YouTube Top Videos of 2012 just in. The New York Times Presidential debates does really well. Nice to see Newspapers take on the TV Broadcasters and win!

YouTube has just announced its highest video ratings for 2012 which are interesting when compared to Google's Top 10 announced last week-ish and reported here http://streamabout.blogspot.ie/2012/12/google-releases-its-top-search-terms.html

They are different - Whitney was number 1 on Google but Gangnam Style and Hurricane Sandy do well in both. Felix's Red Bull Jump did well on Google too. But the results generally are different.

So what I think that means is that Google search is not used for YouTube video. If you're looking for a video, you go to YouTube and use their own search...or so I suspect. 

70,000 hours worth of news related video was put on YouTube every 2012 day! 

The "exploding substation" video got over 4 million views in under 24 hours, the highest viewership.

During the US Presidential Election, Videos tagged either 'Obama' or 'Romney' were viewed 2.7 billion times during that election. Think you'd ever get that on TV viewing? Not a hope. And YouTube is free.

The debates themselves, drew in 27 million views on YouTube and The New York Times debate video got 13 million views alone, making it their biggest channel video ever. Isn't it great to see a newspaper going into TV in such a big way? Good for them.

350,000 Syria Protest videos were uploaded, and watched, over 200 million times. 8 million people watched Felix make his Red Bull Jump LIVE - now isn't that like TV? Except it's 100% better and far more effective - yes, because it's one-to-one, personal. Not like the "TV snacking" with 40% of viewers having a computer screen open at the same time.

Gangnam Style was the top trending video of 2012. Pity.

The Weather Channel's 70 hour live stream coverage of Superstorm Sandy had 13 million views.

These are extraordinary numbers.

They must frighten the life out of traditional TV Broadcasters (assuming they care or know, which I doubt) and open up opportunities for people involved in video trying to get their own channel going.

YouTube is really developing as a medium delivering huge, unbelievable audiences, without the cost.

Oh yeah. My YouTube Video of 2012? 
17 million views and 7 months later it was the Harvard Baseball Team "call me maybe" which started a whole trend of these types of videos to that song. 

That's it on the top of this. 
Smile.