The Views: Cartoons, Couches and Competition
The YouTube channel, 123 GO!, epitomizes the kids content that is dominating the trending pages recently. The channel makes silly and bright videos focusing on pranks, trends and life hacks. Their wacky thumbnails and over the top actors add to the amusement of the channel for a young audience of over three million subscribers. Their most recent video climbing the trending charts details the hilarity of performing the same tasks by yourself versus in public. For example, dancing at a party in a public space can be awkward and uncomfortable, while dancing by yourself in your house is energetic and enjoyable. The video highlights aspects of everyday life that all viewers can relate to, but puts in an eight-minute window to keep the attention of their intended audience. A voice-over describes the situation while goofy team members act out the instances of something as innocent as laughing to more extreme cases of choking alone or when out to eat. 123 GO!’s channel will continue to grow in popularity as long as YouTube remains the newest and most exciting vessel for children to consume entertainment.
Buzzfeed’s female-oriented subsection, Ladylike, follows the lives and antics of four friends: Freddie, Chantel, Devin, Kristin and Jen. Lately, the channel has been following Freddie’s move from one apartment to another. Earlier installments of the series included a declutter of Freddie’s belongings, the packing of Freddie’s old apartment and now the design and finishing touches of her new place. Two professional interior designers help Freddie cultivate a vision for her new colorful apartment and then the trio put their ideas into action with furniture purchases, wallpaper installment and picture frame hanging. The video ends with Freddie’s completed apartment, complete with a baby pink couch, banana wallpaper in the kitchen and a tiny guest room fit with a loft bed and vanity underneath. This kind of content has become popular on YouTube as organizational and decorating content has become relaxing for viewers, shown in the million viewers who have been following Freddie on this journey. It also inspires anyone to redecorate their own space. The video is packed with tips and tricks about ways to brighten up a space or how to make the best use of a small area. Ladylike’s content continues to be versatile and all-encompassing, qualifying their 3.5 million dedicated subscribers.
With the rise of Team 10, more and more groups on YouTube have made it their mission to goof off and have fun for a living. Team Edge is exactly that, just without the scandals. Their six members compete in weekly challenges against each other all for our viewing entertainment. The Christian channel promotes fun and activity in a light-hearted and entertaining way. In what they call “Giant Spicy Cup Pong,” teams attempt to throw a full rotisserie chicken into garbage cans set up in a pyramid. If they fail, they have to eat one of the pre-selected, extremely spicy hot sauces. The video is extremely enticing with flashy editing in a way that makes you want to find out who wins. No spoilers here. You’ll have to watch to find out.
Tech content on YouTube has been rising rapidly with the popularity of videos like iPhone unboxings and gadget reviews. Marques Brownlee is one of those creators who has made a living doing just that- reviewing new technology to over nine million adoring subscribers. In his newest video, Marques discusses the ASUS Rogue Phone 2, which according to him, is the perfect phone on paper. The question then arises if the phone can live up to its impressive qualities. Marques walks the viewer through all these specialties that make the phone so enticing and then puts each one to use in the real world. He gives informed and meaningful reviews of each feature of the phone, whether you understand what he is talking about or not. Marques channel can be extremely useful if you are looking to pursue a new phone or computer or if you are just interested in the technology market as a whole. It gives viewers a chance to experience new gadgets without having to pay the high price for them. Each of his videos gathers millions of views as his subscribers look to him for all things new in the tech department, specifically when it comes to new and exciting smartphones.
Instead of just imaging how this group of four friends would act in a variety of different situations, the YouTube channel DanPlan takes it a step further. They animate themselves! In a popular series on the channel, the friends discuss the possibility of them surviving Horror Island, Vidcon, Bird Box, etc. They then animate themselves carrying out the situation they imagined to truly understand what would happen in each of these instances. The most recent scenario is if the group could survive in the move, Us. While the friends chat and laugh about the unthinkable scenario of being trapped in a cabin with alternate versions of themselves, an anime-style cartoon plays acting out everything they say. The videos are engaging, exciting and entertaining. They succeed in the added layer of talent needed to make each one and almost two million subscribers agree. DanPlan completely reimagined the platform and in turn found a space to make innovative, yet still fun and exciting content.