Many Youtube videos use a combination of promotion and behind-the-scenes tricky manipulations to become top views.
The Secret Strategies Behind Many “Viral” Videos | TechCrunch.
In addition to the ideas described at the link:
- Tutorial videos are good bait to get viewers.
- Apparently some categories, like education and travel & events do not get rotated into the front page recommended lists. I do not know if this is true or not.
Related articles
- Watch The Top 9 YouTube Videos Of The Week (huffingtonpost.com)
- How to optimise a video for YouTube (marketing.yell.com)
- Clear Your YouTube Viewing History, Workaround (ghacks.net)