Well that depends on who is asking the question.  I can tell you that the strategic move of all their music video content from the main YouTube platform into another has shaken up the charts and reworked their business model.

First off, The avid user will now notice that the YouTube chart consisting of the most viewed music videos of all time has lost some of its leading content.   Avril Lavigne’s Girlfriend was the most viewed music video of all time on YouTube and stayed on the top of the chart through 2009.  Now it no longer appears on YouTube…What happened when they flicked the switch?

Well YouTube’s All Time chart started to look like it did back in early 2009.  Original viral videos like Connie, Paul Potts and guitar made it back on to the first page as the music juggernauts transfered their music to Vevo.  It also gave music videos not associated to  Sony, Universal or EMI the chance to climb to the front page as well.  Miley Cyrus being one of those artists now has 3 songs on the front page.  Pitbull took his song and ran with it too.

So how have the songs like Girlfriend under Sony, Universal and EMI fared on Vevo.  Well, the magic of the Vevo platform being run by YouTube allowed for the songs to keep their view count and carry on their online legacy.  The Vevo All Time chart now looks very similar to the charts we put together when we were separating the content on YouTube’s chart, only now Lady Gaga has completely taken over.  For the first time in over a year Lady Gaga may surpass Avril to claim the title of the most views on a single video.   In a  few months Lady Gaga accomplished what it took Avril almost 2 years to obtain.

This  begs the questions of whether it is simply that Lady Gaga is  the next Madonna or whether video consumption patterns are changing.  Maybe both…

So that was how the charts got mashed up but what do they accomplish by switching platforms.  Well there’s a slightly more engaging interface, it’s more focused on the visual aspect, it’s easily compatible with other Google run accounts and has easy buttons to favorite and create playlists.   Is that enough?  The ads meshed into the business plan are played between videos and are easily skipped plus the annoying factor that the site is limited to Sony, EMI and Universal content rather than a consumers on demand search of all content may inhibit the adoption their looking for.

What puzzles this cat is that YouTube Partners get paid per view so why would they not create customized channels within YouTube and attach ads to all Sony, EMI and Universal content rather than splitting the traffic between two platforms?  The functionality of Vevo can easily be inserted in to YouTube suggesting some kind of new functionality would come with the release of a new platform.  Not so much.  You still can’t do a search on Vevo without interrupting your music experience which tells me they still haven’t got a grip on the total in-browser music experience online.

Cheers

PS. Vevo currenttly has an Alexa rank of 4078  (Websitegrader.com Feb 26th)

Update Feb 27th:  Ads also flash up in the lower part of the videos frame similar to YT.

Where will YouTube take us next?

Live streaming has its uses.  Catching sports games or watching Presidential speeches online could make waves but now a new force has emerged to support musicians: YouTube Concerts.

In November U2 streamed a concert out of the Rosebowl in California and had over 60 million people tuned in.  Quickly following suit Alicia Keys dressed up her YouTube channel and joined the ranks of U2 just hours ago.  Notice the live Twitter feed…nice way to start trending.

American Express tagged along with some exclusive branding so no one got a free lunch.  When Jay-Z walked on stage and the song “Empire State of Mind” began you could start to see how the pieces would fit together in future concerts.  This particular concert is part of World Aids Day so this new form of musical distribution has benevolent roots.

CD sales don’t exactly excite most musicians these days.  Record labels take most of the cut anyway.  itunes has a nice monopoly on the per song online distribution method so what’s the new hope for musicians?

Well, why just have a concert and rely solely on ticket sales and T-shirts when you can stream it live and sell advertising?  At least for now big bands can tap into a new promotion/revenue/distribution model.

Cheers!

So who got the axe?

After Chris Brown’s public image fiasco his Kiss Kiss video soon lost appeal.  The Jonas Brothers join Chris as both their top videos SOS and Burnin Up dropped off to make way for the ladies.  Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and Venessa Hudgens have since taken the spot light.

*Growth calculated from May 15th

The interesting thing about the three latest editions to chart is that Vanessa’s video was added 2 years ago while Lady Gaga and Katy Perry have only been on YouTube for a year. 

Pay close attention to Hollywood Records and their strategy with Vanessa as they choose not disable the embedding feature.  A strategy that has allowed Miley’s 7 things video to amass over 30 million views since last March.  Now capping 100 million views on one video alone the strategy seems to be paying off.    

Cheers!

Source: YouTube

Miley Cyrus continues to dominate the chart movement as she closes in on Leona Lewis but the real fear is that the time advantage looks like it may be showing signs of weakness.  The artists present were some of the first to dominate the chart and have enjoyed the compounding factor of the position.  But, as the big name companies funnel the views to YouTube by disabling the embedding function it allows for others to use the advantage and close the gap.  Burnin’ Up does not disable the function and Akon does…  

Beyonce, Lady Gaga and Katie Perry have taken to disabling the embedding function as well however, they still have climbed the charts extremely rapidly starting to make appearances on the first page of the chart but not yet in the top ten.   

We shall see how this plays out in the next two weeks.  

Cheers!

Image by: MaurissaHunter.com

YouTube’s All Times most viewed video chart is being taken over by music.  When we first reported on the top 100 70% of videos on the Top 100 all time chart were music videos.  Currently, the music videos on the chart today account for 72% of all videos.  The growth of 2% occured because music is extremely viral.  Artist like Lady Gaga and Beyonce released songs (Just Dance, Single Ladies) and within months their making an appearance on the top 100.  Universal Music Group has 14 songs on this list!!!!

Looking closer at the Top Ten, 6 are music videos and interestingly positions 11 to 15 are all music video just waiting to squeeze those last 4 out.

So without boring you further here’s the list as of May 12th.

1.          Evolution of Dance
119,550,702 views
judsonlaipply

2.          Avril Lavigne – Girlfriend
119,330,598 views
RCARecords

3.          Charlie bit my finger – again !
96,161,584 views
HDCYT

4.          Chris Brown – With You
92,317,850 views
ChrisBrownTV

5.          Jeff Dunham – Achmed the Dead Terrorist
88,541,104 views
KrowBatellio

6.          Rihanna – Don’t Stop The Music
88,126,125 views
universalmusicgroup

7.          Leona Lewis – Bleeding Love
85,629,502 views
leonalewis

8.          Hahaha
82,819,724 views
BlackOleg

9.          Miley Cyrus – 7 Things
82,055,298 views
hollywoodrecords

10.        Alicia Keys – No One
79,757,444 views
aliciakeys

11.        Timbaland – Apologize
74,919,225 views
1988basti

12.        Chris Brown – Kiss Kiss
66,915,438 views
ChrisBrownTV

13.        Jonas Brothers – SOS
64,909,183 views
JonasBrothersMusic

14.        Akon – “Don’t Matter”
64,280,428 views
srcrecords

15.        Jonas Brothers – Burnin’ Up
64,260,661 views
JonasBrothersMusic

16.        Potter Puppet Pals in “The Mysterious Ticking Noise’
61,604,356 views
NeilCicierega

17.        KATY PERRY “Hot’n'cold”
59,877,712 views
capitolfrance

18.        Crank Dat Soulja Boy Spongebob
59,083,830 views
MastaBest

19.        guitar
59,087,037 views
guitar90

20.       Timbaland – The Way I Ar
58,900,861 views
TimbalandMusic

21.        Vanessa Hudgens Say Ok
58,768,997 views
hollywoodrecords

22.        Lady Gaga – Just Dance
55,022,629 views
universalmusicgroup

23.        Beyoncé – Single Ladies
54,849,110 views
beyonce

24.        Susan Boyle – Singer
55,189,882 views
BritainsSoTalented

25.        Jordin Sparks – No Air
54,330,242 views
JordinSparks

26.        High School Musical
54,022,619 views
hereforyou13

27.        Soulja Boy Tell`em – Crank That
51,740,388 views
universalmusicgroup

28.        Paul sings Nessun Dorma
51,288,200 views
myredroom

29.        Sean Kingston – Beautiful Girls
49,820,635 views
seankingston

30.        Rihanna – Take A Bow
49,586,881 views
universalmusicgroup

31.        Beyoncé – If I Were A Boy
48,861,496 views
beyonce

32.        ”Weird Al” Yankovic – White & Nerdy
48,352,974 views
alyankovic

33.        Chris Brown – Forever
47,883,546 views
ChrisBrownTV

34.        OK Go – Here It Goes Again
46,779,599 views
OkGo

35.        Britains Got Talent ? Connie Talbot
46,533,741 views
behindthesecret

36.        High School Musical 2 – Everyday
45,791,651 views
ben9223

37.        Jizz In My Pants
45,408,478 views
thelonelyisland

38.        Coldplay – Viva La Vida
45,027,526 views
parlophone

39.        Battle at Kruger
43,547,047 views
Jason275

40.        Rihanna – Hate That I Love You
43,546,335 views
universalmusicgroup

41.        Free Hugs Campaign
42,827,775 views
PeaceOnEarth123

42.        Soulja Boy – How to Crank That
41,630,976 views
SouljaBoy

43.        GUMMY BEAR SONG
41,280,437 views
purplehaze26

44.        Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em – Crank That
40,479,699 views
SouljaBoy

45.        FLO Rida feat. T.Pain – Low
40,128,708 views
blacktreemedia

46.        Jonas Brothers: When You Look Me In the Eyes
39,780,232 views
JonasBrothersMusic

47.        Rihanna – Disturbia
39,109,580 views
universalmusicgroup

48.        High School Musical – We’re All in this Together
38,381,990 views
John4210

49.        Leona Lewis – Better In Time
38,309,991 views
leonalewis

50.        Avril Lavigne – When You’re Gone
38,302,427 views
RCARecords

51.        50 Cent AYO Technology
37,766,408 views
50CentMusic

52.        ? Kelsey Briggs ? – True Story
37,356,521 views
shonyakay

53.        ”Chocolate Rain” Original Song
37,246,975 views
TayZonday

54.        The Pussycat Dolls – When I Grow Up
37,216,431 views
universalmusicgroup

55.        Charlie The Unicorn
36,872,058 views
gswanson17

56.        Plain White T’s – Hey There Delilah
36,567,958 views
FearlessRecords

57.        Aerosmith – I Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing
36,326,089 views
lisachii

58.        Michael Jackson – Thriller
35,907,007 views
michaeljackson

59.        M.I.A. PAPER PLANES
35,906,723 views
worldtown

60.        High School Musical- Something New
35,742,941 views
dragonisk

61.        Usher featuring Young Jeezy – Love in this Club
35,702,365 views
ushertv

62.        Fall Out Boy – Thnks fr th Mmrs
35,358,697 views
universalmusicgroup

63.        Amy Winehouse – Rehab
35,175,649 views
PelicanKiss

64.        The Sneezing Baby Panda
35,137,285 views
jimvwmoss

65.        Miss Teen USA 2007 – South Carolina
35,060,279 views
IRamzayI

66.        extreme funny!! The ORIGINAL
34,959,362 views
Kitti1

67.        T-Pain featuring Akon – Bartender
33,887,857 views
TPainVideos

68.        KARDINAL OFFISHALL ‘DANGEROUS’
33,558,976 views
KardinalOffishall416

69.        System Of A Down – Chop Suey!
33,342,875 views
systemofadown

70.        Akon – I Wanna Love You
33,265,701 views
universalmusicgroup

71.        My Webcam Tease
33,233,378 views
philiptarry

72.        Tokio Hotel – Monsoon
32,910,584 views
astrid2208

73.        Dj tiesto power mix
32,586,552 views
Kamikazeepanda

74.        Ne-Yo – Closer
32,531,881 views
universalmusicgroup

75.        Chris Brown featuring Lil’ Wayne – Gimme That
32,325,311 views
ChrisBrownTV

76.        Leona Lewis – Bleeding Love
31,339,564 views
leonalewis

77.        rihanna unfaithful
31,281,902 views
fluffypuppy12

78.        candy shop (50 cent)
31,066,480 views
TUBAGEMAA

79.        David Guetta & Chris Willis – Love is Gone
31,072,728 views
davidguetta

80.        TAYLOR SWIFT: TEARDROPS
30,972,091 views
freshwunder

81.        Lil Wayne – Lollipop: BET
30,961,636 views
universalmusicgroup

82.        Vanessa Hudgens – Sneakernight
30,882,559 views
hollywoodrecords

83.        Daft Hands – Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger
30,803,413 views
FrEckleStudios

84.        Eminem – When I’m Gone
30,739,079 views
BattleaxeRecords

85.        P!nk – So What
30,226,977 views
PinkVideoVault

86.        Avril Lavigne – My Happy Ending
30,100,938 views
xoXEmiXox

87.        Barack Obama Hillary Clinton
30,060,972 views
wolf084

88.        Colbie Caillat – Bubbly
29,659,234 views
universalmusicgroup

89.        Aventura – Mi Corazoncito Video
29,488,583 views
banilejo89

90.        crazy frog
29,285,372 views
rambofight

91.        Rihanna – Shut Up and Drive
29,278,162 views
universalmusicgroup

92.        Numa Numa
28,676,729 views
xloserkidx

93.        Ronaldinho: Touch of Gold
28,650,074 views
Nikesoccer

94.        Aly & AJ – Potential Breakup Son…
28,556,188 views
hollywoodrecords

95.        High School Musical
28,515,332 views
John4210

96.        Urban Ninja
28,200,093 views
mrWoot

97.        Our Song- Taylor Swift
28,084,087 views
fruiTstripEs7

98.        Metro Station – Shake It
28,077,765 views
MetroStationTV

99.        Shakira – Whenever, Wherever
28,020,162 views
shakira

100.      Snow Patrol – Chasing Car
28,015,174 views
universalmusicgroup

To see the Chart right now click here

Cheers!

As for other successes on the web the second YouTuber has now cracked a million subscribers giving Fred (#1) and Nigahiga (#2) huge audiences tuning in to there video sagas.  Considering their age it will be extremely interesting to watch how these two YouTubers develop this extremely young career path.    

Cheers!

Guy Catches Glasses with Face is an earlier work of Never Hide Films and is listed in the Viral Catalog.  Guy Catches Glasses is currently running at 4.1 million views plus keep in mind the additional debunking and “is it true” publicity they got was sizable.

They followed it up with a video whos title takes the cake.  In term of sparking curiousity when you read “Cow Gives Birth to a Dude” you take a second glance.  At least 1.8 million people have.

This year’s release we have touched on before in the article 3 Pillar of Success for the Super Chameleon Viral and it should be noted that Chameleon is now sitting at 830k views.  What’s also interesting is that the release of their newest video, Massive Ball of Yarn Rolls Through San Francisco, has created a small scale compounding effect on Super Chameleon.  Since the release of Massive Ball of Yarn, Chameleon has steadily increased in average views going from 5400 at its lowest on May 4th to 7000 a day on the 6th. 

It’s still early for the Massive Ball of Yarn and we will be monitoring its progress.   The video is closing in on 40k and will need a few more blog posts to hit the charts where there sits a ton of untapped traffic.

It would be interesting to know how Ray-Bay sales fair in these economic times.  They have continued to use all forms of marketing having bought billboards in Europe (Netherlands), sprayed YouTube with a couple virals and matched their website to align with the Chameleon branding.  Ray-Bay seems to be ahead of the curve when it comes to integrated marketing. 

Cheers!

1) Miley Cyrus passed Alicia Keys taking 5th place

2) The Jonas Brothers stepped up from the bottom taking number 9 away from Akon

3) Avril Lavigne stays in the number one spot for music videos but has been shoved to the number 2 slot for all video as The Evolution of Dance reclaims the throne.  

Maybe disabling embedding has played a role?  Look at the two videos with the highest growth, they both allow others to embed.  All the others present on the chart (except Timbaland) disable the embedding feature as we saw just over two weeks ago.      

Source: YouTube

 
Cheers!

Remind you of something?  No? How about the video “Did You Know?” that was done in 2008 and slept until 2009 before going viral.  Did You Know was not trying to drive a brand though and could be the difference between multimillion views and a couple hundred.  

The graphic design and animation that goes into these works is a unique job.  A whole range of these videos are popping up on the web and people are liking it pushing clips like the Crisis of Credit into viral status.     

We have touched this next video in a previous article and it has moved since then but is still waiting to be really picked up.  Notice the style and how the story is told.  The clip is well put together but has not utilized its potential yet.   

This is the start of a new style of video making.  It is right in line with the digital world.  Some videos use film and add effects like Super Chameleon.

Others use an all digital environment (Beat the BS is included here)

And amazingly, some use an incredible combination of both.  

These new age artists will lead the professional web video world as they hold the skills to impress a generation of information at a glance, ADHD, keep my interest or I’m gone, poof! style of media consumption.

Cheers!

The leading video was uploaded to amybethhale’s channel on Oct. 21st 2008 and sat quietly for months with minor incremental views.  We first saw it in an email early that fall as the virus had not yet taken hold but was clearly spreading as the email was addressed to this sneezer’s entire contact list.

Source: Amybeth's YouTube Insights

The beginning of 2009 marked a steady increase for this particular video increasing daily all the way through February as well.  Finally, its daily views peaked in March reaching up to about 70k a day.  This comes from Amybeth Hale’s YouTube insights as she held the channel with the leading video accounting for 4.5 million of the total views.  Her insights also tell us that this increase in views was predominantly because the United States finally picked up the contagious piece of media.     

From the post Understanding Viral Videos: Production Vs Distribution the description of a sleeper viral can be explained and mapped out via the increase in popularity as it spread through various audiences and delivery systems.

The research and assembly that was done by Karl Fisch, Scott McLeod, and Jeff Brenman to create this video provides a clear glimpse at what exceptional content can do by itself. 

Cheers!