With the appetite for cat videos not appearing to be waning, those not so lucky can take solace in the fact they have next year to climb the YouTube ladder.
Some of the most-watched videos, though, had a much more serious message.
When Shoshana Roberts walked around New York for 10 hours a few metres behind a man with a camera mounted to his backpack, the boiled-down two-minute video result was shocking.
Roberts - an attractive but conservatively dressed young woman - was leered at and verbally harangued more than 100 times.
"God bless you, mami," says one drooling stranger.
Other men look her up and down and announce: "Damn!" to no one in particular.
Some blokes - like David Cunliffe, on unrelated matters - might have felt like apologising for being a man but most at least had a new perspective on what it was like to be a woman.
Thankfully, Kiwi men did not cover themselves in a similar shame when the Herald staged its own experiment. Model and yoga instructor Nicola Simpson strode the city's streets for a few hours. Though some heads turned, only two approached the woman and according to her they did so in a "polite" manner.
"I didn't feel uncomfortable at all," she said.
Further blows were landed for women's rights through a brilliant clip that did the rounds in October.
The title of the video - "Potty mouthed princesses drop F-bombs for feminism" - pretty much says it all.
The girls, aged 6 to 13 and decked out in full pageant gear with sparkling tiaras, draw attention to a not-so-glittering future in the United States, where women are still paid 23 per cent less than men for doing the same job and where one in five women are raped or sexually assaulted.
"What's more offensive? A little girl saying f**k or the sexist way society treats girls and women?" they ask. Genius.
Not quite so critically acclaimed was Air New Zealand's safety video presented by bikini-clad Sports Illustrated models.
The company said it had worked hard to ensure the clip was "tasteful and suitable for viewing by passengers of all ages".
Others weren't so sure.
"I'm going to be sitting there worrying about the male passengers sitting next to me leering at the beautiful women on the screen," feminist commentator Dr Deborah Russell said.
After all the argument, the controversial video - timed to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the magazine's swimsuit edition - made the New Zealand top 10 most-viewed list.
Clearly, sex sells.
In-flight safety briefings might be a delicate business but one thing the country does well, indisputably, is rugby.
The All Blacks had another stellar season and Super Rugby was packed with ferocious hits and stunning plays.
But one of the sport's most shared videos of 2014 was of a bullocking schoolboy player dubbed "The Tongan Thor".
Sacred Heart College teenager Taniela Tupou took the game by storm and was soon inundated with offers from professional clubs after footage of his skills surfaced in May.
The 135kg colossus was shown sidestepping players, bumping off the opposition and running like a winger - scoring three tries in 20 minutes.
Sadly, the lure of life across the Tasman has been too strong and Tupou looks set to start his career in Queensland.
Of course, it would not be a viral-video wrap without highlighting the stars of the animal kingdom.
Most online cat videos fall into the cute or entertaining bucket, but one feline outstripped the competition by becoming a hero.
CCTV footage showed a child riding a bike near his house in California when a neighbour's dog suddenly snuck into the picture, rounded a nearby vehicle and latched on to the boy's leg. Moments later, Tara the cat flew into shot from the other direction and threw herself at the mutt.
The dog was later destroyed, the boy was stitched up at hospital and the heroic feline was later honoured at a minor league baseball game.
The forecast for 2015 is a steady diet of cat videos - beyond that, it's anyone's guess.
