FRED WINS: YouTube Traffic Wars Are Over

Is it possible that a 14-year-old kid and his two cousins putting on an IMPROV act as a 6-year-old with anger management issues and an alcoholic mother could be bringing in over 45 MILLION views on You Tube?! Is it possible that this same act, programmed with a video camera by kids for kids on the lowest of budgets, would have a larger audience than most CABLE TV SHOWS? Yes, it IS possible. Welcome to the world of INTERNET PROGRAMMING, where HOME GROWN often is the MOST SUCCESSFUL!

Check it out: FRED has serious numbers:

250,000+ hard-core subscribers...
4 Million downloads upon new video releases...
45 Million total downloads...
#4 ALL-TIME on YouTube!

FRED, in about two years, has amassed this traffic with improv comedy videos called "Fred Goes To The Dentist", "Fred Stalks Judy", "Fred Loses His Meds" and other funny skits:



Blogoscoped said: "That an act with millions of fans could escape the popular attention is more evidence of the digital fissuring of our culture. As we ensconce ourselves ever further in our respective demographics, personal and professional, we continue to drift apart from the people right next to us, until even an iceberg holding 4 million tweens can float by unnoticed."

I'm sure some people would find Fred offensive and obnoxious (well, he is hyper and the high-pitched screams would scare more than one serious-minded adult). However, I couldn't help but laugh more than a few times as I watched the FRED videos, which feature Nebraskan Lucas Cruikshank. I'm sure the kids who subscribe are laughing a lot more, too. According to the LA Times:

“They just think he’s the funniest thing ever,” said Valerie Moizel of the L.A.-based WOO ad agency, which found out about Fred after it conducted kid-centered focus groups for its ZipIt instant messaging product – which later showed up in Fred’s videos. “We watched them watch him – they fall on the floor hysterically laughing. They’re just mesmerized.”

It just goes to show that being funny tends to get a lot of traffic… I raise the white flag: the traffic wars are over: FRED wins! Here's to being FUNNY!

http://aspirenow.blogspot.com
"Seriously Fun Self-Help"
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Copyright © 2008 AspireNow. All rights reserved. Special nods to Robert Scoble, Mark Milian of Latimes.com, and blogoscoped.com, who contributed to this article. Want more? Subscribe to the A-Blog.

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