SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mode Studios, the digital video content arm of Mode Media, the 7th largest desktop and the 10th largest overall U.S. media property with 139 million monthly unique users in the U.S. with 406 million monthly active users worldwide, today announced the results of a survey conducted online on their behalf by Harris Poll this month that gauged the way Americans interact with viral videos. Sixty-nine percent of Americans say they share good viral videos online, and, of those, nearly 1-in-5 (19 percent) do so to passive aggressively express political views—especially Millennials, 25 percent of whom say they do this. Fifty-seven percent of Americans believe they can predict when an online video will be a hit/go viral, with the biggest predictors being if it made them laugh (40 percent) or if they saw their friend share it (27 percent).
Viral = sharing good videos
Sixty-nine percent of Americans say they share good viral videos online. Of those, 34 percent do so to get friends’ social reactions, 26 percent hope to start a social conversation, and 47 percent do so expecting no reaction whatsoever.
Mode Studios’ popular “100 Years” series has become a wildly successful viral hit, having crossed more than 250 million total viewers to date. The series’ episode 1, “100 Years of Women’s Fashion,” is the most viewed fashion video in digital history with over 175MM views, streaming up to 6MM views per day.
Big laughs or friends sharing = go viral
Fifty-seven percent of Americans believe they can predict when an online video will go viral. The number is even higher among Millennials, 78 percent of whom believe they can predict when an online video will go viral.
The biggest predictors, said Millennials, was that a video made them laugh (55 percent), that their friends are sharing a video (45 percent) and that celebrities are sharing a video (37 percent). Millennials consider celebrities a much higher predictor than other age groups; only 15 percent of 35-44 year olds, 7 percent of 45-54 year olds, 5 percent of 55-64 year olds, and 1 percent of seniors 65+ thought celebrity shares would impact the likelihood that a video will go viral:
| How can you predict that an online video will go viral | ||||||||||||||
| General Pop | Millennials | |||||||||||||
| I laugh when I see it | 40 percent | 55 percent | ||||||||||||
| I see my friends sharing it | 27 percent | 45 percent | ||||||||||||
| It features animals | 22 percent | 27 percent | ||||||||||||
| I see celebrities sharing it | 15 percent | 37 percent | ||||||||||||
| I gasp when I watch it | 14 percent | 24 percent | ||||||||||||
| It features kids | 13 percent | 16 percent | ||||||||||||
Eleven percent of men said that they could tell an online video would go viral if they felt aroused after watching it, compared to just 3 percent of women. Millennial men especially said feeling aroused was a predictor (18 percent).
Sharing is caring
Of the 82 percent of Americans who say they watch videos online, 44 percent say that when they see an online video they like, they watch it again; 42 percent show it to their significant other; 38 percent forward to a friend; 36 percent share/post to social media; 32 percent talk about it the next day; 28 percent look for more videos; and 12 percent show the video to their children. This figure was higher among 35-44-year-old women, 27 percent of whom will show their children an online video they like.
Forty-eight percent of Millennials who ever share online videos, however, hope to get friends’ social reactions; 40 percent hope to start a social conversation; 18 percent share good viral videos online in hopes of being liked (compared to 3-12 percent of people in other age groups); and 11 percent hope to make new friends (compared to 2-6 percent of people in other age groups).
Using videos to communicate indirectly…especially about politics or to win an argument
Sixty-nine percent of Americans also admit to sharing viral videos for communicating indirectly for passive aggressive reasons. This is especially true of Millennials, of whom 25 percent say they have shared a viral video to passive aggressively express political views.
| Which of the following passive aggressive reasons have caused you to share a viral video online?* | ||||||||||||||
| Gen Pop | Millennials | |||||||||||||
| To express my political views | 19 percent | 25 percent | ||||||||||||
| To win an argument | 11 percent | 16 percent | ||||||||||||
| To share my religious beliefs | 10 percent | 14 percent | ||||||||||||
*of those who share videos online
Abbreviated methodology
This survey was conducted online within the United States by Harris Poll on behalf of Mode Media from October 6-8, 2015, among 3,027 adults ages 18 and older. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and, therefore, no estimate of theoretical sampling error can be calculated. For complete survey methodology, including weighting variables, please contact Gaby Perez-Silva: gaby@bospar.com.
About Mode Media
Mode Studios is the original content arm of Mode Media that was created in 2014 to create original series, branded entertainment and digital films and videos. Mode Studios creates digital entertainment on location in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles and around the U.S. and the world.
Mode launched the Mode Video Platform in April 2015 and has grown from zero to 25 million unique users a month and crossed 1 Billion views of videos streamed on its new video platform in September 2015 (comScore). Mode’s Video Platform is designed to upload original videos by Mode Studios and Mode Video and YouTube creators for discovery and distribution.
Mode Media was founded in Silicon Valley in 2004 with a simple, yet powerful idea—to help people discover relevant content by combining the power of human curation of premium content with technology that distributes the right content to the right people at the right time. Today, Mode Media is building the largest independent premium video and content platform for creators powered by distribution and streaming technology that delivers targeted native videos, content and branded entertainment at scale in real-time.
Mode.com is a social platform where creators can upload videos and build content stories that are curated by professionals and distributed in user feeds—personalized by their interests and social actions from creators and channels they follow. Unlike traditional media that employ large numbers of people to produce hopefully amazing content without a captive audience online, Mode is a new ecosystem model (like YouTube, Vimeo, & Netflix) that matches 10,000+ creators that continually and on-demand create original content with distribution to the captive audience on the Mode platform. Original videos, content and branded entertainment are produced by these independent creators and by Mode Studios, the creator of the hyper-viral series “100 Years” with over 250 million views in 2015. Mode’s machine-learning algorithms test all videos and content for engagement and viral lift in real-time to find the right audience to deliver programmed views in distributed user feeds.
Mode has grown from zero to 25 million unique users in six months, since launch in April 2015 (comScore). Mode’s streaming platform has grown from zero to 20 million viewers and crossed over 1 billion streamed video views in September 2015.
Mode Media is the 7th largest desktop and the 10th largest media property in the U.S. Top 10 Media Properties reaching 139 million unique users a month (comScore). Mode.com is a consumer social platform for curated content discovery with native in-feed distribution and streaming videos. For additional information regarding Mode Media, visit http://corp.mode.com/
