What started out as a funny home video made by a group of students is now being watched by thousands of people around the world.

Will Hunter, 21, Greg Barnes and Nick Wilkinson, both 20, needed to find a new housemate and, as a joke, decided to make a video aping the popular MTV show Cribs about their home in Cowley Road, Oxford.

Cribs is a long-running show where music and sports stars show off their glamorous lifestyles through their plush homes and swanky motors.

After the trio had shown copies to their friends, the film soon made it on to the Internet, where it has now been watched by thousands on popular websites such as YouTube and Gumtree.com

Mr Barnes, the director of the film, said: "It all started out as a bit of fun and then it was put up on YouTube and it's taken off."

Mr Hunter, who was also cameraman for the video, said: "We watched so many episodes of MTV's Cribs before we made the video, we wanted to get it just right."

Their video follows the same formula, with slow-motion shots and a hip-hop soundtrack, but instead of a pristine mansion, we are shown a kitchen with a sink full of dirty plates.

Mr Barnes said: "I thought that just friends and family would watch it, but there have been people from America, Germany, even Australia, who have watched it.

"I think technology is at that point now where everyone is on the Internet and spending time looking for different things that they find funny."

More than 2,000 people watched the video on YouTube and off the back of its popularity, Mr Barnes has set up his own forum on the site and put all his films on it.

Last Tuesday, the three friends were contacted by Gumtree.com, the UK's biggest website for classified adverts, and asked if they would like to put the video on its site.

Mr Hunter said: "Gumtree said that the video was very funny and that it had serious viral marketing potential."

Unlike normal marketing, which starts by deciding who is going to receive the marketing message, viral marketing works on the basis that if you make something good enough and put it out there, people will pass it on themselves.

Since the film was put on Gumtree last Tuesday, it has become the most popular video on the site.

So far, it has been watched on 1,584 computers.

Mr Barnes said: "It wasn't really intended to be a serious advert for a roommate, but as we are looking for one, we thought we might as well try."

Gumtree spokesman Sophy Silver said that she thought it was a clever way of advertising a spare room. She said: "Not only do you get a guided tour of the house and so know exactly what the living conditions are going to be, but you also get to check out the personalities of your future housemates."