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

Trending This Week: YTMAs, A Dog Named Fritz, and The Allure of the Beautiful Stenographer

The YouTube Music Awards 2015


This year's celebration of the best and brightest of music on YouTube was among the most viewed content this week, the show's 13 music videos seeing over 30m views since Monday - and the biggest hit, "Nicky Jam y Enrique Iglesias El Perdon," earning more than 7.5m. Four days since launch, the impact of the YTMAs continues to reverberate across the web'sphere, receiving an estimated 6b impressions on Twitter (!!) and top 10 spots for Max, Action Bronson, Charli XCX, Migos, and Lindsey Stirling on the Billboard Top Trending 140 chart.

Every Tom Hanks Movie in 7 Minutes (with Tom Hanks and James Corden) 
 His first week on the air as the new host of “The Late, Late Show,” James Corden is already making big waves (... as in 10 million views, big waves..!). For his first party trick, Corden followed the example of Carly Rae Jepsen and her single “I Really Like You,” and enlisted the help of Tom Hanks for the effort. Together, the pair recreated every movie in which Hanks has ever starred in one take and under seven minutes. Since its debut three days ago, the video has gained over 9m views and anchored itself as the number one most viewed video for an entire 72 hours. Another gem / fantasy come to life: karaoke with Mariah Carey (once a diva, always a diva!).

 Wisconsin Basketball Player Has Embarrassing Moment at Press Conference
So far, the most memorable moment of March Madness is arguably not a shot, game or locker room celebration, but rather the endearing mishap between Wisconsin forward Nigel Hayes and his microphone. During a recent press conference, Hayes didn’t realize how hot his mic was until after he whispered to his teammates about the beautiful stenographer sitting nearby. Video of the accidental confession of love has gained over 4.7 million views in 48 hours. Perhaps this video brought a bit of luck to the Wisconsin team, as they continue to compete in the elite eight for the NCAA title. (And to Nigel Hayes, although you might not have scored a date with that lovely stenographer, you did win the Internet’s heart, so at the very least you have that going for you.)

Fritz Learns to Catch Compilation #1

And last but certainly not least... Humor, suspense, pizza, EDM, a surprisingly uncoordinated dog - this one really has it all. Fritz the Dog is a happy, hapless golden retriever that just can't seem to catch anything in his mouth. (Watch the video and see for yourself.) Thanks in large part to mentions by the Today Show, Huffington Post, and a somewhat disturbing tribute from Buzzfeed, this compilation has become one of the top trending (and most "awwww"ed over) videos of the week, earning more than 3.6m views in five days. Keep on keepin' on, Fritz.

- Christine Huang & Carly Lanning

Trending This Week: Evil Pixels, The Art of IKE Andrews, Too Many Cooks - D.C. Edition

Pixels - Official Trailer (HD) - Summer 2015


On Tuesday, Sony released the much-anticipated first teaser for "Pixels," an action-comedy movie pitting an eclectic group of heroes (Adam Sandler, Peter Dinklage and Michelle Monaghan, to name a few) against classic arcade game characters programmed by aliens to destroy Planet Earth. The inspiration behind "Pixels" is the lesser known, eerier film of the same name by Patrick Jean released on YouTube in 2010. Jean's short film gained a cult following over the last 5 years and is experiencing a resurgence in interest since the release of the new "Pixels" trailer, seeing more views on March 18 (57k+) than any other day in its history.

Showing IKEA print to Art experts

LifeHunters, an Amsterdam-based digital production group specializing in "awesome viral video content," played a highbrow prank on the patrons of the Museum Arnhem, planting a mass-produced IKEA print alongside the museum's most famous modern artworks and asking for their reactions. Visitors to the museum expressed their appreciation for the provocative piece by "IKE Andrews," some estimating its worth at being in, at least, the hundreds of thousands. The video, LifeHunters' second most popular behind their "Serving McDonald's to food experts" prank from last year, has gained more than 1.1m views in 2 days, and was the 9th most popular video in the Netherlands this week.

Här gör teckentolken succé i Melodifestivalen 2015


A stunningly expressive sign language interpreter named Tommy Krångh won the internet this week, stealing the show at the Swedish singing competition Melodifestivalen with his impassioned interpretations of songs performed by various rising Swedish stars. Krångh first gained buzz after a video of him signing and dancing along to a Magnus Carlsson song on Swedish TV channel SVT started making the rounds. SVT quickly caught wind of the fervor and released a special tribute to Krångh and his emphatic signing skills (above). In response to this sudden fame, Krångh told Swedish media outlet The Local: "I am overwhelmed, happy, thrilled...  I have heard people have been discussing me on TV in Hong Kong, Australia, the United States, Belgium, Spain...I hope that this will help more people understand that sign language isn't just about two deaf people communicating. It is creative, it is an art."

Election 2016: Too Many Cooks

And finally... wha?? Following the breakout success of last year's "Too Many Cooks," Adult Swim's viral dark comedy short, CNN decided to get in on the joke by releasing its own election-inspired version, starring the many, many "cooks" of the U.S. political world. The parody of a parody was released yesterday, with an unknown goal and geared towards an unclear audience, but has already got the wide range of media outlets buzzing (and scratching their heads) -from CNET, to NY Mag, to Daily Dot, to the Hollywood Reporter.

--Christine Huang

Trending This Week: Real-Life Bionic Heroes; Blue Steel's Back!

For The Collective Project: Robert Downey Jr. Delivers a Real Bionic Arm

For 8 months, members of University of Central Florida's Limbitless team (a group of students focused on producing affordable, 3-D printed bionic limbs for children with amputations) had been working on a specially designed Iron Man-themed appendage for a young boy named Alex who was born with a partially developed right arm. Yesterday, we had the privilege of witnessing Alex's much-anticipated introduction to his new arm, delivered by the world's most powerful bionic hero himself - Iron Man. The video, filmed by Microsoft as part of their Collective Project initiative, has earned more than 3.7m views and ~2k comments in less than 24 hours.


 Zoolander 2 - Maison Valentino Runway
 This week, guests at Maison Valentino's runway show in Paris were treated to a very special guest appearance by two of fashion's most infamous rivals: Hansel and Zoolander. Owen Wilson and Ben Stiller, the two stars of 2001's comedy "Zoolander," took to the catwalk together for the first time in more than a decade, a reunion that confirmed the release of the movie's sequel next year and that sparked a flurry of excitement around the web (1.5m+ views on YouTube, plus hundreds of thousands of shares, comments and likes across Twitter and Instagram). The nearly unanimous positive feedback from the bold marketing stunt bodes well for the aging (but still so hot right now) duo, and suggests that maybe there isn't much more to life than being really, really ridiculously good-looking.


Mean Tweets - President Obama Edition

For his latest edition of celebrities reading mean tweets, late night host Jimmy Kimmel invited one of the biggest celebrities of them all - President Barack Obama - to meditate on some of the criticism he's received in the Twittersphere (@Campaignrpoz: "A 30 rack of coors light is $23 now at Sun Stop. Thanks Obama."). In total, Kimmel's Mean Tweets clips have amassed a stupendous 300m+ views, and continue to be among the most buzzed-about and consistently popular segments from his show.


 Funky Flight Attendant

Adding to the 70k+ "Uptown Funk" covers, parodies, and homages that have been keepin' YouTube funky, this short dance tribute performed by one particularly coordinated WestJet flight attendant tickled the fancy of millions of viewers this week, the video of her in-aisle performance earning 5.5m+ views in little more than 4 days. The clip - recorded (vertically, smh) by the attendant's brother - gained quick traction through social media and blogs, first starting on Reddit then quickly spreading to sites like Mashable and Buzzfeed, the sum of which made up 60% of the video's views.

The Other Billion-View Song You Never Saw Coming

There is one video that sits atop the mountain of YouTube videos bearing the crown inscribed “Most Watched YouTube Video of All Time,” and it is a video for a song. That song is "Gangnam Style" by Psy. Uploaded almost three years ago by OfficialPsy, the video has tallied 2.3 billion views. This number, which is almost mind boggling, would have seemed unthinkable when the video was released. And yet, here we are.

"Gangnam Style" became the first video and song to cross 1 billion views on YouTube in December 2012. Next came Justin Bieber’s "Baby," which crossed a billion views last year. If you look at the list of YouTube’s most-viewed videos, you’ll see that there are a couple more videos, all songs, that are close to accomplishing this feat. Psy has another contender with "Gentleman," already at .8 billion, Katy Perry has "Roar" at .8 billion and "Dark Horse" at .9 billion. But there’s one other song that has already passed this prestigious mark and doesn’t appear on the list of the ten most-viewed videos of all time, and there’s no way you’ll ever guess what it is. Here’s a hint: It was released in 2007.

In 2007, the first iPhones was released, the last Harry Potter book went on sale, destined to become the fastest-selling book of all time, and a humble Gummy Bear began singing a self-affirming ditty titled I’m A Gummy Bear. For those who are unfamiliar, or are in need of a reminder, this is "I’m A Gummy Bear."

"I’m A Gummy Bear" was a phenomenon. While it had debuted as a 30-second video clip in Hungary in August 2006, the full-length song was unleashed on the world in October 2007. Not only did the song spend eight months atop Hungary's ringtone charts, but the song charted in the US as a dance track, where it has gone double platinum. Gummy Bear has spawned video games, movies, and licensing deals galore. This video, the English version of the song, has received 528 million views since being uploaded in October 2007. Of course, 528 million views is an astonishing number, but it’s nowhere near a billion. Well, this isn’t the only official upload of this song.

"I’m A Gummy Bear" has been translated into dozens of languages and uploaded to the official YouTube channel, "ICanRockYourWorld.” If you add up all the different translations of the song uploaded to ICanRockYourWorld, you arrive at: 921 million views. That moves the Gummy Bear song past Dark Horse and Roar, but it isn’t quite the 1 billion views promised above.

Not a problem.

There’s the other official Gummy Bear channel, “GummyBearIntl,” which also hosts the song and even more translations.  If you add those views to the mix, you get 1.1 billion views, making this a third song to have crossed one billion views on YouTube.

Psy’s "Gangnam Style" was unique. It was a song sung almost entirely in Korean, a language spoken by less than .01% of the world’s population, that managed to charm the world. Justin Bieber’s "Baby" had an army of Beliebers behind it and the benefit of being in English, the lingua franca of the pop music world. "I’m A Gummy Bear" became a force to be reckoned with by greeting people around the world on their own terms in their own languages - my gummy bear, your gummy bear, everyone’s gummy bear.

- Earnest Pettie

Trending This Week: Love for #DearMe; Miracles at 4,000 Feet

GUY HAS SEIZURE WHILE SKYDIVING


22 year-old Christopher Jones was skydiving 12,000 feet over Western Australia when, at around 9,000 ft, Jones began having a seizure. Free falling unconsciously through the sky, Jones was intercepted by his jumpmaster, Sheldon McFarlane, who managed to grab a hold of him and deploy his parachute, allowing him to float safely to the ground (at around 3,000 feet, Jones regained consciousness and was able to navigate his own secure landing). On Monday, Jones posted headcam footage of this terrifying fall - "possibly the scariest moment of [his] life" - and it immediately became one of the top trending topics of the day. Within the first 48 hours, the video received more than 9m views, 10k comments and hundreds of press mentions (and earned Jones an interview with Anderson Cooper, to boot).

Diversity & Inclusion - Love Has No Labels

Filmed on Valentine's Day in Santa Monica, CA, this touching PSA from Ad Council struck a chord this week - spreading the simple message of love, diversity and inclusion to more than 28.5m worldwide viewers in less than 3 days.  Set to Macklemore & Ryan Lewis's Same Love, the ad features partners and friends of different backgrounds, genders, and ages expressing their appreciation for one another - openly and proudly - and demonstrating that love doesn't have, or need, any labels. The video was the top viewed non-music video of the week, coming in 4th overall behind Taylor Swift's "Blank Space".


Mark Ronson ft. Bruno Mars - "UPTOWN FUNK" (Sung in CARTOON Voices!)

Adding to the 60k+ parodies, covers and other tributes to Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars's hit "Uptown Funk," voice impressionist Mikey Bolts lent his voice (and a dozen or so others) to his own version of the song this week, amassing ~2.7m views in just three days. Bolts, whose channel has seen nearly 170m views and more than 1.8m subscribers since its 2008 debut, assures his fans in his comments section that this video, though seemingly complicated, was but a single day's effort: "Started recording at 3am, filmed at noon, edited til 9. Tuesday vid." (A well spent day, we'd say!)

#DearMe - What Advice Would You Give Your Younger Self?


Tuesday saw the launch of #DearMe, our campaign aimed at inspiring and empowering girls around the world by asking them to answer one simple question: "What advice would you give your younger self?" This 2 minute spot features encouragement and words of wisdom from some of our biggest creators, including Hannah Hart, Laci Green, Michelle Phan, Grace Helbig, Gigi Chao, and Lilly Singh. The video received a 90%+ positive sentiment (likes vs. dislikes) and reached more than 2m people in three days.

--Christine Huang