YouTube published two Culture and Trends reports in 2024 instead of just one. That was the first indication that we’re probably not paying enough attention to trends.
The first report, published midway through the year, found:
“Fans are no longer just consuming content, they’re actively creating it, meaning they’re more essential to driving the success of an individual or property than ever before.”
The second report, published at the end of 2024, found:
“The franchises that shape pop culture today are increasingly ones that are born online or become accessible in digital spaces through creator activity.”
So, what does that mean to digital marketers?
We’re well-versed in the traditional types of marketing:
Business-to-consumer (B2C).
Business-to-business (B2B).
However, it’s clear we need to expand our understanding to include newer models like:
Business-to-creator-to-consumer (B2C2C).
Business-to-creator-to-business (B2C2B).
That’s why it’s a good idea to read YouTube’s latest Global Culture & Trends report.
It can help you identify the seven significant shifts reshaping pop culture in the U.S. and worldwide.
And these shifts are also reshaping digital marketing as we know it.
1. YouTube Nation is 78% larger than the world’s largest country
YouTube has about 2.5 billion monthly active users (MAU) worldwide.
YouTube is the second-most visited website in the world – behind Google, but ahead of Facebook (third), Instagram (fifth), and TikTok (20th).
If YouTube were a nation, then it would rank far ahead of the world’s largest countries. According to recent data:
India is the most populated country in the world with a population of approximately 1.4 billion people.
Followed by China with a population of slightly less than 1.4 billion people.
The U.S. ranks third with around 340 million people.
And as I observed in “YouTube SEO fundamentals: What you need to know:”
“YouTube has been the most widely used online platform in the U.S. for at least seven years, with 85% of adults saying they use the platform. By comparison, 70% use Facebook, 50% use Instagram, and 33% use TikTok.”
So, why do so many digital marketers treat YouTube like the red-headed stepchild in social media’s extended family?
Don’t they know that YouTubers need at least 100,000 subscribers to qualify for the Karat Black Card, a credit card for social media influencers, while Instagrammers need 125,000 followers, and TikTokers need 2.5 million followers?
Why?
Because YouTube subscribers are considered 25% more valuable than Instagram followers and 25 times more valuable than TikTok followers.
One YouTuber who understands the value of YouTube subscribers is James Stephen “Jimmy” Donaldson, better known by his online alias MrBeast.
His YouTube channel has 338 million subscribers.
In 2024, his 68 YouTube videos received 13.3 billion views and 508 million engagements.
CNBC estimates MrBeast brings in between $600 million and $700 million a year.
Per YouTube’s Global Culture & Trends report, based on in-country subscribers gained throughout the year, MrBeast ended 2024 as:
The top creator in Canada, India, Indonesia, and the U.S.
Second in France, Germany, and the U.K.
Fourth in Japan.
Fifth in South Korea.
Ninth in Mexico.
MrBeast’s YouTube content is known for its high production value, fast pace, and elaborate challenges and giveaways.
For example, his most popular video of the past year, “The World’s Fastest Cleaners,” uploaded on April 25, got 583 million views and 24.1 million engagements, according to Tubular Intelligence.
Dig deeper: How the YouTube algorithm works: What marketers need to know
2. The emergence of indie animators is reshaping pop culture
Driven by passionate fan support, independent animators are turning their social video hits into full-fledged franchises, demonstrating the power of online communities to reshape pop culture.
A prime example is “Amazing Digital Circus” from the GLITCH channel.
The independent animation studio based in Sydney, Australia, uploaded “The Amazing Digital Circus: Pilot” on Oct. 13, 2023.
They aimed “to create animated shows no one has ever seen before.”
And their first episode got 364 million views and 6.6 million engagements.
GLITCH’s second episode, “The Amazing Digital Circus – Ep 2: Candy Carrier Chaos!,” premiered May 3. It had 140 million views and 4.2 million engagements.
That same month, a SmithGeiger study revealed that 22% of U.S. 14-24-year-olds were aware of the show, even though only two episodes of creator Gooseworx’s animated series had been released.
Notably, Netflix is licensing episodes for simultaneous release with their YouTube premiere, highlighting the show’s significant impact.
By the end of 2024, eight “fun, colorful animated shows with occasional violence and existential breakdowns” generated 671 million views and 17.9 million engagements over the last 15 months, according to Tubular Intelligence.
The GLITCH channel has 12.9 million subscribers.
This rapid success can be attributed to the active fan community, which filled the gaps between episodes by creating fan-made animations, explanatory videos, and music videos.
This extended the franchise’s reach far beyond the series itself, with 5,175 fans creating 32,900 videos on the topic of “The Amazing Digital Circus,” which have garnered 19.2 billion views and 678 million engagements over the last 15 months, according to Tubular Intelligence.
The Amazing Digital Circus was on the Trending Topics lists in Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Indonesia, Mexico, the U.K., and the U.S, per YouTube’s Culture & Trends report.
Trending Topics highlight popular cultural moments, spanning films, memes, music, and other areas.
These trends are identified by YouTube’s Culture & Trends team, who analyze data like video views, uploads, and creator engagement.
3. Creators are expanding the cultural omnipresence of individual video games
Video game creators are increasingly pivotal in elevating games to mainstream success.
For example, Dress to Impress, a fashion-focused game on Roblox, quickly became a global sensation.
Dress to Impress burst onto the online gaming scene in November 2023.
Its core concept is straightforward.
At the start of each round, players are presented with a theme and granted a mere five minutes to meticulously craft an outfit that perfectly embodies that theme.
Once the allotted time expires, players gracefully display their creations on the virtual catwalk, where fellow players evaluate and rank each outfit on a scale of one to five stars.
As players consistently triumph in these catwalk competitions, they attain the coveted title of “top model.”
Despite its relatively recent release, Dress to Impress surged in popularity, dominating trending topics in three countries (Canada, the U.K., and the U.S.).
This rapid rise surpassed the typical trajectory of most video game releases, transforming a fashion game into a viral sensation.
Since Nov. 11, 2023, 7,907 creators have uploaded 48,300 videos to YouTube in the gaming category with “Dress to Impress” in the title.
These videos have tallied 4.3 billion views and 191 million engagements, according to Tubular Intelligence.
For example, “Game Theory: You’re Missing The Point Of Dress To Impress *it’s scary*” by The Game Theorists, uploaded Aug. 17, got 3.3 million views and 160,000 engagements.
The video’s description says:
“Dress to Impress is a game that on the surface appears like a bright, fun Roblox game about fashion. However, underneath the surface hides a terrible, dark secret about Lana, the nail lady in the salon. With hidden rooms, secret codes, and best of all… LORE, it’s no wonder you all have been requesting it for so long!”
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4. Non-digital-native franchises can thrive in a digital culture
YouTube’s Culture & Trends report highlighted that “legacy franchises” like “Olympic Games Paris 2024,” which appeared on trending topic lists in 10 out of 12 countries, and “Deadpool & Wolverine,” which showed up in 5 out of 12, clearly demonstrate that traditional franchises can succeed in a digital culture.
Now, I trust YouTube’s data. But I used Tubular Intelligence to verify it.
For example, 555,000 accounts on YouTube have at least 100,000 subscribers.