Winner: Stephen Curry still struts away with the victory with Russell Westbrook right on his tail.

Watchtime Winner: Stephen Curry dominated this category the way he dominated this year’s All Star 3-Point Contest.

Based on all of these factors, we have no choice but to declare Stephen Curry this year's NBA MVP according to your YouTube searches, uploads and watchtime. He leads in every category relegating Harden and Westbrook to a two-way race for second place. But wait a moment…we've left out someone whose name some feel also belongs in the MVP debate... Let's look at the numbers again with Lebron James added to the mix.

This changes things dramatically, Lebron James towering over his competition with about 4 times the search volume of James Harden. Advantage: Lebron.

More videos were uploaded featuring Lebron James than all other contenders, combined. Of course, there could be many reasons for this, including discussion of his team's rocky performance. Still, point to Lebron. Let's check the big indicator: Watchtime

No contest. Lebron’s bar looks like “King” James in high school - bigger than everyone else and looking down at everyone from the air.

Leaving Miami, returning to Cleveland, and making Cleveland one of the best teams in the NBA has translated into massive numbers for Lebron James. His numbers in most categories are almost as large as all other contenders, combined, but in watchtime, he eclipses his competitors. Despite great seasons from James Harden, Russell Westbrook, and Stephen Curry, it appears that the real MVP, based on your interest on YouTube, should be Lebron James.

As a bonus, we’ve looked at the most-search days for each of these superstars, the days the fans felt the greatest urge to seek out video of these players, and included representative videos. Consider these videos, each player’s argument to be the NBA’s 2015 MVP:

10/31/2014: Lebron James - Lebron’s first win with his new team, the Cleveland Cavaliers
NBA: Lebron James Leads Cavs with 36-Point Effort in Win
2/15/2015: Stephen Curry - 3 Point Contest virtuosity
NBA: Stephen Curry Wins the 2015 Foot Locker Three-Point Contest
3/2/2015: James Harden - Harden battles the league’s preeminent player, Lebron James
NBA: James Harden Duels to Overtime Finish with Lebron James
3/5/2015: Russell Westbrook - 4th consecutive triple double, the first since Michael Jordan
NBA: Russell Westbrook Nets 43 Points as Thunder Fall to Bulls

-- Earnest Pettie

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Trending This Week: YTMAs, A Dog Named Fritz, and The Allure of the Beautiful Stenographer

March 27, 2015

The YouTube Music Awards 2015

This year's celebration of the best and brightest of music on YouTube was among the most viewed content this week, the show's 13 music videos seeing over 30m views since Monday - and the biggest hit, "Nicky Jam y Enrique Iglesias El Perdon," earning more than 7.5m. Four days since launch, the impact of the YTMAs continues to reverberate across the web'sphere, receiving an estimated 6b impressions on Twitter (!!) and top 10 spots for Max, Action Bronson, Charli XCX, Migos, and Lindsey Stirling on the Billboard Top Trending 140 chart.

Every Tom Hanks Movie in 7 Minutes (with Tom Hanks and James Corden)
His first week on the air as the new host of “The Late, Late Show,” James Corden is already making big waves (... as in 10 million views, big waves..!). For his first party trick, Corden followed the example of Carly Rae Jepsen and her single “I Really Like You,” and enlisted the help of Tom Hanks for the effort. Together, the pair recreated every movie in which Hanks has ever starred in one take and under seven minutes. Since its debut three days ago, the video has gained over 9m views and anchored itself as the number one most viewed video for an entire 72 hours. Another gem / fantasy come to life: karaoke with Mariah Carey (once a diva, always a diva!).

Wisconsin Basketball Player Has Embarrassing Moment at Press Conference
So far, the most memorable moment of March Madness is arguably not a shot, game or locker room celebration, but rather the endearing mishap between Wisconsin forward Nigel Hayes and his microphone. During a recent press conference, Hayes didn’t realize how hot his mic was until after he whispered to his teammates about the beautiful stenographer sitting nearby. Video of the accidental confession of love has gained over 4.7 million views in 48 hours. Perhaps this video brought a bit of luck to the Wisconsin team, as they continue to compete in the elite eight for the NCAA title. (And to Nigel Hayes, although you might not have scored a date with that lovely stenographer, you did win the Internet’s heart, so at the very least you have that going for you.)

Fritz Learns to Catch Compilation #1

And last but certainly not least... Humor, suspense, pizza, EDM, a surprisingly uncoordinated dog - this one really has it all. Fritz the Dog is a happy, hapless golden retriever that just can't seem to catch anything in his mouth. (Watch the video and see for yourself.) Thanks in large part to mentions by the Today Show, Huffington Post, and a somewhat disturbing tribute from Buzzfeed, this compilation has become one of the top trending (and most "awwww"ed over) videos of the week, earning more than 3.6m views in five days. Keep on keepin' on, Fritz.

- Christine Huang & Carly Lanning

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Trending This Week: Evil Pixels, The Art of IKE Andrews, Too Many Cooks - D.C. Edition

March 20, 2015

Pixels - Official Trailer (HD) - Summer 2015

On Tuesday, Sony released the much-anticipated first teaser for "Pixels," an action-comedy movie pitting an eclectic group of heroes (Adam Sandler, Peter Dinklage and Michelle Monaghan, to name a few) against classic arcade game characters programmed by aliens to destroy Planet Earth. The inspiration behind "Pixels" is the lesser known, eerier film of the same name by Patrick Jean released on YouTube in 2010. Jean's short film gained a cult following over the last 5 years and is experiencing a resurgence in interest since the release of the new "Pixels" trailer, seeing more views on March 18 (57k+) than any other day in its history.

Showing IKEA print to Art experts

LifeHunters, an Amsterdam-based digital production group specializing in "awesome viral video content," played a highbrow prank on the patrons of the Museum Arnhem, planting a mass-produced IKEA print alongside the museum's most famous modern artworks and asking for their reactions. Visitors to the museum expressed their appreciation for the provocative piece by "IKE Andrews," some estimating its worth at being in, at least, the hundreds of thousands. The video, LifeHunters' second most popular behind their "Serving McDonald's to food experts" prank from last year, has gained more than 1.1m views in 2 days, and was the 9th most popular video in the Netherlands this week.

Här gör teckentolken succé i Melodifestivalen 2015

A stunningly expressive sign language interpreter named Tommy Krångh won the internet this week, stealing the show at the Swedish singing competition Melodifestivalen with his impassioned interpretations of songs performed by various rising Swedish stars. Krångh first gained buzz after a video of him signing and dancing along to a Magnus Carlsson song on Swedish TV channel SVT started making the rounds. SVT quickly caught wind of the fervor and released a special tribute to Krångh and his emphatic signing skills (above). In response to this sudden fame, Krångh told Swedish media outlet The Local: "I am overwhelmed, happy, thrilled... I have heard people have been discussing me on TV in Hong Kong, Australia, the United States, Belgium, Spain...I hope that this will help more people understand that sign language isn't just about two deaf people communicating. It is creative, it is an art."

Election 2016: Too Many Cooks

And finally... wha?? Following the breakout success of last year's "Too Many Cooks," Adult Swim's viral dark comedy short, CNN decided to get in on the joke by releasing its own election-inspired version, starring the many, many "cooks" of the U.S. political world. The parody of a parody was released yesterday, with an unknown goal and geared towards an unclear audience, but has already got the wide range of media outlets buzzing (and scratching their heads) -from CNET, to NY Mag, to Daily Dot, to the Hollywood Reporter.

--Christine Huang

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Trending This Week: Real-Life Bionic Heroes; Blue Steel's Back!

March 13, 2015

For The Collective Project: Robert Downey Jr. Delivers a Real Bionic Arm

For 8 months, members of University of Central Florida's Limbitless team (a group of students focused on producing affordable, 3-D printed bionic limbs for children with amputations) had been working on a specially designed Iron Man-themed appendage for a young boy named Alex who was born with a partially developed right arm. Yesterday, we had the privilege of witnessing Alex's much-anticipated introduction to his new arm, delivered by the world's most powerful bionic hero himself - Iron Man. The video, filmed by Microsoft as part of their Collective Project initiative, has earned more than 3.7m views and ~2k comments in less than 24 hours.

Zoolander 2 - Maison Valentino Runway
This week, guests at Maison Valentino's runway show in Paris were treated to a very special guest appearance by two of fashion's most infamous rivals: Hansel and Zoolander. Owen Wilson and Ben Stiller, the two stars of 2001's comedy "Zoolander," took to the catwalk together for the first time in more than a decade, a reunion that confirmed the release of the movie's sequel next year and that sparked a flurry of excitement around the web (1.5m+ views on YouTube, plus hundreds of thousands of shares, comments and likes across Twitter and Instagram). The nearly unanimous positive feedback from the bold marketing stunt bodes well for the aging (but still so hot right now) duo, and suggests that maybe there isn't much more to life than being really, really ridiculously good-looking.

Mean Tweets - President Obama Edition

For his latest edition of celebrities reading mean tweets, late night host Jimmy Kimmel invited one of the biggest celebrities of them all - President Barack Obama - to meditate on some of the criticism he's received in the Twittersphere (@Campaignrpoz: "A 30 rack of coors light is $23 now at Sun Stop. Thanks Obama."). In total, Kimmel's Mean Tweets clips have amassed a stupendous 300m+ views, and continue to be among the most buzzed-about and consistently popular segments from his show.

Funky Flight Attendant

Adding to the 70k+ "Uptown Funk" covers, parodies, and homages that have been keepin' YouTube funky, this short dance tribute performed by one particularly coordinated WestJet flight attendant tickled the fancy of millions of viewers this week, the video of her in-aisle performance earning 5.5m+ views in little more than 4 days. The clip - recorded (vertically, smh) by the attendant's brother - gained quick traction through social media and blogs, first starting on Reddit then quickly spreading to sites like Mashable and Buzzfeed, the sum of which made up 60% of the video's views.

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The Other Billion-View Song You Never Saw Coming

March 11, 2015

There is one video that sits atop the mountain of YouTube videos bearing the crown inscribed “Most Watched YouTube Video of All Time,” and it is a video for a song. That song is "Gangnam Style" by Psy. Uploaded almost three years ago by OfficialPsy, the video has tallied 2.3 billion views. This number, which is almost mind boggling, would have seemed unthinkable when the video was released. And yet, here we are.

"Gangnam Style" became the first video and song to cross 1 billion views on YouTube in December 2012. Next came Justin Bieber’s "Baby," which crossed a billion views last year. If you look at the list of YouTube’s most-viewed videos, you’ll see that there are a couple more videos, all songs, that are close to accomplishing this feat. Psy has another contender with "Gentleman," already at .8 billion, Katy Perry has "Roar" at .8 billion and "Dark Horse" at .9 billion. But there’s one other song that has already passed this prestigious mark and doesn’t appear on the list of the ten most-viewed videos of all time, and there’s no way you’ll ever guess what it is. Here’s a hint: It was released in 2007.

In 2007, the first iPhones was released, the last Harry Potter book went on sale, destined to become the fastest-selling book of all time, and a humble Gummy Bear began singing a self-affirming ditty titled I’m A Gummy Bear. For those who are unfamiliar, or are in need of a reminder, this is "I’m A Gummy Bear."

"I’m A Gummy Bear" was a phenomenon. While it had debuted as a 30-second video clip in Hungary in August 2006, the full-length song was unleashed on the world in October 2007. Not only did the song spend eight months atop Hungary's ringtone charts, but the song charted in the US as a dance track, where it has gone double platinum. Gummy Bear has spawned video games, movies, and licensing deals galore. This video, the English version of the song, has received 528 million views since being uploaded in October 2007. Of course, 528 million views is an astonishing number, but it’s nowhere near a billion. Well, this isn’t the only official upload of this song.

"I’m A Gummy Bear" has been translated into dozens of languages and uploaded to the official YouTube channel, "ICanRockYourWorld.” If you add up all the different translations of the song uploaded to ICanRockYourWorld, you arrive at: 921 million views. That moves the Gummy Bear song past Dark Horse and Roar, but it isn’t quite the 1 billion views promised above.

Not a problem.

There’s the other official Gummy Bear channel, “GummyBearIntl,” which also hosts the song and even more translations. If you add those views to the mix, you get 1.1 billion views, making this a third song to have crossed one billion views on YouTube.

Psy’s "Gangnam Style" was unique. It was a song sung almost entirely in Korean, a language spoken by less than .01% of the world’s population, that managed to charm the world. Justin Bieber’s "Baby" had an army of Beliebers behind it and the benefit of being in English, the lingua franca of the pop music world. "I’m A Gummy Bear" became a force to be reckoned with by greeting people around the world on their own terms in their own languages - my gummy bear, your gummy bear, everyone’s gummy bear.

- Earnest Pettie

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Trending This Week: Love for #DearMe; Miracles at 4,000 Feet

March 06, 2015

GUY HAS SEIZURE WHILE SKYDIVING

22 year-old Christopher Jones was skydiving 12,000 feet over Western Australia when, at around 9,000 ft, Jones began having a seizure. Free falling unconsciously through the sky, Jones was intercepted by his jumpmaster, Sheldon McFarlane, who managed to grab a hold of him and deploy his parachute, allowing him to float safely to the ground (at around 3,000 feet, Jones regained consciousness and was able to navigate his own secure landing). On Monday, Jones posted headcam footage of this terrifying fall - "possibly the scariest moment of [his] life" - and it immediately became one of the top trending topics of the day. Within the first 48 hours, the video received more than 9m views, 10k comments and hundreds of press mentions (and earned Jones an interview with Anderson Cooper, to boot).

Diversity & Inclusion - Love Has No Labels

Filmed on Valentine's Day in Santa Monica, CA, this touching PSA from Ad Council struck a chord this week - spreading the simple message of love, diversity and inclusion to more than 28.5m worldwide viewers in less than 3 days. Set to Macklemore & Ryan Lewis's Same Love, the ad features partners and friends of different backgrounds, genders, and ages expressing their appreciation for one another - openly and proudly - and demonstrating that love doesn't have, or need, any labels. The video was the top viewed non-music video of the week, coming in 4th overall behind Taylor Swift's "Blank Space".

Mark Ronson ft. Bruno Mars - "UPTOWN FUNK" (Sung in CARTOON Voices!)

Adding to the 60k+ parodies, covers and other tributes to Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars's hit "Uptown Funk," voice impressionist Mikey Bolts lent his voice (and a dozen or so others) to his own version of the song this week, amassing ~2.7m views in just three days. Bolts, whose channel has seen nearly 170m views and more than 1.8m subscribers since its 2008 debut, assures his fans in his comments section that this video, though seemingly complicated, was but a single day's effort: "Started recording at 3am, filmed at noon, edited til 9. Tuesday vid." (A well spent day, we'd say!)

#DearMe - What Advice Would You Give Your Younger Self?

Tuesday saw the launch of #DearMe, our campaign aimed at inspiring and empowering girls around the world by asking them to answer one simple question: "What advice would you give your younger self?" This 2 minute spot features encouragement and words of wisdom from some of our biggest creators, including Hannah Hart, Laci Green, Michelle Phan, Grace Helbig, Gigi Chao, and Lilly Singh. The video received a 90%+ positive sentiment (likes vs. dislikes) and reached more than 2m people in three days.

--Christine Huang

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