On Sunday, August 27, Taylor Swift dropped the video for “Look What You Made Me Do,” the first single off her forthcoming album "Reputation." The video had built significant buzz leading up to its release at the MTV VMAs, fueled by a record-breaking lyric video for the song (the most viewed lyric video in 24 hours), released on August 24, and a preview clip posted by Taylor herself. The result: it had the biggest debut of any video in YouTube history, earning 43.2 million views in 24 hours.
After the video’s release, views surged to over 3 million per hour. It would surpass the previous 24-hour record holder, PSY’s “Gentleman,” with five hours to spare. In 2013, “Gentleman” gained approximately 36 million views in its first 24 hours. It was such an impressive milestone that the record stood for over four years.
2017 has been a breakthrough year for record-breaking (and making) on YouTube: this month, “Despacito” by Luis Fonsi ft. Daddy Yankee became the first video to achieve 3 billion views.
Will Taylor Swift’s “Look What You Made Me Do” follow a similar trajectory? We’ll have to wait and see: to break the record for fastest video to 100 million views, it will have to surpass “Gentleman” again, which achieved the milestone in a mere four days. To become the fastest video to reach 1 billion views, it will have to surpass “Hello” by Adele, which achieved the feat in 87 days.
One of the biggest social media moments of 2017, Monday’s solar eclipse, which was visible throughout North America, also became a top moment for video and one of the largest livestreamed events ever on YouTube.
From news organizations to educational institutions, a multitude of channels livestreamed the eclipse on YouTube. By 10:20 a.m. PT on Monday, more than 2 million viewers were simultaneously tuned in to these livestreams, including NASA’s, which was the most-watched.
Some viewers used YouTube to celebrate the eclipse in a different way: through music. We saw a major spike in viewership of Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart" -- the official video was viewed over 1.6 million times yesterday, with hourly views reaching as high as 260,000 -- which was also the song we saw people adding most frequently to "Eclipse"-related playlists in the lead-up. (The rest of the top 5 included Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Bad Moon Rising,” Katrina and the Waves' "Walking On Sunshine," Owl City's "Galaxies," and Smash Mouth's "Walkin' on the Sun," respectively.)
If you didn't get to see the eclipse (or couldn't get your hands on some eclipse glasses), you can watch plenty of replays like these.
Only 204 days after first being uploaded to YouTube, Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee’s breakout hit “Despacito” has officially become the most viewed video in YouTube history. And with 3,000,730,629 views and counting, the video today also became the first to reach the once unfathomable 3 billion marker on the platform.
“Breaking the record for most viewed video of all time on YouTube is truly incredible, not only for me but for Latin music and our culture.” Fonsi explained in a statement. “Working with a platform like YouTube has allowed our song to reach audiences all over the world, something that just a decade ago was nearly impossible.”
The new record comes less than a month after Wiz Khalifa's “See You Again” took over YouTube’s top spot from PSY, who held the crown for over four and half years with his ubiquitous clip for “Gangnam Style.” And while the previous record holders and other YouTube heavyweights like Justin Bieber - “Sorry,”Mark Ronson - “Uptown Funk” and Major Lazer - “Lean On” have displayed impressive trajectories, nothing quite compares to the unprecedented growth of “Despacito.” Averaging 14.5 million views per day since upload, the video already owned the record for fastest video to 1.5, 2 and 2.5 billion views, reaching each of those milestones in less than 1/2 of the time of the previous record holders. See how other top viewed music videos on YouTube compare to Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee’s collaborative effort here.
Today’s numbers are just the latest in a growing list of accomplishments for the international chart topper, which last month became the most liked video on YouTube. The clip is currently the most viewed video of the year in over 40 countries, earning massive numbers in every corner of the world -- 385 million views in Mexico, 224 million in Brazil, 146 million in Italy, 85 million in France, 41 million in Indonesia, 33 million in India, 18 million in Israel, 10 million in Egypt, and millions more throughout the globe.
But Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee are not the only Latin artists currently experiencing a massive growth spurt, with acts like Nicky Jam, Maluma, J Balvin, and Ozuna each already earning over 1 billion views across YouTube in 2017. Around the world, monthly view counts for top Latin acts have skyrocketed since this time last year, growing 940 percent in Indonesia, 821 percent in the Philippine, 463 percent in India, 284 percent in South Africa, 260 percent in Israel, 270 percent in New Zealand, 237 percent in Turkey, 178 percent in the U.K. and 110 percent in Canada. And as further proof of the explosion, Latin artists make up a full 1/3 of the slots on this week’s YouTube Global Tracks Chart. Kevin Meenan, YouTube Music Trends Manager
Which Game of Thrones episodes have generated the most activity on YouTube? With Season 7 of Game of Thrones now under way, we can see how it compares to previous seasons by totaling views of Game of Thrones–related videos uploaded on an episode’s air date, plus two days.
The Season 7 premiere generated the most activity on YouTube compared to any other premiere, Seasons 1–6.
The Season 6 finale generated the most activity of any Game of Thrones episode.
Based on historic trends, we expect Season 7 to continue an upward trajectory and surpass views set by Season 6.
Season 3, Episode 9 (“The Rains of Castamere,” also known as “The Red Wedding”) is the third most popular.
When it comes to the most popular elements from Game of Thrones, we examined characters and houses from the show to determine the most popular, using views on videos related to each:
Daenerys and House Targaryen are among the most popular on YouTube.
The Starks (including Jon Snow) total four of the top 10 characters.
Will Daenerys continue to remain the top character through Season 7? Will the Season 7 finale surpass the finale from Season 6? Once the season concludes in August 2017, we will eagerly update the results.
What's the perfect soundtrack to a Fourth of July BBQ? According to YouTube data, it is likely to include the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Toby Keith, Lee Greenwood, and Neil Diamond, amongst other holiday musical standouts.
In celebration of America’s birthday, we crunched the numbers on past Fourth of July listening patterns and uncovered the artists and songs that receive the biggest year-to-year holiday spikes. For example, Bruce Springsteen’s "Born in the U.S.A." saw a 2300% views increase on July 4th when compared to its typical daily averages, while country staple Lee Greenwood received a 2100% bump across his entire catalog on past Independence Days. The two artists also prove to be massive regional favorites, having the largest percent increase in views in every state but Delaware, where John Mellencamp landed the honor.
Other notable acts experiencing annual lifts include Fall Out Boy, Trace Adkins, and DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince, whose 1991 hit "Summertime" also saw recent peaks in viewership on Memorial Day and the summer solstice. See below for the full list of musicians and tracks that earned the most holiday growth:
This list is led by Lee Greenwood, who’s track “God Bless the USA” brings his music to the forefront on YouTube.
At #2, Toby Keith’s many patriotic anthems (e.g., “Courtesy Of The Red, White And Blue”, “American Soldier”, and “Made In America”) elevate his popularity on July 4th.
At #10, DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince benefit from the aforementioned resurgence of their hit “Summertime.”
With the exception of “Pink Houses” in Delaware, “God Bless the USA” by Lee Greenwood and “Born in the U.S.A.” by Bruce Springsteen have the largest percent increase in views on July 4th across the rest of the 49 states.
Nationally, the remaining top 10 include songs by Neil Diamond, Fall Out Boy, and Trace Adkins:
These tracks speak to the diversity of the US community, from country music to pop punk – something to keep in mind while you get started on your playlist for this weekend.
In honor of Canada Day, we decided to look at which Canadian cities are most interested in the country’s cultural icons. Specifically, we picked a number of Canada-related topics, determining which city had the largest percentage of its June views devoted to the topic. Does Toronto watch the most hockey-related content? Does Ottawa dominate when it comes to watching videos about snowshoeing? Which Canadian city is most interested in poutine? We’ve crunched the numbers for Canada’s largest cities and have the findings below:
Classic Canadian musicians are most popular in Laval, QC, with The Tragically Hip and Montreal’s own Leonard Cohen coming up on top.
Canada’s animals are most-loved in Ontario, with views of Beavers highest in Brampton and views of moose-related videos highest in Toronto.
Timmies, aka Tim Hortons, is one of Canada’s best-loved fast-food chains, and views of videos related to it are highest in Burnaby, BC.
Canada’s Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, is most-watched in Edmonton (same with The Weeknd, who grew up in Toronto).
E3 2017, one of the most anticipated events for the gaming industry, has just concluded. The YouTube Gaming hub gave fans a front row seat to the three-day expo, tracking trailers, press conferences, and event highlights.
Now that it’s over, we can determine how fans responded. Which game received the most buzz on YouTube? We totaled views of trailer releases, industry coverage, and fan-uploaded reactions to determine which game stole the show.
Which Game Won E3 on YouTube?
Among the 200+ games with a major announcement at E3, “Star Wars Battlefront II” had the most views of any title.
This ranking includes all videos related to the title, including trailers, official gameplay, media coverage, and fan-uploaded reactions. Notably, EA’s press conference included four of the titles in our top 10, a nod to the strength of its showcase.
Which Trailer Won E3?
During E3, “Star Wars Battlefront 2” was both the #1 most-viewed trailer, and the most popular game across all videos uploaded to YouTube, with over 7.9M views.
In second place is the “Super Mario Odyssey” trailer with 5.5 million views. It was one of the last titles to be announced at E3, so its ranking is even more impressive given that it proceeded the “Star Wars Battlefront 2” trailer release by three days.
The Top 10 Most-viewed Trailers* from E3 (June 9 - 14, 2017)
*Includes official trailers, teasers, and gameplay released after June 8, 2017. Excludes titles where the E3 announcement primarily involved add-ons, upgrades or an existing release on a new platform.
Stay tuned to the YouTube Gaming hub – we’ll announce the winner of the E3 Trailer Battle based on fan votes shortly!
This Mother’s Day, we celebrate the moms of YouTube. For the past several years, tens of thousands of creators have contributed to a thriving community of mothers on YouTube, helping new mothers with swaddling tutorials, mom hacks, edible play-dough recipes, and morning routines.
Every year, this community continues to expand. Views of mother-related content grew 81 percent between 2015 and 2016. More importantly, videos related to education and tips for moms grew a staggering 98 percent over the same period.
Rising Moms
To understand who’s behind this growth, we sought out the “emerging” mom creators. These are moms and families who began their channels in 2016 and quickly amassed hundreds of thousands (and, in one case, millions) of subscribers.
With Mother’s Day around the corner, let’s recognize seven new (i.e., they began within the past 18 months) mom and family creators who, as of May 2017, have gained the most subscribers. Collectively, they’ve amassed over 7 million subscribers and have had an outsized impact on the expanding community of mothers on YouTube.
Bramty Juliette - 387,000 subscribers. Channel started in February 2016
Some of Bramty’s most successful videos have been her open advice to other moms, including Q&A about her experience as teen parents. “Day-in-the-life” and “routine” videos are often shared in the mom community, and Bramty’s “Mommy Morning Routine” is a hit with over 1.4M views.
The Ingham Family - 396,000 subscribers. Channel started in December 2015.
For the past 14 months, Sarah and Chris Ingham have been actively vlogging their family of six, uploading over 420 videos to YouTube. Their Christmas Morning Special has proved incredibly popular, receiving over 23 million views to date.
Mila Diverte - 487K Subscribers. Channel started in January 2017.
Mila Diverte has only uploaded five videos in four months, but has already gained over 400,000 subscribers. The rapid viewership is a result of the breakout success in Brazil of the channel Planeta das Gêmeas (2.2M subscribers in 14 months!), which she stars in with her two twin girls. Her most popular video is a Smoothie Challenge, which stars the twins as well.
Mama Rug - 512K subscribers. Channel started in early 2017.
Over the course of a few months, Mama Rug has gained over 500K subscribers. She’s had some help – her son is FaZe Rug, who has an enormous following, with over 5 million subscribers and close to 900 million lifetime views. While her son often participates in videos, many of Mama Rug’s uploads are wisdom-filled monologues about bullying, dealing with a breakup, and cooking.
Last year, we examined the songs that YouTube viewers are most likely to share on Valentine’s Day. This year, we analyzed musicians who see their biggest viewership increases on Valentine’s Day.
Among all musicians on YouTube, Martina McBride’s music has had the largest increase in views on Valentine’s Day. When compared to an average day on YouTube, her content receives 2.8x more views on Feb 14th.
For example, here are views for McBride’s music over the past two years.
It’s no surprise that fans revisit her music on Valentine’s Day: McBride’s most popular song on YouTube is “Valentine,” with nearly 21M views since the beginning of 2016.
Other top 10 artists on Valentine’s Day include Kina Grannis (2.1x higher), Barry White (1.53x higher), Outkast (1.3x higher), and Lionel Richie (1.21x higher).
In the U.S., Whitney Houston has the #1 spot for musicians who see the largest increase in views of their music (2.7x). Other artists unique to the U.S. include Chaka Khan (1.7x) and Savage Garden (1.5x).
In the U.K., R&B royalty Keith Sweat (1.6x), K-Ci & JoJo (1.5x), and Brian McKnight (1.5x) break into the top 10.
We also looked at musical trends for Valentine’s Day in 2017. While this year will be tough to predict, we’ve noticed a couple surprising insights:
David Bowie’s “Valentine’s Day” should continue to rise in popularity. Last year on Valentine’s Day, David Bowie’s untimely passing led his song “Valentine’s Day” to break into the top 10 songs with “valentine” in the title. It surged 400 percent on February 14, 2016, vs. the year prior.
When it comes to love songs (songs with “love” in the title), Justin Bieber had the top spot on Valentine’s Day in 2016 with “Love Yourself,” and he’s primed to repeat this feat in 2017. Among all of this year’s songs with “love” in title, DJ Snake’s “Let Me Love You” ft. Justin Bieber is the most popular, amassing nearly 200M views since its release.
From iconic solo performers such as James Brown and Michael Jackson, to supergroups like The Rolling Stones and Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, the Super Bowl Halftime show has become one of the game’s most anticipated events. Considering the number of legendary musicians who have performed, we began to wonder: how does an artist’s Super Bowl performance help grow their fanbase on YouTube?
The Impact a Super Bowl Halftime Performance has on Artists' Subscribers
Last year, we examined the views bumps that artists’ videos receive following their Super Bowl performances. This year, we decided to focus on YouTube subscribers
Looking back at the artists who have performed in the past 4 years, it was Destiny’s Child who had the greatest increase in official channel subscribers following the 2013 Super Bowl, with an increase of 427%. For this same performance, Beyoncé herself saw an increase of 196%. The huge increase in subscribers on the official Destiny’s Child YouTube channel was most likely due to the long-awaited reunion of the group, who had not performed together since 2007.
When Beyoncé returned to perform at the Super Bowl in 2016, she saw a subscriber bump of 145%, but the moment belonged to headliners Coldplay, who saw a subscriber bump of 234% for their Super Bowl debut.
Love For the Halftime Show’s Songs
It’s clear that even established artists with vast worldwide fanbases can grow their audience online as a result of playing the Super Bowl Halftime stage. The songs they play on game day reach millions of listeners around the world. They grow even more popular as old fans reconnect with past favorites and new listeners discover tracks for the first time. Among all Super Bowl Halftime artists over the last four years, who has had the largest increase in views for the songs that they performed?
Among the past four years’ headliners — Coldplay, Katy Perry, Bruno Mars and Beyoncé — it was Beyoncé who had the greatest increase in YouTube video views for songs performed at the Super Bowl (a 54.8% increase). This was more than double the increase in views for Coldplay (27%), Katy Perry (23.9%), and Bruno Mars (21%).
This year, Lady Gaga is set to entertain the millions watching Super Bowl LI. Check back here for more Super Bowl analyses!
Every year, we like to look back on the biggest trends on YouTube through our Rewind video, and we’re excited to debut the 2016’s version today.
We’ve tried to jam a year’s worth of culture into only a few minutes, and it can be tough to catch every reference. That’s why this year, we’ve created an in-depth, interactive guide to the creators, songs, and trends we’ve featured that plays as you watch:
To give a sense of the breadth of genres and artists that comprise the Viral Videos chart, we’ve put together a recap of the top 10, below:
1. Britney Spears ft. Tinashe -"Slumber Party"
The Princess of Pop ascends to the top of this week’s Viral Chart with the second single from her 2016 album Glory.
2. Kehlani - "Distraction"
Following up her immensely successful mix tapes, Kehlani’s “Distraction,” the second single from her upcoming debut album, SWEETSEXYSAVAGE, is in the second spot.
4. Lil’ Yachty ft. Quavo, Skippa da Flippa - "Minnesota"
The newly released video for “Minnesota,” the second of the two tracks that garnered Lil’ Yachty tremendous attention in 2015 (the first is “1 night”), is the fourth-most viral music video this week.
5. Noah Cyrus ft. Labrinth - "Make Me (Cry)"
Noah Cyrus continues to set herself apart from elder sister Miley with this Lana Del Rey-esque ballad, at #5.
6. Pentatonix - "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen"
Pentatonix’s characteristically polished five-part harmony of a traditional English carol, “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen,” is gaining traction in time for Christmas.
7. Ariana Grande ft. Nicki Minaj - "Side to Side" (Live From The 2016 American Music Awards)
Ariana Grande’s American Music Awards performance of the immensely popular “Side To Side” — the track received over 500 million views in under 3 months — was one of our most viral videos last week.
8. Piko Taro - "PPAP vs AXEL F"
Piko Taro's viral “Pen Pineapple Apple Pen” meets Harold Faltermeyer’s “Axel F,” the classic 80s track featured in Beverly Hills Cop.
9. OK Go - "The One Moment"
OK Go maintain their tradition of releasing some of the most imaginativevideoson YouTube with “The One Moment.” It’s also the newest video in our Viral Chart top 10, released on Nov. 24.
10. Grace VanderWaal - "I Don't Know My Name"
Grace Vanderwaal is the youngest artist on our Viral Chart this week. The twelve-year-old ukulele player and singer-songwriter debuts the video for “I Don’t Know My Name,” made up of her fans’ artwork, at #10.
To check out the rest of the Top 50, head over to the YouTube Charts page and click the Viral Videos tab.
On November 17, the Latin GRAMMY Awards will honor the biggest names in Latin music. With YouTube viewers around the world watching more Latin music than ever — 55 Latin artists have songs in the YouTube Top 100 music charts this year alone — we decided to look at which nominees would have the highest chance of winning if the winners were selected based on views of their songs on YouTube during the GRAMMY eligibility period.
Latin GRAMMY Predictions: Record of the Year
When it comes to the Record of the Year, this year’s Latin GRAMMYs have a clear winner if song popularity is our metric of choice. Among the nominees, Enrique Iglesias and Wisin’s “Duele El Corazón” is far and away the most-played track on YouTube.
Latin GRAMMY Predictions: Song of the Year
While Record of the Year honors the performer alongside the producers, engineers, and mixers of the track, the Song of the Year award recognizes the songwriters behind some of the biggest hits of the year. Among the ten nominated tracks, Enrique Iglesias & Wisin’s “Duele El Corazón” once again stands out as the most-watched track:
Best New Artist
The Best New Artist category for this year’s Latin GRAMMYs is -- when compared to the Song of the Year and Record of the Year -- a much closer race. Nevertheless, Manuel Medrano’s YouTube views over the past year and a half suggest that the singer of “Bajo El Agua” and “Una Y Otra Vez” are more popular than newcomers Mon Laferte (“Tu Falta De Querer”), Morat (“Cuánto Me Duele”), and Joss Favela (“Cuando Fuimos Nada”).
Latin GRAMMY Predictions: Urban Song of the Year
If YouTube’s weekly Top 100 Charts are our barometer for highlighting the songs that people love, Latin Urban music is tremendously popular on YouTube. The most popular song of all the Urban Song of The Year nominees is Yandel’s “Encantadora,” beating out the likes of Cosculluela & Daddy Yankee’s “A Donde Voy” and De La Ghetto’s “Acércate.”
Urban Album of the Year J. Balvin is one of only four Latin artists (the others being Enrique Iglesias, Shakira, and Romeo Santos) who, at the time of writing, have videos that have received over a billion views. Although Balvin’s billion-view song, “Ay Vamos,” was on a previous album, tracks like “Ginza” and “Safari” have proven immensely popular, and have led to his Energía being the most listened-to album of all nominees. Farruko’sVisionary is next in line, followed by Emicida’sSobre Crianças, Quadris, Pesadelos E Lições De Casa…, El B’sLuz, and Arianna Puello’sDespierta.
How closely will popularity sync with the decisions of this year's Latin GRAMMY judges? We'll have to wait until November 17 to find out!
Following the announcement of Leonard Cohen’s death on November 10, “Hallelujah,” one of his most iconic songs, is today’s most-watched video on YouTube, with over 5.2 million views (as of 4pm EST).
Leonard Cohen - "Hallelujah"
Furthermore, today's increase in views for “Hallelujah” has far outpaced the view increases to other videos on Leonard Cohen's channel:
The resurgence of “Hallelujah” should come as no surprise. Since September 2014, it has been viewed over 35 million times, making it one of the most popular ‘80s songs on YouTube. Among Cohen’s catalogue, it’s his most popular track, with double the views of his second most-viewed song, “A Thousand Kisses Deep.”
Why is “Hallelujah” so unique? After all, when it was released in 1984, the song did not immediately become a commercial hit. Yet over the past 30 years, it has remained a core part of contemporary culture due to the high number of its covers by other artists. The most popular version on YouTube is Jeff Buckley’s rendition, which has been viewed over 75 million times since September 2014:
Jeff Buckley - "Hallelujah"
Yet famous covers are not the only source of timeless appeal for the song. YouTube creators have covered “Hallelujah” more than any other track release before 2010:
While Cohen may be gone, his music — particularly “Hallelujah” — has memorialized him as a once-in-a-generation talent.
We’ve reported staggering numbers for the 2016 U.S. presidential election on YouTube. The final debate, for example, had an unprecedented 140 million election-related views.
Even more exceptional is how this U.S. presidential election cycle compares to those of 2012 and 2008. We examined the data for election years in 2016, 2012, and 2008, and determined that this year will likely break YouTube records for views and watch-time on Election Day, November 8.
Since January 1, overall views in 2016 for videos about candidates have been 5x larger than in 2012. Going back four more years to the 2008 election, this year has had 8x more views than 2008’s presidential race. This is a departure from the change in views from 2008 to 2012, which was only 1.65x larger.
In each case, Election Day was the most popular date: views historically increase 7-10x from the yearly average, as viewers tune into analyses of the results. When it comes to U.S. elections-related viewership, we expect November 8, 2016, to be one of the largest days ever in YouTube’s history.
The Significant YouTube Moments From Every Presidential Election Year
Each election season is marked by its own cultural milestones: there are the gaffes, the inspirational speeches, and the viral campaign moments. We’ve compiled a list of some of the biggest election-related moments on YouTube during the past three presidential races:
Here are some of the elections-related videos that provided sizable contributions to the viewership spikes in each of the three campaign cycles:
October 29 is National Cat Day, which means it’s the perfect moment to reflect on one of the most important memes in YouTube’s canon. Who are the most popular cats on YouTube? Have YouTube viewers tired of watching cute kittens? Are cats more popular than dogs?
We’ve crunched the numbers to deliver answers to these momentous questions.
Have we achieved peak cat?
Fans of felines can rest easy: according to figures dating back to 2007, cats are as popular as ever.
Weekly views of cat videos have grown by over 10,000% since early 2007
Dec 2009 - “Surprised Kitty” video finds huge popularity online
May 2014 - Video of the family cat saving a boy from a dog is covered by media outlets across the world
The Most Popular Cat on YouTube is…
To no surprise of YouTube’s cat enthusiasts, the most popular channel, by cat-related video views, is dedicated to Simon’s Cat. For years, creator Simon Tofield has illustrated a web series about his cat, inspired, in large part, by the real-life version of Simon’s cat, named Hugh. At the time of writing, the channel has amassed over 4 million subscribers.
Simon’s Cat in “Cat Man Do” has received over 58 million views
Cats vs. Dogs
There are few rivalries that can match that of cats vs. dogs. And, despite the popular belief that YouTube is only an archive of cat videos, dogs seem to be the more popular of the two on YouTube. Views over the past two years seem to suggest that this trend is going to continue.
As YouTube continues to grow as a destination for filmmakers, chefs, and educators, there is a simple joy that cat videos still provide in 2016.
Over the past 11 years, YouTube has given us the chance to melt over friendships like Oskar the blind cat and Klaus, develop existential crises from Henri’s life musings, and celebrate the personality of the late Colonel Meow, the 2014 Guinness World Record holder for the cat with the longest fur.
Though the future may soon be dog driven, both YouTube’s founding fathers — Grumpy Cat, Keyboard Cat, and Lil Bub — and their digital legacy will remain very much feline.
Whether it’s decorations or costumes, YouTubers take Halloween very seriously. As big fans of the holiday, we’ve been closely watching the biggest Halloween trends of 2016.
Clown Sightings
Prior to this year, the fear of clowns was a relatively niche phobia that served more as a topic for humor than a widespread phenomenon. Yet this fall, we’ve observed a sudden increase in clown-related content on YouTube:
The impetus for this trend? Clown sightings. YouTubers have been uploading footage of solitary clowns frightening passersby in droves, and as news of these unnerving encounters has spread, so have views of clown-related videos.
Although bizarre clown sightings are reported as far back as 2014, their sharp increase only goes back to late August this year. The real peak, however, occurred on October 15th, after hundreds of news stories.
Harley Quinn, ‘The Purge,’ and Clown Costumes
As clowns have become prominent, so too have clown costumes: “clown” has become one of the most searched-for costumes on YouTube this October.
Clown costumes, at #6 this year, are in the top 10 for the first time.
Costumes of this year’s biggest Hollywood blockbusters are popular too, with users searching for costumes of Harley Quinn (from “Suicide Squad”) at #2, “The Purge” at #5, and “Deadpool” at #8.
Suicide Squad’s Harley Quinn
Costumes inspired by this year’s video games, such as “Overwatch” (released in May ‘16) and “Five Nights At Freddy’s” (the latest installment of which was released this October), are also in the top 10.
But what about Halloween? To find out what’s played as we celebrate the most ghoulish day of the year, we dug into the data for tracks with the highest increase in plays on October 31 compared to a song’s average the rest of the year.
Songs That Receive the Greatest View Increases on Halloween
All songs on this list receive at least 10k average daily views throughout the year and received at least 2x the number of views on Halloween than they do on all other days in 2013, 2014, and 2015.
In first place: the timeless "Monster Mash," recorded by Bobby "Boris" Pickett & The Crypt Kickers in 1962.
Gaming, often touted as being largerthanHollywood, is an international phenomenon, with a sprawling YouTube community. We’ve been publishing a monthly list of the games trending globally for some time, but recently got to wondering: are there distinct geographic quirks to gaming on YouTube? Is everyone, everywhere, watching Minecraft videos? Or do some countries have a preference for a unique title?
To find out, we selected the 251 countries with the highest gaming viewership by watchtime on YouTube in 2016. Then, we examined which games consistently made the top 25 most-popular games in each country. Here’s what we found:
To no one’s surprise, there are only two games that appear on the most-popular lists of all 25 countries: Minecraft and Grand Theft Auto V.
Of the two, Minecraft is the more popular, at #1 everywhere apart from Vietnam and Thailand. Even there, it only slips so far as #2.
There are also two games that are popular in nearly every country’s top 25: Pokemon Go, which makes the most-watched list everywhere apart from Russia, and Five Nights at Freddy’s, which is popular in every country we looked at apart from Taiwan and Japan.
We also examined games that were uniquely popular in each country — that is, which games appeared on the most-popular list of one country, but not others? Ten games, which you can see below, made the cut:
Due to the tremendous popularity of football in North America, Madden NFL ‘16 takes the #1 spot in the U.S. It’s also the only sports game on the list.
Three of the games had strong RPG elements (e.g., Puzzles & Dragons in Japan, Tower of Saviors in Taiwan, Dofus in France).
-- Posted by the YouTube Culture & Trends Team
1 Countries included: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, France, Great Britain, Indonesia, India, Japan, Mexico, Malaysia, Netherlands, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Russia, Sweden, Singapore, Thailand, Turkey, Taiwan, Ukraine, United States, Vietnam
Over 110 million hours of presidential candidate- and issue-related content has been watched on YouTube since primary candidates started announcing they were running for office in April 2015.1 Here’s a look at what U.S. voters are watching to stay informed on the presidential election, why they’re watching, and how it may influence Election Day.*
SOURCES
*Unless otherwise noted, all data is sourced from the Google-commissioned Ipsos Connect “YouTube Election Survey,” Wave 1, September 2016, U.S., n=3,706, U.S. registered voters 18–54. 1Google internal data, April 2015—February 2016, U.S., classification as elections "candidates" and "issues" was based on public data such as headlines and tags, and may not account for every such video available on YouTube.
