Tubefilter’s (Semi) Serious Online Video Predictions For 2014

Last January 1st, I laid about a few of my predictions for the year to come. Like most prognosticators, I mainly missed the mark, but I think I at least get partial credit for my prediction of a pop song created by a five-letter Northern European group becoming the next ‘Gangnam Style’. I’ve decided to give it another go for 2014; here are some predictions for the next 12 months in online video:

By the end of the year, at least one thousand YouTube channels will have one million subscribers.

2012 had ‘Gangnam Style’ and 2013 had ‘The Fox’. 2014’s biggest novelty YouTube hit will titled ‘Meowr House’; the video will feature dancers who pretend like they are coughing up hairballs as well as a cameo from Lil Bub.

At next year’s Emmys, both House of Cards and Orange Is The New Black will take home trophies. At least one Amazon Video series will be nominated as well.

PewDiePie will run for Prime Minister of Sweden in 2014 and will win the election after convincing 5 million members of his Bro Army to temporarily relocate to Stockholm. The members of the opposition party will attempt to remove him from office by dressing as Slender Man, causing him to scream and run in the opposite direction whenever he enters the same room as them.

A music video released during 2014 will join ‘Gangnam Style’ in the billion views club.

YouTube will massively overhaul its layout on April 1st, leading users to believe the changes are an April Fools’ Joke. When YouTube doesn’t change back on April 2nd, creators will initially be up in arms, but will soon get used to a YouTube where comments are posted in Klingon and some videos randomly play in ASCII.

A YouTube creator will successfully complete a fundraising campaign in excess of one million dollars. No traditional media figure will exceed that total.

After Vine rose to prominence in 2012, 2013’s hottest video capture app will be Bud, which limits video length to one second. The Miller High Life Super Bowl commercial guy will make a comeback as the platform’s first star user.

By end of the year, YouTube will claim less than 75% of unique online videos in the US per Comscore. (It currently sits above 86%.)

A prank marketing video for Pepsi will go awry, causing one participant to lose an arm. This unlucky person will ultimate turn his pain into gain by reinventing himself as The One-Armed Prankster and pulling off a variety of popular stunts using a fake arm.

YouTube will break ground on two new production spaces: one in Toronto and one in Sydney.

So there you have it. You can guarantee that all 11 of these things will happen at some point in 2014. I’ve got my eyes on you, Lil Bub.