Charlie Bit My Finger video to be taken off YouTube after selling for £500,000

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As one of the original viral videos, the Charlie Bit My Finger clip is a little piece of internet history.

But now the much-loved clip of baby Charlie gnawing on his brother Harry's finger will be taken off YouTube after it was sold for $760,999 (£538,000).

The Davies-Carr family auctioned the clip as an NFT, a non-fungible token.

Bids came into their auction page throughout the weekend, but the price dramatically increased in its final hours on Sunday.

The bidding battle was between two anonymous accounts.

"3fmusic" eventually outbid "mememaster" for the video, which has been watched more than 880 million times since it was put on YouTube in 2007.

The clip had been due to be removed from the video sharing platform on 23 May, following the auction - but at the moment it's still there.

An NFT is like a certificate to say that you own something digital. It means original versions of viral videos, memes or tweets can be sold as if they were art.

It's a lucrative business for those who own viral clips.

The "Disaster Girl Meme" - a picture of a young girl smiling with a fire in the background - was recently sold as an NFT for $473,000 (£341,000).

NFT (non-fungible token) technology is a growing trend in the digital art world.

Grimes, Johnny Depp and even Twitter founder Jack Dorsey have all sold NFTs of their work for large sums.

And the 10-year-old internet meme, Nyan Cat, sold for $580,000 (£409,000) in February.

An NFT is a bit like a collectible certificate of authenticity, but its owner does not actually buy the copyright itself - meaning the artwork the NFT represents can still be shown wherever the original artist or creator chooses.

This means it's an unusual move for the creators of Charlie Bit My Finger to choose to remove their video from YouTube.

Buyers choose to invest in NFTs for a number of reasons, including nostalgia - but whether this turns out to be an investment with long-term potential, or just a temporary craze, remains to be seen.

Sunday's spending spree means the mysterious anonymous bidder will become the owner of the Charlie Bit My Finger clip.

But it also gives them a chance to create some follow-up content.

The auction page says the NFT winner will be given the opportunity to "recreate a hilarious modern-day rendition of the classic clip" that will feature "the original stars, Harry and Charlie".

Now aged 17 and 15, it's the right time for Harry and Charlie to "embrace the next iteration of the internet", the site adds.

The video was uploaded to YouTube by Harry and Charlie's dad, Howard, in 2007, because he couldn't email it to their godparents in America.

The family website says the clip was filmed as "a part of catching random moments as the boys were growing up", and that it "unintentionally went viral".

They haven't said what they're planning on doing with the money.

 
Wouldn't the family have made more long term if they were getting YT royalties from the video? I know that gravy train won't last forever, and the monetization probably wasn't in place for the first few years the video was up, but it has almost a billion views. There are YT stars who quit their day jobs who have a lot less than 800M views on all their videos combined.

Seems like a short sighted cash in on the part of the family.

Also, is a meme still a meme if you deliberately lock it away from public view?
Ad revenue is a small piece for professional YTers. I think most of their money comes from sponsorships and merch sales. There are apparently people out there who will unironically wear a tee with some lame YouTube gaming channel printed on it. I can highly recommend a Youtuber, mundane Matt, who did some great analysis of the YT business model. He breakdowns the YouTube algo and explains how to capture a big audience, I believe he even wrote a book! It’s all very fascinating stuff.
 
I never got why this video went viral in the first place it's just a boring clip of some gross kids. They arent even deformed
 
Buying NFTs just seems like a "haha dumb poorfag" move. All ego, no brain.
Yeah, I'm a dumb poorfag cuz I'd rather spend my gobs of money on paying artists to create content that will generate ongoing revenue rather than buying things with the intent of no one having them ever again.
 
Buying NFTs just seems like a "haha dumb poorfag" move. All ego, no brain.
Yeah, I'm a dumb poorfag cuz I'd rather spend my gobs of money on paying artists to create content that will generate ongoing revenue rather than buying things with the intent of no one having them ever again.
It's less 'this can make me money' and more 'nobody but me can see this' that motivates them. In other words, unbridled greed.
 
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