With 2017 over, I’m taking a moment to discuss the year and share the most popular pages and videos of the year. I’ve done so many great stories this year! One new thing I did in the past year was that I collaborated with other people to make videos, such as Exploring Davis, Uptown 23rd Pub Crawl, and A Solo Day in OKC. My biggest project of the year was my documentary, Inviting Art, which took about six months to complete. The site had a 13% increase of views compared in 2017 compared to 2016. On January 2, 2017, the Facebook page likes was at 1,969 and on December 31, 2017, it was at 10,571! The growth last year wasn’t just in numbers but in skill too, as I feel I’ve gotten better as a filmmaker.
Let’s talk top ten!
-The Top 10 Most Viewed Articles and Pages-
The various date and holiday guides are always a big draw. One thing that is interesting about this list was that the Tulsa Date Guide beat the Halloween Guide when in 2016, the Halloween Guide was the second most popular page. Granted, I did overhaul the Tulsa Date Guide last year and it is a more of a year-round thing. One of my weekly videos broke onto the top ten list this year too.
1. Oklahoma City Date Guide
2. Tulsa Date Guide
3. Poe Bouyz House Sneak Peek Tour
4. Halloween 2017
5. New Year’s Eve Celebrations
6. Norman Date Guide
7. Christmas Lights, Holiday Plays, and Winter Festivities Guide
8. Mardi Gras, Fat Tuesday Events
9. Valentine’s Day Events
10. St. Patrick’s Day
-The Top 10 Most-Watched Videos-
Before I reveal the top ten videos, I want to state this calculation is based on Facebook views as most of the views came from there, but I’m linking to the ones on YouTube because the quality is better as it’s easier to embed. All videos were published in 2017 – nothing from past years or of all time. This list also includes some of my personal adventure style videos. (If you’re wondering what the difference is, for Uncovering Oklahoma the videos are done documentary style while my vlog videos I share my personal opinions. The line is kind of blurry.) With that out of the way, let’s start with number ten.
10. Holey Rollers
For something published in the end of November, my video on the vegan donut shop in the Paseo Arts District managed to grab the number ten spot.
9. Uptown 23rd Pub Crawl
I went on a Crossover Crawl with the WAFTI Show and Naked City OKC on a Pub Crawl in the Uptown 23rd District. We started the drinking at Chick-N-Beer, then made a visit to The Pump, followed up by the Bunker Club, and ended at Rockford Cocktail Den. Perhaps, a Deep Duce District Pub Crawl is in order for 2018?
8. Medicine Park and Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge Adventure
In this personal travel vlog, I talked about Medicine Park, Oklahoma, which my wife and I had explored on Labor Day.
7. Summer Treats (Remastered)
Back in 2016, I had a released a video showcasing some cool places for summer treats. My editing style had changed since the original, so I released a remastered episode which included some new places. This remastered video included Roxy’s, Eskimo Sno, Epic Pops, Katiebug’s, and Gelateria – STG.
6. Scottie’s Deli
It appears everyone wanted to know about the new deli in the Uptown 23rd District next to the Tower Theatre.
5. An Afternoon in Davis
Heide Brandes and I returned to Davis, Oklahoma for an afternoon to visit some of the places we weren’t able to fit into our first visit. Since our original video on Davis was so popular (it’s higher up on the list), we had made this second video.
4. Off The Hook Seafood and More
What started as a food truck when a deal fell through with a former Thunder player, has now become a brick-and-mortar seafood restaurant with two locations.
3. Oklahoma State Fair Food of 2017
In 2016, I did a food article and that was popular. For 2017, I decided to do a video and you folks loved it. I will be sure to do one for 2018!
2. Davis Road Trip
While the town of Davis is famous for Turner Falls, Heide Brandes, Crystal McDermott, and I spent a day exploring what else Davis had to offer, including scenic turnouts, Magnetic Hill, Arbuckle Mountain Fried Pies, 777 Zip, Beyond Blessed Coffee Roasters, City Drug, and Arbuckle Wilderness Park. This was so popular right off the bat, Heide and I went back to Davis to include a few more places. Heide and I do plan to work together in 2018.
1. Poe Bouyz House Sneak Peek Tour
Taking the number one slot by miles was my sneak preview tour of Poe Bouyz House. Many people, myself included, had seen this strange building along I-35 and wondered what it was going to become. The restaurant is still under construction, but once they open, I will, of course, be there.
-Plans for 2018-
For 2018, I plan to do behind-the-scenes kind of videos to show sides of places the public doesn’t get to see. Heidi and I plan to go more small towns and do similar videos to our Davis ones. On the subject of collaboration, that’s one of my key elements for 2018. I plan to do another pub crawl video and A Solo Day in OKC Summer Edition. If funding allows it, I plan to do more coverage outside of the Oklahoma City Metro.
That’s just some of my plans for Uncovering Oklahoma in 2018. I will continue the series, working to make better videos, and showcasing more great places and things to do in the state! If you want to help, became a patron to get early access and bonus content.
Leave a comment below on what sort of things you want to see this year from Uncovering Oklahoma.
