Fred: the puzzle of a YouTube hyper sensation

It has come to my attention that kids love Fred. 

Who is Fred?

If you're like me, you've never heard of Fred.  And if you're like me -- or hell, even if you're not like me -- you will not understand why Fred is getting 3 million to 4 million hits every time he posts a video on YouTube.

That is an absolutely stratospheric, TV-viewership-like repeat audience size.  His YouTube channel is the 5th most subscribed of all time, with 200,000 subscribers -- meaning every time he puts out a new episode, that many people are alerted to it. To advertisers, tween traction like this is worth more than two trips to Chuck E. Cheese. 

I'm going to embed one of his videos below.  I don't want to, but I feel I have to out of pure journalistic necessity. You see, usually one can find an inkling of a tincture of a shadow of reason for something's popularity. But in this case, I cannot.  So I would like to share this with a broader audience in the hopes that perhaps some Fred-positive readers might be able to enlighten the rest of us.

Is it that our over-medicated, under-exercised, camera-toting youth see a bit of themselves in this hyper-hyper-character?  If so, we're in for a very annoying future.

If you click through to this video's YouTube "watch" page, you'll see it has an astonishing 30,000 comments, making it the 30th most discussed comedy video in YouTube's history. Yes, 30,000 people took the time to comment on this -- a clear indicator that there is something to comment on.  The mystery continues ...

Comments

[kingeclectic]

Fred is an interesting character. This 28-year-old finds him endearingly funny and witty to boot. His vocabulary, pacing and creativity belies the fact that he's but a teen. The Fred character has a backstory that makes him so much fun to follow along to.

In an era where entertainment is coming in small doses, the kid behind Fred has figured out a winning formula. Though one has to wonder if it's just the work of one person or a collaborative effort.

[tarbubble]

i barely made it through 30 seconds. here is my take:

1. high-pitched voice
2. weird-o saying silly things in a high-pitched voice
3. kinetic, choppy editing of a weird-o saying silly things in a high-pitched voice.

kids love this kind of crap. this mom does not. thank you for warning me about Fred!

[MarkSLindsey]

Reminiscent of Lonelygirl15 popularity, and I wouldn't be surprised to see a full production crew behind it. Not a bad series, though - refreshing laughs.

[substitute teacher]

Who can understand what the hell he is SAYING?

[Jesusfreak_kj5]

I can understand what he's saying, which is one of the things that makes it so funny. I guess if you're not from a fast paced area then it's hard to understand.