Google has revealed the most popular search queries for YouTube in 2014, and Mojang's sandbox phenomenon Minecraft is sitting near the very top of the list. Minecraft was the second most-searched item of the year, beaten only by "music," but outpacing the likes of hot items such as "movies," "Frozen," "Beyonce," "Drake," and "Taylor Swift," among others. The ranked top ten is listed below:
- Music
- Minecraft
- Movies
- Frozen
- Drake
- Beyonce
- PewDiePie
- Happy
- Eminem
- Taylor Swift
In a post on the Google blog called "Think Gaming Content Is Niche? Think Again," the search engine giant's insights lead Gautam Ramdurai discussed why gaming content is so popular on YouTube. One major point is that gaming content appeals to non-gamers, he said.
"A Google Consumer Survey fielded in October 2014, of people who said they watch gaming videos on YouTube, revealed that only a portion of this group (37%) consider themselves gamers," he said.
"When asked about their motivations for watching gaming videos, viewers mentioned entertainment and humor as often as they mentioned learning new strategies or game tips."
Ramdurai added that gaming content on YouTube keeps viewers coming back better than others. As evidence of this, he says that more than 20 of the top 100 YouTube channels with the most subscribers are related to gaming. Sitting atop the subscriber leaderboard is Swedish star PewDiePie, who has 32 million subscribers, more than the entire population of Canada.
In addition, six of the ten most-viewed YouTube channels in the US are gaming-related. Another standout statistic is that in October, a gaming video made the daily top ten "trending out YouTube" list nearly every day. You can read Google's full report on YouTube gaming statistics here.
Microsoft acquired Minecraft and developer Mojang in September 2014 in a deal worth around $2.5 billion. Creator Markus "Notch" Persson has since left the company, and recently purchased a $70 million mansion in Beverly Hills.
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