I first started paying attention to YouTube views back in March 2019. I got curious what the most popular BFU videos were by viewcounts and I recorded all of them one day while I was bored at work. Then a week or two later, I checked them again as a new season of True Crime started. And well, the rest is history.
I wasn't as consistent with BFU recording as I am with Watcher, although I did take them every week after a new episode premiered. Now that the finale has aired, I don't have plans to record these again, at least not for a long time. So, without further ado, here are some final thoughts on BFU's viewcounts. (full spreadsheet here)
First off, it is wild to see how much some of these videos have gained in the past two and a half years, especially videos that aren't new. Like 3 Cases went from 16 million in March 2019 to 32.5 this week! Literally doubled!
Okay, here are the top 10 most viewed BFU Supernatural episodes:
3 Cases of Ghost and Demons 32.5 million
Illuminati 25.8 million (Shane's first episode)
Exorcism of Anneliese Michel 25.4 million
Haunting of Hannah Williams 22.5 million
Goatman's Bridge 20.8 million
Men in Black 19.1 million (highest SPN Bront ep)
Waverly Hills 17.8 million
Queen Mary 17.1 million
Toxic Death of Gloria Ramirez 16.1 million
Demonic Bellaire House 15 million
And now the top 10 most viewed BFU True Crime episodes
Elisa Lam 27.6 million (highest Bront)
JFK 20.7 million
DB Cooper 19.6 million
Axeman 18.5 million
Room 1046 17.8 million
Jon Benet Ramsey 17.6 million
Jack the Ripper 17.1 million
OJ Simpson 16.9 million
Jamison Family 16 million
Tupac 15.9 million
Early season episodes dominate both lists (only 5 are newer than season 2 across both lists). Some because they're classics, some because they cover high profile cases, some because they've just been out longer! One thing I've noticed across all my viewcount recording is that once a video does well, the more likely it is to continue to do well. I guess that's how the algorithm works! if it works at all. (I still have my questions)
Now some averages!
I added up all the views I recorded yesterday (November 23 2021) and the total amount was a whooping 1.317 billion views. With a B! That makes me kind of emotional! Ryan Bergara! Your baby has a billion views!
Supernatural episodes had a total of 645.5 million views over 55 episodes, which averages out to ~11.74 million views per episode. Considering 6 of these episodes just came out, I imagine that average will rise in a few months
True Crime episodes had 671.6 million views over 66 episodes, which averages out to ~10.18 million views per episode.
When I first started this, one thing I was curious about was which version of the show was more popular. Over the past two years, SPN has become the clear winner on that front, although it used to be much closer.
The total average of all episodes is ~10.89 million.
And some other numbers:
The boys can't count, Thelma Todd was their 100th episode, not the Somerton Man Revisited.
There are 121 episodes in total. 112 with Shane.
Shane's 100th episode was the Hammersmith Ghost.
The clearest thing to me about this whole exercise is how popular BFU continues to be, even if it's not the high days of BuzzFeed anymore. It's only gained views and viewers since 2019, and this only considers YouTube. Unsolved is also on Hulu and Prime, who knows how many people the show has reached solely on those platforms.
I tend to think of this fandom as on the smaller side, because it is compared to many other things on Tumblr and the like, but that doesn't mean its impact has been. Millions of people have watched these two goofballs wrestle with ghosts, murders, aliens, demons, heists, lost treasure, conspiracy theories, Mothman, and each other. But the one thing that has never been an unsolved mystery is their success. Comedy pairings cannot be forced, the chemistry has to be there naturally, a bizarre unseen link between two people that have no business having it. All thanks to a clear Google calendar in 2016, we have been able to enjoy 112 episodes of Ryan and Shane and their weirdo bond, growing from friendly antagonists, a hardcore believer and skeptic, to business partners who see in more shades of grey now, thanks to each other. It's been one hell of a ride, boys. I can't wait for what's next.
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Hey there demons, ya spreadsheet gremlin here with a lot of very good news in the world of Watcherâs viewcounts!
Too Many Spirits already has HALF A MILLION views on its 4th day out! It went out a day earlier than the previous record holder for best premiere weekend (Puppet Historyâs The Dancing Plague with 435k) so Iâm not sure that itâs quite the same to compare, but it is easily their best premiere episode of a series. This is so exciting for the month going forward! Plus, itâs a fucking great show, so itâs a win for everyone.
The pilot episodes of Weird and/or Wonderful World and Are You Scared? have both hit a million since I last updated! AYS just hit it this past week, gaining 42k views. The other s1 AYS eps also gained a lot, with Being Home alone jumping up 51k.
The premiere of s2 of AYS is also doing well, currently at 270k. Thatâs on track with s1, although slightly down. I imagine all of these will continue to grow though now that we are in spooky season.
The next closest ep to 1 million is the Kate Warne ep of Puppet History at 804k. There are 6 Watcher episodes in the 700k range, as well, so we should see a few more hit that mark in next month or so.
Donner Party is having the best second week of all the s2 Puppet History eps, with 564k views. Really smart to end the season on a spooky note, good job team.Â
Fascinatingly, Top 5 Beatdown Fast Food Chains has retaken the title of their most watched video, gaining 100k (!) views in the past week (1.719 million total). Since July 6, this ep has been gaining on average 15k views a week. So this bump is very out of nowhere, but a good one, of course.
Watcher is at 850k subscribers, up 50k in the month since I last did a spreadsheet update!! I really think they can hit 1 million before the end of the year and I couldnât be happier for them.
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Been a minute since a spreadsheet update! I come bearing Puppet History (and others) stats!
As of today, September 14 2020, Puppet History 1x01 Life During the Black Death, is the most watched Watcher video with 1.567 million views!
1x02, Stealing the Worldâs Most Expensive Necklace, is right on its heels with 1.562 million. The previous title holder, Top 5â˛s Fast Food Chains is at 1.557 million.Â
Season 2 of Puppet History is going strong. Two out of five episodes have trended so far and both of those did slightly better than the rest, so thatâs good to know. (I am furious at myself though - I forgot to record last weekâs on Monday so Iâm a day off there)
All but the newest have already crossed the half a million mark!
These opening numbers are all in line with season 1 PH as well. The Dancing Plague still has the best opening week numbers for any Watcher video so far (435k) but everything else is higher the rest of PH s1. Growth! You love to see it.
I am completely flabbergasted by whatever is going on with Watcher Weekly lately. I think the show has been the best itâs been since quarantine started but the numbers donât really reflect that, at least until you hit the newest one where they tried to guess Gen Z slang. I truly donât understand why some of these do better than others.Â
Watcher hit 800k subscribers this week! Do we think theyâll hit 1 million before the end of the year? I hope so.
Now that weâre a month out from the end of season of WAOWW, we can that season performed pretty evenly against itself. Not the heights of the Mystic Museum, but I think our boys doing anything spooky is bound to be a little inflated.Â
I think Mystic Museum will be the next 1 million, but the first Are You Scared? has a bit of a higher growth rate. (itâs at 938k right now) Plus itâs gonna be spooky season soon. Regardless, these will be the next two million views videos. After that? I honestly have no idea. There are a bunch of videos in the 600k range so weâll just have to see which one of those has the fastest growth.
As of today, they have a total of 30,849,387 views across 84 videos!Â
Obviously, I know nothing about how YouTube videos make money and what Watcherâs costs are and how they feel about their business, but I think theyâre in a good place. Doing a second season of PH was a great idea (thank you Katie Leblanc) and will give them 2 straight months of solid weekly views. Iâm 99% sure theyâre going to do more Are You Scareds? for October, so thatâs another surefire hit for them to ride out most of the rest of this garbage year. And then hopefully a new Steven show theyâve been teasing for awhile.
Oh, speaking of, Worth It is airing right now! Theyâve given Steven a youtube.com/Watcher card on a couple of episodes but I havenât seen a view increase to any of his shows. But maybe itâs helping the channel! Hard to say with PH airing right now too.
Anyway, thatâs all I got today. As always, feel free to HMU for questions and/or observations!
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