But for all that, YouTube is not a marketing panacea for brands. If you thought TV audiences were fragmented, think again. Of those 100 million views, research suggests that something like three per cent are accounted for by the top 100 videos.
All of which makes it extremely hard for brands to cut through. Indeed, Google's sales force will tell you that it is virtually impossible to generate high viewership for a branded video without spending money on promotion. They would, wouldn't they? But in the vast majority of cases, they would be right.
It's not just the thorny issue of reach that makes YouTube a difficult environment for brands, but the nature of the experience it offers. Low-quality, short-form videos played in a very small window - the content has to work very hard to have an impact, which is why extreme behaviour works so well. But again, for most brands this is a barrier.
The other thing about YouTube is that this low-impact format is inherently linear. Isolated clips of linear video surely don't represent the best use of the medium from a brand's perspective. If one thing elevates online above all else, it's its interactivity - a weapon which, in the face of all that fragmentation and clutter, really can make all the difference.
After all, as Millward Brown research has shown, brand metrics are shifted among only 20 per cent of those who merely see or hear a message, on average, but among 85 per cent of those who actually do something in response to it.
Which is why the arrival of interactive video on YouTube is so interesting. The first effective use of it I have seen from a brand is for Samsung in Canada and I'd urge you to view it at http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=HoOCiaxIZF4.
I'm sure you'll find lots of reasons to fault it and come away thinking of several ways it could have been done better. But that's rather the point. Given the numbers I quoted at the top of this column, it would be a little odd if we didn't all start thinking about how we can make the most of this opportunity.
John Owen is planning partner of digital agency Dare and a fellow of the IPA. Email: john_owen@daredigital.com.