Majority of YouTube Videos are Awesome

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.