In a year filled with ups and downs, Google search trends revealed that the world searched for “good” more than ever before. This insight inspired a film that celebrated all the good things in 2018, from the Thai cave rescue to the Shiggy dance challenge. We highlighted all the things that made us smile in 2018, and celebrated all the people who searched for “good” despite a tumultuous year. The final message of the film “good things are worth searching for” brought home the idea that no matter what, it’s always worth seeking the good.

Year in Search 2018’s primary implementation is a 2-minute brand film, launched on YouTube in the middle of December to culminate the stories and searches that framed the year. The video anchors on the insight that the world searched for “good” in various forms more than ever in 2018. The film showcases actual search queries in the iconic Google search bar, against licensed and user-generated footage of the moments and movements that shaped 2018.

This anthem film is amplified by a variety of placements and media touch points, from cinema trailers to broadcast commercials on major networks, to an editorial article on Google’s “About” site, to sponsored NYT post about “My Favorite Good News of 2018,” to a variety of social posts across major social networks.

While Google’s products and services have grown exponentially since its founding in 1998, its status as a leading search company continues to be core to its DNA, and nothing is closer to this brand than the year in search film. By unearthing compelling insights about the topics, themes, and terms the world searched for in 2018, Year in Search provides an intimate glimpse into the zeitgeist of 2018 and our shared humanity as we experience the world’s moments and movements through the lens of Google Search.

The Year in Search video shattered previous Google Brand film records. To date, the film has been viewed over 113M times on YouTube alone, making it the most popular Google film of all time by almost a factor of 3. Additionally, the film received 5.7x the YouTube viewership of its past year’s counterpart.