How to get a billion views on YouTube

pulse

April 30, 2018 8:16 PM

Five billion videos are watched on YouTube every day, but only a certain few rack up enough views to crack the 1 billion mark. Here's how to improve your chances of breaking into the top of the YouTube charts.

Five billion videos are watched on YouTube every day, but only a certain few of those rack up enough views to crack the one billion mark. We wanted to see if there was a definite way to break into the top of the YouTube charts. Turns out there's no definite formula, but there are certain things you can do to increase your odds of a hit video. Following is the transcript of the video.

Narrator: 5 billion. That’s how many times videos are watched on YouTube every single day. With the platform helping thousands of creators “go viral,” we wanted to see if there was a set formula to making a hit video.

To figure out what works on Youtube, let’s look at the 10 most-watched videos. 9 out of 10 are music videos. And that trend continues. Music videos make up 94 out of the top 100. And this isn’t some strange coincidence. People spend more time listening to music on YouTube than Spotify, Apple Music, and Tidal combined.

Chris Molanphy: YouTube has become a popular destination for music because it's just so easy.

Narrator: That’s Chris Molanphy. He’s a pop chart analyst and host of the Hit Parade podcast, which dissects how the top hits made its way up the charts

Chris Molanphy: the reason why music video, in particular, has taken off is the length, the fact that it's professionally produced content. It just right for consumption on a platform like YouTube.

Narrator: Back in the day MTV was the primary way to watch music videos. You would have the channel on and wait for your favorite music videos to play. Now we have the ability to play any music video, whenever we want.

Since the most popular videos are almost all music videos, it seems the fastest way to a billion views is a music video. But, before you have a music video, you need a song millions of people will want to listen to.

Narrator: Okay, so we’ve got some of the ingredients needed for the song. What about the video?

Narrator: Even if your video doesn’t hit a billion views — and odds are it won’t — don’t get discouraged. The video is still going to represent you and your music.

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