I think it's fair to say one couple are definitely ahead. These are from last night's dances:

Audley & Natalie - 296 views
Russell & Flavia - 306 views
Holly & Brendan - 314 views
Anita & Robin - 315 views
Robbie & Ola - 347 views
Alex & James - 397 views
Chelsee & Pasha - 442 views
Jason & Kristina - 472 views
Harry & Aliona - 4,953 views

And the week before..

Audley & Natalie - 2,091 views
Lulu & Brendan - 3,227 views
Anita & Robin - 3,641 views
Jason & Kristina - 4,031 views
Alex & James - 4,040 views
Robbie & Ola - 4,045 views
Russell & Flavia - 6,655 views
Chelsee & Pasha - 8,622 views
Harry & Aliona - 13,749 views
Holly & Artem - 15,526 views

God I'm sad

I always thought so Luke, but it's all part of your natural charm.
Seriously though, it does put an interesting angle on it all. I can't work out whether it's because people prefer their dance or they just want to ogle the pretty people in skimpy outfits.

I suspect the extra-high viewing figures are due to repeat viewings of dances made controversial by judges comments (e.g. Len vs Aliona), as well as the highest-marked dance which draws the attention of viewers who do not methodically re-view every dance. Headlined dances therefore create their own numerical bandwagon from newsworthiness, whereas other dances are watched again and again from likeability.

Serious gamblers on Betfair (£thousands and £tens of thousands) pay much attention to viewing stats.

I want Artem to know this. Somebody tweet him

I dont really think that those views are necessarily indicative of a celeb's popularity. We are going to have a pretty good idea of how the public's vote go in the upcoming weeks.

No but its a good indication of the dances that are really making a strong impact on the viewers each week. I know that there are some dances that I can't wait to be uploaded to YT so I can watch it over again.

Harry and Aliona are already on over 7000 views whilst all the other couples are still only in the hundreds for this weeks dance.
That is incredible and shows how much the audience loved their AT. Even more so when you think it took H&A till mid week to get that number of views for their Samba last week.

The controversy over Len & marking will have helped here.

While this is useful to a degree, it is much like using internet polls - some people are happy to watch the show and even vote, but will not look out videos or polls. So I wouldn't say that Harry & Aliona is 10 times as popular as the nearest contender, but is obviously very popular with viewers who seek out dances on Youtube, and most likely one of the most popular dancers.

I'd agree that the number of views would normally be an indication of the popularity of a celeb, but this week the controversy will have boosted views.

And I still think the age of many of Harry's supporters could be a factor (I'm still smoking from being flamed for suggesting this could be a factor).

I doubt it tbh there has been controversy of some kind or another over Len nearly every week were Harry and Aliona are concerned and yet they haven't had such an immediate impact and large lead in YT views yet I don't think.

Usually that starts to happen as of Monday when the papers run most of their post weekend XF SCD coverage.
Like with Chelsee and Robbie couple of weeks ago.

Harry's AT was clearly the stand out dance for me last night, which seems to be reflected in the figures.

In respect of last night's performances, I thought Harry and Aliona had the most striking performance of the night.

The AT was the perfect vehicle for displaying Aliona's legs and precision, and she had a very fetching dress to match. For me, that dance was all about her, as an AT should be.

[PS: I am not a teenage girl].

I watched the show late yesterday - after the show had finished. Coming onto the forum, the number of threads talking about the tango being hot, or overmarked, Len hating Aliona, Len's comments being offensive etc. certainly indicated that it was the most noteworthy dance of the night - whether it be for good or bad reasons I didn't know. While there have been controversies with the judges before, this seems to have sparked more immediate debate than in previous weeks.

That will certainly have boosted the views, though you are right in that it obviously also had impact for some viewers in and of itself.

Not sure how significant YouTube views are for Strictly as say compared to shows like the X Factor. The over all viewing audience is, we're told time and time again, older for Strictly and, as a general rule of thumb, older people don't tend to spend as much time on their computers as the youngsters do. However, I do know some people who go out on Saturday evenings, don't watch the show but will watch the 'best'or most controversial dances when they're up on YouTube, which, if this is a bigger trend, could explain some of these figures.

There's a comment under the poll indicating that Tom McFlea linked directly to the video from his tumblr. That may have had something to do with the disproportionately large numbers, not that Harry & Aliona aren't towards the top of youtube views if not at the top every week.

It could be

He only reblogged it actually think the post only got a 1000 odd notes which is some way off the YT figures (good for tumblr mind) It would have appeared on his twitter feed too which would maybe have generated a couple of thousand views last night.

That was last night. But it doesn't explain why it has been creeping and creeping up all morning and afternoon they are now nearly at 10,000 views

(only about 10 of them are me .....maybe 15 )


There may be a link some where out there drawing people to it. They sure got peoples attention any road which is what it is all about.

The figures will start to even out as the week goes on but its not hard to see that H&A were the stand outs this week. It was an incredible performance and brilliant routine.

Harry & Aliona danced a great routine very well. There are lots of people around the world who love Strictly and who can't get the BBC clips any other way - some of the viewing figures on YT could be overseas, and people who don't vote or watch the show in any other capacity.

The simplest reason for viewings growth would be repeat viewings by those who like it, and by those checking the evidence repeatedly to see if Len's criticism was justified.

Either way this points to intensity of interest, a factor in the Final when fanatical supporters will be voting multiple times, especially if they perceive themselves as the injured minority.