I was curious…what are people watching online when it comes to fly fishing videos?
Now I don’t mean full length feature videos, rather “shorts,” “how tos,” or even marketing materials from manufacturers or retailers.
Utilizing a very unscientific survey of YouTube, this is what I found.
Note: I know a lot of the GoPro masses are now using Vimeo either in conjunction with, or totally in lieu of YouTube these days, but getting public stats from Vimeo is a bit of a dicey proposition as not all publishers make the information public…or you literally have to click through each individual video and keep a tally. Forget that.
- YouTube: 27 videos / 2,611,256 views = 96,713 views per video
- Subscribers: 9,792
- Most Watched Video (below): 1,216,531+ views
- YouTube: 126 videos / 145,690 views = 1,156 views per video
- Subscribers: 585
- Most Watched Video (below): 14,998+ views
- YouTube: 50 videos / 3,488,374 views = 67,768 views per video
- Subscribers: 9,730
- Most Watched Video (below): 1,212,282+ views
- YouTube: 100 videos / 1,336,964 views = 13,369 views per video
- Subscribers: 3,116
- Most Watched Video (below): 565,390+ views
- YouTube: 382 videos / 11,019,807 views = 28,847 views per video
- Subscribers: 30,179
- Most Watched Video (below): 192,597+ views
- YouTube: 144 videos / 2,278,002 views = 15,819 views per video
- Subscribers: 14,187
- Most Watched Video (below): 215,880+ views
Tightlines Fly Fishing Company
- YouTube: 87 videos / 3,185,988 views = 36,620 views per video
- Subscribers: 12,473
- Most Watched Video (below): 564,049+ views
- YouTube: 20 videos / 695,700 views = 34,785 views per video
- Subscribers: 4,501
- Most Watched Video (below): 148,638+ views
Conclusions?
Seems like “How To” topics generally rank the highest in the view per video statistic. It makes sense…whether it’s casting tips or fly tying, I’ve found myself using YouTube regularly to answer questions like that all the time.
Hank Patterson may be our sport’s comedic visionary, and as such he also posts more than respectable view per video stats. People like to laugh. I mean that’s what most go to YouTube for – to get a smile off of a silly animal, stupid human, or whatever… Does Hank score over 217K views per video like YouTube heavyweight Funny or Die? Nope. But I’d bet if Will Ferrell & Hank were face to face with a grizzly bear, only one’d get out alive…
I’d also say that for as known an entity as Trout Unlimited is in our little world, they are totally under-utilizing their YouTube channel as a method of “spreading the word”…especially considering that it is something they promote prominently via social chicklets on their regular tu.org content site. I mean their YouTube header graphic isn’t even updated with an image. Really? With over 8.4 million video views and 18,206 subscribers, Ducks Unlimited is kicking their ass.
Tough love TU, tough love.
Are there any YouTube channels that you’re fond of that I didn’t mention? I’m sure there’s more than one. List ’em in the comments below, and perhaps I’ll compile a part two. And Vimeo guys…if you’ve got kickass numbers and want to share them in the comments, have at it!
I'm trying to keep up with those guys.https://www.youtube.com/user/troutahStill pretty amateur and just hitting my local waters, but I love it and am trying to improve my edits every time out.
I was wandering down the list looking at the statistics and wondering where Hank Patterson was. Then he was there. I would think more would watch him, the guy is a great comedian. All those statistics. I think I'm getting a headache.
Awesome!!I could watch Todd Moen “Head or Tails” all day.time to get back to making tying videos>>A WHOPPING 242 views!!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SExdlXp9ImoTight Lines,Koz
I'm going to answer from a different perspective. I watch Youtube for comedy, fly tying and fly fishing. I watch Vimeo for strictly artful productions like Todd Moen and several others who've have elevated levels of quality IMHO. Not to say Youtube doesn't have these as well, but with so many more posters, the good ones are harder to find.
Eh, that's better than most of mine. 🙂
Great Post… some videos I've never seen, and some that I have. Hank and Davie are definitely my two Favorites on your post. What about those Swedish guys, the Nylinders and crew need some props!! thanks for sharing
Where vs. Who is a totally different topic, but I appreciate the feedback. I behave much in the same way…as it seems like those publishers send you to Vimeo first when promoting their posts on social media. This post was a little hard to put together from the standpoint that I wanted to combine both YouTube & Vimeo stats to accomodate the power users that use both (or only Vimeo) but the Vimeo information is much harder to come across based on privacy settings and the simple fact that Vimeo doesn't roll it up for you anywhere like YouTube does. It's a shame.Believe me, I wanted to give Yukon Goes Fishing some love!
Good call…those guys are awesome. They tend to direct their traffic to Vimeo, so I didn't think to look for them, but for gathering statistics, glad they have posted to YouTube as well…https://www.youtube.com/user/FrontsideFlyfishingFor what it's worth…- YouTube: 68 videos / 722,472 views = 10,624 views per video- Subscribers: 3,040- Most Watched Video: 128,123+ viewshttp://youtu.be/EEQ0SmKeaBc
Nice post, Mike. I'm a lazy subscriber – meaning I'll follow a link and watch a video and if its good I'll subscribe to the channel (if I'm logged in) sometimes the entry point doesn't have me logged in so I'll skip the subscription even if its a good vid. I do watch about 3 times more short videos on Vimeo over those on YouTube though and follow 44 on Vimeo vs. 21 on YouTube.Just for kicks, I listed the 21 channels I'm subscribed to. Some of the ones posted above need to be added to this list:Allen GardnerCaron KayakFishingDave MaynardDavie McPhaildenekioutdoorsFishhound.comflyfishingtheozarksInTheRiffleKevin McKayReds FlyRon GieseckeshakeyflySkip Morris Fly TyingThe Orvis CompanyThe Wilde BunchTheSaltwaterEdgetightlinesflyshoptightlinevideoUSFWSVedavoo GearWildFlyProductions
That's a lot of subscriptions Dean. I do the “lazy” thing too. :)I like your stat on Vimeo vs. YouTube subscriptions. I wonder if that's the same for everyone. I definitely consume more (quality) FF content on Vimeo.