Fortnite’s blank screen propels a social video comeback

It’s an accomplishment to get millions of gamers to watch a blank screen, as Fortnite did during the weekend of October 12.

As audiences were expecting news about Season 11, they were met with a black hole and a blank screen — an explosion, then a significant amount of nothing. According to video measurement company Tubular Labs, Instagram and YouTube videos around the initial event collected 33 million views. And October 14 wound up being the biggest day for Fortnite-related videos since July 1, with 389 million views across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube that day.