This past Sunday, the Russian meteor became the fastest video event ever to top a True Reach of over 100 million views. In less than 72 hours, people had uploaded over 400 videos of the meteor streaking against the Russian sky, lighting it up, and ending with an incredible boom. As of this morning, the meteor has a True Reach of over 138 million video views.
To measure the Russian meteor's total performance across the web, we used our True Reach methodology, a combination of the video clips related to the event. True Reach provides a holistic and complete view of a video "campaign's" performance across the web. For example, the most-viewed video of the meteor comes from RussiaToday, a global news channel, with over 23.6 million views. In addition to that video, we've identified more than 160 clips that have generated over 100,000 views related to the meteor. In all, these 400+ videos have produced 138 million views.
Faster than Kony & Stratos
Velocity is a big factor with massive online events. The more urgency people feel to be part of the conversation and to be a part of the moment, the more views a video event will generate. We saw the same story play out with Kony and Stratos.
But the meteor had something those campaigns didn't. Both Kony and Stratos were manufactured. Kony masterfully pulled at the heart strings and leveraged celebrities' networks while Stratos played on an adrenaline rush by creating a world-record breaking event. And the meteor? Well, that just happened. And we all had to watch it, in shock, awe, and terror. All of the events were unbelievable in their own ways. All of them had an immediacy to them that demanded they be watched.
But the meteor had more of it and its speed proves it. It took Kony 6 days to top 100 million views. Stratos made it to the pivotal mark in 5 days. The first video uploaded of the meteor hit the web at 9:00 PM EST February 14. It topped 100 million views around 2:00 PM EST February 17, a total 65 hours.
Biggest Day Ever
Not only was the Russian meteor the fastest video event ever to reach 100 million views, it has also smashed the single-day record for video views generated. On Saturday, people watched videos of the Russian meteor over 73.3 million times. Kony previously held that record with 41.3 million views in a single day. Red Bull's Stratos comes in a close third with 40.9 million views.
Bigger Video Events Online
Last year we saw two massive video events – Kony and Red Bull's Stratos, both video campaigns that cracked 100 million views with unprecedented speed. With Kony, Stratos, and now the Russian meteor, digital video has proven that, if the content is right, it can attract massive audiences in quick bursts. Keep in mind that this year's Super Bowl saw an audience of 108 million. While views aren't the same as viewers, the gap between the biggest events on TV and the biggest events online is gradually shrinking. After all, it isn't ever day that you see a meteor burning through the sky. And you can't watch it on-demand on TV.
Are you surprised that the Russian meteor has blown up online? Let us know in the comments section below!
