Posted on 12/23/2012 10:49:14 PM PST by ExxonPatrolUs
Gangnam Style has become the first video to clock up more than one billion views on YouTube. The South Korean dance track was posted online in July, propelling pop star Psy to worldwide fame. It has inspired hundreds of parody clips, from members of the British army, Thai navy and Minecraft gamers, among others. YouTube's owner, Google, said the video had been watched seven million to 10 million times a day on average. It overtook the previous record holder - Justin Bieber's music video Baby - on 24 November. "Psy's success is a great testament to the universal appeal of catchy music - and er, great equine dance moves," wrote Kevin Allocca, YouTube trends manager, on the service's blog.
One industry watcher said the fact so many people continued to post their own versions of Gangnam Style had played a huge part in the clip's success. "I've seen a statistic which reckons the one song will have generated something like $8m [£5m] by the end of the year from money that comes directly from YouTube through advertising plus download sales, its uses in adverts and TV programmes," Chris Cooke, business editor of the CMU music news site, told the BBC.
"It shows that YouTube - which is a free-to-use as a promotional platform for the music labels - can lead to substantial income. "Should every artist be trying to think of a funny video that will go viral and be mimicked? I don't know whether it's a template that can be copied, but it certainly shows how quickly an eye-catching clip can spread thanks to social networks and YouTube."
Sir Martin Sorrell - chief executive of advertising giant WPP - paid tribute to the achievement by making a link between Psy and one of the west's most influential economists. "Another great example of Theodore Levitt's 'globalisation' and the power of K-pop," he told the BBC.
Scott Mills, the BBC Radio 1 DJ who championed the song on his show, said he was amazed by the phenomenon that the song had become. "The thing that interests you in the video is the fact that you don't understand the lyrics. British troops in Afghanistan have made their own version. Footage courtesy BFBS: British Forces News "The first time I saw it was on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in America and I just thought it was a bit of fun, but I didn't expect it to be as big as it was. "Psy came into my Radio 1 show and The Guinness World Records presented him with a plaque for the most 'liked' YouTube video of all time and the amazing thing is he is just a guy, he hasn't tried to do any of this."
D C Han, a South Korean hair stylist who worked in Gangnam before starting a business in London, added that he was proud to see the song become such a massive hit.
"I was amazed" he told the BBC.
"K-Pop is getting stronger and stronger, everywhere in Asia they are listening to it - China, Hong Kong, Taiwan. Maybe even in Japan but they might not admit it."
I love that video. I’ve watched it so many times.
Well isn’t that special (said in my best Church Lady impersonation).
After what that fat shit said about our US servicemen, I couldn’t give a crap how many YouTube hits he gets.
The guys is real POS. He had some very nasty things to say about US troops and citizens a handful of years ago.
All the latest fad. In six months, viewers will be on to something else. Yawn.
Disney produced some alleged "viral video" clips of a woman playing guitar in her kitchen that they had already signed to contract before clip one was released.
Certainly there are other "click through" and "page load" scams. If you have a "sponsored" clip through youtube, you can see some revenue when you are getting a "reported" billion views.
How many of the 8 million page loads a day are UNIQUE viewers?
I like the video. I heard his comments that he made 15 years ago and they were not good. He apologized and I accept that.
Not sure it is possible to spoof google with youtube views. In fact it does not count as a hit until the whole video is watched. Think of all those wasted hours of time around the world. What’s 1 billion times 5 minutes? You know what they say about idle hands...
It doesn’t count full views. I know because I posted something earlier this year and tracked how many times it’d been clicked.
Even if I just went to the page to check the current tally, that would bump it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.