Type of Video Views On Youtube
1. Funny
Animals
It is impossible to avoid
seeing funny animals on the internet - Facebook feeds, in particular, seem at
times to be full of the critters. People just love seeing cute animals,
particularly when they are doing something out of the ordinary - videos of cats
sleeping aren't the rage this year!
YouTube also has its fair
share of funny animal channels, some depicting videos of real animals pigging
the limelight, others - like Simons Cat - being animated.
There are also, of
course, numerous serious animal channels, including National Geographic videos
featuring the renowned David Attenborough.
We may have deliberately
excluded the ubiquitous music video from this roundup, but we couldn’t exclude
this category of video, despite it being where number 1 influencer, PewDiePie
rules the roost.
Young
males (the most common type of gamer) were the first type of people to embrace
YouTube, so it should be no surprise that there are thousands of channels
related to video gaming. Minecraft alone is popular enough to have awebsite devoted to listing over 1,000
top Minecraft YouTube channels.
A common type of gaming
video is a walkthrough, where somebody plays a game, commentating as they
progress through the game. One of the reasons for Minecraft’s popularity
(despite its old-time graphics) is that the game is easily moddable, and the
filmmakers make use of this feature in their videos, where they often play as
modded characters.
There can be huge
engagement between gaming video makers and their supporters and there can even
be live play sessions.
There are three types of
learning style: visual (by seeing), auditory (by hearing) and kinesthetic (by
doing). Everybody learns using a combination of these styles, but most people
find one of the methods easier than the others. Good teachers try to use a
mixture of all three methods in their classrooms.
While it will always be
hard to teach kinesthetically in a video, it is the perfect medium for those
who love both visual and auditory learning experiences. A well-structured
video, that encourages you to work alongside the presentation, can even be
useful to the more kinesthetically-inclined.
There are so many How To
videos on YouTube, that you are likely to find something to help you do
virtually anything you can think of.
These videos have an
advantage in that they are almost timeless - the only reason that a video would
date is that the activity itself changes or goes out of date.
There is a clear trend,
nowadays, for people to turn to the internet when they are considering making a
purchase. They want to discover what other people think about products that
interest them.
YouTube is no different
from other social media channel in this sense. People flock to the channels of
those they trust to see what they think about various products they have
reviewed.
Polls have regularly
shown that consumers are more likely to make a purchase if they see a positive
review online.
It obviously depends on
the product, but YouTube is the perfect medium for many products. People find
it so much easier to relate to a review if they can physically see the product
being used, whether it is makeup being applied, a car being test driven, or the
latest kitchen gadget being put to use.
People having an interest
in celebrity gossip isn’t exactly new - newspaper tabloids have thrived on this
for years, and indeed there are whole cable television channels focused around
this topic.
It comes as no surprise,
therefore, that people come to YouTube to keep up-to-date with their celebrity
gossip fix. Many of these videos do still seem like they are straight out of
the tabloids, of course, and you certainly can’t believe everything that you
see and hear in these videos.
Probably the best-known
celebrity gossip YouTube channel is an offshoot of the TMZ celebrity news
website.
A blog, actually short
for weblog but most people have forgotten that nowadays, started off as a
web-based log of what a person did each day - a form of Internet-based diary.
Of course, blogs have diversified since then, but you will still find bright and
breezy people happily writing about their daily breakfast and what they managed
to achieve the day before.
Vlogs are video blogs,
and the idea is, to some extent, the same as what the original blog was. They
are effectively a video equivalent of your old diary.
Of course, being on
YouTube they are somewhat more public than a diary hidden under the bed, so the
content is usually more engaging.
Like a diary, vlogs use
unscripted dialog and generally come across as an authentic look into the video
maker’s mind. They often focus on a specific topic.
Vlogs are often the
YouTube equivalent of reality television. You get a chance to see into the life
(or at least as much as they are prepared to share) of the vlogger. Just as
reality television can generate some scarily high viewing numbers, quite a few
vlogs channels have a considerable number of followers.
Quite a few people make
comedy and sketch videos to keep their audiences amused. Of course, sense of
humor is quite personal, but there are so many comedy videos online that you
are sure to find somebody who matches your style.
These comedy videos are
among some of the most shared, often finding their way onto Facebook and other
social media. This is one of the most likely types to go viral.
Some of the YouTube
comedy channels generate audiences greater than many network comedy television
shows.
Many women, in
particular, enjoy watching people going on shopping sprees for things they can
only imagine themselves buying. You may not be able to go to high-end shoe
shopping yourself and buy a dozen pairs of brand-name shoes, but you may enjoy
watching somebody else do that.
Shopping spree videos,
more traditionally known as haul videos, focus on people out shopping for
particular products. The most common of these types of videos tend to be in the
beauty, fashion and lifestyle channels.
These videos give a clear
opportunity for brands wanting to engage in influencer marketing, as long as
the products being purchased match the types of products that the channel viewers
love and yearn for.
Unboxing videos are very
much a 21st Century phenomenon. A surprisingly large number of people like to
watch somebody else take a new product out of a box!
These are extensions of
both shopping spree/haul videos and product review videos - in reality, they
fit somewhere in between the process of purchasing a product and the act of
using and reviewing the product.
In some ways the love for
these videos can be paralleled by a child’s love of Christmas morning - half
the fun is unwrapping the presents and seeing what is inside. It is the same
for unboxing videos, as the viewer is given the opportunity to join in with the
anticipation of seeing for the first time the contents of the package.
As with both haul videos
and reviews, unboxing videos can have a huge impact on consumer buying
decisions and can be very lucrative for brands. This is another area with huge
potential for influencer marketing.
We’ve separated out
educational videos from How To’s here, although How To guides obviously educate
as well. The two categories are big enough to stand apart.
There are a few large
channels, like the TED and National Geographic ones, that belong to large
official organizations and share these organizations’ material. Indeed, there
are many other businesses, large and small, that share educational videos on
their sites.
A second type of
educational video channel focuses on providing educational videos for young
children and school students.
They try to provide
thought-provoking and interesting videos for their young target audiences.
This is another category
which can be considered evergreen, in that many of these videos get new
audiences year after year, and often receive repeat visits. They only “die” if
their educational value goes out-of-date.
Although a specialist
type of comedy video, parodies are popular enough to count as a separate type
of YouTube video.
There are quite a few
parody video channels - some more successful and talented than others. Some of
the best make parodies of music videos, often making quite a professional
looking job.
In some ways these are
the hardest type of video to make - there can be such a fine line between a
successful well-written and performed parody and one that fails to connect with
its audience.
A decade ago Johnny
Knoxville made his name with Jackass - which in many ways was the forerunner to
all of the YouTube prank videos. They are certainly amongst the most shared
videos, not just on YouTube but on Facebook and other social media platforms
too.
These videos feature
practical jokes on friends, family and unwitting members of the public. While
it may not always be the most comfortable type of video for the participants to
make, these videos are definitely a way to make social media stars of people.
There are quite a few
series of videos where people play pranks on each other, only for that person
to gain their revenge in the next video. There are even series of prank videos
featuring husbands and wives.
Some of these pranks can
be quite controversial, so any brand wanting to be connected to a prank
channel, had better ensure that their company values, and those of the
pranksters, make a good match.
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