The three-minute video intended as a gag - a montage of clips and cameos from viral video stars like David Devore from David after the dentist - describes how the website will wind down as some 30,000 technicians begin to trawl through 150,000 clips, to select the world's best video.
The winner gets a $500 stipend, a clip-on MP3 player - and becomes the sole video to be featured on YouTube when the website relaunches in 2023.
"Gangnam Style has the same chance of winning as a video with 40 views of a man feeding bread to a duck," YouTube CEO Salar Kamangar pronounced, referring to the viral sensation from Korean pop artist PSY that's now the most-viewed
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