You old romantics you…72 million live streams in 188 countries for the Royal Wedding on YouTube

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are YouTube's newest megastars. Though half the globe was still in darkness, YouTube users from across the world got wedding fever for the Royal Household's official live stream of the landmark wedding on The Royal Channel.

The Royal Wedding was live streamed 72 million times around the world to 188 countries. Those who didn’t see it live still had an opportunity to don their fascinators and catch up with the re-broadcasts later in the day. When it was all said and done, the total streams on April 29, 2011 reached 101 million as romantics around the globe tuned in to watch the fairytale ceremony, the procession and the final balcony kiss.

And what a kiss it was…during the 10 seconds around the highly-anticipated Royal kiss, the YouTube channel site, powered by Google App Engine, experienced an additional 100,000 requests on top of the already high load … an effective additional 10,000 requests per second.

Live streams were highest in the UK and the US, but looks like love was in the air across the channel as well. The top 5 countries viewing the live event online were:

1. United Kingdom
2. United States
3. Italy
4. Germany
5. France

The online excitement extended to The Official Royal Wedding website. Since the launch on March 2, there have been approximately 37.7 million page views from 13.7 million visitors to the site, which was hosted on Google App Engine and built by Accenture.

The entire live stream of the Royal Wedding, along with video highlights can be found on The Royal Channel.

Congratulations to The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge!

Rachel Ball, partner development associate, recently watched “Best Wishes from Mr. McGrail's United States History Class.”

The Royal Wedding: Live On YouTube

As the historic day approaches, the much-anticipated wedding of Britain's Prince William and Miss Catherine Middleton has people around the world buzzing with excitement.

While millions will be in London for the big day, it's clear that people around the world have wedding fever. Google search trends show that in addition to the UK and the US, the top ten countries searching for “royal wedding” include places like Singapore and the Philippines. In response, we've been working to make as much of the big day as possible accessible to everyone. We previously announced the expansion of our Google Earth 3D imagery to offer a “Royals’-eye” view of the entire wedding procession, complete with 3D images of iconic landmarks and five species of digital trees that can be seen along the route.

Today, we’re thrilled that the Royal Household has just announced that footage of the entire ceremony will be live streamed on their official YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/theroyalchannel.

The live stream will begin at 10:00am BST (9:00am GMT, 2:00am PT, 5:00am ET) on Friday, April 29, and will follow the wedding procession, marriage ceremony at Westminster Abbey and balcony kiss. Alongside the live stream, The Royal Channel will also feature live blog commentary of the event to give timely updates and insights as the day unfolds. For those of you in different time zones, the footage will be reshown in its entirety directly following the event and will be available in full on the site to view afterwards.

You don’t have to wait until the big day to "attend" the wedding, though. A video guest book has just been opened on The Royal Channel for anyone in the YouTube community to upload messages of congratulations, inspiration or well wishes to the happy couple.

More than 50 years ago, the marriage of The Queen’s sister, Princess Margaret, and Antony Armstrong-Jones was the first royal wedding to be broadcast on television and had over 20 million viewers. This wedding is already heralded as the first of the Internet age, where for the first time in thousands of years of royal history, the moment will be captured online and preserved forever.

Rachel Ball, Partner Development Associate, recently watched: "The Chapel Royal Choir prepares for The Royal Wedding".

This week's Trends: Black and Beckham

Each weekday, we at YouTube Trends take a look at the most interesting videos and cultural phenomena on YouTube as they develop. We want take a moment to highlight some of what we've come across this week:

• We saw Rebecca Black's "Friday" cross the 100 million view mark.
  
  
• We tracked the debate around David Beckham's viral trick-shot clip.
  
  
• We discovered new, dramatic footage from the Japanese tsunami.
  
  
• We highlighted the return of Seattle's "Glee" flash-mob.
  
  
• We collected exciting footage from a tornado in Wisconsin.
  
  
• And this video started out big in Spain and Argentina and spread to the United States:

Check back every day for the latest about what's trending on YouTube at: www.YouTube.com/Trends

Kevin Allocca, YouTube Trends Manager, recently watched "Insane Dude Dancing in Cardiff."

Looking back...

It’s hard to believe that just a century ago, YouTube was a fledgling video site for paupers and presidents alike. Today, we celebrate 100 years of YouTube, and we thought we would reflect on our inaugural year with a re-print of our first blog post from 1911. In honor of this milestone, today’s homepage is a reproduction of how you might have viewed it 100 years ago. Check out some of the most popular videos of the time and be sure to try out our new upload mode which summons a horse-drawn carriage to pick up your video submission from your home. Here’s to another epoch of great video!

April 1911

Editor’s note: Welcome to YouTube! Today we’re honored to have President William Howard Taft as our guest blogger to celebrate our official site launch.

Ladies and gentlemen of these United States. We are living in an age in which, by exaggeration of the defects of our present condition, by false charges and responsibility for it against individuals and classes, by holding up to the feverish imagination of the less fortunate and the discontented the possibilities of a millennium, a condition of popular unrest has been produced.

Due to advancements in modern technology and the advent of the Edison kinetoscope, there is hope. And I venture to say that there is no other destination on the web which has taken more real steps of such progress than the YouTubes, making its debut today. Here, instantaneous expression of the people may be upheld. Great feats of strength may be honored! Here, industry may thrive and cinema appreciated in its rightful form.

I should be untrue to myself, to my promises, and to the declarations of the party platform upon which I was elected to office, if the incoming Congress is not aware of the importance of boxing cat videos and our shared human moments of folly. We should encourage this in every way feasible.

It is a very enterprising time in America. The Pedro Miguel Locks have just been completed as part of the Panama Canal, there are Nobel Prize rumors circulating around regarding Ms. Curie’s so-called “radium discovery”, and J.P. Morgan is building a steamship they say is unsinkable. Very enterprising times, indeed. One can only imagine what events will be recorded for all the world to see.

William Howard Taft, President of the United States of America, recently watched “Histeria! William Howard Taft - Theme From Taft.”

This week's Trends: Rebecca Black, global hits, and babies

Each weekday, we at YouTube Trends take a look at the most interesting videos and cultural phenomena on YouTube as they develop. We want take a moment to highlight some of what we've come across this week:

• We tracked the influx of Rebecca Black covers and parodies that hit YouTube as the 13-year-old became a national phenomenon.
  
  
• We looked at how popular cartoonists in Jordan have reacted to the major events taking place in North Africa and the Middle East.
  
  
• We studied the search and viewing data behind March's three biggest trends.
  
  
• We looked at some of the most popular viral clips from around the world.
  
  
• We teamed up with Urlesque.com to explore why it is that family videos become so popular.
  
  
• And we watched as Pixar Animator and YouTube Singer Nick Pitera's new Disney medley quickly picked up over a million views and became a most-shared clip:

Check back every day for the latest about what's trending on YouTube at: www.YouTube.com/Trends

Kevin Allocca, YouTube Trends Manager, recently watched "Tornado in Hempfield."

Why Connecting your YouTube and Google Accounts Matters

Over the last several months many of you who created a YouTube account before May 2009 may have seen prompters asking you to upgrade to a Google account. We first announced this transition in a blog post last July. In the coming weeks, all YouTube accounts created before May 2009 will need to complete the process of linking to a Google account. A Google account is a single-sign in system for accessing all Google products and services. Any existing email address can be used to create a Google account.

You’re probably asking yourself ‘‘Why am I being required to connect my YouTube Account with a Google Account?” Well, let’s use an analogy. Imagine instead of that sleek new mobile phone you bought last year, you were instead carrying around one of those big brick phones from the 90’s. It might still make calls, but it would be slow and bulky and unable to do 90% of what current smart phones do. Your old YouTube account is a lot like that cell phone. It still works, but it’s not as fast, secure and efficient as the Google Account we’re asking you to link to.

While we understand that change isn’t always welcome, we’re confident that this transition will result in a better experience for you on YouTube. Not only does connecting your YouTube account to a Google Account improve your account security, it will also give you better video recommendations and quick access to the very latest updates and features which our engineers are releasing on the site every week.

After linking to a Google Account, your YouTube username will stay the same. However, when you link to a Google Account, your old YouTube password won’t work anymore. After linking, you’ll instead need to use your Google Account password when you sign into YouTube.

If you’re having any issues, we’ve created a series of articles that you can reference for help. By clicking on the links below, you can learn how to easily solve some common issues that may arise in the linking process:

• I Can't Sign Into YouTube After Linking to a Google Account
• I Don't Know Which Google Account I'm Linked To
• I Linked to the Wrong Google Account
• I Can't Remember My Password

If you’re still experiencing difficulties, you can contact our support team. We know this process isn’t always easy, and it can sometimes be frustrating, but hang in there. Connecting your accounts will create a better, more up-to-date and secure YouTube experience and we’ll do our best to do everything we can to guide you through this process.

Michael Ortali, YouTube Web Developer, recently watched “Macarena - Los del Rio”

We All Know “Britain’s Got Talent”, But Does YouTube?

Want to perform for David Hasselhoff? Got it in you to make Michael McIntyre laugh? Secretly long to see Amanda Holden up close? If so, read on, as “Britain’s Got Talent” has come to YouTube and is on the hunt for the next big star. 

If you missed your chance to audition in person for the programme, you can upload your audition to YouTube to have an opportunity to be part of the biggest show in the country. “Britain’s Got Talent” is looking for all types: singers, dancers, animal acts, woodcutters, regurgitators, comedians, performance artists... you name it. All you have to do is upload your audition video to Britain’s Got Talent YouTube channel and you could join the race for £100,000 and a slot at the Royal Variety Performance.



To take part, head to the channel and follow the instructions to upload your audition video. The show’s producers will comb the entries, announcing a shortlist of around 50 contenders. Of these, up to 20 will get to do battle with Hasselhoff, McIntyre and Holden’s buzzers in a special YouTube audition.

So if you think that you – or a friend – has what it takes to stand alongside the likes of Susan Boyle, Paul Potts or Diversity, then get your camera out sharpish. Be warned: the deadline for submissions is March 24.

Have fun,

Kristen Bowen, Partner Manager and Jayme Goldstein, UK Product Marketing Manager, recently watched “Britain’s Got Talent 2010 - Tobias Mead Audition”