MAIDENHEAD, England — Visiting the local park not long ago, Shelley Davies-Carr and her four sons were suddenly surrounded by a gaggle of overexcited teenagers wielding cellphones and taking photographs. “Oh, my God!” the teenagers shrieked, as only teenagers can. “ ‘Charlie Bit My Finger!’ ” 
 
 Indeed, it is hard to find anyone in the video-watching world who has not heard of “Charlie Bit My Finger,” a YouTube video featuring tiny Charlie Davies-Carr chomping on his older brother, Harry. Since it was posted in 2007, the 56-second clip of English-accented toddler indignation and infant bliss has been viewed a mind-boggling 417.6 million times, making it the most successful noncommercial video in YouTube history. 
 
 Its appeal is simple. “I have watched this at least 100 times,” a viewer named Hannahjp100 declared on the “Charlie” site, “and I still laugh while watching it.” 
 
 Howard Davies-Carr, a 43-year-old information technology consultant who is the father of Charlie, now 5, and Harry, 7, said that though he did not regard his sons as celebrities, they had become a brand, like it or not. He and Shelley, who runs a nursery school at home, explained some of the repercussions in a recent conversation in their child-detritus-cluttered kitchen. (They live not far from Maidenhead, but do not want the town’s name made public.) 
 
 The family gets recognized in random places — on the subway in London; in the house, by the washing-machine repairman. Last month, “Charlie Bit My Finger” was mentioned on “30 Rock.” Web-savvy children around the world apparently quote from the video when they get hurt, or want to express mock indignation. There are fan sites, Facebook pages and endless parody videos. A lady in New York volunteered to be the boys’ honorary aunt. Their dentist recently revealed that an acquaintance had named his son Charlie, as an homage. 
 
 The video has also changed their life materially. Mr. Davies-Carr will not say exactly how much money they have made, only that it is “in excess of £100,000,” or more than $158,000, and enough to pay for the boys’ education. 
 
 Why this particular video? 
 
 “Videos are videos. They’re either popular or they’re not,” said Mr. Davies-Carr, who originally uploaded the video as a way to keep a family friend in Colorado apprised of his sons’ progress. The viral part came later, unexpectedly, he said, when the video was apparently picked up by a college humor site and somehow things took off. 
 
 If its charm seems straightforward — Harry’s cute accent, Charlie’s maniacal laugh — its unprecedented global popularity is mysterious. We are not talking about “Citizen Kane” here, or even “Porky’s Revenge.” Although videos of cute animals, cute kids and hapless people unexpectedly falling down do better than videos of things that are not cute or funny, figuring out what makes one video touch a viral nerve and another fizzle into unwatched obscurity is one of the great challenges of the YouTube age. 
 
 In Britain, some commentators have struggled to fathom the appeal of the video and sequels showing the boys and their brothers, Jasper, 3 ½, and Rupert, 8 months, engaging in nonbiting activities. “They are not, to put it politely, exceptional,” wrote Terence Blacker in The Independent. 
 
 That is not how the world sees it, and Mr. Davies-Carr said he had thought long and hard about how to “monetize” in a responsible way what has become a very valuable property. 
 
 He is a YouTube “partner,” meaning that the family shares in advertising revenue generated by the site. The boys make the odd commercial. A new “Charlie” app is in the works for iPhone and Android devices. There is talk of children’s books and a YouTube channel. 
 
 The family is represented by a company called Viral Spiral, whose clients include the people behind the sneezing baby panda video and the babbling twin baby video. Damian Collier, who founded the company about a year ago — the Davies-Carrs were his first clients — said he had been impressed by their approach. “When I first met up with Howard, it was clear that he was enormously concerned to protect his boys and make sure anything done was tasteful and not exploitative,” Mr. Collier said. ||||| Published on May 22, 2007 
 
 Charlie bit my finger - again ! Subscribe here: http://bit.ly/1oHVuUM 
 
 
 
 Even had I thought of trying to get my boys to do this I probably couldn't have. Neither were coerced into any of this and neither were hurt (for very long anyway). This was just one of those moments when I had the video camera out because the boys were being fun and they provided something really very funny. 
 
 
 
 T-Shirts 
 
 iPhone http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/charli... 
 
 Android https://play.google.com/store/apps/de... 
 
 
 
 FAQ Harry is 8 3/4, Charlie is 6 1/2, Jasper is 4 1/4, Rupert is 1 1/2 
 
 (November 2012) 
 
 
 
 Harry and Charlie Blogging - Charlie Bit My Finger Again! 
 
 http://harryandcharlie.blogspot.com/ 
 
 
 
 Twitter 
 
 http://twitter.com/harryandcharlie
– The 2007 web video "Charlie Bit My Finger" has been viewed 417.6 million times and is now the most-watched noncommercial video in YouTube history, reports the New York Times. The newspaper checks in on the UK family that became inadvertent digital-age stars and finds that brothers Harry, now 7, and Charlie, 5, have become a brand of their own, if somewhat begrudgingly. Their dad says the video has brought in about $160,000 for the family, thanks to a revenue-sharing partnership with YouTube. They're even working on a "Charlie" app for iPhone and Android and perhaps a line of children's books. (The family is represented by the marketing company Viral Spiral, which also handles the clients behind the sneezing baby panda video.) “I wouldn’t be upset if people stopped watching,” says dad. “People bring their own view and make assumptions based on no knowledge of us, but we’ve gone beyond the point where we can be angry at what they say."