It’s fall and the political campaign season seems to be heating up. And, nowhere is this interest in politics more evident than on YouTube. One only needs to look at the breakdown by age category to see that viewers of voting age are increasingly turning to social media and the Internet to view the latest from the myriad of presidential candidates. This month, all ages under 24 years old are trending with music videos, while those over 25 years old most viewed political videos with Sarah Palin and Donald Trump. It’s quite a difference in viewing habits along age groupings.
YouTube posts a daily trends map based on demographics as reported by its account holders. Rankings are based on the number of views and can be separated by age, gender, and location. Through the aggregated data, YouTube Trends show us the most popular video in real time and gives ideas about trends that are developing within the YouTube viewing community. The map is a visual representation of the most viewed videos over the past 24 hours across the U.S.
What are you watching?
Group Activities and Discussion Questions:
- Poll students: What are the YouTube videos they watch the most?
- What videos do they think are more popular for men vs. women? By various age groups?
- Bring up the YouTube trends map: http://www.youtube.com/trendsmap
- Divide students into teams. Have each team select a specific target market and geography and view the most popular videos in that area.
- Discuss how this information can be used by marketers.
Source: YouTube.com
