Digital Food Videos Are Hot. Here’s What People Are Watching

Considering the popularity of food and cooking shows on television—from traditional how-to programs to contrived competitions—it’s only natural that food videos are proliferating online too. Subscriptions to the 300 most-viewed food channels on YouTube more than tripled in 2013 over the previous year and views of videos on those channels jumped 59 percent, according to a new analysis by Google.

Viewers seek everything from recipes to such cooking basics as how to grill. Still, many food videos that go viral have one other component in common—they’re entertaining in the sense that they’re absurd, or at least kind of silly, which is one way these online videos distinguish themselves from their rivals on TV.