The Top 10 Most Viewed Video Channels On YouTube
Image Credit – http://www.flickr.com/photos/jm3/7482327318/ by jm3.
After seeing the statistics regarding the “Gangnam Style” video, I thought that it must be getting close to being one of the most viewed videos on YouTube.
After all it HAD become the most “liked” video on YouTube with 3,884,480 people liking it (including me!), it had also been viewed 437,190,986 times (as of 1.23pm on the 12th October 2012!).
So I thought I would dig a little deeper and find out which videos WERE the most popular on YouTube by the number of views that each “channel” had had.
I couldn’t have been more WRONG!
Gangnam style is a fraction of the REALLY popular videos on YouTube – please read on for details.
Haven’t seen Gangnam Style yet? Watch the video below:
Top 10 Most Viewed Video Channels On YouTube Of All Time
10. At number 10 we have the video channel from IGN Entertainment
IGN Enterntainment are (according to their blurb in YouTube) “the leading source for gaming news on the internet” and with a massive 1,963,583 subscribers, you would be hard pushed to argue. But it is when you look at the number of video views that the figures just become astounding. Two things to consider here – this channel is NUMBER 10 on the list(!) and Gangnam Style has 437,190,986 views.
Views of videos on their channel = 1,981,136,403 – in words that is ONE BILLION NINE HUNDRED AND EIGHT ONE MILLION ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY SIX THOUSAND AND FOUR HUNDRED AND THREE.
9. At number 9 we have Ray William Johnson
According to Wikipedia, Ray William Johnson is an actor and comedic vlogger. Now 32 years old (him, not the YouTube channel!) he produces a YouTube series known as Equals Three, where he provides commentary on viral videos. Not surprisingly, when you look at the video views figures PLUS his channel with 5,954,509 subscribers, viral videos that appear on RayWilliamJohnson can receive a significant boost in viewing numbers.
Videos of videos on this channel = 2,012,727,267. In case you think we have misplaced a decimal point(!) That is over 2 BILLION views.
8. Next up we have the first of four global singers / pop stars / rappers (or whatever else you would like to call them), with Eminem’s official You Tube Channel – CAUTION THE VIDEO MIGHT CONTAIN “FRUITY NSFW” LYRICS!!
With 1,900,963 subscribers, the numbers of video views continue to amaze.
Video views on this channel = 2,069,059,145.
7. 7th position in the top 10 most viewed video channels on YouTube goes to Atlantic Videos.
This is the official YouTube channel of Atlantic records, with a video channel showcasing all the Atlantic record artists. The channel has a “modest” 1,040,661 subscribers (can’t believe I have called just over a million subscribers modest!). However it is the viewing statistics we are interested in and again we have another “telephone number” viewing total.
Video views on this channel = 2,095,255,212.
6. The second of four global music superstars flies in at number 6 on the list, with the unforgettable Lady Gaga channel.
This channel opened on the 11th May 2009 and has since increased the number of subscribers to 1,732,562. The most popular video on the channel is Bad Romance with a total viewing number for just ONE video of 490,170,452.
Videos viewed on this channel = 2,287,999,205.
5. In at number 5 on the list (every time I type this I feel more like a DJ announcing the latest music channels and I sort of hear smashie and nicey in my head. And now I show my age!) is the expert village channel.
The expert village is the ultimate “how to” YouTube video channel. From “how to create a scary halloween mask”, through to breast examinations, learning to dance, learning magic tricks, learning martial arts techniques and how to do BMX stunts, the channel is chock FULL of handy instructional videos. Their strap line is “Watch, Learn, Do”. With 1,225,409 subscribers, it does go to show that YouTube is THE destination for figuring out how to “do” anything (I know it certainly is for me!).
Video views on this channel = 2,588,828,373. At number 5, this becomes the first of our video channels to break the 2.5 BILLION views figure.
4. Rhianna’s Official video channel heads up our 4th place most viewed YouTube channel.
Very impressive subscriber stats of 2,827,042 have helped the number of video views exceed 2.5 billion.
Video views on this channel = 2,824,974,180.
3. Beliebers beliebe, because at number 3 is the official YouTube channel of Justin Bieber. (Weirdly I just had a phantom girly scream go off in my head :P)
There are several rather staggering statistics from the Justin Bieber channel, firstly subscribers numbers, come in close to 2 million, with 1,941,247. What is even more incredible is the YouTube account is only “just” over 3 years old, having been established since the 25th September 2009. The next statistic is the number of views JUST for the video we have included here – 787,591,172 – three quarters of a billion views for ONE video!! If Gangnam style become the most “liked” video ever on YouTube, I would be interested to know the most disliked video on YouTube because the one you see above has been DISLIKED 3,014,172 – which by anyone’s standards is pretty impressive. I am sure Justin is crying crocodile tears into his bank balance!
Video views on this channel – 2,925,292,511.
2. Okay, so now we are into the top 2, and (for me) a rather surprising entry in that up until now I don’t think I had EVER come across any of the videos on this channel. Number 2 spot goes to Machinima.
Machinima is (according to their YouTube account) the “NUMBER ONE video entertainment network for all gamers around the world”. And with a staggering 4,934,846 YouTube subscribers who am I to argue. Comparing this account to some of the others it looks like the “number” of videos they create has a massive bearing on the final viewing numbers, especially when you consider that their most popular video (which was a trailer for Avatar) had “only” 22,682,573 views. I would make the assumption that a huge chunk of their subscribers will watch most of the video trailers they release (hence the high numbers for many many videos in this channel).
And finally…..
1. The Most Popular YouTube channel based on number of video views is the Universal Music Group
We have to admit, that after such a big build up we were mildly disappointed with the number one slot! But only because it is a little misleading. The universal music group have videos from ALL their music artists, which means their viewing numbers are simply staggering, especially when you consider that their subscriber numbers total less than one million at 925,799. The channel itself was created on the 23rd August 2006, and want to share their love of music and keep you up to date with the latest information on all of their recording artists. The videos viewed figure is simply STAGGERING.
Videos viewed on this channel = 6,911,144,004.
As a final takeaway I thought I would run the artists or brands through Google Trends (just for a bit of fun), to see if the popularity on YouTube by video views has any relation to their video views – firstly we looked at Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, Universal, IGN and Eminem – the results of which are shown below:
Declining interest in Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber? Oh dear! Next we looked at the non “branded” searches including Machinima, Expert Village, Atlantic Videos and Ray William Johnson and Google trends threw out the following graph:
What is interesting here is that the interest in Machinima continues to grow, whereas the expert village interest seemed to peak between 2008 and 2010. Also Ray William Johnson doesn’t figure in the Google trends data until 2010 – a full 2 years AFTER the start of the YouTube channel – possibly showing that it takes an awful lot of time before your channel gains any traction particularly in the “outside world” i.e. Google search.
Have you seen any videos with incredibly high individual viewing statistics? Please leave your comments below.
Next time we will be reviewing the top viewed VIDEOS (not channels) within the UK.
