FORGET SEX...SILLY, MUSIC SELL IN ONLINE VIDEOS

We're told over and over that sex sells, but in online video the most popular content genre is comedy. Forget porn, it seems we just want to laugh. Across the board, whether its viral video, movie clips, or TV shows, comedy is tops as the most popular content. That's a radical change in the past three years. A 2005 report by the Online Publisher's Association showed news was the most popular content, followed by movie clips and trailers, then sports.

Of course, a lot changed since then. For the most part, clips and trailers were all we had to watch. When the OPA report published there was no YouTube or Hulu; torrenting was practiced mostly by the well-initiated nerd; and streaming mobile video was still a dream. Cell phones were still mostly for talking and some texting. Camera phones were still a big deal. So was broadband. In 2005, just under 47 million US citizens subscribed to broadband. That was a little less than 16 percent of the population.

Times have changed quickly. Fast forward 3 years and three quarters of the online US watches online video. We've helped the world make YouTube, a mostly user-generated content site, the most popular destination for video in the world. Torrenting has become an everyday past time. We stream live video via our cell phones on the Web. And in 2008, 55 percent of the US population subscribed to broadband.

News was the number one content draw when those who could watch bandwidth intensive video were in the minority. As more of us move to high speed service, other content has taken over. We'd now rather watch comedy or music videos, and a growing number of us watch our favorite TV shows online now when it's convenient for us, not when the network decides they'd like us to watch. So, what's top dog at the biggies like YouTube and Hulu?

YouTube
At YouTube, we've been watching music videos and stand up comedy. The most viewed video of all time crown belongs to pop punk princess Avril Lavinge. Her video for "Girlfriend" has been viewed 111,318,049 times. Close on her tail? One of the many user-generated videos in YouTube's three year history - Judson Laipply's "Evolution of Dance" with 108,350,685 views. Rounding out the Top Ten, ranging from 82 to 71 million views, are Chris Brown - With You, Lo que tú Quieras Oír, Leona Lewis - Bleeding Love, Rihanna - Don't Stop The Music, Jeff Dunham - Achmed the Dead, Lezberado: Revenge Fantasies, Alicia Keys - No One, and the user-generated Charlie bit my finger - again !.

Hulu
Unfortunately, Hulu doesn't provide viewer numbers for its content, but it does rank videos by popularity. The top ten videos at Hulu include five full episodes of "Family Guy," four "Saturday Night Live" clips, and topping the list - Talkshow with Spike Feresten's "Cable PSA," a spoof of the U.S. government's digital to analog conversion PSA. Unlike YouTube, which just began hosting full-length movies and TV episodes in fall of 2008, Hulu's largely composed of this episodic TV content and has been from the start. Nine of it's ten most popular TV shows of all time (with full-length episodes) are comedies. The top ten goes like this: Family Guy, It's always sunny in Philadelphia, Arrested Development, The Office, Saturday Night Live, The Daily Show, The Simpsons, American Dad, The Colbert Report, and Bones (the sole drama). The close contenders include dramas House, Heroes, and Burn Notice, plus one more comedy - 30 Rock.

What's next?
The face of Internet video changes daily. Want to keep up with what the Jones around the world are watching? You can by checking out the weekly and daily charts at The Internet TV Charts. It provides results for Google Video, YouTube, Digg, and VideoSift.

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The references for this article include: News is most popular video online, February 8, 2005, Jon, CyberJournalist.net; World Broadband Usage in 2005, 2005, Enrique De Argaez, Internet World Stats; National and state population estimates Annual Population Estimates 2000 to 2008, 2008, U.S. Census; US broadband adoption grew 17% in 2008, September 30, 2008, ZDNet; United States of America Internet Usage and Broadband Usage Report, 2008, Internet World Stats; The Internet TV Charts, WorldTV.com, 2008.

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This post blogged by Carlie Lawson. She is a hazards consultant, freelance writer, and weather nerd living in Norman, OK, also known as the weather capital of the United States.

Comments

[Rose @ Noni Juice Goodness]

The video in this blog and 'Charlie bit my finger--again' made me laugh. Thanks! My doctor advised me to laugh at least 30 minutes a day. I laughed for 10 minutes, so I'll have to search for more comedy videos after this. Thanks once again. :)

[Adrian Keys]

Yes Rose...it's a really nice video...much better than the one by the oroginal artist. Glad it made you laugh...

[CreditCardsOffers]

Hi, good post. I have been woondering about this issue,so thanks for posting. I�ll definitely be coming back to your site.

[Carlie Lawson]

Hey, thanks for visiting and do drop in again!