On November 23rd Psy, a South Korean pop star, claimed the title for the most-watched online video
His goofy, rodeo-dancing “Gangnam Style” clip was viewed more than 805m times,
surpassing Justin Bieber’s “Baby”. Psy’s sudden success underscores a broader
trend: video has become the dominant form of (fixed-access) online content.
Three years ago audiovisual entertainment was less than 30% of peak-time
internet traffic in North America. That share has since doubled, says Sandvine,
a consultancy. Web-browsing’s share has shrunk by two-thirds. Netflix accounts
for a third of American peak-time traffic. YouTube is the world’s biggest
purveyor of online videos, not all of them filmed in Seoul.
