

Gangnam Style Becomes World’s Most Watched Video With 1 Billion Views in Sight - leeskye
http://insidechannelmeter.wordpress.com/2012/11/23/gangnam-style-most-popular-youtube-video-in-history/

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danso
It's really refreshing to see something reach this kind of blockbuster status
and not be from America, or Western Europe.

Not because I'm anti-American, but because this is the kind of experience non-
Westerners must get everytime a Lady GaGa/Baywatch/Hollywood Movie dominates
their cultural airwaves...whether or not they actually like it, they only
still have a vague understanding of what the thing means, and its origins and
backstory. It's nice being on the outside looking in...which is something
you'd expect to happen more often given the demographic of the world.

~~~
jusben1369
It's refreshing. I'm not really sure if it's just a blip though. It seems like
every few years there is this "Not US/West European" phenom that rises fast
and disappears. Macarena anyone? 99 Red Balloons? There must be a couple more
I'm missing?

EDIT: 99 Red Balloons is in fact Western Europe but was in German for more
than a year (and widely successful) before being released in English. An
oddity. Should have said "Non English" as more accurate than just Western
Europe.

~~~
Aticus_Finch
Macarena is a spanish song (<http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Del_Rio>) and 99
Red Ballons is german. How is this Not West European?

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missy
Do you guys have any favourite spin offs of Gagnam Style ?

The structure is always the same like taking some memorable moments of the
video eg at the start the plane or the guy shaking his pelvis in the lift ,
then take some other stereotype or celebrities in it. So I actually wonder how
many more views came from the parodies.

Last similar wave I remember was the "shit says " series maybe 6 months ago
that had a similar formula.

here some examples:

Mitt Romney style

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTs_TKk5S2M>
[http://www.collegehumor.com/video/6830834/mitt-romney-
style-...](http://www.collegehumor.com/video/6830834/mitt-romney-style-
gangnam-style-parody)

Eastern Europe Style
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zY1MVQeeStY&list=UUFjCy-D...](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zY1MVQeeStY&list=UUFjCy-
DI6cFNlNqMnihpDpg&index=1&feature=plcp)

Eton Style <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaJl_qOVcf0>

~~~
anonymoushn
Gangnam Style Orchestral + A Capella PSY <http://vimeo.com/48120211>

~~~
joeguilmette
kind of makes you realize how bad the actual music with when it is played
orchestrally.

~~~
stingraycharles
It depends, it can also just be a crappy adaptation. I personally like this
piano version:
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jd-h0debytI&list=UUl3iv3e...](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jd-h0debytI&list=UUl3iv3eEOtZ0l5nb_jHKYwg&index=1&feature=plcp)

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noonespecial
My 66yo father, who once asked incredulously, "who is this 'Lady Goo Goo'?"
recently told me how he got the airline to bump him to 1st class for free. He
then wryly remarked "Oppa Gangnam style".

That, right there, is what I call global penetration.

~~~
_debug_
> recently told me how he got the airline to bump him to 1st class for free.

Not sure what you mean? Can you please elaborate? How is the Gangnam Style
video related to your father getting to fly 1st class?

~~~
NathanKP
The point is that even his father who is not familiar with Lady Gaga, another
famous pop icon, is familiar with Psy and comfortable using the meme created
by his song.

His father interpreted his free upgrade as "Gangnam style".

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slowpoke
Except here in Germany, where the local fuckwads at the GEMA [1] made Youtube
block the video because "they hadn't granted the necessary rights". For a
fucking copyright-waived video. Argh.

And people actually wonder why more and more (German) people have absolutely
no qualms about piracy. I'm actually not sure whether or not I should thank
the GEMA for that.

[1]:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gesellschaft_f%C3%BCr_musikali...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gesellschaft_f%C3%BCr_musikalische_Auff%C3%BChrungs-
_und_mechanische_Vervielf%C3%A4ltigungsrechte)

~~~
TazeTSchnitzel
Ah, the old "viewable everywhere in the world except Germany" YouTube music
video problem.

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cyphersanctus
Funny how proportions are lost. They're assuming the billion views yet they're
still 200 million views away. There was a time not so long ago, when Avril
Lavigne and the Evolution of Dance battled themselves out fiercely to reach
200 million views. Clickbots, fanclubs and all.

~~~
Herring
Presumably youtube's userbase has grown since then. Also Psy's song likely has
more international appeal than either of those.

~~~
cyphersanctus
Youtube's user base or the general internet's user base? It might also have to
do with an increase in the general internet population of third world
countries where this song got its initial traction.

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skizm
What does 1Bn views equate to in real money if you have the normal amount of
youtube advertising? I know this may vary depending on the audience but I'd
love a ballpark if someone has any idea. I was under the impression 1m views =
~$3300 but I could be mistaken.

~~~
citricsquid
$1 CPM is what pretty much everyone can get, $3CPM and beyond are possible but
generally reserved for people that are members of well managed Youtube
networks. Gangnam style is probably a unique case in that it's a single video
that advertisers will want to associate with, so I wouldn't be surprised if
it's making $5 CPM ($5k/1m views) -- $5CPM average, probably peaking at 10 -
15.

~~~
skizm
If I am not mistaken the 'M' in CPM stands for 1000 not 1m. the M is a roman
numeral for 1000. That would also be more on par with what I am seeing other
youtubers get (see AdamGibbins's link).

~~~
citricsquid
I meant $1 per 1,000 views. My calculation of $5,000 for 1,000,000 views was
meant as an extension of the calculations for those that wanted to work out
the total.

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cfinke
The "World's Most Watched Video" may be an exaggeration -- am I to believe
that Gangnam Style has been watched more times than the Zapruder film or the
moon landing footage?

~~~
ErikHuisman
Is it really hard to believe? I personally have seen Gangnam Style more often
than the zapruder shots or the moon landing. Heck, i've seen the clip "Aaliyah
- are you that somebody" more often. This is not about the number of unique
viewers but rather total views. Gangnam Style is easily the most viewed
videoclip ever. Overall i think it can only be outclassed by long running
commercials and tv show intro's.

~~~
cryptoz
It's absolutely impossible to believe. In the 1960s, the Apollo 11 moon
landing had about 500 million views. The suggestion that in the four decades
since it has not gained at least 300 million more is...well, impossible to
believe. "An estimated 500 million people worldwide watched this event, the
largest television audience for a live broadcast at that time."

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_landing>

~~~
001sky
Also: the recent olympics opening ceremonies are good candidates.

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trendspotter
I still wonder why "Yatta, Yatta!" from Happatai did not become equally famous
:)

[http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=happatai+-+yatta...](http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=happatai+-+yatta&gs_l=youtube)

~~~
shardling
Well, the song isn't as good.

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trendspotter
If you haven't seen it :) Gangnam Style:

with a bear <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1B1J73Ag3hU>

Nelly Furtado <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehs-vZ1uF-k>

Metal/rock cover <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czJAGGoaYtw>

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weinzierl
It reached 1 Billion views without any support from the 4th largest market for
music[1].

Germany has a market share of 7–8% for albums and 9–12% for singles. In 2005
market value was 887.7 million USD. And yet no one in Germany has ever watched
Gangnam Style on Youtube.

[1] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_industry>

~~~
dbaupp
> _In 2005 market value was USD 887.7._

Are you missing "million" or "billion"?

~~~
weinzierl
It's million. Fixed it, thanks a lot.

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bane
All this and it's not counting places like China which has it's own youtube
like service. And my understanding is that countries like Germany, with overly
aggressive IP laws blocks the music from the video so it doesn't get nearly as
many views. (it'd be great if somebody could confirm)

~~~
Surio
@slowpoke did that: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4826022>

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santocki
There is a site collecting all the Gangnam Style parody videos

<http://GangnamStyleNews.com>

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nyg_hakeem
really? more than Justin Bieber's baby?

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SpikeDad
I'm proud to be in the NEVER WATCHED THIS CRAPOLA category, evidently not
important enough to be counted.

~~~
rscale
Gangnam Style is a poignant example of a world-wide entertainment trend that
wasn't started in America. Most of the world doesn't even know what the lyrics
mean, but that didn't keep it from sweeping the globe. It did so without
advertising or great expense, using Internet platforms like Youtube to get
reach.

I've seen Gangnam Style covered in places like the New Yorker, the Economist,
and the Wall Street Journal. These are places that don't generally spend time
discussing pop music, but that also felt Gangnam was worth consideration.

Musical tastes vary, and nothing says you have to like it. But PSY's hit seems
to be indicative of a global increase in cosmopolitanism, and that's a trend
that affects many entrepreneurs and investors.

~~~
agumonkey
Note aside, the singer seems to be a wise, generous and simple person with a
sense of distance. I was greatly surprised and pleased to see him in
interviews. Doubly refreshing.

~~~
Surio
Very nice to hear that one. Most stories about people involved in media, music
and entertainment seem to highlight that they don't have any those obviously
redeeming qualities

~~~
agumonkey
Many of celebrities are product of the system (teen idols, etc), iirc PSY was
an struggling odd pop singer with his own take on things I guess, which makes
the whole phenomenon even funnier.

