2013 Youtube Study Introduction and Credits

Home , Annoying Orange, GloZell, IJustine, Jenna Marbles, PewDiePie, Ray William Johnson

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 subscribed). 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. Analysis of Video Engagement of The Top 100 Independent YouTube Channel...... 25 Summary by Melinda Heaney

5. Analysis of Web Presence of The Top 100 Independent YouTube Channels...... 31 Summary by Courtney Aubrecht

6. Charts...... 57

ii 1 summary by: Overview of YouTube’s Gabriel Gitlevich Most Popular Content Methodology

Methodology of this study required all students to go to vidstatsx.com and look at the top 241 most subscribed channels. The reason for this was that we wanted to look at the best practices of channels that managed to build significant repeat audiences and not just channels that happened to have uploaded a viral hit. At this point, the channels were divided up to all the students by the teacher and given specific questions to answer pertaining to each channel, subsequently then added to specific google docs charts. Completion of this section was done week 1 of the spring 2013 semester. The goal is to gain an understand- ing of YouTube’s overall most popular content. A link to the table of total data is provided. All information for this part of the study can be located in TABLE C.

All data can be accessed here: http://goo.gl/oYVrO

Languages

It has been determined that the top 241 channels varied in languages from all around the world. When calculating the percentage of each language per channel, the total breakdown of languages is as follows:

English, 205 Channels, 85% of the top 241 channels.

Spanish, 12 Channels, 5% of the top 241 channels.

Korean, 5 Channels, 5% of the top 241 channels.

Portuguese, 4 Channels, 1% of the top 241 channels.

German, 3 Channels, 1% of the top 241 channels.

French, 2 Channels, Less than 1% of the top 241 channels.

Hindi, 2 Channel, Less than 1% of the top 241 channels.

Russian, 2 Channels, Less than 1% of the top 241 channels.

4 Japanese/Chinese, 1 Channel, Less than 1% of the top 241 channels.

Middle Eastern, 1 Channel, Less than 1% of the top 241 channels.

Varies, 1 Channel, Less than 1% of the top 241 channels.

Serialized VS. Episodic Content

Moving forward with our study, we then divided up all the channels by specific genres and attributes. Specifically, serialized content, which is material that flows from one video to the next, and episodic content, which is material that does not continue from video to video. When determining how much content was serialized vs. episodic, we found that out of the 241 initially studied channels, only 1 appears to include serialized content. The only example of a channel in our study of the top 241 channels that appears to have predominantly serialized content is Channel MachinimaPrime. Out of the 241 initially studied channels, 240 appear to be episodic (non-serialized) content. VEVO channels are the most common example of channels with predominantly non-serialized content in our study of the top 241 channels.

Genres

Firstly, we broke down channels into their respective genres beginning with music. We subsequently found that out of the 241 initially studied channels, 79 appear to fall in the music genre which comes out to about 33%. The second genre of channels looked at were the comedy genre. There we found that out of the 241 initially studied channels, 83 appear to fall in the comedy genre which comes out to about 34%. The third genre of focus was gaming channels. There we found that out of the 241 initially studied channels, 36 appear to fall in the gaming genre which comes out to about 15%. The ﬁnal major genre of focus was fashion/beauty. There we found that out of the 241 initially studied channels, 14 appear to fall in the fashion/beauty genre which comes out to about 6%. Examples of other genres that are present in our study are as follows: Short Films, Auto-Tune, Animated Mu- sic Videos, Drama Shorts, Educational, Art Demonstration, News, Sports, Exercise, Sci- ence, Commentary, Nature etc...

5 Independent Content VS. Extension of Large Brands

Secondly, we determined channels that appear to have independent content vs. content that is an extension of large brands. Independent content is produced by you, me, or anyone who has a camera on their computer that can upload videos to YouTube. Content that is an extension of large brands is anything that is produced by a major network or brand. There we discovered that out of the 241 initially studied channels, 165 appear to be produced independently which comes out to about 68%. On the ﬂip side, we found that out of the 241 initially studied channels, 78 appear to be extensions of large brands or tv shows which comes out to about 32%.

Thirdly, we broke it down even further into independent content vs. content that is an extension of large brands with respect to the speciﬁc genres we looked at earlier. There we discovered that 30 of all the music channels in the initial 241 studied channels appear to be independent which comes out to about 37%. Examples of music channels from the 241 that appear to be independent are as follows: TylerWardMusic, megannicolesite, WongFuProductions, davedays, zeldaxlove64, MeganandLiz, meekakitty, VenetianPrin- cess, descealetra, gootmusic, David Choi, karmincovers, walkoﬀtheearth, KurtHugoSchnei- der, kidrauhl, nicepeter etc...Out of all the music channels in the initial top 241 studied channels, 50 appear to be of large labels or famous artists which comes out to about 63%. Examples of YouTube channels from the top 241 that are music channels created by large music labels or famous artists are as follows: EminemVEVO, BritneySpearsVEVO, ColdplayVEVO, JustinBieberVEVO, OneDirectionVEVO, RihannaVEVO, KatyPerryVEVO, TaylorSwiftVEVO, AdeleVEVO, AvrilLavigneVEVO, TheXFactorUSA, SelenaGomezVEVO, ShakiraVEVO, BlackEyedPeasVEVO, PINKVevo etc...

Out of all the comedy channels in the initial top 241 studied, 75 appear to be independent which comes out to about 90%. Examples of comedy channels from the top 241 that appear to be independent are as follows: elrubiusOMG, SteveKardynal, WHATTHEBUCK- SHOW, danisnotonﬁre, JacksGap, JLovesMac1, RhettandLink, NormanFaitDesVideos, To- byTurner, theDOMINICshow, TomSka, CaELike, MonsieurDream, shane, Felipe Neto etc...

Out of all the comedy channels in the initial top 241 studied, 7 appear to be extensions of larger brands or tv shows which comes out to about 10%. Examples of YouTube channels

6 from the top 241 that are comedy channels that appear to be extensions of larger brands or tv shows are as follows: collegehumor, machinima, TheEllenShow, JustForLaughsTV, ho- tandﬂuﬀycomedy, JimmyKimmelLive, MachinimaPrime.

Out of all the gaming channels in the initial top 241 studied, 28 appear to be independent which comes out to about 80%. Examples of gaming channels from the top 241 that appear to be independent productions are as follows: BlueXephos, ThesyndicateProject, WhiteBoy7thst, SeaNanners, UberHaxorNova, SmoshGames etc...

Out of all the gaming channels in the initial top 241 studied, 7 appear to be extensions of larger brands which comes out to about 20%. Examples of YouTube channels from the top 241 that are gaming channels that appear to be extensions of larger brands are as follows: ChimneySwift11, MachinimaRealm, RandonsPlays, CALLOFDUTY, machinima etc...

Out of all the fashion/beauty channels in the initial top 241, 14 appear to be independent which comes out to a full 100%. Examples of fashion/beauty channels from the top 241 that appear to be independent productions are as follows: MichellePhan, bubzbeauty, la- dy16makeup, juicystar07, cutepolish, AllThatGlitters21, missglamorazzi, Macbarbie07, ijustine, AndreasChoice, kandeejohnson, dope2111, JLovesMac1, DulceCandy87.

Out of all the fashion/beauty channels in the initial top 241, 0 appear to be extensions of larger brands or tv shows which is equal to 0%. Given that 0% of fashion/beauty channels appear to be extensions of larger brands, there are no examples for fashion/beauty channels that are extensions of larger brands in this study.

Subscribers

Finally, nearing the end of this part of the study, we determined the Mean, Median, and Mode of the total number of subscribers that appear on each channel. The Median number, described as the number at the center of the total, chronological list of numbers, of subscribers in the top 241 channels is 1229875 or about 1.23 M. The Average number, calculated by adding all the numbers together and then dividing by the total amount of numbers, of subscribers in the top 241 channels comes out to 1586976.88536515 or About 1.6 M.

7 The top 10 channels with their corresponding subscriber numbers are as follows:

1: smosh ------7181876

2: RayWilliamJohnson ------7056141

3: nigahiga ------6786643

4: JennaMarbles ------6183526

5: machinima ------5973773

6: RihannaVEVO ------4971272

7: freddiew ------4454920

8: PewDiePie ------4316517

9: OneDirectionVEVO ------3921892

10: collegehumor ------3622258

The bottom 10 channels with their corresponding subscriber numbers are as follows:

1: egoraptor ------863870

2: YogscastSjin ------862054

3: break ------858231

4: ChimneySwift11 ------857246

5: yogscast2 ------854847

8 6: BritneySpearsVEVO ------852725

7: HolaSoyGerman2 ------852341

8: mbc ------845968

9: SpinninRec ------839413

10: BreakingNYC ------839219

Below is a graph that articulates the distribution of subscriber numbers of all 241 channels: ****Left-Vertical Axis is to be labeled as the Number of Subscribers, and Horizontal Axis as Channels.****

9 Total Views

Lastly, repeating the steps from the last breakdown, but instead of focusing on subscriber numbers, we are now focusing on the number of total views. The Median number, the center number of the total, chronological list of numbers, of total views in the top 241 channels is 269928056 or About 270 B. The Average number, calculated by adding all the numbers together then dividing by the total amount of numbers, of total views in the top 241 channels which comes out to 527527975.858921 or About 527.5 M.

The top 10 channels with their corresponding total number of views is as follows:

1: smosh ------2070000000

2: RayWilliamJohnson ------2160000000

3: nigahiga ------1440000000

4: JennaMarbles ------957900000

5: machinima ------3990000000

6: RihannaVEVO ------3310000000

7: freddiew ------787000000

8: PewDiePie ------1100000000

9: OneDirectionVEVO ------1140000000

10: collegehumor ------1710000000

The bottom 10 channels with their corresponding total number of views is as follows:

10 1: egoraptor ------150100000

2: YogscastSjin ------104400000

3: break ------500200000

4: ChimneySwift11 ------244800000

5: yogscast2 ------124500000

6: BritneySpearsVEVO ------1340000000

7: HolaSoyGerman2 ------19500000

8: mbc ------899100000

9: SpinninRec ------1270000000

10: BreakingNYC ------87800000

11 2 summary by: Programming and Leland Tellefsen Format Choices of the Top 100 Independent YouTube Channels Methodology

This semester a Internet class at Columbia College took data from http://vidstatsx.com/ which provided us with our starting point of the top 241 most subscribed channels (Table C). The reason for this was that we wanted to look at the best practices of channels that managed to build signiﬁcant repeat audiences and not just channels that happened to have uploaded a viral hit. From there we sorted out all of the big brands and TV extensions to come up with the top 100 independent YouTube channels (Table A). The reason we focused on independent productions was because the research was meant as a study of best practices for independent content producers and not for large media companies, tv shows, music labels or known personalities. We also focused on channels that were in English (so we could understand them). Once we selected the 100 youtube channels for our study we looked at 2 or 3 most recent videos from each channel. This gave us a pool of 286 videos that we studied carefully (Table B). We collected data during the months of January through February of 2013. All data can be accessed here: http://goo.gl/oYVrO

Genres

Initially, we took the top 100 independent youtube channels and found that 51 or 51% (TA- BLE A) were comedy channels. Some of these comedy channels include Epicmealtime, RayWilliamJohnson, Smosh, freddiew (TABLE A). Of the top 100 independent youtube channels 23, 23% (TABLE A) were gaming channels. Some of the gaming channels which we observed were Roosterteeth, TobyGames, SmoshGames, SeaNanners (TABLE A). Also, of the top 100 independent youtube channels 11 or 11% (TABLE A) were fashion/beauty channels. We took a look at JLovesMac1, DulceCandy87, kandeejohnson, juicystar07 (TA- BLE A) during our study. There are tons of other genres such as, Animation, Slow Motion, Action/VFX, Commentary, Educational, Exercise (TABLE A) that were looked at during our study, but we focused on comedy, gaming and fashion/beauty for the bulk of our research.

Varied VS. Consistent Format

During our research, we realized that many channels used diﬀerent formats for their audiences. We found that 36 or 36% (TABLE A) of the top 100 content creators used varied formats and structures to entertain their audiences. Channels such as, ijustine (fashion, tech-

13 nology, vlogs, etc.), TomSka (vlogs, animation, action), nigahiga (vlog, comedy) (TABLE A). These channels chose to produce diﬀerent content such as a vlog one day and then a skit the next day. These channels do not stick to a set schedule for every video. While 64 or 64% (TABLE A) of the top 100 utilized the TV style of consistent episodes for their audiences. Channels such as, RayWilliamJohnson (Comedy Show =3), smosh (Comedy/ Sketch), EpicMealTime (Extreme Cooking Show) (Table A) use this method very eﬀectively. Theses channels produce consistent content that usually revolves around a show or skit. The audience knows exactly what kind of content they are going to get from these channels.

Topical Content

Upon examining our research, we realized that many videos used topical content to attract viewers to keep their audience’s engaged. Looking at the top 100 channels and found that 53 (TABLE B) out of the 286 were topical videos. Which means that 18.5% (TABLE B) of the videos had elements of topical content within the video.

When looking at JUST THE GAMING CHANNELS in the top 100 channels, on average 1.43 (FIGURE 21) of the videos out of the most recent 10 videos appear to be topical. 0 (FIGURE 21) is the median number. The median was found by looking at the 10 most recent videos on gaming channels in the top 100 and finding that the most consistent number of gaming channels do 0 topical content videos on their channel. In my opinion, Gam- ing channels do not benefit from topical content as many of the other channel categories do. It is also good practice to assume that some Gaming channel videos, such as walkthroughs, can benefit from being topical with new game releases. If you are the first channel to have the “new” game walkthrough, then you’re more likely to gain more traffic to- wards your videos/channel.

When looking at JUST THE FASHION/BEAUTY CHANNELS in the top 100 channels, on average 3.45 (FIGURE 22) videos out of the most recent 10 videos appear to be topical. 4 (FIGURE 22) is the median number. The median was found by looking at the 10 most recent videos on fashion/beauty channels in the top 100 and ﬁnding that the most consistent number of fashion/beauty channels do 4 topical content videos on their channel. In my opinion, a lot of fashion and beauty channels use award shows and “red carpet”

14 screenings to draw inspiration and ideas for their own video tutorials. So after an award show, content creators can ﬁnd out what “look” their audience is looking for and capitalize by giving them topical content. This boosts their views and subscribers and helps their YouTube notoriety.

When looking at JUST THE ONE PERSON VLOG CHANNELS in the top 100 channels, on average 2.30 (FIGURE 23) videos out of the most recent 10 videos appear to be topical. 1 (FIGURE 23) is the median number. The median was found by looking at the 10 most recent videos on vlog channels in the top 100 and ﬁnding that the most consistent number of vlog channels do 1 topical content videos on their channel. In my opinion, vlogs are gen- erally talking about current events either personal or global so topical content lends itself easily to Vlogs. People like sharing their opinion and a vlog is a perfect avenue for people to express their opinions. Many vlogs are reactions to events and allows people to start a conversation.

When looking at JUST COMEDY CHANNELS in the top 100 channels, on average 2.47 (FIGURE 20) videos out of the most recent 10 videos appear to be topical. 1 (FIGURE 20) is the median number. The median was found by looking at the 10 most recent videos on comedy channels in the top 100 and ﬁnding that the most consistent number of comedy channels do 1 topical content videos on their channel. In my opinion, for comedy topical content usually revolves around the news and or world wide events. For instance, many comedy channels chose to parody the viral hit Gangam Style due to its quick rise to fame. The idea is that if people are already searching for something then if you put out something similar the channel might gain some residual views and subscribers. This technique was also used during the recent “Harlem Shake” fad that took on the internet overnight.

461679.5 (FIGURE 91) is the median number of views in a video with topical content and 1661063.42 (FIGURE 91) is the average number of views in a video with topical content. According to these numbers, a content creator can still get sizable viewership by giving their audience topical content.

According to the rest of our data, 426764.5 (FIGURE 92) is the median number of views in a video with content that does not appear to be topical and 1226936.81 (FIGURE 92) is the average number of views in a video with content that does not appear to be topical. It

15 is clear that topical content gets more views than non-topical content. In my opinion, if someone was starting a channel, it would be very worthwhile to produce topical content rather than non-topical content.

Frequency of Posting

With any type of episodic content, the creator must come up with a set schedule for releas- ing content. When looking at the most successful channels on YouTube we found some patterns that can show some proven practices when it comes to scheduling content on YouTube. When looking at the top 100 independent YouTube channels, 5 (FIGURE 1) is the median number of videos posted in January per channel. This makes it approximately 1.25 videos per week. When looking at the top 100 independent YouTube channels, 11.27 (FIG- URE 1) is the average number of videos posted in January per channel. This makes it approximately 2.81 videos per week. Overall it is clear that many channels use the idea that the TV style of programing of once per week is a starting point. As we get to more speciﬁc channel categories more patterns emerge.

Taking into consideration only COMEDY channels, 3 (FIGURE 8) is the median number of videos posted in January per channel. This makes it approximately 0.75 videos per week. Taking into consideration only COMEDY channels, 4.92 (FIGURE 8) is the average number of videos posted in January per channel. This makes it approximately 1.23 videos per week. Comedy channels seem to also implement the TV style of programing and this is probably due to the nature of the comedy format. It takes a lot more preparation such as script writing and actors to properly make their skit funny. Not to mention the comedic tim- ing during the editing process, which makes the time between pieces of content at least a week. Which explains the once per week schedule of most comedy channels.

Taking into consideration only GAMING channels, 31 (FIGURE 9) is the median number of videos posted in January per channel. This makes it approximately 7.75 videos per week. Taking into consideration only GAMING channels, 33.22 (FIGURE 9) is the average number of videos posted in January per channel. This makes it approximately 8.31 videos per week. Gaming channels are in the mindset of constant content. Many gaming channels have series that involve a particular game and audiences like to see the creator’s progres- sion compared to their own in certain games. The audience also can be entertained by the

16 personality that’s playing the games. Which means it doesn’t matter which games they are playing, but their personality stays the consistent. As for walkthroughs, a creator must have the entire game in order to attract audiences looking to ﬁgure out how to beat a particular level. This means the creator must have an entire game in their videos, which al- ludes to the fact they must upload a TON of videos to satisfy their audience and gain new viewers.

Taking into consideration only FASHION/BEAUTY channels, 5 (FIGURE 10) is the median number of videos posted in January per channel. This makes it approximately 1.25 videos per week. Taking into consideration only FASHION/BEAUTY channels, 6.73 (FIGURE 10) is the average number of videos posted in January per channel. This makes it approximately 1.68 videos per week. Many fashion and beauty channels ask their audience for sugges- tions for their upcoming videos to not only connect with them, but to also ﬁgure what their audience wants to see. This conversation takes little time so it’s easier to upload more videos. Explaining to more than once per week schedule as most other channel categories.

Taking into consideration only ONE PERSON VLOG channels, 5 (FIGURE 11) is the median number of videos posted in January per channel. This makes it approximately 1.25 videos per week. Taking into consideration only ONE PERSON VLOG channels, 11.04 (FIG- URE 11) is the average number of videos posted in January per channel. This makes it approximately 2.76 videos per week. As stated before, many vlogs are people reacting, stat- ing their opinions and/or telling stories. This accounts for the median 1.25 videos per week. On the other side of the spectrum, many vloggers choose to do daily vlogs. These types of vlogs skew our results when we look at the average 2.76 videos per week.

Taking into consideration all channels EXCEPT ONE PERSON VLOG channels, 5 (FIGURE 12) is the median number of videos posted in January per channel. This makes it approximately 1.25 videos per week. Taking into consideration all channels EXCEPT ONE PER- SON VLOG channels, 11.04 (FIGURE 12) is the average number of videos posted in Janu- ary per channel. This makes it approximately 2.76 videos per week

Taking into consideration only SHOESTRING BUDGET channels, 5 (FIGURE 14) is the median number of videos posted in January per channel. This makes it approximately 1.25 videos per week. Taking into consideration only SHOESTRING BUDGET channels, 12.64

17 (FIGURE 14) is the average number of videos posted in January per channel. This makes it approximately 3.16 videos per week. This schedule makes sense due to the lack of budget, many of their projects can get done quicker. This explains the average 3.16 videos per week.

Taking into consideration all channels EXCEPT SHOESTRING BUDGET, 5 (FIGURE 13) is the median number of videos posted in January per channel. This makes it approximately 1.25 videos per week. Taking into consideration all channels EXCEPT SHOESTRING BUDGET, 12.64 (FIGURE 13) is the average number of videos posted in January per channel.

Video Length

During our research we wanted to know if there was a pattern with video length overall in the top 100 channels and by each category. When looking at the 286 videos from the top 100 channels, the median video length is 259 seconds or 4:19 minutes (FIGURE 52) and the average video length is 389 seconds or 6:29 minutes (FIGURE 52). In my opinion, the overall average may be skewed due to the length of gaming channels seen below.

When looking at JUST COMEDY VIDEOS from that pool, the median video length is 205 seconds or 3:25 minutes (FIGURE 58) and the average video length is 241 seconds or 4:01 minutes (FIGURE 58). This information can give someone an idea of the appropriate length of comedy videos. ALL RESULTS IN THE FOLLOWING PARAGRAPHS ARE RELA- TIVE. NOT ALL PROJECTS NEED TO BE WITHIN THIS RANGE!

When looking at JUST GAMING VIDEOS from that pool, the median video length is 576 seconds or 9:36 minutes (FIGURE 59) and the average video length is 738 seconds or 12:18 minutes (FIGURE 59). This information can give someone an idea of the appropriate length of gaming videos.

When looking at JUST FASHION/BEAUTY VIDEOS from that pool, the median video length is 464 seconds or 7:44 minutes (FIGURE 60) and the average video length is 452 seconds or 7:32 minutes (FIGURE 60).This information can give someone an idea of the appropriate length of fashion/beauty videos.

18 When looking at JUST NEWS/COMMENTARY VIDEOS from that pool, the median video length is 535 seconds or 8:55 minutes (FIGURE 62) and the average video length is 539 seconds or 8:59 minutes (FIGURE 62).This information can give someone an idea of the appropriate length of news/commentary videos.

When looking at JUST VLOG VIDEOS from that pool, the median video length is 299 seconds or 4:59 minutes (FIGURE 61) and the average video length is 411 seconds or 6:51 minutes (FIGURE 61).This information can give someone an idea of the appropriate length of vlog videos.

Number of Talent in Video

We looked to see if there were similarities between channel categories and the number of talent in the video. We wanted to come up with the ideal number of talent on screen in order suggest our ﬁndings to other content creators.

When looking at JUST THE COMEDY channels in the top 100 independent YouTube channels, 1 (FIGURE 24) is the median number of talent in the video. When looking at JUST THE COMEDY channels in the top 100 independent YouTube channels, 2.89 (FIGURE 24) is the average number of talent in the video. It is common that 1 person be on screen, unless they are doing a skit which means more people will be on screen.

When looking at JUST THE GAMING channels in the top 100 independent YouTube channels, 1 (FIGURE 25) is the median number of talent in the video. When looking at JUST THE GAMING channels in the top 100 independent YouTube channels, 1.35 (FIGURE 25) is the average number of talent in the video. Many commentate by themselves which means their audience is usually loyal to one channel.

When looking at JUST THE FASHION/BEAUTY channels in the top 100 independent You- Tube channels, 1 (FIGURE 26) is the median number of talent in the video. When looking at JUST THE FASHION/BEAUTY channels in the top 100 independent YouTube channels, 1.09 (FIGURE 26) is the average number of talent in the video. Creators usually use themselves as their test subjects so they don’t need many other people.

19 Collaboration

Collaboration is a huge part of the YouTube community. It’s how many people gain audiences and notoriety which makes YouTube very helpful to new up and coming content creators. From the pool of 286 videos, 97 (TABLE B) videos had at least one additional talent/collaborator credited in video description which is 34% (TABLE B) of the 286 videos. Collaboration can also be seen through likes and shares between two creator’s content.

When looking at just COMEDY videos, 42% (TABLE B) had at least one additional talent/ collaborator credited in video description? When looking at just GAMING videos, only 2% (TABLE B) had at least one additional talent/collaborator credited in video description? When looking at just FASHION/BEAUTY videos, 21% (TABLE B) had at least one additional talent/collaborator credited in video description? When looking at just NEWS/ COMMENTARY videos, 50% (TABLE B) had at least one additional talent/collaborator credited in video description? In my opinion, just like a cross-over in two TV series, collaboration helps everyone involved and is a great way to gain a bigger audience.

Budget and Production Logistics

Through our research we found that many channels used a shoestring budget and small crew sizes to produce their content. We deﬁned shoestring budget as project that had a single consumer or prosumer level camera, simple lighting setup, and easily accessible and inexpensive editing software. We found 85 or 85% (TABLE A) of the top 100 independent youtube channels appear to utilize a shoestring budget. 96 or 96% (TABLE A) of the top 100 independent youtube channels appear to be shot with a “single camera” ap- proach. As for a more studio production only 4 or 4% (TABLE A) of the top 100 independent youtube channels appear to be studio multi-cam productions.

Average crew sizes were also small across all categories. 2 (FIGURE 32) is the estimated median crew size of COMEDY channels. 2.27 (FIGURE 32) is the estimated average crew size of COMEDY channels. 1 (FIGURE 33) is the estimated median crew size of GAMING channels. 1.52 (FIGURE 33) is the estimated average crew size of GAMING channels. 2 (FIGURE 34) is the estimated median crew size of FASHION/BEAUTY channels. 1.82 (FIG- URE 34) is the estimated average crew size of FASHION/BEAUTY channels. These small

20 crews are very encouraging to potential content creators because of the low threshold it takes to start making content on YouTube.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Search engine optimization allows content creators to connect all of their work together with links to websites/stores and branding options so they are easily searchable through Google and YouTube. When looking at the 286 videos from the top 100 channels, the median number of words in video description is 56.5 (FIGURE 55) and the average number of words in video description is 81.87 (FIGURE 55). In my opinion, these numbers show that content creators are actively using SEO to enhance their online presence.

Many YouTubers link to social media outlets in order to engage with their audience. When looking at the 286 videos from the top 100 channels, the median number of links to their own website, twitter, fb, etc. in video description is 4 (FIGURE 56) and the average number of links to their own website, twitter, fb, etc. in video description is 4.64 (FIGURE 56). The data shows that many content creators are using SEO to connect with their audiences over diﬀerent social media platforms. In my opinion, by engaging with their audience on social media sites, YouTube gains an edge over TV because YouTube creators can easily communicate with their audiences in between pieces of content unlike TV.

21 3 summary by: Intros, Credits, Pacing Adan Hernandez of The Top 100 Independent Youtube Channels Methodology

In January, as a class we took the list from most subscribed YouTube channels category and looked at 241 channels. We eliminated the channels that were extensions of larger brands, music labels and other corporations. We focused on independent productions because the research was meant to look at the best practices for independent producers. The list went from 241 channels to 100 independently owned channels (Table A). We then looked at the 2 or 3 most recent videos from from the 100 channels and that gave us a pool of 286 channels (Table B).

All data can be accessed here: http://goo.gl/oYVrO

Show Intros (Bumpers)

As a class, we looked at the top 100 independent YouTube channels and took the 3 most recent videos from each channel (Table A, Table B). We ended up with 286 videos and found out that a total 120 videos (42%) have an intro (bumper) (Table B). Looking at the 286 videos, the median length for introduction is 5 seconds long (Table B). The average length is 3 seconds long (Table B). As we can see, a majority of the videos do not have an introduction. For the videos that do include an introduction, it is kept very short. People go to YouTube for entertainment or for to gather information quickly. By skipping or having a short introduction, it keeps the viewers attention and they’ll be willing to watch the entire video.

Credits

We also took a look at ending credits and found out that 40 videos out of the 286 (14%) have credits. The average length for ending credits was 15 seconds (Table B).

Pacing

To calculate the pace of the videos, we looked at words per minute and also at cuts per minute. For comedy videos, the average and median of words per minute is 144. The average cuts/minute was 3 and a median of 14. Gaming videos had a median of 162 words/ minute and an average of 162.7 words/minute (Figure B). The fashion videos had an aver-

23 age of 168 words/minute and a median of 174 word/minute (Table B). Vlog videos have an average of 168.4 words/minute and a median of 162 words/minutes (Table B). News/ commentary videos had an average of 145.75 words/minute and a median of 159 words/ minute (Table B). Many of these YouTube channels have created videos to inform people about what’s going on in Hollywood (What The Buck Show), how to do your nails/hair (Jui- cystar07) or quick tutorials on how to create something. People go to YouTube to watch and learn something quick so the videos need to be quick. The on screen talent has to speak fast to keep their audience’s attention.

Gaming videos had an average of 3.39 cuts/minute with a median of 0 cuts/minute (Table B). Fashion videos have a median of 12 cuts/minute and average 14.68 cuts/minute (Table B). Vlogs have an average of 11.68 cuts/minute with a median of 10 cuts/minute (Table B).The average cuts/minute for news/commentary is 13.15 and a median of 12 cuts/ minute (Table B). From this information, it looks like videos like to switch cameras or scenes very quickly. This is to keep the video moving and the audience interested in what the talent has to say.

24 4 summary by: Analysis of Video Melina Heaney Engagement of The Top 100 Indeoentent YouTube Channels Methodology

For our Spring 2013 Programing Television Operations class at Columbia Chicago College we went to http://vidstatsx.com/ and chose to analyze the top 200 most subscribed channels on youtube. This way we would be able to catalog youtube channels that had regular episodes as opposed to random viral youtube videos. The youtube channels were then categorized by genre such as: comedy, vlog, gaming, fashion, news, etc. The data was collected by all the students in our Spring class of 2013, who were then assigned to research a portion of the channels so that not everyone had to record their ﬁndings for 200 youtube channels.

All data can be accessed here: http://goo.gl/oYVrO

Audience Funneling and Interactive Buttons

When watching an episode on youtube of shows such as EpicMealTime or MagicofRahat you will ﬁnd that some of them end with buttons/links in the video. These links typically include previews to other episodes of their show.

Upon further investigation out of 286 videos about 194 of them ended with these buttons linking to other content, or in other words, 67.8% (see Table B).

Many videos on youtube also end with an invitation to subscribe to their channel. This can be a verbal invitation by the host themselves or by displaying a subscribe button at the end of their videos. By subscribing to a youtube channel you as the subscriber will get in- stant notiﬁcation the second a new video is uploaded to youtube. While many youtube personalities feel the need to remind their watchers to subscribe others feel it is unnecessary.

Out of 286 videos we investigated how many youtube videos ended with an invitation/ reminder to subscribe and as it turns out 142 ended with these such reminders, with equals 49.7%. (see Table B).

26 YouTube Comments

As many people know, anyone may comment on a video on youtube. (Unless for whatever reason the owner of said videos disables comments.) In order to estimate how many people do actually comment on videos they watch we determined that the median percentage of viewers who also commented on a video was 1%.

There are some very popular youtube videos out there but some of them have more comments than others. One video might have only 100 comments while another video has 18,000. However our research determined that the top 3 videos with the highest percentage of comments were all gaming channels. These channels include game walkthroughs, reviews, LP’s (Let’s Play), and/or game related news in all of their video uploads.

WoodysGamerTag and TotalHaliBut are gaming channels where you watch people play video games, aka Let’s Play (LP) videos. JamesNintendoNerd is also a gaming channel only focuses more on the people commenting on the game rather than it’s actual game- play.

Apparently gaming channels on average get the most video comments. (see Table B).

The videos listed below are the 3 top videos that had the highest percentage of comments to views. (see Table B).

Channel Name # of Views # of Comments Percentage of Comments

WoodysGamerTag 13,461 239 10.57%

TotalHalibut 118,151 1,252 8.61%

JamesNintendoNerd 145,631 1,901 8.28%

27 The videos listed below are the three top videos found in our research that had the lowest percentage of comments to views.

Channel Name # of Views # of Comments % of Comments

Communitychannel 1,260,180 9,703 0.07%

TheFinebros 1,398,180 8,792 0.07%

ShaneDawsonTV 2,059,780 13,533 0.09%

Communitychannel’s video, although are normally vlogs, but in this case its a girl imitating Brad Pitt. Both the Theﬁnebros and ShaneDawsonTV videos are Harlem Shake parody videos.

According to our research the videos with the smallest percentage of comments were videos that didn’t contain their youtube channels typical content. For example, Theﬁnebros typical videos involve interviewing a certain age group of people. Theﬁnebros “Harlem Shake” video is one of the top videos that had the smallest percentage of comments. In fact two Harlem Shake videos are on the top of the list as having the lowest amount of comments. This research would seem to indicate that unrelated videos content doesn’t get as many comments.

Many videos on youtube ask viewers to leave comments. This could be as simple as put- ting a text box on your video asking people to comment (annotations), or a more direct ap- proach and having the host of the video vocally tell the audience to leave a comment on their video. Out of 286 videos 41 asked viewers to leave a comment, which equals out to 14.3%. (see Table B).

Below is a table showing the diﬀerence in the percentage of comments between videos that reminded their viewers to comment versus videos that didn’t.

28 Reminded to Comment Not Reminded to Comment

Average 2.4% Average 0.4%

Median 0.83% Median 0.2%

Videos on youtube can be put into many diﬀerent genres. For the sake of our class research we divided our videos into ﬁve categories. These categories include Comedy, Gam- ing, Fashion/Beauty, Vlog, and News/Commentary. The table below demonstrates the dif- ferent range of comments youtube videos received based on their genre.

Video Genres % who Commented (Average) % who Commented (Median)

Comedy 0.9% 0.3%

Gaming 2.3% 1.4%

Fashion/Beauty 3.4% 1.9%

Vlog 1.3% 0.6%

News/Commentary 7.7% 4.9%

YouTube’s LIKE Button

When looking at videos on youtube there is a little something called the LIKE button. This makes is so viewers can express whether they think the video is good or not. Through our classes research we determined that the median percentage of viewers who also liked a video was 2.81% and the average percentage was 3.2%.

Below is a table showing the diﬀerence in how many videos received LIKES based on whether or not the video asked their viewers to do so.

The chart below demonstrates how videos with diﬀerent genres vary in how many LIKES they may receive on their videos.

29 Video Genres % who Liked (Average) % who Liked (Median)

Comedy 0.93% 0.60%

Gaming 2.38% 1.57%

Fashion/Beauty 3.57% 2.46%

Vlog 1.32% 0.56%

News/Commentary 7.69% 2.26

30 5 summary by: Analysis of The Web Courtney Aubrecht Presence of The Top 100 Independent YoTube Channels Methodology

The data for this study was collected by students at Columbia College Chicago through an analysis of top YouTube channels. For the ﬁrst data sample we collected information from vidstatsx.com, a website that has various data sets on the top YouTube channels, and we took data from the top 241 subscribed channels worldwide (TABLE C). The reason for this sample set was to analyze YouTube channels that have repeat audiences and eliminate those with random, viral hits. This way we could come to a more solid conclusion about the best practices for an online media creator.

Eventually we narrowed our study to the top 100 independent YouTube channels out of the top 241 described above (TABLE A). We chose those channels that were not extensions of a larger brand, organization, or music label in order to ﬁnd the best practices for independent content producers and not large labels. We gathered data based on genre, number of videos, rate of delivery in the videos (cuts or words per minute), and other useful topics to determine trends and patterns. Data for this more reﬁned set of samples was collected from vidstatsx.com as well as from the YouTube channels themselves. For some of the data, we calculated the mean, median, and mode of each number set. The mean is the average, the median is the number in the middle after the data set has been organized numerically from lowest to highest, and the mode is the number value that appears most often in a given data set.

All data can be accessed here: http://goo.gl/oYVrO

Web Presence

Of the top 100 independent YouTube channels, 60% of them have websites disassociated with their YouTube channel (TABLE A). This data suggests that a majority of the YouTube channels use YouTube as a bouncing-oﬀ point to create awareness and branch oﬀ to their own websites. Of the top 100 independent YouTube channels 33% have blogs overall. Only considering those channels with independent websites, 55% of those with websites have blogs (TABLE A). Not only are websites designed to promote and sell the media creators on YouTube, but they allow for semi-personal discussions with the fans which further enforces the notion of the “single person audience” that most YouTube creators cater to-

32 ward. However, only 24% of the top YouTube channels have a message board for viewers to express their opinions and discuss topics about the channel, which shows that almost a third of the private websites allow for people to comment and discuss their material which creates a wall between the YouTube personality and the audience (TABLE A). A nearly even split of 48% of YouTube channels have a store to sell their channel-speciﬁc merchan- dise (TABLE A). So, it seems that some choose to market themselves even more than just on their channels yet others seem uninterested or not able to create their own products.

Almost all of the top 100 independent YouTube channels have a twitter account. In total, 99 out of the 100 (99%) have an account (TABLE A). Similarly, 98 (98%) out of the top 100 YouTube channels has a facebook page. Clearly social media plays an important role in the success of an online media creator (TABLE A). Being able to connect, alert and share material or important events has proven to be a trend in the top YouTube channels. Twitter and Facebook, however, have proven themselves to be a potent media hub. Others, on the other hand, are still too new that the data suggests not too many YouTube channels have faith in them. Only 35% of the top YouTube channels have a G+ account, revealing that the strength of the new Google social media hub is burgeoning but is not as proliﬁc as Facebook or Twitter (TABLE A). Only 21% of the top 100 channels has a Tumblr account. If you’re going to have a blog, I guess you’d might as well have it on your own website (TA- BLE A). Instagram has only a meager 17% of the top YouTube channels using its service. I would presume that this number is aﬀected by whether or not the programming is familial in nature to invite people to view their personal photos (TABLE A). Of the other media websites that is often used by these top channels, 6% have an iTunes page, 2% use Pinterest, 2% use ustream (a live broadcasting service), and a small 1% has an old relic: Myspace (TABLE A).

Clearly by analyzing the data, social media plays an important role for online media creators to bring eyes to their videos and win over subscribers. It seems to be important, also, to not have all of your eggs in one basket for you’re bound to get more viewers when you broadcast yourself through several diﬀerent online sources.

33 Facebook

The median number of Facebook posts of the top YouTube channels in January is 21 posts (Figure 31). This number divides into approximately 5.25 posts per week. And this ﬁgure reveals that they post approximately 0.7 posts per day. This suggests that barely 1 post per day is typical of the top 100 YouTube channels. It seems that an incessant number of posts is not necessary; and this can further suggest that most fans only peruse the facebook page of the channel they like every once in awhile versus daily or repeatedly.

Based on average, the top 100 Youtube channels posted 39.33 Facebook posts in Janu- ary. This number comes to 9.83 Facebook posts per week. And this number breaks down even more to 1.31 Facebook posts per day (Figure 31). The data suggests that there isn’t much diﬀerence between the median values and the average values, showing that maybe one to two posts per day is typical of the average top YouTube channel. So again, Face- book, though used by 98% of the top channels, is used more like a subtle reminder to their fans more than an almost streaming broadcast of daily events.

Google Plus

The median number of G+ posts in January was a classy 0 for the top Youtube channels with a G+ account (Figure 40). This is 0 G+ posts per week in January. And of course 0 G+ posts per day. This data shows what was discussed earlier: many of the top channels rely on social media to spread the word but the newest social media hub, Google+, seems to be relatively insigniﬁcant for a large chunk of the top YouTube channels.

The average number of G+ posts in January of the top YouTube channels with a G+ account was 12.29 (Figure 40). This comes to 3.07 G+ posts per week, or .41 G+ posts per day, based on the average value. This data, though at least not zero, still hints on the fact that G+ accounts aren’t as proliﬁcally used like Facebook or Twitter, with an average of one post every three or more days.

Twitter

The median number of tweets posted in January of the top YouTube channels was 88 (Fig- ure 27). This totals 22 tweets per week, or 2.93 tweets per day, based on the median

34 value. The quick-form nature of Twitter with its limited text appears to create more fre- quent postings than the other social media websites.

The average number of tweets posted in January of the top YouTube channels was 213.23 (Figure 27). This figure comes to 53.31 tweets per week, or 7.11 tweets per day, based on the average value. This data reinforces the idea that Twitter is used quickly and often to share information with their followers. The difference between the median value and the average value, (of 88 posts in January, median, to 213.23 posts in January, average) shows that there are some YouTube channels that use their twitter significantly more than others.

The median number of retweets posted in January of the top YouTube channels was 11 (Figure 28). Which comes to 2.75 retweets per week, or .367 retweets per day, based on the median value. Comparatively, the average number of retweets in January of the top YouTube channels came to 37.36 retweets (Figure 28). This makes 9.34 retweets per week, or 1.25 retweets per day, based on the average value. The diﬀerences in these two values signiﬁes that there is a large range in terms of the number of retweets that a channel will post in a month.

The median number of @mentions in January of the top YouTube channels was 35.5 mentions (Figure 29). Which is 8.875 mentions per week, or 1.18 mentions per day, based on median value.The average number of @mentions in January of the top YouTube channels was 128.49 mentions (Figure 29). Which totals 32.12 mentions per week, or 4.28 mentions per day, based on average value.

The median number of hashtags was 4 hashtags in January (Figure 30). Totaling 1 hashtag per week, or .13 hashtags per day, based on median value. The average number of hashtags in tweets posted in January was 18.24 (Figure 30). This makes 4.56 hashtags per week, or .61 hashtags per day, based on average value.

In conclusion, there doesn’t seem be one “appropriate” number or range for anything asso- ciated with using Twitter when combining the data from all of the top 100 YouTube channels. The large jump between the median and average values of all samples including the number of tweets, retweets, hashtags, and mentions shows that there are much larger

35 numbers pulling those averages up, entailing that there is no set “right” way to conduct your channel’s Twitter.

Twitter Use by Genre

In order to better find an observable trend, we broke down the data into their specific genres. This will narrow down the number of samples to see if we can better find a trend form- ing out of the genre instead of the group as a whole.

There was a median number of 71 tweets in the month of January for only Comedy channels. (Figure 45) And this comes to 17.75 tweets per week, or 2.37 tweets per day, for only comedy channels based on median value. The average number of tweets in the month of January for only Comedy channels came to 142.52 tweets (Figure 45). This is 35.63 tweets per week, or 4.75 tweets per day for only Comedy channels, based on the average value. The diﬀerence between these two values is almost 1:2. Also, this data set implies that Comedy channels fall closer to the median range versus the average range when looking back to the previous numbers under the category TWITTER.

The median value for the number of tweets posted in January for only Gaming channels came to 165 tweets (Figure 46). This comes to 41.25 tweets per week, or 5.5 tweets per day, for only Gaming channels based on the median value. The average number of tweets posted in the month of January for Gaming channels came to 374.83 (Figure 46). This comes to 93.71 tweets per week, or 12.49 tweets per day, for only Gaming channels based on the average value. This diﬀerence is only slightly less than that for comedy channels at a ratio of about 11:25. Again, there seems to be a big enough diﬀerence between the lowest values and the highest to suggest that there is no trend in the number of tweets per month for Gaming channels. The number of posts per day also is higher than the median and average values found previously when considering ALL of the top 100 independent Youtube channels combined.

The median number of twitter posts in the month of January for only Fashion/Beauty channels came to 114 tweets (Figure 47). This comes to 28.5 tweets per week, or 3.8 tweets per day, for only Fashion/Beauty channels based on the median value. The average number of tweets in January for only Fashion/Beauty channels comes to 229.91 tweets (Figure

36 47). This comes to 57.5 tweets per week, or 7.66 tweets per day, for only Fashion/Beauty channels based on the average value. These values are very close to being 1:2, just like the Comedy channels. And again, like comedy channels, this data set falls close to the median/average values found for all of the top 100 channels combined.

The median number of tweets in January for only One Person Vlog channels came to 101 tweets (Figure 48). Which comes to 25.25 tweets per week, or 3.37 tweets per day, for only One Person Vlog channels based on the median value. The average number of tweets in January for only One Person Vlog channels came to 207.71 tweets (Figure 48). This comes to 51.93 tweets per week, or 6.92 tweets per day, for only One Person Vlog channels based on the average value. Again, the median value to the average value is almost 1:2.

The results of this genre sample have proven that all genres share an almost identical spread between the highest and lowest numbers of tweets in one month. The only slight difference was found in the Gaming channels. Their difference was not 50% or close to it; it was instead a 44% difference. This shows that the spectrum of highest to lowest is slightly more condensed with Gaming channels. Also, while the rest of the genres fell close to the range of the median and average number of posts considering all of the top 100 You- tube channels, Gaming channels had a significantly higher number of median/average tweets.

Twitter Use - Qualitative Analysis

The following are brief descriptions of 50 out of the 99 top YouTube channels with twitter accounts. Included in the data set are the YouTube channel name, their Twitter handle, the number of followers they have as of March 11, 2013 and a small description of their twitter habits. Following is the name of the person who collected the data.

1) TomSka, https://twitter.com/thetomska, 66 105 followers

He uses twitter a lot to write random thoughts throughout his day. Also responds to fans/ followers frequently. Sporadic jokes/sarcasm.

Prepared by: Danielle Lucovich

37 2) waﬄepwn, https://twitter.com/waﬄepwnvideo, 1 395 followers

Does not use twitter on a regular basis, although account does exist.

Prepared by: Danielle Lucovich

3) HISHEdotcom, https://twitter.com/simplecap, 7 023 followers

Comments on recent pop culture, animation related sites/people. Occasionally responds to followers. Mostly posts once or twice daily.

Prepared by: Danielle Lucovich

4) glozell1, https://twitter.com/GloZell, 401 950 followers

Promotes channel on twitter. Posts things going on in her community, or diﬀerent topics she's interested about. Posts frequently throughout the day; 5-10 times

Prepared by: Danielle Lucovich

5) minutephysics, https://twitter.com/minutephysics, 36 174 followers

Promotes new videos on youtube channel. Responds/posts on science related issues. Reposts/retweets information about other science related articles, stories, and videos.

Prepared by: Danielle Lucovich

6) JLovesMac1, https://twitter.com/heyjarmaine, 84 146 followers

38 Gives updates on her previous or current videos. Talks to followers frequently; replies and has conversations with other people on twitter. Posts are random, no one subject is ever followed.

Prepared by: Danielle Lucovich

7) TmarTn, https://twitter.com/TmarTn, 168 819 followers

Posts very frequently throughout the day; random topics. Responds to questions, and has conversations with followers.

Prepared by Danielle Lucovich

8) bubzbeauty, http://www.twitter.com/bubzbeauty, 178 442 followers

Promotes her youtube videos and her webpage/blog. Posts frequently about beauty related issues, occasionally lets followers know about her daily routine (what she did - shopping, meeting family, where she traveled)

Prepared by Danielle Lucovich

9) vlogbrothers, https://twitter.com/realjohngreen / https://twitter.com/hankgreen, 1 457 557 / 205 161 followers respectively.

Twitter for one of the brothers. Used frequently, posts 10+ throughout the day. Tags many others in posts. Topics discussed on page are at random.

Prepared by: Danielle Lucovich

39 10) kandeejohnson, https://twitter.com/kandeejohnson, 229 594 followers

Majority of tweets are beauty related; shopping, makeup. Occasionally tweets of her current thought or whereabouts. Sometimes responds to followers, but does not seem to be on a regular basis.

Prepared by Danielle Lucovich

11) CaptainSparklez, https://twitter.com/CaptainSparklez, 274 709 followers

Most of posts are game related. Occasionally lets followers know where he is, or what he is thinking. (Eating, traveling, feeling sick). Frequently posts about new games, tricks, and opinions of game related things.

Prepared by: Danielle Lucovich

12) PewDiePie, https://twitter.com/pewdiepie, 572 493 followers

Responds to others extremely frequently. Posts are sometimes about gaming; but mostly sporadic posts about his thoughts/feelings. No category for most of tweets.

Prepared by Danielle Lucovich

13)BreakingNYC, https://twitter.com/RayWJ, 1 391 452 followers

Since BreakingNYC is no longer running I’m not sure if they have or have ever had a twitter account. Although I’m pretty sure anything Ray William Johnson is working on would be under his personal twitter account.

Prepared by: Melinda Heaney

40 14) charlieissocoollike, https://twitter.com/coollike, 529 602 followers

Half of Charlie’s tweets are updates of new videos that he just uploaded. The other half of his tweets say things such as what he is eating, singing, or who he is hanging out with, such as Ken Plume.

Prepared by: Melinda Heaney

15) daneboe, https://twitter.com/daneboe, 83 959 followers

Dane Boe loves attaching pictures from his instagram to his twitter updates. He mostly takes pictures of his dog and retweets other funny pictures he’s found. He also makes a lot of references to Annoying Orange.

Prepared by: Melinda Heaney

16) EpicMealTime, https://twitter.com/EpicMealTime, 421 361 followers

Most of epicmealtime’s tweets involve trying out new food and checking out their latest videos. However they don’t just put up links to their own youtube channel but to other youtube videos that involve food occasionally as well.

Prepared by: Melinda Heaney

17) KassemG, https://twitter.com/kassemg, 287 284 followers

Most of KassemG’s tweets are to other people. He references a lot of people in almost all of his tweets. Others are just him talking about random things he recently did or is thinking about.

41 Prepared by: Melinda Heaney

18) MagicOfRahat, https://twitter.com/MagicofRahat, 12 099 followers

About half of his tweets reference other people or responding to tweets they put up about him. Other tweets are of what he is doing on a day to day basis such as what movie he is going to see in the theaters and how he just bought girl scout cookies.

Prepared by: Melinda Heaney

19) MichellePhan, https://twitter.com/MichellePhan, 362 888 followers

Half of Michelle Phan’s tweets are pictures she takes from her instagram account. The other half is her referencing other people, her own website or videos.

Prepared by: Melinda Heaney

20) RayWilliamJohnson, https://twitter.com/RayWJ, 1 350 878 followers

Ray William Johnson is surprisingly the ﬁrst famous youtuber whom I’ve noticed actually tweets twitter trends. Aside from that he puts a lot of pictures up from either his instagram or facebook and updates of his new videos.

Prepared by: Melinda Heaney

21) SmoshGames, https://twitter.com/SmoshGames, 76 409 followers

A lot of gamer info and pictures are posted on this twitter. Aside from that there are a few references to other videos but it’s mostly random gaming info.

42 Prepared by: Melinda Heaney

22) Theﬁnebros, https://twitter.com/theﬁnebros, 152 326 followers

The Fine Bro’s reference a lot of people and companies they collaborate with for their projects. Aside from that they mostly just post random tweets such as “who wants a slumber party?” and “Lets everyone stop growing old. Deal?”

Prepared by: Melinda Heaney

23) TobyTurner, https://twitter.com/tobyturner, 521 808 followers

TobyTurner mostly tweets about things going on in his daily life such as things that are annoying him or what he is currently thinking. However, literally every other tweet is either a link to his instagram or youtube, this may be to either one of his videos or other random videos on youtube he is unassociated with.

Prepared by: Melinda Heaney

24) UberHaxorNova, https://twitter.com/UberHaxorNova, 192 292 followers

I’d say about 70% of tweets are responses to other people’s tweets. The other 30% is about new uploaded videos and other news updates from their show.

Prepared by: Melinda Heaney

25) cutepolish, https://twitter.com/cutepolish, 27 788

43 This account is used to talk about their new videos being ﬁlmed/edited or posted. Once in a while the author would use it to have a conversation with a friend or follower.

Prepared by: Adan Hernandez

26) danisnotonﬁre, http://twitter.com/danisnotonﬁre, 389 938 followers

The account has tweets about what Dan does throughout the day. There are some tweets that talk about a new video being made. It also has some conversations with followers or friends.

Prepared by: Adan Hernandez

27) FaZeClan, https://twitter.com/FaZeClan, 143 180 followers

The channel uses Twitter to let everyone know about their new videos and when they will be online. It's also used to interact with their followers by asking them to submit videos to their channel or to tag them with a hashtag.

Prepared by: Adan Hernandez

28) HigaTV, https://twitter.com/therealryanhiga, 882 802 followers

Ryan uses Twitter to let his followers know about his current video status. He interacts with his followers by asking them about their opinions on movies or videos from his channel. He also shares pictures from his Instagram account.

Prepared by: Adan Hernandez

44 29) juicystar07, https://twitter.com/juicystar007, 482 142 followers

She uses her Twitter account to give beauty tips to her followers. She also gives updates on her videos and what she is doing throughout her day.

Prepared by: Adan Hernadez

30) KSIOlajidebt, https://twitter.com/KSIOlajidebt, 445 556 followers

Twitter is used to let their followers know what's constantly going on in day. Some tweets were menting the status of their current video and when it was going to be uploaded to their YouTube channel.

Prepared by: Adan Hernadez

31) nigahiga, https://twitter.com/therealryanhiga, 882 802 followers

Prepared by: Adan Hernandez

32) OwnagePranks, https://twitter.com/OwnagePranks, 47 274 followers

This account lets followers know when videos are going to be uploaded to the channel. He also mentions viewers who have left positive feedback on his channel.

Prepared by: Adan Hernandez

45 33) ShaneDawsonTV2, https://twitter.com/shanedawson, 1 043 396 followers

Shane uses his Twitter to keep everyone updated on his videos. He'll mention the current status every day and recommends videos to his followers.

Prepared by: Adan Hernandez

34) ThesyndicateProject, https://twitter.com/ProSyndicate, 549 426 followers

Twitter is used to let their followers know what major events are going on everyday. Some- times other YouTube videos are shared in this acount.

Prepared by: Adan Hernandez

35) Tobuscus, https://twitter.com/tobyturner, 521 652 followers

The Twitter account is used to let his followers know about his day and what new videos he's currently working on. Toby also shares a lot of pictures of his day.

Prepared by: Adan Hernandez

36) yogscast2, https://twitter.com/yogscast, 395 519 followers

The channel uses Twitter to let their followers know about the players' upcoming episodes. It also interacts with their followers and asks them to vote or like videos.

Prepared by: Adan Hernandez

37) Yogscastlalna, https://twitter.com/yogscast, 395 519 followers

46 The channel uses Twitter to let their followers know about the players' upcoming episodes. It also interacts with their followers and asks them to vote or like videos.

Prepared by: Adan Hernandez

38) barelypolitical, http://www.twitter.com/barelypolitical, 28 540 followers

BarelyPolitical often used their twitter account to promote their parodies as well as make commentary about other media trends, such as The Walking Dead news, celebrity news, et cetera. They sometimes retweeted others' tweets when they mention BarelyPolitical.