[Offtopic] New YouTube Number One

[stephen at melbpc.org.au]

Once bitten, now watched by millions on YouTube

by STEPHEN HUTCHEON  October 28, 2009 - 12:03PM
<http://www.theage.com.au/digital-life/digital-life-news/>


British brothers Harry and Charlie Davies-Carr star in the most watched 
YouTube video of all time.

A 55-second video clip that was intended for an audience of just one has 
become the most watched YouTube video of all time.

Two-and-a-half years and 129 million-plus views after it was launched, 
Charlie Bit My Finger - Again! crept past the long-time incumbent over 
the weekend to claim the mantle. 

 <www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OBlgSz8sSM>

The new No.1 clip features British brothers Harry and Charlie Davies-
Carr, who were aged 5½ and two in May 2007 when their father, Howard, 
uploaded the video.

The video shows Charlie biting his older brother's finger. And, apart 
from Harry's protestations and interesting facial expressions, that's all 
there is to see.

Charlie Bit My Finger - Again! deposed Evolution of Dance, a clip 
uploaded by US motivational speaker Judson Laipply in April 2006.

 <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMH0bHeiRNg>

As of today, the video has been viewed 129,546,156 times compared with 
Evolution's 129,125,769 views.

It was reportedly put up on the site for the benefit of the boys' 
godfather who lived overseas at the time.

"To say the response has been insane is not even close, Mr Davies-Carr, 
an IT consultant, said in a 2008 interview. 

"My sons are now almost legendary. People want their autographs – it's 
just crazy." 

In addition to being YouTube's all time most viewed video, the clips is 
also the video-sharing site's all time "most favourited" and the second 
most all time discussed.

Evolution has been twice previously knocked off as the most viewed 
YouTube video. The first time was in March 2008, when a clip titled Music 
Is My Hot Hot Sex by Brazilian electro band Cansei De Ser Sexy came out 
of nowhere to take the top spot.

It soon transpired that someone had been using performance-enhancing 
techniques to boost the stats. Soon after, the creator of the clip - an 
Italian named Clarus Bartel who was not party to the fiddle - deleted his 
video and Evolution was restored as No. 1.

The quirky video lost its top ranking again in August 2008 when singer 
Avril Lavigne's Girlfriend music video jumped ahead. However, this too 
turned out to be a manipulated result orchestrated by users on an Avril 
Lavigne fan site. 

 <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQ25-glGRzI>

Evolution later regained its top ranking which it held until Saturday.

YouTube, which recently marked the third anniversary of its takeover by 
Google, says it is now serving more than 1 billion video views a day.

--

Cheers,
Stephen