Broadband News

Talking dog beats dancing royals to top video of 2011

Tuesday 20 December, 2011

By Duncan Heaney

Most watched video of 2011 is barking

Video sharing website YouTube has revealed the top ten most watched videos of 2011. Sitting pretty in the number one spot is Ultimate Dog Tease, in which an unlucky pooch appears to be talking as he misses treat after treat.

Strutting its funky stuff in second was the T-Mobile Royal Wedding - a spoof advert based on the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton, with lookalikes portraying the royal family. “Highlights” of the video include Prince Charles bumping rumps with Camilla Parker Bowles and Prince William leapfrogging over his brother Prince Harry.

Actor Charlie Sheen was one of the highest profile figures of 2011, thanks largely to his now-infamous interview where he describes himself as “bi-winning.” A video that set parts of the interview to music - Songify This - Winning - turned into a smash hit on YouTube, and the third most watched video in the UK.

In fourth place, was Nyan Cat, a strangely hypnotic (and mildly irritating if you ask me) animation of a cat zooming through the starry sky meowing along to a Japanese pop song.

Other videos in the top ten included a foul-mouthed redub of Rebecca Black’s song Friday, and a cleverly edited video that turns clips from cookery show Masterchef into a music track. As ever, reality shows and babies made strong showings on the video sharing site, with talking twins and Michael Collings’ Britain’s Got Talent audition catching viewers’ attention (and clicks).

Google suggests that the videos offer an insight into the events and people that caught the public’s attention this year. YouTube’s trend manager, Kevin Alloca sums it up better: “The 10 most-watched YouTube videos of 2011 show that around the world, whatever language we speak, there are certain things that bring us together around a computer screen or mobile phone. Adorable babies, talented performers, and clever advertising.”

Together, the top ten videos have been watched more than 285 million times. I know I contributed to that number - did you?

Photo courtesy of YouTube.