Let’s be honest; we all have a little crazy cat lady in us. If we didn’t, a Google search of “cat videos” wouldn’t turn up 304,000,000 results. There’s a reason more than two million cat videos racked up 26 billion views in 2014. The popularity of cat videos makes us wonder if we shouldn’t be adding cats to every marketing video we produce? Maybe not. But the evidence suggests such an inclusion could boost online views.
Cat Videos Take Over
Keyboard cat started the internet cat craze in 2007. The original video was shot in 1984 and features a blue-shirt clad orange tabby playing the piano. You’ll probably recognize the video since it currently has over 52,000,000 views.
Since keyboard cat, the internet has grown to embrace the feline. There are websites dedicated to cat videos in general and others that concentrate on specific types of cat videos. Pets have become stars, thanks to our love of their antics. These internet sensations have also made their owners a lot of money through endorsements and appearances.
It’s all relative. As in, cat videos are popular in places where cats are popular pets. In Canada, the Canadian Animal Health Institute reports that cats outnumber dogs with 8.8 million in households across the country in 2016. By comparison, there were 7.6 million pet dogs sharing human homes the same year. By contrast, videos starring chickens and goats enjoy internet popularity in Uganda.
Cats, Cats Everywhere
The phenomenon of cat videos seems to have ignited a passion that reaches beyond the internet. There are cat video festivals where people gather to watch something they all love in a communal atmosphere. Then there’s CatCon, which happened this past weekend at the Pasadena Convention Center. This event started in 2015 and bills itself as “the biggest cat-centric, pop culture event in the world dedicated to all things feline, with a community of cat lovers that spans the globe”. Not only does this convention draw huge crowds, but it’s also has helped with cat adoptions and donated money to cat welfare organizations.
If you’re unwilling or unable to have a cat of your own, but you’re still a cat lover, why not visit your local cat cafe? The first cat cafe opened in Taiwan in 1998, but the concept really took off seven years later in Japan. Now cat cafes can be found all over the world—the first Canadian outlet opened in Montreal in 2014.
Cat videos have even been elevated to high art. New York’s Museum of the Moving Image in Queens hosted an exhibit called “How Cats Took Over the Internet” in 2016. Lovers of cat videos embraced a 24-minute looped compilation filled with viral cat videos. The exhibit was a study of cats online, examining phenomena like Caturday, lolcats and celebrity cats.
What Makes Cat Videos Irresistible?
This question has spurred both personal curiosity and scientific studies. First of all, cat videos are easy to record, post and share with our ever-versatile phones. Then there’s the emotional appeal of any animal, cats included. Specific to cats, they’re amazingly agile! They are parkour acrobats, avoiding water and leaping to countertops and curtain rods. Cats are curious by nature and since they don’t care who’s watching them and are generally uninterested in human approval, they follow their own whims and do some pretty nutty things.
As if the entertainment value of these videos wasn’t enough, watching them is actually good for us! A study out of Indiana University’s Media School surveyed a group of people about pet ownership, internet use, video consumption and their personality. After watching a cat video, respondents overwhelmingly reported increased happiness and less anxiety, sadness, and guilt.
Positive Video Vibes
We love to see the positive effect of video. If you’re looking to create a video that does good, give Key West Video a call today. From fund raisers to pet adoption, we can help spread good vibes through video.
