Video Rodeo: Halloween Edition

Often we are asked “What makes a video go viral?” and often we have responded that the specific components are uncertain. Compare, if you will, these two YouTube videos. Being that Halloween is just around the corner, we decided to make it the theme of the videos. The first is a video that shows how some creative person (most likely with too much time on their hands) decorated and rigged their house with lights and synchronized it with Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” song. For sake of time and reference, we will call this one the “lights” video. The second is a video that shows an exploding pumpkin…pretty self-explanatory. We will call this one the “pumpkin” video.

So why does the lights video have almost 1.5 million views and the pumpkin video have less than 50 thousand? Well we can’t tell you exactly, but we can speculate. So lets break it down:

Other than being creative, the lights video is entertaining, has the element of surprise (the viewer doesn’t know what’s going to happen next with the light show), and incorporates a popular song by a well-known artist (which, whether or not the creator knew it, returns great SEO search results). In addition, it captivates the audience and is clever and original because obviously, turning your house into a giant, flashy musical number isn’t something you see everyday (unless, maybe, you grew up with Liberace).

In comparison, the pumpkin video is also entertaining and while it’s no surprise we all pretty much know what’s going to happen to the pumpkin, the brief moment of anticipation keeps it exciting. What we don’t know however, is what people’s fascination with blowing things up is, but we have to admit it sure is fun to watch. It’s most likely because of this fascination that there are so many “exploding pumpkin” videos, which may be a reason why this particular pumpkin video is not as popular as the lights video. Blowing up pumpkins has been done… over, and over, and over again, but what else are you supposed to do with your pumpkin/jack-o-lantern after Halloween, right?