Earlier this week YouTube posted some interesting data in regards to ratings. For those who aren’t familiar, YouTube allows you to rate videos you view from 1 – 5 stars using the following scale:

• 1 star = Poor
• 2 stars = Nothing Special
• 3 stars = Worth Watching
• 4 stars = Pretty Cool
• 5 stars = Awesome !

Here is the star breakdown of all videos with ratings according to the YouTube blog:

If you’ve seen The Onion’s report, you know that most users struggle to upload a ‘good’ video, let alone an awesome one. But keep in mind that this represents only the videos that have been rated. I guarantee the number of videos with no rating at all would dwarf the number of rated videos. Which is why I love this quote from YouTube Project Manager Shiva Rajaraman:

Great videos prompt action; anything less prompts indifference.

If your video can’t get someone to click their mouse button once, then all the optimization in the world won’t help.