Who Would Be The NBA's 2015 MVP Based On YouTube?

April 01, 2015

As the NBA's regular season draws to a close, fans find themselves engaged in the usual, heated discussion over who should be the NBA's Most Valuable Player. The conversation about the league's MVP has coalesced around three players: Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors, James Harden of the Houston Rockets, and the Oklahoma City Thunder's Russell Westbrook whose play during the second half of the season forced his name into the discussion. Some are suggesting it's the most interesting MVP race in ages.

The MVP award is given to the best performing player of the NBA's regular season, and it’s voted on by sportswriters and broadcasters who watch these athletes perform night in and night out, as well as the NBA audience who also gets to share a vote. And with so much video on YouTube about these players, we thought your time spent on YouTube should count too. So here’s the NBA MVP as decided by your YouTube searches, uploads and watchtime for this regular season from October 28 to March 22.

Search winner: Stephen Curry is hands-down the winner here with three times the searches as James Harden, and more searches than Russell Westbrook and James Harden, combined.

Upload Winner: Stephen Curry still struts away with the victory with Russell Westbrook right on his tail.

Watchtime Winner: Stephen Curry dominated this category the way he dominated this year’s All Star 3-Point Contest.

Based on all of these factors, we have no choice but to declare Stephen Curry this year's NBA MVP according to your YouTube searches, uploads and watchtime. He leads in every category relegating Harden and Westbrook to a two-way race for second place. But wait a moment…we've left out someone whose name some feel also belongs in the MVP debate... Let's look at the numbers again with Lebron James added to the mix.

This changes things dramatically, Lebron James towering over his competition with about 4 times the search volume of James Harden. Advantage: Lebron.

More videos were uploaded featuring Lebron James than all other contenders, combined. Of course, there could be many reasons for this, including discussion of his team's rocky performance. Still, point to Lebron. Let's check the big indicator: Watchtime

No contest. Lebron’s bar looks like “King” James in high school - bigger than everyone else and looking down at everyone from the air.

Leaving Miami, returning to Cleveland, and making Cleveland one of the best teams in the NBA has translated into massive numbers for Lebron James. His numbers in most categories are almost as large as all other contenders, combined, but in watchtime, he eclipses his competitors. Despite great seasons from James Harden, Russell Westbrook, and Stephen Curry, it appears that the real MVP, based on your interest on YouTube, should be Lebron James.

As a bonus, we’ve looked at the most-search days for each of these superstars, the days the fans felt the greatest urge to seek out video of these players, and included representative videos. Consider these videos, each player’s argument to be the NBA’s 2015 MVP:

10/31/2014: Lebron James - Lebron’s first win with his new team, the Cleveland Cavaliers
NBA: Lebron James Leads Cavs with 36-Point Effort in Win
2/15/2015: Stephen Curry - 3 Point Contest virtuosity
NBA: Stephen Curry Wins the 2015 Foot Locker Three-Point Contest
3/2/2015: James Harden - Harden battles the league’s preeminent player, Lebron James
NBA: James Harden Duels to Overtime Finish with Lebron James
3/5/2015: Russell Westbrook - 4th consecutive triple double, the first since Michael Jordan
NBA: Russell Westbrook Nets 43 Points as Thunder Fall to Bulls

-- Earnest Pettie

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Early Trends for the London Games

August 01, 2012

Great ads, amusing parodies, and dry wit; the 30th olympiad has already brought us a microcosm of YouTubeness. "Olympics 2012" is a top rising search in the U.S. from the past 30 days and sports fever has spread across diverse genres.

We're only a few days in, but those first few days and last week's build up have delivered plenty of trending videos all over the YouTube map. First, and not surprisingly, many top brands have produced special ads for the games, some of which have been frequently shared and embedded.

The spots in the playlist below, which includes ads from Nike, P&G, Adidas, and more, have been seen over 15 million times total.

One of the most popular single videos to come from London this week was filmed not inside the games themselves, but from outside, where a dry and very funny Olympic worker expresses her enthusiasm about the start of competition. The clip already has 1.2 million views to date.

In the music genre, some of Team USA's top athletes created home-made lip-sync videos that spread quickly as the games kicked off. Below Women's Soccer "sings" some Miley Cyrus while U.S. swimmers take on Carly Rae Jepsen. Together, these videos have over 4 million combined views.

We'll be tracking all the trends coming out London over the next two weeks. Stay tuned!

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Across the Country: What Final Four Fans are Watching

March 28, 2012

This weekend marks NCAA basketball's Final Four, the semifinal and final for men's college basketball in the United States. The NCAA tournament is a basketball lover's dream, and it continues to draw out enthusiasm and passion from college sports fans nationwide.

So its no surprise that some of the most-shared and -viewed videos in the hometowns of many Final Four teams are basketball related. We break down a handful below:

TOPEKA: Ultimate Kansas Fan	LOUISVILLE: That Cardinal doesn't like this UK fan's truck

LEXINGTON: Bluegrass in the Big Easy	COLUMBUS: Pre-Final Four press conference

Interestingly, the state of Ohio is enthralled this week not just with Ohio State videos. The most-shared clip in Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Columbus is this letter to the Browns football team.

See more of what's popular in different locations nationally and around the world with our Trends Dashboard.

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Don't Try This at Home: First-Person Perspective Puts You in the Extreme Action

February 24, 2012

This post was authored by Will Goodman, managing editor of CBSNews.com's The Feed, for a YouTube Trends series exploring viral video phenomena.

Action sports are booming. BASE Jumpers can make national headlines and snowboarders can become Olympic gold-medalists.It's fair to say we are in a golden-age of extreme sports. And with the rise of the Go Pro sports cameras and others like them, the action has never felt more real on YouTube.

Much like the title, do not try to emulate these videos at home. Or outside. Or in any context whatsoever. But do make sure to have a lot of fun engaging in the experiences vicariously. That’s the whole point.

While the above video is a clear example of a professional, Marcelo Gutierrez, showing us what he sees and does while engaging in an urban biking competition, the great part of this growing trend is that it’s not just limited to the pros. Everyone is starting to share their first-person perspective experiences and the range of action you can find on YouTube seems to know no bounds.

A simple bicycle ride through the mountains doesn't look so simple when you're strapped to the helmet. Okay, so this bike ride isn't so simple no matter where you're standing. But in first-person we get the rush of the ride without the whole worry of getting injured, maimed or killed. And in high-definition too!

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'Linsanity' on the Rise on YouTube

February 13, 2012

The NBA's newest star, NY Knick guard Jeremy Lin, has drawn the attention of sports fans around the globe, and his stellar play of late has caused big spike in YT searches, making his name one of the top rising search terms, globally, on YouTube last week.

Lin's stardom hit its highest thus far over the weekend, with much of the interest in the 23-year-old coming from New York and San Francisco as well as internationally from Taiwan and Hong Kong.

Lin highlights on the NBA's channel have been seen over 1.5 million times this month and countless fan videos and even rap songs.

The last athlete we saw reach this level of popularity this quickly was LA Clipper Blake Griffin, whose high-flying dunks are still a big draw.

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The Story of the Two Honey Badgers

January 09, 2012

The "Honey Badger" video, the most popular episode from the funny Randall's Animals channel in which nature documentaries are given very amusing voiceovers, was one of the cult viral hits of 2011. Unlike many other viral videos, "Honey Badger" never saw a sudden dramatic spike in viewership an instead picked up its 31 million views gradually through out the year, starting all the way back in January, when it was first posted.

The video became so popular that as LSU cornerback Tyrann Mathieu got noticed for his outstanding defense, his fans/teammates actually gave him the nickname "honey badger" for his tough play on the field. Now, the popularity of the of the video and Mathieu, who was up for a Heisman trophy this year, have become inextricably linked, as evidenced by the search chart below.

The day Randall's clip saw its biggest spike in views: December 3, the day LSU won the SEC championship and locked up their invitation to the National Championship game. Tonight, his team plays Alabama in that NCAA title game, and so Randall might once again find some new fans.

(WARNING: Some Adult Language.)

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Kids and Sports: There's No Crying in Baseball... But Football's Fair Game

December 06, 2011

This post was co-authored by Will Goodman, managing editor of CBSNews.com's The Feed, and Bailey Johnson, Editor of CBSNews.com's The Feed and Sports, for a YouTube Trends series exploring viral video phenomena.

Tom Hanks once famously said in the film A League of Their Own, “There’s no crying in baseball!” And while it may be (mostly) true for baseball, it’s a whole different story when it comes to kids and football on YouTube. Football fans come in all shapes and sizes - and ages. These kids may not understand an onside kick or a Cover-2 defense, but they understand the one thing that counts the most: losing sucks. And then the tears start. For this week's trend, we're lining up at 1st-and-10 to look at pint-sized pigskin fans in tears.

Let's kick off with the most recent video to go viral in what has become a whole series of kids expressing their passion and disappointment when it comes to sports. There are plenty of fully-grown men who feel as passionately about Tom Brady as this tyke does. They just usually don't express themselves in quite the same octave. But like any major trend, this one is not just limited to the East Coast or boys crying over their team losing.

That’s right, this is a trend that covers all genders, coasts and ages (all the way from pre-school to middle school). This broken-hearted Vikings fan just can't believe what those mean ol' Packers did to her team. But at least she doesn't live on the West Coast, where there is a team that may very well feast on the tears of small children...

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Most Shared in Wisconsin: 'Packer Rock Anthem'

November 03, 2011

The parody video of the week -- if you live in Wisconsin -- is this Green Bay Packer's version of the LMFAO hit "Party Rock Anthem." The clip has over 200,000 views and is the most shared video in the state's largest cities.

It wasn't until the playoffs that we saw last season's "Packer Anthems" hit the web, a time when we saw many "Black and Yellow" song parodies making the rounds among football fans.

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Yukigassen the New Botaoshi?

November 02, 2011

You may remember back in May when we reviewed some very unusual sports that had recently drawn some attention, including a capture-the-flag-style game from Japan called Botaoshi. This video, which illustrates how its played, drew over 1 million views at the time:

Now, videos of another capture-the-flag-ish game from Japan might be starting to draw some attention elsewhere. Yukigassen (雪合戦) translates to "snowball fight," and with the white stuff already spotted hitting the ground on the East Coast of the United States, we may see this one continue to spread.

There are hundreds of Yikugassen-related videos on YouTube that have been posted over the past few years, but here's a video from Sweden outlining how it works:

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Nike Lockout Spots Spread

October 31, 2011

The world may be without an NBA, but its not without lockout-inspired ads right now.

Two very popular ads from Nike are spreading quickly among basketball fans right now, both addressing the current lack of an NBA season. This first one was posted on Friday and has been picking up hundreds of thousands of views:

Both that clip and this earlier "Jumpman 23" spot -- which features some of the NBA's top players participating in a humorous series of rec leagues -- have been seen over 1.2 million times already (though a significant number of those are from paid placements). Still, they're currently among the overall most-shared videos in the United States.

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Big in Iowa: Card Stunt

October 17, 2011

The top Trending videos today in Iowa all come from a spectacle that was captured at the University of Iowa's Kinnick Stadium Saturday. Specifically, the display put on during the national anthem by spectators at the Iowa-Northwestern game, in which cards were held up to create a giant flag around the crowd. One clip from up in a skybox, quickly spread to our national Most-Shared list:

High quality videos were also posted on YouTube by the Big Ten Network and Go Hawks and other fan clips have also been spreading. Another video that's been popular in that state is this timelapse of the game, which also depicts the card stunt:

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Across the Country: College Sports Craziness

September 30, 2011

In our roundup this week of regionally popular college sports videos this week, there's a clear top two, thought they're from two different sports.

KENTUCKY: Kentucky basketball fans make a mad dash for Final Four lottery tickets	OKLAHOMA: Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy gets down in the locker room

See more of what's popular in different locations nationally and around the world with our Trends Dashboard.

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College Football Videos: 'I'm Not a BYU Guy!'

September 20, 2011

College football season is now well under way in the United States and, naturally, its college football-related videos that are starting rise in popularity across our Trends Dashboard. In particular, we dug into the heavily-viewed videos in some of the U.S.'s biggest college towns to see what fans were sharing three weeks into the football year.

Right now, this clip is one of the Most Shared in Salt Lake City today. It's said to be captured by a pair of amused parents on Friday, the day before the famed "Holy War" game between BYU and the University of Utah:

The clip is reminiscent of this funny and widely-seen video from last fall, which was very popular in the state of Alabama. It was posted exactly one year ago today:

Meanwhile, we're also starting to see some silly tailgating antics spread as well among college football fans. These videos were said to have been captured over the weekend at University of Michigan and University of Kentucky tailgates:

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Big in New Zealand: Flash Haka

September 05, 2011

The flash mob fad has certainly been around for a while, but creative flash mob organizers seem to keep churning out enough variations on the form to keep things fresh and draw viewers -- see: the most popular trend of the 2010 holiday season. While the dancing variety has come to dominate the form, there's still enough creativity to surprise viewers now and again.

The most shared and viewed video in New Zealand this week is of yet another iteration of the "flash mob" form we haven't seen before. This time, a group of gentlemen perform a "flash haka," which replaces the usual cheesy dace choreography with the intimidating dance of the Maori, best known internationally as a part of the pre-game ritual for the nation's world-famous rugby team, the All-Blacks.

The video event reportedly took place at Auckland's Sylvia Park shopping center and included 50 young men.

There are also other good angles of the flash performance making the rounds. Here are the two most popular, which are shot from up-close and from overhead.

This could actually be the start to a new flash haka trend as the Rugby World Cup -- which is being hosted by New Zealand, incidentally -- kicks off this Friday and runs for seven weeks.

More: Another popular video this weekend in New Zealand is this Go Pro camera footage from the streets of Christchurch, specifically the city center's "red zone" which remains cordoned off following the earthquake from earlier this year.

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Extreme Summer Sports Week on Trends?

September 02, 2011

As summer comes to a close this week -- here in the U.S. at least -- we've spotted several big-trending summer action sport videos popping up among our most popular videos. These three in particular were trending over the past few days and remain among our most-viewed videos today.

On Monday, RedBull released this video of some bold surfers who hooked up flares to their boards to ride the waves. It was seen over 600,000 times this week.

This was one of two surfing videos to draw a lot of attention this week. The other was this Phantom HD footage from billabong of one of the world's most dangerous waves.

Tuesday, Devin Graham of devinsupertramp posted this clip of some totally crazy suped-up slip-n-sliding, which drew nearly 1 million views.

And on Wednesday, skate video filmmaker Nigel Alexander posted video of 10-year-old skateboarder Rene Serrano, a montage that's already got nearly 500,000 views:

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What They're Watching: Amazing Freestyle Soccer Tricks

August 30, 2011

This post was authored by Michelle Castillo as a part of a YouTube Trends series exploring the videos being watched this week by the team at What's Trending.

They may not make millions, but there’s budding sports stars all over the world with amazing skills that will never be featured on the professional courts.

This street performer uses his surroundings and acrobatic abilities to show off all his soccer ball skills. While you won’t need to climb up a pole in the middle of the pitch, his athleticism is still impressive.

Here are other marvelous athletic feats for you to watch from the comfort of your own computer. Who says you need to buy tickets to the game to enjoy sports?

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Ken Block Accelerates Quickly (Again)

August 23, 2011

Stunt Driver Ken Block's Gymkhana Four is off to a fast start in its first week. With 5.7 million views, it's the second most-viewed video of the past week, behind only Lady Gaga's new video for "Yoü & I," which has been seen 9.5 million times.

As the title implies, this is the fourth in a series for Block and DC shoes. Last September's Gymkhana Three was seen 23 million times by the year's end and was one of 2011's ten most-viewed videos. That clip drew 7.4 million views the first week it was posted, so Gymkhana Four is not far off pace. Gymkhana Two, which has 28 million views at present, drew 2 million views its first week.

Here's a chart that shows the big peak in views Block's new video hit on Wednesday:

Much like its predecessors, Gymkhana Four also has a big international following with heavy popularity in Europe and other parts of the world. The clip is down from its peak, but still averages hundreds of thousands of views per day.

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Inside YouTube Search: 'Man Falls at Rangers Game'

July 08, 2011

The top rising search on YouTube this morning is for information/news reports of the Texas Rangers fan who sadly fell to his death yesterday reaching for a ball tossed into the outfield stands. The story has sparked a significant amount of national interest and Josh Hamilton, the Rangers outfielder who threw the souvenir, is a top spiking search on Google Trends as well this morning.

Here's the report and video posted by ABC News:

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On the Scene: Canuck Fans Riot

June 16, 2011

Numerous videos are being posted of the scene in Vancouver last evening following the Canucks loss to the Boston Bruins in game seven of the NHL Stanley Cup Finals. The playlist below depicts of the destruction and confrontations with police that took place in the hours after the game. Warning: Some adult language.

(Use the arrows to navigate between videos or watch them all here.)

Check out more breaking news video at CitizenTube.

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