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Video trends on YouTube

Niche interest videos trending on YouTube

The days of viral videos exploding across the internet are over. People are instead seeking content that speaks to their niche interests, YouTube says in a trends report describing the development as “mass media is evolving into my media.” 

“Individual viral videos are becoming increasingly less central to trends in a world where audiences and creators prioritize moments that matter to them and their lives.”

“Going forward, trends that matter will be born from creativity that is not restricted to any one digital video format or medium. As a result, we can expect hybrid creators and continuously remixed trends to become the new norm”, the report predicts based on a survey across ten countries.

The report says three specific types of creativity emerge at the core of the new, personally-relevant pop culture: 

  • Community creativity
  • Multi-format creativity  
  • Responsive creativity

COMMUNITY

“Communities are building conversations online by taking niche passions and turning them into larger, shared experiences. Consider Big Jet TV, which became a national sensation this year when nearly a quarter of a million viewers tuned in to watch creator Jerry Dyer’s live coverage of planes trying to land at Heathrow during Storm Eunice’s high winds. It was the perfect example of people coming together around an unlikely common interest to turn it into a much larger community moment.”

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MULTIFORMAT

“Trending concepts are showing up across a more diverse range of mediums and formats than ever before. We see this in the increasing interplay between short-form and long-form content on YouTube, which has led to the rise of Multi-format Creators, who can seamlessly move from one format to another.” “Some of the most popular rising Shorts creators, like Lisa Nguyen and Nick DiGiovanni, have found success by also producing longer material that their audiences can explore in greater depth. Popular creators, like MrBeast and The Sorry Girls who are known for their long form videos, are also leaning into Shorts and reaching new audiences as well.”

RESPONSIVE

“At the start of the pandemic, we noticed that people were turning to video to meet specific personal needs. This continues to hold true — and grow — today/ As a result, formats that play into these emotional needs like “comfort creators,” vibe content and ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response – a term used to describe feelings created by sound or video), continue to evolve.”

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“Even the Victoria and Albert Museum couldn’t resist joining in on the trend, with their recent series of ASMR at the museum videos.”

Findings:

  • 65% of Gen Z (online 18-24 year olds) agree that content that’s personally relevant to them is more important than the content that lots of other people talk about
  • 83% of Gen Z have used YouTube to watch soothing content that helps them relax, an increase from when we ran our survey a year ago
  • 55% of Gen Z agree that they watch content that no one they know personally is interested in
  • As both watching and creating video become part of everyday life, trending concepts are spreading fluidly across different formats and content types. As a result, how two people experience a trend may now be entirely different. Producing and consuming remixable content — often as memes — is a major way that Gen Z and millennials participate in pop culture 
  • Memes are forms of highly interactive cultural expressions that are an endless source of diverse creativity. 57% of Gen Z agree that they like it when brands participate in memes
  • 59% of Gen Z agree that they use short-form video apps to discover things that they then watch longer versions of
  • 90% of Gen Z have watched a video that helped them feel like they were in a different place
  • 69% of Gen Z agree that they often find themselves returning to creators or content that feels comforting to them. In a similar vein, nostalgia has become increasingly valuable for young viewers 
  • 82% of Gen Z have used YouTube to watch content in order to feel nostalgic
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