'Like & Describe' episode 3: The truth behind the ASMR tingle
Apr 09, 2023 – minute read
It’s hard to remember now, but there was a time not that long ago when the letters “ASMR” didn’t mean much to anybody. Today, of course, they mean an awful lot to a whole bunch of folks – enough to generate some 90 billion views of related videos on YouTube in 2022 alone.
Even people who don’t crave the brain tingles brought on by visual or audio stimuli like whispering, paper crinkling and tapping know that ASMR is now a well established Internet thing, on par with dance challenges and Minecraft speedruns.
But how did this odd trend, born on YouTube, get started?
That’s the question at the heart of the third episode of Like & Describe, YouTube’s official trends podcast. Led by L&D’s fearless host MatPat, the episode is being released in conjunction with a special takeover of the YouTube logo celebrating the ASMR community on International ASMR Day (you knew there was one, right?)
MatPat, who confesses to being so far insusceptible to ASMR’s charms, carries out his journey of discovery by interviewing top ASMRtists like Gentle Whispering ASMR, a scientist who has studied ASMR more than anybody, and YouTube’s trends expert Earnest Pettie. He also gets a hands-on lesson in how to do ASMR from a top ASMRtist, and attempts to find the “holy grail” of ASMR videos – the first one ever uploaded to YouTube.
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Does he find it? For the answer, you’ll have to tune in to find out.
Like & Describe can be found on all major podcast platforms, and of course on YouTube at yt.be/likedescribe.