YouTube: What we watched and searched for in 2009

Most Watched YouTube videos (Global):
1. Susan Boyle - Britain's Got Talent (120+ million views)
2. David After Dentist (37+ million views)
3. JK Wedding Entrance Dance (33+ million views)
4. New Moon Movie Trailer (31+ million views)
5. Evian Roller Babies (27+ million views)

Most Watched music videos on YouTube (Global)*:
1. Pitbull "I Know You Want Me" (82+ million views)
2. Miley Cyrus "The Climb" (64+ million views)
3. Miley Cyrus "Party in the U.S.A." (54+ million views)
4. The Lonely Island "I'm On a Boat" (48+ million views)
5. Keri Hilson "Knock You Down" (35+ million views)

Then, to determine the fastest rising search terms for each month, we examined the billions of queries that people searched for on YouTube (through December 15):

Fastest Rising YouTube search terms by month (Global):
January: inauguration
February: christian bale
March: the climb
April: susan boyle
May: pacquiao vs hatton
June: michael jackson thriller
July: michael jackson
August: usain bolt
September: kanye west
October: paranormal activity
November: bad romance
December: tiger woods

Earlier this week, YouTube announced the list of what we watched and searched for. They looked at YouTube counts aggregated where there were multiple versions of the same video.

What inspiration does this give you in terms of your online video marketing campaign in 2010?

It's interesting that the second most popular music video was The Climb by Miley Cirus - the song that XFactor winner Joe McElderry is hoping will be the UK's Christmas Number 1. I wonder if Simon Cowell's research team checked YouTube stats before he suggested that was the song the XFactor winner would sing?