5 million people clicked in as Weezer invaded YouTube on Tuesday to celebrate the release of their new album "Hurley". The promotion included videos featuring the group with 14 leading YouTube celebrities. In the first 24 hours since the debut, YouTube recorded in excess of 5 million views for the Weezer-related videos.
For their Red Album in 2008, Weezer invited YouTube stars to be in their video for "Pork and Beans" - a clip that went on to win a GRAMMY for "Best Shortform Music Video." For Hurley, the band turned the tables by making themselves available to leading YouTubers for inclusion on their channels, and left the content of the videos up to the YouTube celebrities themselves (Weezer didn't view the videos until the same time as the public).
Weezer's Rivers Cuomo explained to Mashable, "We always like to think of new ways to get the word out to people when we have a new record. There's something about the YouTube people... They're doing it for the right reasons..."
Channels featuring Weezer and the current video view counts (as of 9:30 1m PDT, 9/ 16):
Ray William Johnson: link - 2.2+ million views
AutoTune The News: link- 600K+ views
Fred: link- 566K+ views
Hot For Words: link- 490K+ views
The Key of Awesome: link- 378K+views
DaveDays: link- 215K+ views
Onision: link- 208K+ views
Tay Zonday: link- 179K+
MagicHugs: link- 73K+
StSanders aka Kiss Shreds:link - 70K+ views
UsofAnderson: link- 28K+ views
KeepTheHeat (Snuggie cameo) link- 20K+ views
Cyr1216: link- launching later this week
Mystery Guitar Man: link- launching later this week
Real Annoying Orange: link- launching later this week
Weezer's Invasion (Behind-the-Scenes): link- 250+K views
Weezer is expected to make other Web appearances though the end of the year.
