Written by Liz Gannes
Posted Thursday, May 28, 2009 at 11:25 AM PT

Susan Boyle 90% As Viral As Last Time

Susan Boyle’s second performance on the world stage may not have had the shock value (or even the singing quality) of the first, but the audience anticipation was still there six weeks later, after she performed Memory for the semifinals of Britain’s Got Talent this weekend.

Videos of the second performance have already been seen 16.8 million times in the last five days, with 700 video postings around the web and 30,000 comments, according to video measurement firm Visible Measures. The original performance, which the firm has already crowned the fastest-growing viral video of all time, had more than 19 million views after the same interval, with 200 placements and 65,000 comments. So Visible Measures estimates Boyle Act 2 is performing at 90 percent of the original.

But Boyle’s first performance was not just about the first five days. Six weeks later, it’s been seen 235.5 million times.

While it may have been unprecedentedly viral, Boyle was a complete unknown before she appeared. Now that she’s a household name, familiarity is probably a boon and a detractor to her virality. We’re eager to take in her newest performance (and thus made sure to see it in the first five days) but also aware that nothing will ever be the same as the first (and probably not forwarding the video to all our friends like last time). I would bet that this video will peter out more quickly. Besides, there’s Boyle’s finals performance to look forward to.

As for whether anybody’s making any money from Round Two (where the first performance’s online popularity was virtually unmonetized)? This U.S. viewer saw promotional ads for the official BGT YouTube channel. But once I went over to the channel, there were no paid ads there.

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Topic: Shows & Stars

Comments (6)

Screenshot instead of embed? Weak Liz, seriously weak.

Vernon — 2:11 PM on May 28, 2009 Reply
- Aw Vernon, it was just to show the ad. I’ll make it so it clicks through to the video itself.
  
  Liz Gannes, NewTeeVee — 5:07 PM on May 28, 2009 Reply
Oh good! I just did a spoof of her today! :D

BOBJENZ — 3:50 PM on May 28, 2009 Reply
Fair enough, thanks :)

And good luck with the new premium offering. I’m urging our company to give it a shot!

Vernon — 9:55 AM on May 29, 2009 Reply
Thanks for the useful info. It’s so interesting

JamesD — 12:44 AM on June 11, 2009 Reply
A triple wow for Susan Boyle. I found out last week that she’s already in the Wikipedia. She’s that popular now. Come to think of it, she really made a show that day when she auditioned for Britain’s Got talent. One thing I learned, it only shows that age doesn’t matter when it comes to being determiined in reaching for your dream. Let’s do our best always… :-)

Chicago Property Mannagement — 8:28 AM on October 21, 2009 Reply

Linkbacks (8)

[...] for the iPhone (TheAppleBlog) Think plug-in cars will charge up at home? Think again! (Earth2Tech) Susan Boyle 90% as viral as last time (NewTeeVee) Will you wait for the Verizon Palm Pre? (jkOnTheRun) [...]

What to read on the GigaOM network — 2:11 PM on May 28, 2009
[...] Videos of the second performance have already been seen 16.8 million times in the last five days, with 700 video postings around the web and 30,000 comments, according to video measurement firm Visible Measures . The original performance, which the … Read Full Post: Susan Boyle 90% As Viral As Last Time – Newteevee.com [...]

Susan Boyle 90% As Viral As Last Time - Newteevee… — 2:46 PM on May 28, 2009
[...] for the iPhone (TheAppleBlog) Think plug-in cars will charge up at home? Think again! (Earth2Tech) Susan Boyle 90% as viral as last time (NewTeeVee) Will you wait for the Verizon Palm Pre? [...]

Technical blogs with pictures and videos… — 6:03 PM on May 28, 2009
[...] The world knows the name and life story of the 47-year-old singer from Blackburn, West Lothian, Scotland. Her original performance has been viewed by tens of millions on YouTube, and is widely considered to be one of the most viewed viral video hits of all time. The video of the Susan Boyle semi-final performance also went viral. (See: Susan Boyle 90% As Viral As Last Time) [...]

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