Leading management and marketing company, Viral Spiral, which connects hit viral content with brands, agencies and production companies worldwide, and Rightster, a leading online video distribution, marketing and monetisation specialist, today announces that the most viewed user generated viral video of all time, the hugely successful ‘Charlie bit my finger’ has exceeded half a billion views on YouTube.

This milestone coincides with the introduction on YouTube of a new series of original online videos featuring Harry and Charlie alongside their younger brother Jasper. The first three pilot episodes titled “Biting News”, “King of The Week” and “Charlie Bites…Toys” were produced by Viral Studios, a division of Viral Spiral, in conjunction with Rightster and showcase a selection of lighthearted viral videos from around the web, together with a review of a remote controlled Lamborghini toy car.

The YouTube viewing statistics for the original ‘Charlie Bit My Finger’ video provide insight for the first time into how the most popular user generated video went viral and also illustrate significant changes in our viewing habits.

High speed mobile broadband together with the widespread adoption of smartphone and tablet devices has resulted in a dramatic shift to video consumption on the go with 73.5% of all views in 2012 coming from these devices, compared to 45.2% in 2011 and 22.4% in 2010.

The video was uploaded to YouTube on the 22^nd May 2007 and has since attracted audiences worldwide with the USA, Mexico, UK, Canada, Germany, Brazil, Australia and most recently, Saudi Arabia all having featured in the top 5 list of countries generating the most views each year. At the other end of the list, there have been 103 views from the Vatican City and in last place, 3 views from Tokelau, a territory of New Zealand with a population of approximately 1,400 inhabitants.

Interestingly, the video was initially more popular among females who made up over 60% of the audience in 2007. The boys have since caught up, with the audience now evenly split.

Damian Collier, Founder and CEO of Viral Spiral commented: ““We’re delighted that the ‘Charlie Bit My Finger’ clip has now reached the half a billion views milestone – it’s amazing to see how popular this video has become in every corner of the globe. It's a household name, and turning into a true 'brand'. We look forward to working with the boys and their family as well as Rightster, on this exciting new venture.”

Howard Davies-Carr, father of Harry, Charlie and Jasper added: “We love that such a simple video has touched so many souls. We hope the boys can continue to lighten up peoples’ lives in the years to come.”

“This is a hugely exciting time for the online video industry and we are delighted to be collaborating with Viral Spiral to bring original content programming ideas to life,” added Charlie Muirhead, Founder and CEO of Rightster. “The immense popularity of the ‘Charlie bit my finger’ video underscores the massive potential for content producers, publishers and brands to create, distribute and monetize original video content and demonstrates the potential to extend their reach to millions of online users globally.”

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Notes to editor: The original ‘Charlie bit my finger’ video was selected by EE to star in one of six TV spots with Kevin Bacon as part of their multi-million pound 4G advertising campaign developed by Saatchi & Saatchi, which probably helped to tip the number of views over the ½ billion milestone.

For further information on Rightster’s work, to speak to Charlie Muirhead or one of the senior team, please contact Elisabeth Rosario (New York) or Christina Murphy (UK) at Hotwire.

For further information on Viral Spiral’s work, please contact contact@viralspiralgroup.com.

About Rightster:

Rightster is a leading cloud-based video distribution and monetisation specialist that enables rights holders and producers, such as ITN, BFC (British Fashion Council) and IMG Fashion to gain full control and visibility over their video distribution, maximising their audience reach and revenues across all platforms and publishers from newspapers such as Mail Online to premium blog sites. Rightster’s turnkey services, such as audience development, remove the in-house complexity of managing technology and integration with publishers and platforms. This gives rights holders and producers the quickest and easiest route to market, as well as the flexibility to experiment and innovate with new digital services and revenue models for both live streaming and video on demand.

About Viral Spiral:

Viral Spiral bridges the gap between the owners of the world's most viewed user generated content and brands, creative agencies and production companies seeking to use such content. Viral Spiral helps viral video owners realise the full potential of their videos and works creatively with production companies, ad agencies and brands to use that content through licensing, research and consultancy, cross promotion/seeding, production and distribution and monetisation. Viral Spiral has connected the best of viral content to the likes of MTV, VH1, BBC, Leo Burnett, BBH, Publicis Chemistry, Poke London, Saatchi & Saatchi, Coca Cola, Samsung, Sony Playstation, TMobile, EE and many, many more. Some of Viral Spiral's client's include the biggest names on YouTube including, 'Charlie Bit My Finger', the 'Sneezing Baby Panda' and the 'Talking Twin Babies' and Viral Spiral signs the hottest videos viral videos as they break every day.