Tuesday 28 April 2009

Checking viral videos' vital signs

The infectious, inspiring video of Susan Boyle in its various forms just became the second most-watched video on the Internet. The rampaging success online of the video from the reality TV show Britain's Got Talent shouldn't be all that surprising because it's the perfect clip: It's only a few minutes long, it's well-produced with numerous camera angles and, best of all, it has Boyle. With her matronly dress, delightful brogue, her playful hip shake at the doubtful judges and then that unexpected soprano and stage presence, it was more ideal than central casting could have scripted.

After the video aired two weeks ago, it began mesmerizing and multiplying, fed by both new media and old, from Twitter to the network morning news shows. It's the fastest moving online video in the relatively brief history of online video and has elicited a half-million comments.

As of yesterday, 1,000 versions of the video of Boyle singing "I Dreamed A Dream" from Les Miserables had amassed a total of 170 million views, according to Visible Measures, a Boston company that combs 150 video-sharing sites to analyze a video's reach.

That's still well short of the 325 million views for the leader, something quite different from Boyle's moment - the dance video that accompanied the 2007 hip-hop hit Crank That by Soulja Boy. The dance became a pop phenomenon, spawning numerous other videos by people performing it and "mash-ups" like one of the cartoon character SpongeBob set to the tune.

Music videos by pop singers Mariah Carey (164 million for her sultry hit "Touch My Body", which helped her surpass Elvis Presley for most No. 1 songs) and Avril Lavigne (152 million for her bubbly chart-topper "Boyfriend") are currently ranked third- and fourth-most viewed by Visible Measures. Rounding out the top five is "Evolution of Dance", a comic routine in which Judson Laipply performs an enjoyable, if nerdy timeline of dance styles through the ages, with 140 million views.

(excerpt from the Baltimore Sun)



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