There can be only one.

The year was 2019. A stupid entertainment news website had just spoiled the ending of Avengers: Endgame for me, and pretty much only Japanese people could be seen wearing face masks out on the street. This was also the year that a star was born.

He’s a Scottish Fold named Motimaru, and since the tender age of 50 days, he has lit up audiences on YouTube with his unabashed candor and pride in being a playful kitten.

▼ Motimaru’s first video, documenting his arrival in his new home

Now a seasoned pro at the age of one year and 317 days as of this writing, Motimaru – or “Moti-sama” as he’s sometimes known – usually racks up at least a million views per video in a matter of days.

▼ A dignified Motimaru (whose name is actually pronounced “Mochimaru”) showing reserved joy while posing with his various YouTube awards

Perhaps his success is due to his expressive face, joie de vivre, or maybe its just what they call the “X factor” in show business. Whatever it is, the wildfire fame of this cat has earned it a Guinness World Record for “Most views for a cat on YouTube” for a total of 619,586,290 views at his channel “motimaru’s diary” as of 12 August, when the record was certified. That number has of course climbed, to 685,201,400, as of this writing.

▼ Video showing the moment Motimaru was presented with his Guinness World Record

The current Guinness World Record for “Most views for an animal on YouTube” is held by Maymo the Lemon Beagle. Maymo’s record was certified in 2018 at 695,332,916 views but has since extended well beyond that with over four billion views as of this writing.

Given Motimaru’s young age and strong viewership trajectory, however, with enough time he may outpace rival in this cat-and-dog fight.

▼ Unfazed, Moti-sama’s eyes are firmly on the prize.

The Scottish Fold is also a force on Twitter where he scores up to 18 million impressions and 320,000 likes for a single tweet. He has already been signed to the management firm of Free Co. Ltd. who are handling any and all interested parties who would like Motimaru to serve as a spokescat.

According to marketing research, Motimaru is especially popular with adults in their 30s and 50s, near evenly split between men and women at at 45-50 ratio respectively. This means he’d be great at promoting anything from flea collars to gluten-free beer.

Let’s just hope that as his fame grows, Motimaru doesn’t let it get to his head and forget what being an authentic YouTube cat is all about: reacting in adorable ways to everyday human objects.

Source: PR Times 1, 2, YouTube/motimaru’s dairy, Guinness World Records
Images: PR Times
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