Soda - Keeping Curious

…with YouTube! I just can’t get enough of it. Even while I am working, I have it on in the background as a sort of jukebox. Recently a list was published by The Viral Video Chart listing the 10 most popular viral videos from 2006. The chart is as follows:

1. Kerry Belittles U.S. Troops
2. Free Hugs Campaign
3. White and Nerdy
4. Worst Burglar Ever
5. Evolution of Dance
6. Kiwi!
7. OK Go - Here It Goes Again
8. Colbert Roasts President Bush - 2006 White House Correspondents Dinner
9. A Message From Chad and Steve
10. Guiness World Record for most T-Shirts worn at one time

Interestingly, none of these videos are actually selling anything, apart from OK Go at number 7, which I suppose could be seen as “selling” the band’s single. Instead there seems to be a desire for the quirky and a strong interest in US politics, with two of the top 10 videos being on this subject.

To be honest, none of these videos really blew me away this year (apart from OK Go and Chad and Steve’s $1.85 billion excitement, which I admit I watched several times).

Off the top of my head, my two favourites are Panda Sneezing and the rather festive Jimmy Jangle, which, I warn you, is EXTREMELY rude! If you are not from the UK, you most likely won’t get it, do an image search on Jimmy Saville, note that he calls his mother “the Duchess”, throw in a little Gary Giltter and you might be half way there…

NB. This one is also making me want to punch my computer monitor with joy

On Monday the rumours that Google would be purchasing YouTube, the biggest video site on the web, were confirmed. The cost? $1.65 billion. And to think, not long ago I read that YouTube hadn’t managed to clear their $11.5 million investment yet!

This is an unusual move for Google who traditionally purchase smaller start ups such as Upstartle, creator of a Web-based word processor. However, with online video fast becoming “an Internet service comparable to e-mail and Web search”, Google Video’s ranking of 7 just wasn’t going to cut it for Google, the king of the internet.

YouTube shows 100 million video clips a day. There are 34 million monthly visits to the site from the US alone. Combining YouTube and Google’s statistics, this gives a figure of 101 million site visits for August 2006.

Although there has been some controversy over YouTube’s handling of copyright, in recent months Google and YouTube have separately set up agreements with three of the world’s largest record companies to add music videos on their Web sites. YouTube made deals with the two largest music companies in the world, Universal Music Group and Sony BMG Music Entertainment. Google has made deals with Sony Corp. and Warner Music Group Corp, the fourth largest.

The video revolution is just beginning. Take a look at Craig’s article below to find out about broadband saturation by the end of 2008. Video online is set to explode and I can’t wait! The YouTube founders seem pretty excited themselves, and who wouldn’t be with $1.65 billion in the bank?! Good for you, boys!

Source: Bloomberg News