2013 YouTube Study Introduction and Credits How long should my videos be? How often should I upload? How many words should I put in the video description to optimize for search? These and many more questions are asked by online media creators and brands every day. In the Spring of 2013 a group of un- dergraduate students in the Internet and Mobile Media Concentration at Columbia College in Chicago (colum.edu/tv) explored best practices in using the YouTube platform by study- ing the approaches taken by its most successful users. The study focused on analyzing YouTube channels that succeeded in growing largest recurring audiences (most sub- scribed). If you aspire to build a popular YouTube channel for your internet show or build a brand presence on this platform, I hope you find this document to be a useful guide. All data is available in a format of multiple Google spreadsheets and can be accessed here: http://goo.gl/oYVrO I’d like to thank the following students who worked hard collecting data, analyzing it, and writing summaries which allowed for this document to exist. Chanel Armstrong (@nelly_latrice), Courtney Aubrecht (@caubrecht913), Gabriel Gitlevich (@1charmedboy), Quinton Hampton, Melinda Heaney, Adan Hernandez (@ajhrndz1021), Danielle Lucovich, Leland Tellefsen (@mlproductionz) Wojciech Lorenc Assistant Professor Television Department Columbia College Chicago
[email protected] @lumarange i Table of Contents 1.!Overview of YouTube’s Most Popular Content..............................!3" ! Summary by Gabriel Gitlevich 2.!Programming and Format Choices of " !The Top 100 Independent YouTube Channels...............................!12" ! Summary by Leland Tellefsen 3. Intros, Credits, Pacing of" The Top 100 Independent YouTube Channels.................................!22" Summary by Adan Hernandez 4.