COMM STEM X SUDATA HACKATHON

Important note: Users may combine their chosen prompt with external data sources or APIs to enhance their solution, provided that all incorporated data is authentic and not synthetically generated. However, the prompt itself must remain the clear primary driver of the solution, meaning it is used significantly, directly, and in an obvious way rather than being overshadowed by external inputs. Theme 1: Decoding Virality in 2026: What makes a YouTube Trend? The Problem Statement/Challenge: Every day, millions of videos compete for one of the most coveted spots on the internet - YouTube's Trending page. Some videos explode overnight. Others quietly accumulate millions of views before anyone notices. However, most disappear entirely. Your challenge: Use real 2026 YouTube trending data to uncover what separates the videos that succeed from the ones that don't - and build something useful with that knowledge. This isn't about finding the highest view count. It’s about trying to understand the mechanics behind what makes a video viral - from its tags and topics to its viewer engagement. Whoever cracks that code holds real power in the modern attention economy. What You’re Doing: You are a product team at a startup that's just been handed a goldmine of YouTube trending data. Your investors aren't asking for a report. They're asking for a working product - something tangible a user could open, interact with, and walk away from with a meaningful advantage. Your job is to identify a real problem, use the data to understand it deeply, and then build a product that solves it. That product could be a web app, a browser tool, a dashboard, a recommendation engine, an API, or anything else your team can ship in the time available. The data informs the product - but the product is the deliverable. Build for a real user. Solve a real problem. Show it working. Your Dataset: You are working with a snapshot dataset of YouTube's trending videos from 2026, collected across multiple trending cycles for 11 different countries. This dataset provides country-wise YouTube trending video snapshots with engagement metrics and metadata. Your Tasks: There is no single correct answer here. You choose the problem, the angle, and the solution. Below are suggested directions — treat them as starting points, not constraints. 1. Define Your User & Their Problem Who are you building for — a solo creator, a brand marketing team, a media agency, a platform analyst? What specific question are you answering with this data? Why does it matter - what's the real-world consequence of getting it right or wrong? 2. Design & Build Your Product What does your product actually do? Define its core feature set clearly. What frustration, inefficiency, or blind spot does your target user have today? Your product should be interactive or demonstrable. A live demo, a functional prototype, or a working interface will always beat a static slide deck. 3. Validate & Pitch Your Solution Who would use this, and how would they discover it? How do you know it works? Show evidence - test cases, sample outputs, user scenarios. What do future versions look like? A credible roadmap shows you've thought beyond the hackathon.