Trending This Week: Inventive Ways of Dealing With Loud Neighbors; Calling Out Catcallers

Dealing With Loud Neighbors -- The Olan Rogers Story

In Olan Rogers's latest video, the funnyman-creator describes a revenge plan he plotted against his outrageously loud neighbor that involved a well-placed Craigslist ad, a fictional owl named Lil BB, and 208 tons of glitter. As a storyteller, Rogers is one of the most beloved emerging creators on YouTube, and one of the things that makes him so adored by his nearly 54,000 subscribers is the time and energy he invests in establishing personal relationships with each of his fans. Through the proceeds he makes from his clothing line and Soda Parlor, Rogers has set up a college scholarship fund for his YouTube supporters. [Disclaimer: there is not enough time nor characters in a word document for me to fully disclose how much I adore Olan Rogers. It was a common occurrence during my time at YouTube Nation, that once I started playing a Olan Roger’s video, I would be in fits of laughter for a good 11 minutes and no producer, nor writer who needed to question me for a segment, would be able to break the cycle of giggles. So I admit some bias.]

102-year-old Woman Sees Herself Dancing on Film for First Time

You better prepare the ole’ ticker for all the feelings this video is about to cause. This past week, 102-year-old Ms. Alice Barker watched for the first time films of her career as a professional dancer the 1930s and 40s Harlem Renaissance. In her heyday, Ms. Barker performed in movies, television shows, commercials, and clubs all throughout New York City alongside legends such Frank Sinatra, Gene Kelly, and Bill Robinson. Her genuine joy and happiness is contagious throughout the video and has already touched the hearts of over 4.3 million viewers in four short days. At the end of the viewing session, Ms. Barker says, “[It] makes me wish I could get out of this bed and do it all over again.”

Man Catcalls During Anti-Cat Calling Segment

In a recent anti-catcalling segment by Buzz60, host Patrick Jones encounters just the man New York City is attempting to silence with their anti-catcalling signs placed around the city. With cameras rolling, Jones attempts to ask the man why he thinks it’s okay to harass women on the street and in return, receives the classic reply, “I was just paying them a compliment!” With its strong anti-street harassment message, Buzz60’s segment is reminiscent of last year’s conversation starting video “10 Hours of Walking in NYC as a Woman,” viewed over 40 million times.

Inside Amy Schumer -- Football Town Lights

Between pranking Kanye and Kim at the Time’s 100 event and hosting the MTV Movie Awards, Amy Schumer is having THE Hollywood moment. Going into the third season of her hit Comedy Central show “Inside Amy Schumer,” Schumer takes an important stand against sexual assault in her latest sketch “Football Town Lights.” A parody of every football movie/TV show ever created, the segment strikes a rare balance between comedy and activism as the characters discuss all the misconceptions people have about sexual assault, consent, and victim blaming. In the end, Schumer’s physical comedy (especially her growing wine glass) provides a comedic note to a serious topic, making this well-timed piece (April being Sexual Assault Awareness Month) a must watch for the weekend.
- Carly Lanning

Trending Now: The Beautiful Eruption Of Chile's Calbuco Volcano

In the 24 hours since the eruption of Chile’s Calbuco volcano yesterday, YouTube has already seen well over a thousand videos uploaded on topic with combined views in the millions. As news organizations and local residents capture video of this once-in-a-lifetime event, YouTube’s #Popular page has collected some of the most spectacular Calbuco explosion videos in this playlist:

When Calbuco began erupting Wednesday evening, sending plumes of ash into the evening sky, it was the first time the volcano had erupted in 42 years. While there have been no reports of injuries, according to news reports, thousands have been evacuated from nearby town Ensenada and flights in the area have been canceled. Outside of Chile, much of the focus has been on the splendor created by the eruption, magnificent sunsets created, in part, by the ash that had been shot into the air.

If you’d like to know more about this volcano, YouTube’s #news page has assembled this playlist of news stories surrounding the event:

- Earnest Pettie

Trending This Week: Tubular Tinder; Hoff ROFL's

All of your dreams just came true: David Hasselhoff just released the most incredible music video of all time. Now before you roll your eyes and say -- Darude “Sandstorm” is the best of all time! -- let me just paint you this picture.

David Hasselhoff Wins the Internet

All of your dreams just came true: David Hasselhoff just released the most incredible music video of all time. Now before you roll your eyes and say -- Darude “Sandstorm” is the best of all time! -- let me just paint you this picture. The video begins on the set of a 1980s action movie, David Hasselhoff sings “True Survivor” over the unfolding action of a cop going back in time to stop Hitler from rising to power. There are dinosaurs, explosions, men riding on the backs of wolves, and at the center of it all, a Hoff that will not be Hasseled. The video is a preview for Hasselhoff’s upcoming movie “Kung Fury” and has gained over 1.2M views in the first 24 hours. Funded entirely through a Kickstarter, “Kung Fury” will be a 30-minute movie released exclusively online May 28. Upon the release of this music video, the former Baywatch star states, “The song is perfect for me as I really am, in real life, a True Survivor.” Perfection.

Casey Neistat Debuts Daily Vlog

Three weeks ago, filmmaker Casey Neistat announced that he would be starting a daily vlog -- or as he poetically describes, “releasing a short film every 24 hours.” Neistat is best known on YouTube for the high production and storytelling qualities he brings to each of his videos - and his vlogs are no different. Each video gains hundreds of thousands of views every single day and allows Neistat’s viewers a window into his life as a father, husband, creative, and typical New York City dweller. When questioned about why he, an award-winning filmmaker, would even consider vlogging, Neistat responds:

“Creating a new movie every 24 hours and releasing that movie to an audience of hundreds of thousands of people is an evolution in filmmaking. Our job as creators is to further define any medium, our job is to create the new cliches, not to adhere to those defined by generations past.”

Hillary Clinton Announces Second Presidency Bid

With her pantsuit game stronger than ever, this week Hillary Clinton announced her intention to run for president in the 2016 election via online video. Her video titled “Getting Started,” starts with groups of Americans stating all the things they’re going to begin and ends with Clinton announcing her bid. The video gained over 4 million views in the first 24 hours and hours after it was released, a brilliant SNL parody with Kate McKinnon premiered. Just like President Obama’s decision to be interviewed by YouTubers following his State of the Union address, Clinton’s decision to use YouTube to announce her bid shows just how influential the platform continues to be as a primary news media source.

Tinder in the 1980s

Hard to swipe left on a diskette, am I right? Continuing their series of modern app makeovers, SquirrelMonkeyCom gives Tinder a tubular makeover that anyone born in the age of dial-up will appreciate. Sure in the 80’s, a right swipe is turned into a right click and a profile setup is turned into a mail-in registration form, but at the center of it all is Love. Or finding someone whose picture does not: A) Remind you of any family members and B) Involve a questionable doll collection. The channel’s most popular video happens to be its first upload, a gem titled “If Angry Birds Was an 80s Computer Game.” But a video we will all appreciate -- especially since we all just took our respective team photos together and are full of YouTube love -- is their YouTube in the 90s video.

- Carly Lanning

What Does It Take To Reach One Billion Views?

A movement is afoot to get Taylor Swift's “Shake It Off,” the jam of last fall and winter, to a billion views on YouTube. Taylor has accomplished everything else, so this would be just one more accolade to add to her achievements. But it may be harder than the Swifties think it will be to get her to a billion -- not many people have accomplished it.

A billion views. It's a number with quite a history. It's a number of which people have taken notice Gangnam Style. The second to reach a billion views was Justin Bieber's Baby.
because at some point, every billion-number measure was thought unachievable. In fact, only two videos have ever achieved the big B. The first to do it was Psy's
Baby was uploaded in February 2010. It was a phenomenon that was YouTube's most-viewed video for over two years. It took Baby 1,474 days, a little over four years, to reach a billion views, but when it got there, Baby had already been beaten to the billion-view mark by Psy's Gangman Style. That video, uploaded in July 2012, took only 160 days to reach a billion views. Since then, Gangnam Style has actually hit a billion again. It reached its second billion 527 days after it reached its first. It could hit 3 billion in the time it took Baby to reach its first billion.
If you take 1 billion views and multiply it by the three minutes and forty-five seconds running time of Baby, you get over 7,000 years of watchtime. Watchtime is the name for all the time spent watching a video by everyone who watched it. Let's put that in context. It took 13 years to decode the human genome. It took 20 years to decipher the Rosetta stone. The Roman empire arose and fell in the span of about four hundred years. All of recorded history has lasted just over five thousand years. Since YouTube's birth just ten years ago, we have already devoted more time to watching Justin Bieber's recording of Baby than we have to recording our history on this planet.
It's easier to accomplish reaching a billion views as a channel, counting the views on all videos uploaded to the channel. Still, only 234 channels have achieved 1 billion views.
The first channel to reach a billion views was Lady Gaga's. She celebrated the accomplishment on October 20th, 2010, a couple months ahead Justin Bieber, who once was again second to hit the billion-view mark. It took Lady Gaga 896 days, well over two years, to reach a billion views on her channel. The most recent channel to cross the billion view threshold is Eurovision Song Contest, crossing the billion view mark on March 30th. Coincidentally, of the 234 channel billionaires, Eurovision is the channel that has taken the longest to reach it, having been active since May 2007. Turkish music channel netd müzik did it in less than one year, making it the swiftest to to reach one billion.
Speaking of Swift, how likely is she to reach a billion views with Shake It Off? Well, at the time of writing Shake It Off had 715 million views, not quite three-quarters of the way to a billion, but close. She needs 285 million views to reach the goal. Given this month's average of 2.3 million views a day for the video, she could reach a billion in 124 days, about four months. That's assuming the video is able to maintain its current pace, which is unlikely. Ironically, Taylor Swift would have to pass herself to make it happen. Blank Space, which was released after Shake It Off, already has more views, clocking in at 735 million. She also would have to pass the person who reached a billion channel views on March 20th, Meghan Trainor. Trainor's All About That Bass has 741 million views. Finally, she'll have to pass the man who is close to having two billion-view videos, Psy, whose Gentleman has 821 million views. If Taylor Swift can accomplish this feat, she will be the third person to reach a billion views on a video, but she will be the first woman to accomplish it.
- Earnest Pettie

Trending This Week: Unexpected Collaborations; Email IRL

Natalie Tran - Asians in Media Talk


You may not have heard of her, but Australian comedian Natalie Tran is one of the most popular Asian creators on YouTube, with more than 530M views to her channel and a loyal audience of 1.3M subscribers. In this recent talk, Tran addresses Brown University students about her experiences working in media as an Asian woman. By blending comedy and her personal experiences with racism, Tran takes the overwhelmingly complex issue of race and representation and makes it accessible. Tran is just one of many Asian creators who have found YouTube a place where they are no longer confined to stereotypical roles and they can create content that more truthfully represents their community. Other pioneers of this movement worth checking out: Wong Fu, Timothy DeLaghetto, Kina Grannis, Ryan Higa, the Fung Brothers, David So, BubzBeauty, Mike Song, and KevJumba.


Wiz Khalifa - See You Again ft. Charlie Puth [Official Video] Furious 7 Soundtrack



Garnering more than 15M views in 5 days, Wiz Khalifa's "See You Again" (featuring Charlie Puth) has become one of most popular tracks of the year so far, peaking on April 8 with more than 12.5M views in one day (only Taylor Swift's "Shake it Off" had more views per day this year). The song, featured in the latest installment of the Fast and the Furious series, "Furious 7," serves not only as the soundtrack's title track, but as a somber tribute to the late Paul Walker, with thousands of fans paying respect to the franchise's star in the video's nearly 20k comments.

Email In Real Life

In their latest sketch “Email in Real Life,” Comedy duo Tripp and Tyler present what life would be like if email norms replaced social ones. The video is a follow up to their sketch “Conference Call In Real Life,” which has earned over 9M views over the last year. Lesser known fact: Tripp and Tyler are nine year YouTube veterans, and through the popularity of their channel, have gone on to write an original book (long before YouTubers writing books was cool) and host live comedy shows around the US.


WHEN U COLLAB WITH RANDOM PEOPLE IN PUBLIC. (and one of them is actually amazing...) 

Following their underground hits, "WHEN YOU'RE BORED ON A PLANE" and "WHEN U COLLAB WITH THE PIZZA GUY," Australian DJ duo Mashd N Kutcher are back with another club banger made up of the beeps, buzzes and voices of everyday people, places and things. The video, released only 24 hours ago, has already amassed more than 600k views and is quickly on its way to becoming one of the pair's top performing videos.

- Carly Lanning & Christine Huang

Trending This Week: Computer Love; You Got Darude'D

For more trending videos, check out our playlist!



Everyone’s favorite Star Wars robot has finally found love. This short fan film follows R2-D2 through the highs and lows of his passionate relationship with a local mailbox and ultimately, what one droid will do to find his true love. Think “Walle,” meets “Star Wars,” meets “You’ve Got Mail,” and just try not to fall for this three minute heartwarmer. The film is a collaboration between director Evan Atherton, the R2 Builders’ Club, and Lucasfilm effects artist Landis Fields, who actually took time off from working on “The Force Awakens” to work on this short. This past weekend, the film debuted at the Sonoma International Film Festival before being uploaded onto Atherton’s personal YouTube channel where it has since received extensive news coverage and fan support.

 Mime Through Time Map by SketchSHE


The Australian female comedy trio SketchSHE have done it again, gaining over 8M in just 72 hours for their video “Mime Through Time." Like in their hit “Bohemian Carsody” of a few weeks ago (which has amassed over 19M views and continues to climb), "Mime Through Time" is an impressive display of the various talents of SketchSHE, including choreographed dance routines, costume changes, and very serious pantomiming of popular songs all from the seats of their parked car. But “Mime Through Time” takes it to the next level with group members Shae-Lee, Lana and Madison covering not just one song but many - with styles spanning the seven decades from the 1940s to now. With this latest installment, the trio has now amassed over 24.1M views  - a massive number for a channel less than four months old.

Sia- Big Girls Cry (Official Video)


Yesterday, Sia released "Big Girls Cry," the third in her series of mesmerizing music videos starring the inimitable Maddie Ziegler. The video is a departure from Sia's previous pieces, featuring her young dance muse not in motion, but rather, standing in one place, reflecting the song's sentiments through facial expressions and wild gesturing of her hands and feet. Even without elaborate choreography and lyrical movement, "Big Girls Cry" is on track to becoming another Sia hit - receiving nearly 5M views in less than 24 hours.

Darude - Sandstorm

Did you mean - "Darude: Sandstorm by Darude?" Cuuuz... we're pretty sure you did. ;) As part of this year's April Fool's Day celebration, we decided to add a little nineties trance / niche memery to your day (you're welcome!). Through a bit of heavy-handed recommending, a couple of nifty new features, and some very clever social, this 15 year old electronica earworm resurfaced as one of the top viewed videos of April 1, coming in at no. 16 with 1.9M+ views - just above "Chandelier" and "FourFiveSeconds." The day also proved to be the video's best performing ever by a long shot, receiving ~1500% more views on April 1st than its second best day - March 6 2015, when it received ~126k views.

- Christine Huang & Carly Lanning

Who is Trevor Noah? How The South African Comedian Soared On YouTube

When Comedy Central announced that South African comedian Trevor Noah would succeed Jon Stewart as the host of “The Daily Show,” the world scratched its collective head. Who is this guy and what makes him qualified to follow the larger-than-life personality of Stewart?

 In a matter of hours, search interest on both Google and YouTube for “Trevor Noah” skyrocketed. Compared to the previous day – Sunday, March 29 – search volume increased 2157% day-over-day on YouTube as people around the world sought to learn more about the unknown Noah.

 While millions were hearing Noah’s name for the first time, the comedian’s long history on YouTube demonstrates that he has, in fact, engrossed a global audience with his unique humor and life perspective for years. As the mixed-race son of a black Xhosa mother and a white Swiss father growing up in post-apartheid South Africa, Trevor developed an uncanny ability to perceive and articulate nuanced social issues at a unique time in a unique place.

 In the 2012 documentary about his rise in South African comedy, You Laugh But It’s True, Noah explains how his personal experiences shaped his comedy: “I’ve lived a life where I’ve never really fit in, in any particular way. Even now people still debate what I am…. When you get older it’s cool because you’ve lived everywhere and nowhere. You’ve been everyone and no one. So you can say everything and nothing. And that’s really what affects my comedy and everything that I say.”

Noah's first major release on YouTube was of his first comedy special, The Daywalker, in 2009. Since that year, videos about “Trevor Noah” (uploads with references to his name in their title, description and keywords) have grown dramatically every year, increasing by 265% from 2013 to 2014.




 Among these videos, 12 have earned more than 1 million views, including 9 from his own channel which includes highlight clips from his standup performances and other projects. Noah’s global popularity began growing in 2012, when clips of his “Crazy Normal” special started spreading on YouTube. Since then he has successfully increased his reach every year by performing live shows and releasing new clips from those performances, most notably with “It’s My Culture” in early 2014. This strategy allowed Noah to reach new people with new content while driving additional views to his back catalogue of earlier videos.

Now that the announcement has brought him to the forefront of global popular culture, people are turning to YouTube to learn more about Trevor Noah. In the two days of March following Monday’s announcement, uploads and views related to him more than doubled the totals accumulated during the prior 29 days of the month. Considering these statistics, and Noah’s long history with comedy, the news of him succeeding Stewart seems a little less surprising. This week may have been the first time many of us heard the name Trevor Noah, but it won't likely be the last.





- Robert Weeks

Who Would Be The NBA's 2015 MVP Based On YouTube?

As the NBA's regular season draws to a close, fans find themselves engaged in the usual, heated discussion over who should be the NBA's Most Valuable Player. The conversation about the league's MVP has coalesced around three players: Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors, James Harden of the Houston Rockets, and the Oklahoma City Thunder's Russell Westbrook whose play during the second half of the season forced his name into the discussion. Some are suggesting it's the most interesting MVP race in ages.

The MVP award is given to the best performing player of the NBA's regular season, and it’s voted on by sportswriters and broadcasters who watch these athletes perform night in and night out, as well as the NBA audience who also gets to share a vote. And with so much video on YouTube about these players, we thought your time spent on YouTube should count too. So here’s the NBA MVP as decided by your YouTube searches, uploads and watchtime for this regular season from October 28 to March 22.

Search winner: Stephen Curry is hands-down the winner here with three times the searches as James Harden, and more searches than Russell Westbrook and James Harden, combined.

Upload Winner: Stephen Curry still struts away with the victory with Russell Westbrook right on his tail.

Watchtime Winner: Stephen Curry dominated this category the way he dominated this year’s All Star 3-Point Contest.

Based on all of these factors, we have no choice but to declare Stephen Curry this year's NBA MVP according to your YouTube searches, uploads and watchtime. He leads in every category relegating Harden and Westbrook to a two-way race for second place. But wait a moment…we've left out someone whose name some feel also belongs in the MVP debate... Let's look at the numbers again with Lebron James added to the mix.

This changes things dramatically, Lebron James towering over his competition with about 4 times the search volume of James Harden. Advantage: Lebron.

More videos were uploaded featuring Lebron James than all other contenders, combined. Of course, there could be many reasons for this, including discussion of his team's rocky performance. Still, point to Lebron. Let's check the big indicator: Watchtime

No contest. Lebron’s bar looks like “King” James in high school - bigger than everyone else and looking down at everyone from the air.

Leaving Miami, returning to Cleveland, and making Cleveland one of the best teams in the NBA has translated into massive numbers for Lebron James. His numbers in most categories are almost as large as all other contenders, combined, but in watchtime, he eclipses his competitors. Despite great seasons from James Harden, Russell Westbrook, and Stephen Curry, it appears that the real MVP, based on your interest on YouTube, should be Lebron James.

As a bonus, we’ve looked at the most-search days for each of these superstars, the days the fans felt the greatest urge to seek out video of these players, and included representative videos. Consider these videos, each player’s argument to be the NBA’s 2015 MVP:

10/31/2014: Lebron James - Lebron’s first win with his new team, the Cleveland Cavaliers
NBA: Lebron James Leads Cavs with 36-Point Effort in Win
2/15/2015: Stephen Curry - 3 Point Contest virtuosity
NBA: Stephen Curry Wins the 2015 Foot Locker Three-Point Contest
3/2/2015: James Harden - Harden battles the league’s preeminent player, Lebron James
NBA: James Harden Duels to Overtime Finish with Lebron James
3/5/2015: Russell Westbrook - 4th consecutive triple double, the first since Michael Jordan
NBA: Russell Westbrook Nets 43 Points as Thunder Fall to Bulls

-- Earnest Pettie