What is the most played YouTube video? Clue: it’s not Gangnam Style.
Most played YouTube video
So what is the most played YouTube video?
A little history first. When that (let’s be honest) surprising and slightly surreal hit by South Korean’s Psy came to computers all over the world, I’m not sure anyone would have predicted it would break YouTube.
OK, so I’m being overly dramatic. It didn’t ‘break YouTube’, but it did gain so many views they actually had to rewrite their code – the view counter wasn’t designed to go up that high. Not even Rick Astley’s Never Going To Give You Up could do that.
Can you imagine the advertising revenue from receiving over 2 billion views? Actually, we did and here is the blog – Will someone please pay Psy.
Another music video production takes the crown
YouTube is probably best known for the plethora of music videos on the platform (along with cute kittens and people hurting themselves for our amusement). So it’s no surprise that another music video production has taken the glory from Psy.
Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth’s See You Again.
Here it is for your enjoyment.
Is there a formula?
In short, no. In fact, they are quite, quite different. One is a quirky video with a catchy tune. The other is piggy-backing off a well-known film franchise (or is it the other way around).
It just goes to prove again that you cannot promise to make a video ‘go viral’.
Check out our blog on the first ever viral video (hint: a coffee pot).
And 3 steps to make your video go viral (honestly…).
I’ve always been fascinated by how predictable and utterly non-predictable people can be. And moreover, that what people say they will do is often different to what they actually do when tested. You just cannot predict what will be the next big hit because we are beautifully complex beings.
Of course, as an ‘advertising man’, this never stops the enjoyment of trying to figure out what makes people tick. You might not be able to say with a cast iron guarantee what will work, but you can be skilled at designing content that pushes the right emotional triggers.
So what WILL be next?
I will make one prediction. The next most played YouTube video will be a music video production. I’m taking bets in the office now.