He's done it again.

Barack Obama shattered YouTube records last week with a speech that shot past Britney Spears as one of the most watched videos of the day, drawing over half a million views in total. A new video of his South Carolina victory speech was the fifth most watched video in the world on Sunday, drawing a whopping 180,000 views in its first day online. It was also the most "favorited" clip in English. The 17-minute speech, which was far more popular than any other political clips, currently trails a Japanese animation video and a shot of actress Charlotte Ross appearing partially nude on NYPD Blue, (which earned ABC a $1.4 million fine from the FCC in 2003).

Some commentators say the only drawback to Obama's stirring speeches is that most voters don't see them. The Atlantic's Matthew Yglesias found this weekend's victory speech "doubly-impressive," for example, but worried that while such addresses "are quite well-known among political junkies, most voters have almost certainly never sat and watched him deliver one." It looks like that could change via YouTube.

From The Nation.

disintermediation | Obama | YouTube
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