More People in S’pore Watching YouTube Fitness Videos in YouTube

2020’s been an interesting year to say the least, with the COVID-19 pandemic making us all chained to our homes during the Circuit Breaker, doing things we never thought we’d do.

Hey, it was between either making your twentieth cup of dalgona coffee in a month or facing certain boredom.

Even for the introverts or couch potatoes who might have been rejoicing at the fact that they could sit on their couch all day with only YouTube and Netflix for company without having to engage in social interaction, that life can prove to be frustrating after a few days.

What happens when you’ve exhausted your must-watch list, feeling bad about the tummy that’s slowly starting to appear? You do the unthinkable – search up fitness videos on YouTube and finally get around to your New Year’s Resolution of losing weight that you’ve consistently failed every year.

Well, you’re not alone on this, for the whole nation’s YouTube watching history has shown just which videos everyone’s enjoying along with you.

YouTube Viewership Goes Up

Among the various activities that Singaporeans engaged in to kill time during the pandemic, we were spending more time watching YouTube videos with a 30% increase in watchtime this unusual year, YouTube revealed in a press release on 1 December.

An analysis of the top trending videos in Singapore also showed a pattern of the videos being related to staying informed and productive as a form of self-improvement to cope during this pandemic.

More time spent at home led to a shift in video consumption habits towards these self-improvement videos as a way to spend time meaningfully, instead of binging shows non-stop.

And it seems like the Singaporeans who always used the excuse of not having time to exercise were suddenly blessed with too much time and finally took action, resulting in fitness videos actually tripling in watchtime. This included YouTuber April Han’s video of a no equipment 8-minute arm workout that guaranteed slim arms, which made its way to the sixth spot of the top ten trending non-music videos in Singapore for the year.

With everyone suddenly unleashing their home baking prowesses, some went on to pursue their Masterchef dreams as well, leading to the growing popularity of cooking videos. Korean channel Meliniskitchen’s video of cooking a one-pan egg toast clinched the ninth spot on the same top ten list.

The glorious No.1 spot actually went to our very own Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, not because he’d suddenly become a content creator on YouTube, but for his speech to address the nation right before the announcement of the Circuit Breaker. It was streamed live on CNA’s channel on 3 April, and has since racked up more than 1,711,400 views.

I mean, you’ve watched that too, right?

Content Creators In The Spotlight

Relatively newly established local channel Sneaky Sushii, who caught particular attention in the beginning of 2019 for his unique thoughts on social issues such as the use of PMDs amongst others and sparking debates amongst viewers, landed a place on the Top 10 Creators In Singapore list at the fourth spot.

YouTube said that content creators as such continued to “charm audiences with content that resonates.” As such, American YouTuber Mr Beast took the top spot with his elaborate stunts, followed by Australia-based fitness personality Chloe Ting at second place and Malaysian comedian Mrnigelng at third place, best known for his videos reviewing renowned chefs’ cooking methods of fried rice.

Other channels such as Singapore-based Japanese YouTuber Ghib Ojisan have also continued to grow quickly, having caught attention for his videos highlighting the gems of Yishun, a place that’s considered by many Singaporeans as a neighbourhood where strange things happen.

Goody Feed’s YouTube channel didn’t receive any mention at all, though we’re already glad that it’s not banned yet. Nevertheless, you can watch some of our videos below, and subscribe if you haven’t done so:

K-Pop Dominates Music Video Charts

Ask just about anybody, and they’ll be more than familiar with big names in the K-pop industry such as Blackpink and BTS, whose popularity has been rising more than ever globally this year alone.

Known for their incredibly catchy tunes that never get out of your head, Blackpink’s How You Like That music video topped the music video charts in Singapore, with their other songs like Ice Cream and Lovesick Girls taking up prominent spots on the chart as well. Other groups such as BTS, ITZY and TWICE were also featured.

Of the other songs on the list, there were only two that were not of the K-pop genre, such as G.E.M.’s Long After music video and Justin Bieber’s Yummy video.

Seems like K-pop’s here to stay on the Singaporean charts, whether you like that or not.

Top Ten Lists

Here’s the top ten lists of trending videos in Singapore that we’ve been consuming this year.

Singapore: Top Trending YouTube Videos (non-music)

1. CNA: [LIVE HD] Singapore PM Lee Hsien Loong addresses nation on Covid-19 situation

2. Ryan Sylvia: We Got A Divorce

3. Mrnigelng: Uncle Roger DISGUSTED by this Egg Fried Rice Video (BBC Food)

4. Mr. TFue: 60 Days Build Millionaire Underground Swimming Pool House

5. Jianhao Tan: 17 Types of Students in an Online Class

6. April Han: Slim Arms in 30 DAYs! | 8 Min Beginner Friendly Standing Workout (No Equipment)

7. Ladies First: The Truth Behind My Leaked Tape

8. Prime Minister’s Office, Singapore: PM Lee Hsien Loong on the Covid-19 situation in Singapore on 12 March 2020

9. 메리니즈부엌Meliniskitchen: [초간단] 원팬토스트 만들기 | How to make one pan egg toast

10. Jebbey Family: This YouTuber Copied My WHOLE Video!

Singapore: Top Trending YouTube Videos (music)

1. BlackPink: BlackPink – ‘How You Like That’ M/V

2. Big Hit Labels: BTS (방탄소년단) ‘Dynamite’ Official MV

3. BlackPink: BlackPink – ‘Ice Cream (with Selena Gomez)’ M/V

4. BlackPink: BlackPink – ‘How You Like That’ DANCE PERFORMANCE VIDEO

5. JYP Entertainment: ITZY “WANNABE” M/V

6. BlackPink: BlackPink – ‘Lovesick Girls’ M/V

7. GEM鄧紫棋: G.E.M.鄧紫棋【很久以後 Long After】MV （電影《可不可以，你也剛好喜歡我》主題曲)

8. Big Hit Labels: BTS (방탄소년단) ‘ON’ Kinetic Manifesto Film : Come Prima

9. JustinBieberVEVO: Justin Bieber – Yummy (Official Video)

10. JYP Entertainment: TWICE “MORE & MORE” M/V

Top 10 Creators in Singapore

1. Mr Beast

2. Chloe Ting

3. mrnigelng

4. Sneaky Sushii

5. Spice N’ Pans

6. Dream

7. ZHC

8. Nino’s Home

9. 李子柒 Liziqi

10. Jebbey Family

Featured Image: metamorworks / Shutterstock.com