YouTube Australia Blog: 2012

Countdown to 2013: Sydney fireworks live streaming on YouTube

Monday 31 December 2012

Want to ring in the new year with your very own private fireworks spectacular? Look no further than YouTube.
This New Year’s Eve, for the first time, the City of Sydney’s spectacular midnight fireworks show will be seen by millions around the world on Telstra’s YouTube channel. Spectators everywhere will enjoy more than four hours of content, which this year has the creative input of Aussie pop princess Kylie Minogue. And as the clocks strike midnight, the iconic Sydney harbour will once again light up in what has become one of the most dramatic and dazzling events at the turn of every year.

Subscribe to youtube.com/telstracorp for a behind the scenes looks at this year’s show, and tune in from 8:00pm AEST on 31 Dec to catch the action. The family fireworks show kicks off at 9:00pm, with the live stream playing continuously from six cameras all the way through to the grand finale at midnight. Whether you’re at home with friends in Sydney, or at your desks elsewhere around the world, don’t miss this New Year’s spectacle.

Ernesto Soriano, YouTube Australia, just watched How The Fireworks are Made

Gangnam Style Makes YouTube History: First Video to Hit 1 Billion Views

Saturday 22 December 2012

A million views? You know what's cool? A billion views.
Today, a 34-year-old K-Pop artist made online video history when his viral video, Gangnam Style, smashed our records and became the first video ever to reach one billion views. Yup, that’s right one BILLION views!

PSY's success is a great testament to the universal appeal of catchy music-- and er, great equine dance moves. In the past, music distribution was mostly regional. It was more difficult to learn about great artists from around the world. But with a global platform at their fingertips, people are now discovering and sharing amazing music from all over the planet, by artists like Brazilian Michel Teló and Belgian-Australian Gotye.

One billion views is an incredible number, but the PSY-nomenon goes beyond that. Check out these stats:

PSY was already big in Korea, but in 2012, he became a global celeb as Gangnam Style quickly spread from Seoul and the pacific to North America, South America, and Europe. It’s been seen at least 1 million times in close to 75 countries, making it one of the most global music sensations ever!
From a one-thousand person flash mob in Jakarta to cover videos from Ai Weiwei and Mitt Romney, hundreds of thousands of parodies have been uploaded to YouTube, some of which have tens of millions of views. In fact, fan tributes to Gangnam Style are now being viewed 20 million times every single day.
PSY's own remix with Hyuna has 200 million views alone.
"Gangnam Style" was YouTube's top rising search of 2012 and on October 6th, we saw more than five million searches for “gangnam style” in a single day. Check out this video demonstrating some of our most popular YouTube searches this year.
For those interested in the business side: a number of assessments and projections have been posted claiming “Gangnam Style” has generated over $8.1 million in advertising deals, hit more than 2.9 million in song downloads since July, and achieved other incredible feats!
Since late last month, people have clicked to buy the track on iTunes over 600,000 times helping make PSY the first Korean artist ever to rank #1 on the U.S. iTunes chart and #1 in over 30 more countries.

Perhaps what’s most impressive about this feat is that it took just over five months to happen. To give this milestone some context, here’s a chart of Gangnam Style’s rise to popularity versus Justin Bieber’s “Baby,” the video that previously held the most-watched video title:

Congratulations to PSY, the flash mobbers, K-Pop fans and people who love fun across the globe. Considering the Gangnam Style dance was the number one dance-related search on YouTube this year, you better make sure you brush up on your moves before New Year's Eve.

The kind of amazing creativity and unique connection between people all over the world that resulted in this one billion views is only possible with an incredible community of people we're so lucky to have on YouTube. And we can't wait to see what you'll come up with next!

Kevin Allocca, YouTube trends manager, recently watched “Rewind YouTube Style 2012”

Film and share videos instantly with YouTube Capture for iPhone and iPod touch

Tuesday 18 December 2012

Life moves fast. To speed up recording, enhancing and sharing videos with your friends or the whole world, you can now use the YouTube Capture app on your iPhone or iPod touch.

Making sharing fast and easy
YouTube Capture is ready to record as soon as you open it. When you’re done filming, write a caption, select which networks you want to share to, and hit Share. Even if you minimize the app, the video will keep uploading in the background. You can control who sees your video by setting it to private (only you can view it), unlisted (only people with a link to the video can view it), or public (to let it shine to the world).

More than a point-and-shoot
Have a shaky hand or bad lighting when recording your video? Touch it up easily with YouTube enhancements like color correction and stabilization, or trim the length and add free background music from YouTube. These enhancements are also available on existing videos on your device, and you can always undo enhancements later on YouTube.com. YouTube Capture will remind you to rotate your phone to a horizontal position for filming, so your videos look high-quality and free of “Vertical Video Syndrome.”

YouTube Capture will be available today on the App Store. We’re also working to bring this to Android in the future, and learn more at youtube.com/capture.

Reed Morse, Software Engineer, recently watched “Ronald Jenkees - Red Lemonade Remixed.”

YouTube in Rewind: What you were watching in 2012

Tuesday 18 December 2012

It’s that time of year again to pause, rewind and remember the videos, the entertainers, and the moments that captivated us in 2012.

This year, Korean Pop music transcended boundaries and took the world by storm. Cover songs, parodies, and "do-it-yourself" music videos from all genres entertained us in countries near and far. Aussies participated in conversations at a global scale, uploading videos to share ideas on everything from nonprofit campaigns, to political satire, to new and surprising voices and talents. And all over the world, we tuned in for the most up-to-date news footage of presidential elections, natural disasters and more.

2012 has been a big year for YouTube. Globally, we’ve been watching over 4 billion hours of video a month. Millions of creators are using YouTube channels to experiment with innovative forms of entertainment, explore their passions and interests, take creativity and pop culture to new levels. 2012’s top trending videos showcase this creative ingenuity in ways we'd never before thought possible.

Check out Australia’s top trending videos for 2012 below:

PSY - GANGNAM STYLE (강남스타일) M/V
KONY 2012
Somebody That I Used to Know - Walk off the Earth (Gotye - Cover)
Bella Ferraro - Auditions - The X Factor 2012
Gangnam Style parody "Aussie Battler Style" by Fitzy and Wippa
Call Me Maybe parody - Aussie blokes version
Surprise! Britney Learns 'Gangnam Style' from Psy!
Fallen Kingdom - A Minecraft Parody of Coldplay's Viva la Vida (Music Video)
Awkward Train Situations #2
Loosest Aussie Bloke Ever [explicit]

Posted by Kevin Allocca, YouTube trends manager

YouTube Next How-to Guru: Could you be next?

Thursday 13 December 2012

Picture this. You’re almost ready for that cocktail party and you realize you don’t know how to tie a bow-tie. Or you’re packing for the holidays and have no idea how to fit everything in your bag. Tons of people turn to YouTube to watch tutorials on everything from doing a perfect braid to learning how to poach an egg.

So we’re launching YouTube Next How-to Guru and are on the hunt to find the coolest, cleverest, canniest and most creative makers out there. Do you crochet with the crafters? Do you give tips about your Toyota? Do you offer pointers about pasta? No matter your speciality, whether it’s scrapbooking or baseball or anything else, we’d love to hear from all the How-To Gurus out there - you know who you are!

All you have to do is submit your channel which focuses on how-to videos, as long as it’s educational and family-friendly.

The top 16 YouTube Next How-To Gurus will be chosen, and will be awarded a special, private Google+ workshop series from industry experts and YouTube staff, $4,000 worth of production equipment, and promotion on YouTube to help bring new eyeballs to your videos.

The program is open to creators in the US, Canada, UK, Ireland, South Africa, India, Australia and New Zealand; it opens today and entries close on December 28, 2012.

We’re looking forward to seeing what you can teach us!

Austin Lau, YouTube Creator Programs Manager, recently watched “How To Kill a Mustache”

[Cross-posted from the YouTube Creator Blog]

A new look to help you to subscribe and watch channels on YouTube

Friday 7 December 2012

A new look to help you to subscribe and watch channels on YouTube

Those of you who use YouTube most have learned the secret to making it even better—find the channels you love and subscribe, subscribe, subscribe. Last year we began to make it easier to subscribe to the channels you care about by introducing a Guide on the home page. When you add subscriptions to your Guide, you organize YouTube around what you like, available whenever you watch YouTube. Today, we’re taking the next step by bringing your subscription-filled Guide with you across both the site and all devices, as your best source of what to watch on YouTube.

Your Guide to YouTube

Just subscribe to your favorite channels and the Guide lets you know when there are new videos waiting for you to enjoy, suggests the latest and greatest channels you might like, and shows you what your friends are sharing across the web. You’ll also find the Guide and your subscriptions on apps across hundreds of millions of devices including Android, iPhone, Playstation 3, Google TV and more.

A cleaner, simpler look

You come to YouTube to watch the videos you care about, so it’s important that the videos stand out. In this new layout, you’ll find the most crucial elements are front and center when you watch a video: the video is right at the top of the page and the subscribe button, social actions and video information are all combined directly below the player. Playlists are now available to the right of the video so you can browse through while you watch. You’ll also see this cleaner and simpler design across the entire site.

Your feedback matters

We’d love to get your feedback on these updates, so we’ll be hosting a Google+ Hangout on Air and a Reddit IAmA in the coming weeks--stay tuned here for details. If you’re a YouTube creator, you can learn more about these updates on our YouTube Creator Blog.

Josh Sassoon, Senior Unicorn eXperience Designer, recently watched “Hipster Thanksgiving” and
Alex Nicksay, Staff Engineer, recently watched “Crystalfilm.”

First fan-voted ARIA Award for Best Video goes to Missy Higgins’ ‘Everyone’s Waiting’

Tuesday 27 November 2012

We know the YouTube community loves its music videos, and yet even we were overwhelmed by the interest in the first ever fan-voted ARIA Award for Best Video, presented by ARIA and YouTube.

There were thousands upon thousands of votes, and last night Missy Higgins’ ‘Everyone’s Waiting’ was declared the winner.

The video’s director, Natasha Pincus, is no stranger to ARIA awards having won this Award last year for her now world-famous video, Gotye’s ‘Somebody That I Used To Know’.

Music videos have gone through a major renaissance in the last few years, and it’s wonderful to see our Australian artists embracing the medium and pushing creative boundaries. Last year's winner, Gotye, became one of the most viewed videos of all time on YouTube and it is a testament to the calibre of Australian recording artists and video producers that local talent continues to perform so well on YouTube globally.

Congratulations Missy and Natasha!

This line up of nominees for Best Video Award were:

Alex Weltlinger – 360 - Boys Like you
Luci Schroder – Alpine - Hands
Animal Logic – Hilltop Hoods - I Love It
Brent “Quincy” Buchanan – The Grindhouse – Jackson Firebird, Cock Rockin’
Emma Tomelty – Hermitude, from the album “Heperparadise”, Speak Of The Devil
Darcy Prendergast - Kate Miller-Heidke, I’ll Change Your Mind
Josh Logue - Lanie Lane – Oh Well, That’s What You Get Falling In Love With a Cowboy
Natasha Pincus- Missy Higgins, Everyone’s Waiting
Sam Bennetts – Bluejuice, Act Yr Age
Josh Logue -The Rubens, My Gun

Posted by Richard North, Content Partnership Manager, YouTube

Making it easier to watch YouTube videos on TV

Wednesday 14 November 2012

Cross-posted from the Official YouTube Blog
What if you could send YouTube videos from your phone to your TV with a click of a button? It’s an idea we’ve been working on since 2010, and today we’re taking the next step.
We’re making it even easier to play videos from your phone or tablet on your TV, with a YouTube app update for Android and Google TV that automatically pairs your devices on the same WiFi. Just find a video on your YouTube app for Android — like the latest video from GoPro or H+ The Digital Series — click the TV icon that appears, and the video will play instantly on your Google TV. Like a remote control, you can pause, scroll or skip to the next video with your mobile device as it plays on your TV. Since your devices are connected in the cloud, you can also do things like find the next video to watch from your tablet or browse around the web on your phone, all while the video plays on TV. You can even connect multiple devices to the TV to have your friends add to the playlist. Stay tuned to see this feature coming to more devices and screens in the future. The next evolution of TV is in your hands. Timbo Drayson, Product Manager, recently watched all of H+ The Digital Series on his TV.

Have Your Say: 2012 ARIA Award for Best Video

Thursday 1 November 2012

YouTube has become the world’s largest stage for up and coming musicians of all shapes & sizes (Gangnam anyone?). We’re proud to continue supporting Aussie music talent by giving you, the YouTube community, the chance to vote for the 2012 ARIA award for Best Video. Have a look at the nominees:

This year, Goyte’s musical sensation Somebody that I used to know has been viewed over 339 million times on YouTube, and that doesn’t include spin-offs and fan-uploaded videos that have been viewed over 260 million times. This group of five people on one guitar, and Wally’s own YouTube orchestra are two of our favourites.

To have your say, visit the official ARIA YouTube channel where you can watch all of the videos nominated for an ARIA this year, including the ten up for Best Video. Simply cast a thumbs up for who you think should win, and be sure to subscribe to the channel to find out who wins.

Posted by Ernesto Soriano III, YouTube Australia, just watched Minecraft Style - A Parody of PSY’s Gangnam Style

Social shift sees Gillard go viral

Wednesday 17 October 2012

[Guest Blog Post by Kieran Ricketts, ABC News Online - Cross posted from the Google Australia Blog]
How does a piece of powerful Australian political theatre that saw accusations of misogyny hurled across the political divide become watercooler social media buzz the world over?
As with many ‘overnight’ online successes, it’s the result of a long tail of strategic thinking. The video in question – whatever your view of the politics that surround it – is compelling, polemic and tense.

And it’s had an extraordinary response – over 1.5 million views in less than a week. It has been watched so much that totalling the amount of minutes viewed equates to over 14.5 years of eyeballing – and it has been ‘liked’ on YouTube 15,000 times.

There are no happy accidents involved. ABC Innovation and ABC News Online have been participating in YouTube Partner Events over the last few months and gained some key insights into how we use the platform better.

We know that what we were doing in the past – simply channelling video en masse through to YouTube – was not working. We know people want a selection of video that is ‘watercooler’ content – content worth sharing, content that generates discussion and debate, powerful words and pictures. So we’re looking for that content actively, and putting it where people are – on social media platforms – instead of waiting for them to come to our News website.

The traffic to the Gillard clip comes from a range of places. It was featured on the YouTube front page, embedded by a variety of international mastheads including The New Yorker and played back 57% of the time on mobile devices – a statistic that would have been jawdropping years ago, but is now the status quo. We’ve also been working with our international social media partner Storyful to make content like this available to major international media partners the minute it is available.

Ratio of likes to dislikes on the video by the countries that viewed it the most between 8 and 14 October (ordered by number of likes)
To get to this position, we not only hinged off the back of some vastly improved technical processes that get crisp, clean video out of ABC News television systems and onto third parties at lightning speed – but also built a YouTube experience that encourages users to find more related ABC News content right alongside what they’re currently watching. We also place it all on a consistently branded YouTube channel. We’re heartened too that more YouTube users have reacted by subscribing to our YouTube channel so they see more of our content the minute it’s delivered.

The raw Gillard vision was available to a number of media outlets. That the ABC has had such a strong reception to this content ahead of other broadcasters is a reflection of our ability to get it online, in the right place at the right speed – a competitive advantage our rolling news focus at ABC News Online and ABC News 24 enables us to really leverage. It’s a coming of age story for us, really.

Guest post by Kieran Ricketts, ABC News Online

Finding the next generation of talented video educators with YouTube Next EDU Guru

Friday 14 September 2012

Crossposted from the Official YouTube Blog
Across the Northern Hemisphere, students and their teachers are heading back into the classroom for another year of reading, writing, and ‘rithmetic. While what we learn has broadly stayed the same for years, how we learn is changing rapidly as technology advances. The rise of online educational videos is giving learners access to the world’s greatest thinkers and teachers, leveling the playing field for all.We believe that inspiring online educators can come from all walks of life, and we want to find the next generation of educational YouTube stars - people with a talent for explaining tough concepts in compelling ways, and the passion and drive to assemble a global classroom of students. YouTube educational channels like Khan Academy,CrashCourse, Veritasium, Numberphile, MinutePhysics and Ted-Ed have grown to millions of views and subscribers - could you be next?Today we’re teaming up with Khan Academy to start a search for the Next EDU Gurus--10 super talented and engaging content creators who we’ll support with training, promotion, and a $1000 B&H gift card for production equipment, so they can take the next step in their YouTube - and education - careers.Do you set historical events to music? Doodle your geometry? Sing your Shakespeare? We’re looking for content creators who create all kinds of curriculum-related videos, from grammar to geography, history to histograms. You can submit any style of video as long as it’s educational and family-friendly--just bear in mind that we’re looking for content creators who can take people on a journey through a topic, so if you could imagine making ten, twenty, or fifty more videos on the topic in the future, all the better!The 10 YouTube Next EDU Gurus will be selected by a panel from the YouTube Education team and the Khan Academy. One of these 10 will also be awarded the Khan Academy EDU Guru Prize. The program is open to creators in the US, Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand; it opens today and closes on October 1.Our new EDU Gurus will help meet the growing demand for great educational content on YouTube. In the last year, you all spent 50% more time learning from YouTube Education’s 700,000 videos, and the number of subscribers to YouTube’s educational channels more than doubled. Check out the YouTube.com homepage today for the latest videos from some of our most engaging educational creators. You can also see a playlist of their latest and greatest below. If you’re an educator, visit youtube.com/teachers to view more than 300 playlists curated by teachers to align with common education topics. And if you’re looking for inspiration about incorporating YouTube in your school curriculum, see how one school from Kent, WA uses YouTube to experience the world beyond the walls of their classroom. Angela Lin, YouTube Education team, recently watched “Capitalism and Socialism: Crash Course World History #33.”

Introducing a new YouTube app for your iPhone and iPod touch

Tuesday 11 September 2012

For all you diehard YouTube fans out there who can’t get enough YouTube on your mobile, we’ve got some great news: starting today, you can download the official YouTube app for iPhone and iPod touch from the App Store, bringing you more of the videos you love and more ways to share them with the people you care about.

The new app is built by YouTube engineers, to give our iPhone and iPod touch users the best mobile experience. Here’s what you’ll find:

Tens of thousands more videos: Watch official music videos like Taylor’s latest hit. New YouTube channel guide: Swipe your finger from the left edge of the screen to reveal a guide with your subscribed channels on YouTube, giving you instant access to everything from Alli Sports to YOMYOMF.

Find awesome videos faster: Get to videos like “Gangnam Style” faster with new search tools that give suggestions while you type, and let you sort through videos or channels. Flip through related videos, comments and more info, all while watching a video. More ways to share with the people you love: Share that incredible video you found on YouTube on Google+, Facebook or text message in the app, as well as from Twitter and email. There’s even more to explore with the new YouTube app for iPhone and iPod touch, available for download from the App Store today. We’re working on an optimized version of the YouTube app for iPad in the coming months, and stay tuned for more details.

You’ve already shown us you love YouTube on mobile—to the tune of 1 billion mobile views a day—so we can’t wait to see what you think about this new experience.

Andrey Doronichev, head of YouTube mobile, recently watched “One-Shot // Goodbye, beloved sister.”

YouTube’s next generation of creators and brand builders

Friday 7 September 2012

Cross-posted from the Google Australia blog.
Rob Nixon, a former airport ground-crew worker from Perth turns his passion for cooking into a career and an audience of 100 million worldwide. Arlene Zelina, a 22-year-old singer-songwriter from Melbourne scores a record contract with a global pop superstar. Natalie Tran, a Sydney media and arts graduate, amasses an audience bigger than the Royal Wedding.

These are today’s media superstars. They’re using the sight, sound and motion of video to reach the 800 million people around the globe who tune into YouTube every month. They’ve become experts in building communities, inviting their audience in to participate in the creation of their content and brand.

The last few days successful Aussie YouTube partners came to Sydney to share their experience and knowledge with advertisers, media companies, other content creators and their fans at our series of YouTube Next events. At these events we’re also celebrating the seven-year evolution of YouTube and looking at the possibilities for our video platform in Australia.

Today, two thirds of online Australians are on YouTube every month and one in five say they now visit YouTube every day. And no surprise for smartphone loving Aussies, one in three Australian YouTube views happens on a mobile device, and this number is growing fast. We love watching Mighty Car Mods DIY car modification videos on our tablets in bed.

Click here or on the image below to check out some highlights from our YouTube NEXT kick-off event at Luna Park on Wednesday night.

Arlene Zelina performing at YouTube NEXT
We’re overwhelmed by the unlimited creativity and curiosity of the growing YouTube community and thanks to our collaboration with AFTRS we’re excited to offer a free, one-day workshop for young creatives like MGPactionsports at our Sydney office to learn how to become the next YouTube star.

We’re excited to see how Rob, Natalie, Arlene and the tens of thousands of other Australian YouTube partners will take it to the next level.

Lucinda Barlow, Head of Marketing Google Australia & New Zealand, recently watched How to order KFC like a boss

Two Aussies Go to Venice: Top 10 Films Selected for Your Film Festival

Thursday 2 August 2012

Cross-posted from the Google Australia Blog
Today, we are one step closer to finding the world’s next great storyteller. Over 15,000 filmmakers entered Your Film Festival but only ten finalists remain, each with the hope of winning $500,000 to produce new content with actor Michael Fassbender, director Ridley Scott and his world class team.
During the past month, 3 million people got involved with Your Film Festival by watching, sharing, and voting for their favorite films. So here in the Google Australia office, we are very proud to announce that two of the finalists are Aussies — Damien Power and Adrian Powers!

Here is the full list of ten finalists:

88:88, Joey Ciccoline & Sean Wilson (USA)
Bat Eyes, Damien Power (Australia)
Cine Rincao, Fernando Grostein Andrade & Fernanda Fernandes (Brazil)
The Drought, Kevin Slack (USA)
El General, Diego Pino Zamora (Bolivia)
The Guilt, David Victori Blaya (Spain)
North Atlantic, Bernardo Nascimento (United Kingdom)
Super.Full., Niam Itani (Lebanon)
Scruples, Adrian Powers (Australia)
This Time, Ramy EL-Gabry (Egypt)

The finalists will soon travel to Italy where they will have their short films screened at the historic Venice Film Festival. They will also pitch a new project idea to Ridley Scott’s production team who, along with the jury including Michael Fassbender, will ultimately name the grand prize winner at a special ceremony on September 2, 2012, in Venice. As part of their journey to Venice, Emirates has invited the filmmakers to stopover in Dubai for a series of events celebrating their achievement.

Join these filmmakers as they travel to Venice and stay tuned to the Your Film Festival channel where we’ll take you behind the scenes, tell you more about the finalists, provide special edition movie posters, and of course, unveil the winner.

Posted by Lucinda Barlow, Head of marketing, Australia, who recently watched Mens 4x100m Olympic final Sydney 2000

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