What is the most commonly used greeting in YouTube videos?

FIRST impressions are often right, but what can be said about first sentences? That's what YouTube must have wondered when it decided to analyze the beginnings of its most popular videos. The streaming platform revealed the phrases most used by its community to kick off their videos and vlogs. The data reveals differences depending on the country and the subject matter.

"Hey guys," "What's up," "Good Morning"... YouTubers use a multitude of phrases to welcome their viewers. The platform also investigated which catchphrase was most often used in the videos it hosts. According to the results of this rather unusual survey, "Hey guys" has held steady as the most used greeting over ten years. "What's up" and "Good Morning" follow in second and third place.

Different subject matters, different introductions

For this study, YouTube analyzed videos and vlogs with more than 20,000 views within channels with more than 20,000 subscribers in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States. These results therefore represent a sample of the most popular videos on the platform.

While "Hey guys" is the most used phrase of greeting by YouTubers, it does not come first everywhere, depending on the theme of the channel. Through its investigation, the platform was able to determine different tastes according to the subject of the video. Travel fans more often say "Good morning" at 9% than "Hey guys" at 5%. For Tech channels, the very serious "Ladies and gentlemen" is favored at 8%, followed by the more familiar "Hey guys." In Beauty however, "Hey guys" wins with 17%, against "Hi guys" in second place with only 8%.

Differences according to country

In addition to variations by topic, YouTube also looked at location by reviewing videos from Brazil, France, Germany and Mexico. The French prefer "Bonjour à tous" to "Coucou tout le monde," which YouTube considers warmer, while Brazilians are closest to their American friends with "Oi gente" which translates to "Hey guys. "Hallo ihr" comes first among German YouTubers and the cheerful "Hola hola" is first in Mexico.

In its study, available online, YouTube even asks users to choose the phrase they would use to greet their viewers in their video. Depending on the answers, the platform then indicates where your choice ranks in the general ranking and suggests videos of YouTubers also using this greeting phrase.