Boyle tops the You Tube charts

I really am not sure what this says about our society but Susan Boyle was the most popular You Tube video of 2009.

With over 120 million views her Britain's got talent audition finished a full 80 million above the second most watched,an American kid reflecting on his visit to the dentist.

As they said after the audition..."you weren't expecting that where you?

Source-Media Guardian

Why you couldn't charge for Susan Boyle

Staying on the subject of paying for online content,Jon Bernstein writing at journalism.co.uk looks at the problem of micropayments at ITV.

Their recent experience of the multi viewed Susan Boyle which whisked its way around the globe on You Tube,prompted Michael Grade to say that

“We are working on it and watch this space, but we’re all going to crack it, either when the advertising market recovers or a combination of advertising and micropayments which is 50p a time or 25p a time to watch it.
We may move in time, in the medium term, to micropayments, the same way you pay for stuff on your mobile phone. I think we can make that work extremely well.”

However Bernstein argues that it simply won't work describing the Boyle experience as persihable goods that people won't pay for

Quality drama may have a shelf-life and an audience willing to pay for it, but a water cooler moment from reality TV? Not likely.

and that

Micropayments only work if you control distribution which of course using the Susan Boyle analogy,you wouldn't

BGT viewing figures-do they herald a return of mass viewing?

Back to the 1970's is most certainly the vogue at the moment.Recession,the rise of the political right and industrial action but now after Saturday night another throwback to the decade.

ITV's Britain's got talent attracted over 18m viewers in the return to the mass viewing phenomena that most pundits thought had gone away.

Personally I have not watched the show but hats off to ITV who in the face of its many problems and propelled by the Susan Boyle experience,appears to have hit on a winning formula.

What makes the figures more remarkable is that it is a Saturday night and occurred in the midst of a heatwave.

The recession,no doubt,has played its part.I wonder how many of those viewers were around at friends houses,having bought their food and drink in the supermarket rather than being watched at the local pub?

The cusp of a new viewing experience or a successful one off?

Boyle saves ITV

Maybe one swallow doesn't make a summer but ITV after all their problems must be happy with the final week of Britain's got talent.

Writing in the Spectator Simon Hoggart says

So it could be that ITV is saved not by a cigar-chomping, hot-shot show-biz executive but by a spinster from a Scottish village. The appearance of Susan Boyle in the first semi-final of Britain’s Got Talent (ITV, all week) was greeted with adoration — and audience figures — that would have been apt if Maria Callas had returned from the dead.

The power of old media is waning. But it is still the only way for making a star.

We are hearing a lot about how the power of You Tube and the Web has got Susan Boyle inot the position where she has seemingly taken over on both sides of the Atlantic.

Is this the power of the Web?

Not necessarily says Chris Dillow writing at his Stumbling and Mumbling Blog

Ms Boyle has become an overnight star in the US - something not achieved by many British singers even with huge record company backing. It’s tempting to say this shows the power of the web; that Youtube clip has gone viral.
But in another sense, it shows the impotence of the web. The web did sweet FA to bring Susan Boyle to initial public attention. Instead, she got her break through very old media - a TV talent show. and adds that

the power of old media is waning. But it is still the only way for making a star.