The Count: 1 Billion YouTube Views!

March 6, 2013 2:21 PM

"How do you get to be the first nonprofit to top 1 billion YouTube views? One view at a time. The Count from 'Sesame Street' tallies them up."*
posted by ericb (15 comments total)

"Yo, Mitt Romney. Sesame Street is brought to you today by the letters F and U."
posted by ericb at 2:22 PM on March 6, 2013 [5 favorites]

They're pretty careful about the non-branding, aren't they: the Apple logo is concealed in every shot of an iMac or Macbook.
posted by George_Spiggott at 2:27 PM on March 6, 2013

Obligatory Song of the Count.
posted by The Bellman at 2:36 PM on March 6, 2013

I think their non-branding stance is in part because they're a non-profit, yet highly visible.

Their web presence is great, though some of their web games are lacking the polish of their short clips. But that makes sense, given that Sesame Street has been making short clips since the beginning, and their CG department is lacking the history of the muppet shop.
posted by filthy light thief at 2:56 PM on March 6, 2013

Whenever you watch a Sesame Street video, be sure to Share it Maybe.
posted by jeffkramer at 3:03 PM on March 6, 2013 [1 favorite]

It would take him over 32 years to count all the viewers. If he counts one count per second.
posted by royalsong at 3:12 PM on March 6, 2013 [1 favorite]

136 million of those views were from me.
posted by mazola at 3:20 PM on March 6, 2013 [1 favorite]

It would take him over 32 years to count all the viewers. If he counts one count per second.

He's immortal. He would cross oceans of time to count a billion.
posted by Bunny Ultramod at 3:28 PM on March 6, 2013 [6 favorites]

30 million of those views were my daughter.

/Never teach a toddler how to use an iPad.
posted by Bathtub Bobsled at 3:29 PM on March 6, 2013 [1 favorite]

/Never teach a toddler how to use an iPad.

Related: Whoops! 5-year-old spends $2,500 in 15-minute iPad app shopping spree.
posted by ericb at 3:46 PM on March 6, 2013

Jeez. All my preschooler watches on YouTube are Minecraft videos. I don't know while I should feel more: failure as a parent or success as a geek.
posted by m@f at 4:16 PM on March 6, 2013 [1 favorite]

Muppet Central reports that the muppeteer performing The Count is Matt Vogel. This would be Vogel's first performance as The Count since The Count's inventor and long-time voice Jerry Nelson passed away last year.
posted by anastasiav at 5:11 PM on March 6, 2013

Despite what the comments on the video said, I don't think Vogel did a bad job at all doing the Count. (I think it was a LITTLE Triumph, though, but maybe that's just because they're both Eastern European Puppets.)
posted by Rev. Syung Myung Me at 7:58 PM on March 6, 2013

The only thing that wasn't great about Matt Vogel's count is the Russian W-for-V (elewen, or "vhere are the nuclear wessels") - but the Count isn't Slavic, he's Transylvanian, which is to say Hungarian with Romanian and German admixtures. V is V. W is also V.
posted by Michael Roberts at 4:31 AM on March 7, 2013 [1 favorite]

Let me count the reasons I love Sesame Street and/or the Muppets:

They're pretty careful about the non-branding, aren't they:

One! One reason!
posted by RolandOfEld at 8:01 AM on March 7, 2013