Created by YouTube, YouTube Trends is a new destination for the latest trending videos and video trends on YouTube and a resource for daily insight into what’s happening in web video.
By making use of viewership data and aggregating the wisdom of top curators across the web, YouTube Trends surfaces popular videos in real time, and provides a blog of broader trends developing within the YouTube community.
The site is also a laboratory for new tools to help us identify and understand trends across YouTube.
Click here for our introductory post and launch video featuring the Gregory Brothers.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is YouTube Trends meant for?
YouTube trends is meant for anyone who wants to know what’s popular on YouTube right now. Because it takes a look at both trends that emerge on YouTube and videos that reflect broader cultural trends, we believe the site will be particularly useful for media organizations looking to cover the cultural and political zeitgeist through web video.
Why is YouTube doing this?
Since the launch of YouTube more than five years ago, we’ve marvelled at the way people use YouTube to not only reflect upon the signs of our times, but also to create and disseminate new cultural, artistic and political phenomena through web video. Viewership data on YouTube provides us with a great look at what’s happening on the site, but until now, we haven’t had one place where we can highlight the unique trends developing organically within the community. We created YouTube Trends because we wanted a single destination where media organizations and YouTube aficionados could see a concentrated cross-section of the daily conversation that unfolds on YouTube.
What are "Trending Topics?"
"Trending Topics" are algorithmically-generated topics derived from common metadata (similar keywords in the title, tags, and description of the video) within a set of videos that are currently rising in popularity. For example, if we suddenly see a spike in views for videos that all mention “San Francisco Giants” in the title, tags, or description, then that may be labeled a “Trending Topic” on YouTube.
What are "Trending Videos?"
"Trending Videos" are videos that have become popular because they were embedded in the web’s most popular websites and a significant number of people viewed the video externally in addition to on youtube.com.
What is “4 at 4” or "Four in the Morning/ Four in the Afternoon?"
Every morning at 4 a.m. and every evening at 4 p.m. Eastern time, we identify four of the videos generating significant buzz on YouTube and on news and culture websites.
How do you get your demographic information?
We are able to determine age and gender demographics of a video's audience solely based on the information reported by registered, logged-in users in their YouTube account profiles. We do not track the usernames that view specific videos, and we do not release information about individual users.
How do I know when there’s a new post to YouTube Trends?
In addition to our “4 at 4,” which is posted each weekday at 4am and 4pm ET, you can subscribe to our RSS feed to see the latest headlines from YouTube Trends.
Why does this site look different than YouTube.com?
YouTube Trends uses new tools, feeds, and strategies that are completely unique. We’ve developed a new interface that’s streamlined for those purposes and designed specifically for displaying trending videos and concepts in a dynamic fashion.
How can I embed your charts on my own site?
At this time, we do not have the functionality for users to embed charts on external sites, though it’s something we’re working on.
How does this site differ from the browse pages on YouTube.com where I can see “most-viewed”, etc.?
In an effort to measure and depict the goings-on in the YouTube community, YouTube Trends uses a unique set of trends and algorithms that measure video popularity in different and more experimental ways as compared to our browse pages.
How can I suggest a trend to be included on YouTube Trends?
Trends tips are welcomed and should be tweeted at @youtubetrends.
Trends Dashboard
Why do some cities return fewer results than others?
The Trends Dashboard is populated with the latest data from around the world and sorted by location and demographic. On some occasions, we may not have sufficient data from a specific city, country, or demographic to compile a full list.
Why isn’t my city available?
Right now, our dashboard uses only regions that are large enough to consistently return enough results with some reliability.
Why doesn’t the dashboard load for me?
There can be a delay from the time you select a region to the display of full results. Please be patient.