For our 2019 year in review: 2019 YouTube Awards
We started with YouTube back in 2011. It was on September 13, 2011 that we published our first video: a 49 second long single clip from the summit of Mount Carleton in New Brunswick, Canada. That video has been viewed a whopping 572 times, to date.
There was never any aspirations to become a YouTube star. There still isn’t. It was meant simply as a hosting platform for video that we could then embed on this website.
But then, in 2017, with more and more content published, our numbers started to go up at a pretty rapid pace. Yes, 2017 was good. However, 2018 was explosive.
We will never be Peter McKinnon, Andrew Schrock, Brendan Van Son or Thomas Heaton (my favourites). But, the numbers jumped pretty radically over the past year. Overall views were up from 150,000 to 400,000. Minutes watched reached 1,000,000, up from 280,000 in 2017. We had eleven videos with over 10,000 views on the year, up from two the year before. Four videos had over 20,000 views in 2018, up from just one in 2017.
By the way, if you haven’t already, we’d love if you were to subscribe to our YouTube Channel!
2018 Top YouTube Videos
Most Views In 2018
Our ‘Hamilton, Ontario: Driving Around Downtown’ video was watched 25,886 times in 2018. The video is a simple driving tour around the downtown core of Hamilton, Ontario. It was filmed on a day when the weather tried its best to screw things up. The rain, for the most part, held off enough to get in the footage.
Most Minutes Watched In 2018
Right around the same time as the Hamilton video, we published ‘Buffalo, New York: Driving Around Downtown’. It received nearly the most views in 2018 and was the leader in minutes watched at 107,389. We dug a little deeper into the sights with a companion article of downtown Buffalo, New York.
Top Newcomer (Video Published In 2018): Views and Minutes Watched
Of the videos published in 2018, ‘Memories Holguin Beach Resort: Walking Tour’ led the way with 10,340 views and 56,986 minutes watched. This walking tour video of the Holguin, Cuba all-inclusive resort was filmed on a stroller mounted GoPro Hero 5 Black camera. As the kids grow up and the need for a stroller fades, I’m not sure how we’re going to film these resort walking tour videos that seem to be quite popular…
All-Time Leader
The video that remains the most popular is the aging ‘Downtown London Going West On Dundas’. This video is, quite frankly, a piece of crap. But, it became a haven for people trash talking the city and did well in the search engines. We’ve since done a much better downtown driving tour video but this one continues to do well. All-time, this is leader with 81,798 views and 176,879 minutes watched.
Likes and Dislikes
The Buffalo video received the most likes while the Hamilton video received the most dislikes in 2018. However, it should be noted that that video led the way while getting just 13 thumb’s down.
All-time, of course, the above mentioned London, Ontario video leads in both likes and dislikes. We’re always hovering around a 95% likes vs. dislikes rate, so it’s not really something we worry about.
What’s Coming In 2019
- More driving tours in Ontario
- A bunch of footage from an upcoming express tour of the U.S. Rust Belt
- Campground tours
- End to end highway tours (new idea – should work)
- More sunrises and sunsets
- More time lapse
- Re-do of Mount Carleton
