The sun is shining, the temps are rising, and the first summer memes are starting to bloom. This week on the Spotlight Channel, we got to know some “Females Who Code," celebrated "Sloth Week," and asked the age-old q: “Famous Cats: Where Are They Now?”
And here are a few highlights from everything else:
Volinez Spears - “Hi Brit”
Is there anything more beautiful than a superfan's love for his idol? This week we got a stunning spin on a Britney classic from Israeli performance artist Gal Volinez (aka VOLINEZ SPEARS), who edited himself into literally every frame of Brit’s “Work It” video. An instant entry into our (completely unofficial) fan video Hall of Fame, Gal joins Ton Do-Nguyen, a 16-year-old who replicated Beyonce’s "Countdown" video shot for shot in a blue Snuggie. The completely profound result won the ultimate superfan prize: a shout-out from Queen Bey herself.
OK Go - “The Writing on the Wall”
Virtuosos of dad-pop, maestros of the mind-numbing music vid ... OK Go was back in a big way this week. Though their previous works have featured intricate treadmill choreography, dancing dogs, and a Rube Goldberg machine, the video they released this week--a four-minute trompe l’oeil masterpiece--might take the cake. You’ve gotta see it to (dis)believe it. The band and crew spent a month in a Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn warehouse prepping the M.C. Escher-inspired set, and the single-take final result took a cool 50 tries. OK Go ... this Bud’s for you.
AsapSCIENCE - “Should you hover or cover?”
You’ll want to chuck your cutting board immediately after watching the latest AsapSCIENCE. The masters of the whiteboard explainer--their channel has had more than 250M views, pretty amazing when you consider that their stock-in-trade is nerdy educational videos--had a hit this week as they investigated the public restroom. Feeling inquisitive? Check out this “That’s a Good Question” playlist.
Alton Brown - “How to Slice a Mango”
Food Network host Alton Brown only started posting YouTube videos to his channel two months ago, but he’s already clocked in a couple of hits with Grilled Grilled Cheese and Champagne Saber Time. This week, he mixed a straightforward tutorial with a little perverse physical comedy. The result? APPETIZING.
--Claire Stapleton
Trending This Week on YouTube: Hangovers, World Cup Ads, and More
On the Spotlight Channel, we obsessively follow what’s trending in the gripping world of viral video. In our inaugural weekly roundup, we take a closer look at a few of the past week's hits. See more of what's popping off in this playlist, and subscribe to Spotlight to stay au courant on all things YouTube (and the cultural universe at large).
PSY feat. Snoop Dogg - “The Hangover”
Puff Daddy, Coldplay, and even a posthumous hit from Michael Jackson: it’s been a big year for comebacks. Here at YouTube, it feels like PSY never really left ("Gangnam Style" just crossed a staggering 2 billion views), but he was back in a big way this week with his first new music video in over a year with “The Hangover.” This time he teamed up with Snoop Dogg for a raucous romp through South Korea.
Nike - “The Last Game”
As the world waits for the (soccer) games to begin, World Cup ads pour in, with the likes of Beats by Dre, Adidas, ESPN, and Powerade vying to create the most epic, star-studded spot. The top 10 World Cup 2014 ads have so far been seen more than 300M times. Nike’s second World Cup ad launched this week--a stunningly animated 5-minute short called “The Last Game”--and racked up over 20M views in its first two days on YouTube.
Baracksdubs - “Ellen Singing Birthday”
Fadi Saleh has made a brand out of making Obama sing such stately classics as “Call Me Maybe” and “Timber”--and has picked up more than 100M views in the meantime. This week, he turned his supercutting prowess to Ellen DeGeneres for an instant classic version of the Katy Perry hit “Birthday.” Here’s Ellen’s reaction (in short, she concurs that Fadi has too much time on his hands).
Last Week Tonight - "FIFA and the World Cup"
As far as the late night circuit goes, John Oliver is new in town: “Last Week Tonight” is only two months old. Yet he’s already found a niche--taking on topics like Ukraine, the death penalty, and (rather notably) net neutrality in his signature entertaining style (a hybrid explainer/takedown). His channel already has an impressive 200M views. We (and the rest of the web) eagerly await his next "viral rant."
--Claire Stapleton
PSY feat. Snoop Dogg - “The Hangover”
Puff Daddy, Coldplay, and even a posthumous hit from Michael Jackson: it’s been a big year for comebacks. Here at YouTube, it feels like PSY never really left ("Gangnam Style" just crossed a staggering 2 billion views), but he was back in a big way this week with his first new music video in over a year with “The Hangover.” This time he teamed up with Snoop Dogg for a raucous romp through South Korea.
Nike - “The Last Game”
As the world waits for the (soccer) games to begin, World Cup ads pour in, with the likes of Beats by Dre, Adidas, ESPN, and Powerade vying to create the most epic, star-studded spot. The top 10 World Cup 2014 ads have so far been seen more than 300M times. Nike’s second World Cup ad launched this week--a stunningly animated 5-minute short called “The Last Game”--and racked up over 20M views in its first two days on YouTube.
Baracksdubs - “Ellen Singing Birthday”
Fadi Saleh has made a brand out of making Obama sing such stately classics as “Call Me Maybe” and “Timber”--and has picked up more than 100M views in the meantime. This week, he turned his supercutting prowess to Ellen DeGeneres for an instant classic version of the Katy Perry hit “Birthday.” Here’s Ellen’s reaction (in short, she concurs that Fadi has too much time on his hands).
Last Week Tonight - "FIFA and the World Cup"
As far as the late night circuit goes, John Oliver is new in town: “Last Week Tonight” is only two months old. Yet he’s already found a niche--taking on topics like Ukraine, the death penalty, and (rather notably) net neutrality in his signature entertaining style (a hybrid explainer/takedown). His channel already has an impressive 200M views. We (and the rest of the web) eagerly await his next "viral rant."
--Claire Stapleton
Gangnam Style is the first video to reach 2 billion YouTube views
Fire up the foam machine and slip into your best powder-blue tux. “Gangnam Style,” the most viewed video of all time on YouTube, crossed 2 billion views, making it the first video to reach this milestone.
Even in a world of “Wrecking Ball”-s, “Let it Go”-s, and “Charlie Bit My Finger”-s, there are viral videos—and then there’s “Gangnam Style.” It’s had a blistering, record-smashing run since it was uploaded in July 2012: zipping past Justin Bieber’s “Baby” just three months later to become the most-watched video of all time (then “just” 800M views), then crossing a billion views a month after that. In the meantime, it spawned hundreds of thousands of parodies and fan tributes from around the world. Even as we near its two-year anniversary, the viewcount has continued to climb: “Gangnam” has racked up almost 100 million views so far in 2014.
And while Psy may be a K-Pop artist singing about a neighborhood most people outside of Korea had never heard of, the “Gangnam” phenomenon is decidedly global: 97 percent of its lifetime views are from outside Korea, with rabid fanships sprouting up in surprising places.
Perhaps most interestingly, the success of “Gangnam Style” signaled a surge in K-Pop popularity on YouTube. Viewership of K-Pop videos has exploded over the last few years: going from around 700 million total views on YouTube in 2010 to more than 5.5 billion in 2013.
Psy’s follow-up to “Gangnam,” another K-Pop banger called “Gentleman,” set the record for the most views ever in a single day (38 million on April 14, 2013). 대~박! (That’s Korean for “holy cow!”)
So what will be the next entry into the billion views club? So far, it’s lonely at the top—Psy is joined only by Bieber, whose “Baby” was inducted in February. Only time will tell which bit of viral brilliance will take the world by storm next. ’Til then, we have just one thing to say… Oppa Gangnam Style!
-- Claire Stapleton
Even in a world of “Wrecking Ball”-s, “Let it Go”-s, and “Charlie Bit My Finger”-s, there are viral videos—and then there’s “Gangnam Style.” It’s had a blistering, record-smashing run since it was uploaded in July 2012: zipping past Justin Bieber’s “Baby” just three months later to become the most-watched video of all time (then “just” 800M views), then crossing a billion views a month after that. In the meantime, it spawned hundreds of thousands of parodies and fan tributes from around the world. Even as we near its two-year anniversary, the viewcount has continued to climb: “Gangnam” has racked up almost 100 million views so far in 2014.
And while Psy may be a K-Pop artist singing about a neighborhood most people outside of Korea had never heard of, the “Gangnam” phenomenon is decidedly global: 97 percent of its lifetime views are from outside Korea, with rabid fanships sprouting up in surprising places.
Perhaps most interestingly, the success of “Gangnam Style” signaled a surge in K-Pop popularity on YouTube. Viewership of K-Pop videos has exploded over the last few years: going from around 700 million total views on YouTube in 2010 to more than 5.5 billion in 2013.
Psy’s follow-up to “Gangnam,” another K-Pop banger called “Gentleman,” set the record for the most views ever in a single day (38 million on April 14, 2013). 대~박! (That’s Korean for “holy cow!”)
So what will be the next entry into the billion views club? So far, it’s lonely at the top—Psy is joined only by Bieber, whose “Baby” was inducted in February. Only time will tell which bit of viral brilliance will take the world by storm next. ’Til then, we have just one thing to say… Oppa Gangnam Style!
-- Claire Stapleton
Analysis Shows 2014 Could Be Huge Year for New Memes
Today, YouTube unveiled its video trend lineup for 2014, providing more information about our production and development of YouTube's top memes over the past decade and revealing what we anticipate to be the year's top memes. [Click here to learn more].
In combining quantitative and qualitative research methods, our data analysts project that 2014 could be one of the most active years for meme activity yet. Our Harlem Shake program set site-wide records in 2013, but look at what we're projecting for just one of our 2014 #newtrends, "Clocking":
Since this project began in 2005, we've been closely tracking it's impact on both viewership and the number of meme videos uploaded by our production teams. As you can see, the impact of this program has skyrocketed the last few years, with viewership spikes increasing as high as 64%. We're really pleased to be expanding it in 2014!
To learn more about this year's memes and how, for the first time, you can participate by creating your own, please see our announcement video:
In combining quantitative and qualitative research methods, our data analysts project that 2014 could be one of the most active years for meme activity yet. Our Harlem Shake program set site-wide records in 2013, but look at what we're projecting for just one of our 2014 #newtrends, "Clocking":
Since this project began in 2005, we've been closely tracking it's impact on both viewership and the number of meme videos uploaded by our production teams. As you can see, the impact of this program has skyrocketed the last few years, with viewership spikes increasing as high as 64%. We're really pleased to be expanding it in 2014!
To learn more about this year's memes and how, for the first time, you can participate by creating your own, please see our announcement video:
Previous
