If you ever feel like your video content calendar is looking a little repetitive or dry, it might be time to spice things up a bit. One easy way to do this is by jumping on the latest trending challenges on YouTube–a fun and generally effective way to boost engagement while pushing yourself out of your comfort zone. Let’s take a look at what defines a YouTube challenge, the benefits associated with this type of content, and the best YouTube challenges of 2024.

What Is a YouTube Challenge?

At their core, YouTube challenges are the “topic of the moment” videos (often achieving viral status) that offer participants an opportunity to engage in something difficult, zany, or beneficial in front of a camera. These range in all sorts of antics (remember the insane “tide pod challenge” of 2018?) that boost your engagement and increase your chances of going viral.

Benefits of Participating in YouTube Challenges

While YouTube challenges are designed to be fun, at their core, they can also push the creator in ways they might find surprising. Remember, viewers value authenticity–so sharing your genuine reactions over the course of the challenge is going to be pivotal to your success. Here are some of the top reasons to hop on the latest YouTube challenge.

1. Entertain, Educate, or Shock Your Audience (Better Engagement)

YouTube challenges are intended to go viral–so be sure to capitalize on the latest trending concepts, sound bites, and keywords to give yourself the best shot at creating a high-performing video. More views often means more engagement, such as comments, likes, and subscribes–and you can even challenge other YouTubers at the end of your video, inviting them to participate. This could result in you getting tagged in their content, which might expose you to more viewers.

2. Increase Your Chances of Creating a “Hit” Video

While there is no single formula for creating a viral video, you can certainly boost your chances by capitalizing on the latest trends. Creating viral content is a great way to call in new audience members to your channel, try your best to keep the content relatively consistent in terms of your niche. One-off video sensations don’t always equate to subscribers or increased viewer retention!

3. Refresh Your Content Strategy

Especially if you’ve been in the content creation game for a while, it can sometimes feel like you’re just going through the motions in order to remain consistent with your schedule. By incorporating YouTube challenges into your rotation, you can try something different while still being likely to create a decently performing video. This is not only fun for you, but could open up deeper analytic insights that could reveal next steps for your content strategy.

4. You May Learn Something New About Yourself

For all you know, there may be some secret challenge you possess that you’ve never given yourself an opportunity to try! Challenging yourself often yields personal rewards–but in the context of YouTube videos, you may even see increased revenue as a result. So, why not try?

Discover the 10 YouTube Trending Challenges 

While there are certain trends that are actively harmful and dangerous (note the current cinnamon challenge, which we do not recommend), there are plenty of ways to draw a crowd other than self-imposing harm. (Number two on the list below draws a thin line, but we trust that you know your limits.) Take a look at these trending challenges on YouTube in 2024 and see if any of the topics resonate with you!

1. Chubby Bunny

This evergreen challenge transports us back to childhood. During this particular video, participants are encouraged to stuff an increasing number of marshmallows into their mouths and repeatedly say the phrase “chubby bunny.” You are disqualified at the number of marshmallows it takes to cause your speech to become incomprehensible.

Please note that this challenge is not without its choking hazards–so make sure participants are willing adults and that you have a responsible person nearby who knows how to alleviate choking. Otherwise, don’t do anything you’ll potentially regret!

2. Spicy Eats

In this challenge, the video host eats and ranks increasingly spicy foods. This particular trend is popular among couples and friends as a kind of “face off” challenge to see who can handle the heat the best.

3. “Not My Arms”

Select an activity that requires your hands, such as putting on makeup or making a sandwich. Then, rope in a friend or partner to stand behind you and attempt the task on your behalf–as if they were your arms. This can even be done with pets!

4. Doing Good Things

Everybody likes a feel-good story. Whether you volunteer for a month at an animal shelter or dedicate a significant amount of time to picking up trash, this type of challenge can be done documentary-style and can inspire positive change in your community. You can even tag local organizations you volunteered with, or that inspired your content.

5. Smoothie Challenge

There are two ways you can go about this: you can either stick to more traditional smoothie recipes and inspire healthy changes within your audience (particularly if you are already in a wellness niche); or, you can go for the shock factor by taking a “will it blend” approach with seemingly random foods. You can either have friends pick the ingredients for you or accept challenges from fellow content creators!

6. Tortilla Slap

This content requires at least two people. During this challenge, as featured with The Rock and Kevin Hart, participants both hold water in their mouths and take turns slapping each other in the face with a tortilla. The objective is not to be the first one to spray water out of your mouth and nose with laughter. We guarantee you’ll have a good time with this one!

7. Makeup Challenges (No Mirror or Blindfold)

Whether you choose to put on makeup without access to a mirror or with a blindfold, the results are bound to be ridiculous. Your audience will thank you for the smiles you bring! 

8. Paint Your Partner Challenge

Without peeking, you and a partner (or friend–either is great) paint portraits of each other. This challenge is particularly rib-splitting if one or neither of you have much of an inclination towards art–but either way, the results can be very wholesome and uplifting!

9. Whisper Challenge

This challenge requires a pair of headphones–ideally, noise-canceling ones. During this exchange, you and another person take turns wearing the headphones with the volume turned up–while the other reads aloud a phrase at a normal volume. The person wearing the headphones must take their best guess at the original phrase–often with hilarious outcomes!

10. Blindfolded Soda or Bubbly Water Tasting Challenge

While many soda fans can easily taste the difference between orange soda and rootbeer, for example, the distinctions become a little less clear when you start comparing off-brand sodas with the original. Throw a blindfold in the mix (or create a “blind” sample), and it makes things even more interesting. You can also play this game with different brands of bubbly water–even those that are considered “flavorless!”

Most of All, Remember to Have Fun with Your Content!

At the end of the day, YouTube challenges are designed to inspire your audience in some way–whether that’s to do something healthy, beneficial for their communities, or simply to smile. While it’s important to strategize when it comes to creating your video content, leveraging trending challenges on YouTube can be a great way to breathe fresh life into your channel–while providing you with an opportunity to have fun, too.