If you're looking for some video entertainment to watch online during your lunch break, this chart is a great place to start. Just find a show you're interested in and click the play button to the right to check it out.
This month, two of the biggest web series — Fred and The Annoying Orange — exchanged crossover episodes, boosting views for one significantly but not making much of a dent for the other. Can you guess which one was which? Meanwhile, one of the original web series hits (Red Vs Blue) made a comeback. Keep reading for the chart and more details.
The Chart: June 2010
Rank
Last Month’s Rank
Title
Studio
Genre
True Reach View Count
Change in Views
Sample Episode
1
1
The Annoying Orange
GagFilms
Comedy
64,183,647
0%
For some it's an epic moment in YouTube history. For others, it's a sign of the impending apocalypse. YouTube stars Fred and The Annoying Orange had a close encounter of the irritating kind in a hit video in The Annoying Orange YouTube channel. The video garnered more than five million views.
During the same time period, The Annoying Orange appeared in a video in the Fred YouTube channel, titled "Fred Goes Grocery Shopping Feat. The Annoying Orange." That video pulled just over four million views, giving Fred a huge boost after a long period of comparative inactivity.
The producers of The Annoying Orange were already on top and cranking out new material, though, so that show didn't see unusual growth as a result of the short partnership.
The Return of Red Vs. Blue
Red Vs. Blue debuted back in 2003, earlier than many currently popular web series. Using characters from the Halo series of video games, the series is targeted specifically at gamers, but reaching for a niche market can pay off for web video series.
The series appeared on the chart in March and April, but dropped off in May. Now it's back at number nine with slightly more than 4.7 million views. The show in seventh place (Charlie the Unicorn) managed around 5.4 million views while the show in tenth (How It Should Have Ended) did more than 4.6 million, so the back of the chart is a close race.
Visible Measures says Red Vs. Blue made the list in part because of the episode "S8 Tex Fights Reds and Blues," which drew more views than any other episode in the series' seven-year history.
What's Working in Web Video?
If you watch the Visible Measures stats each month, you'll get a sense of what works consistently in web series and what doesn't. Short, humorous videos dominate the chart, especially anything outrageous like Happy Tree Friends' sensational violence or The Annoying Orange's titular character being, well, exceptionally annoying.