President Barack Obama speaks in the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., after the Supreme Court ruled on his healthcare legislation.
Nowhere in YouTube's list of top five hot political videos from Thursday lies the speech intended to be most historic.
Instead of featuring President Barack Obama's White House East Room speech, in which he called the Supreme Court ruling on health care "a victory for people all over this country," YouTube's top politics videos from Thursday are as follows:
- "The Final Verdict," shared by the Republican National Committee, in which the RNC calls for a "full repeal" of the law.
- "Romney Response to Healthcare," shared by PBS NewsHour, in which the GOP presidential candidate vows to repeal Obamacare on Day 1 in office.
- "Change Delivered: The Road to Healthcare Reform," shared by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, in which stories of people without healthcare are juxtaposed with the statements of Democrats who pushed the law through.
- "Senator Rubio Comments On The Supreme Court Decision On Obamacare," shared by Marco Rubio, in which the Florida Republican Senator says that just because the law was found constitutional doesn't mean it's right.
- "Graham Responds to the Supreme Court Ruling on Obamacare as a 'Tax'," shared by U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, in which the South Carolina Republican criticizes the mandate for being deemed a tax.
Four of the five videos are Republicans responding negatively to the healthcare ruling. One calls the decision "the ultimate bait-and-switch," another "a bad idea for the economy," a third "bad policy," and in one dramatic statement: "a government takeover."
It's important to note, however, that YouTube's "hot" videos are not measured on page views (Sen. Graham's response video has just 337 views. We'd expect it to be a lot more popular if it had 301.). Is what's hot measured by audience engagement? Sharing? Or an editorial decision?
We've reached out to YouTube for comment on their secret sauce, and we'll update the post when we find out more.
Update, 1:49 p.m.:
Spokeswoman for YouTube Abbi Patton shared the recipe for its Top 5 politics videos with Whispers, saying that YouTube looks for videos “being actively viewed, shared, and commented on,” a.k.a how engaged readers are with the video. At least in this case, it appears that like negative ads, negative videos sell.
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Elizabeth Flock is a staff writer for U.S. News & World Report. You can contact her at eflock@usnews.com or follow her on Twitter and Facebook.
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