YouTube: the video-sharing site valued at $45.7 billion - and that was two years ago.
"People have a lot of different experiences out there, and they want to share them. That's what we're about. We're the ultimate reality TV, giving you a glimpse into other people's lives."
- co-founder Chad Hurley as cited in USA Today
According to Wikipedia and USA Today (as well as many other sources) YouTube was founded February 14, 2005 by former PayPal employees Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim. However, it wasn't until May 2005 that a preview of the video-sharing website was made public and had its official debut that following November. Early headquarters for the company were above a pizzeria and Japanese restaurant in San Mateo, Calif.
early headquarters
source: Wikipedia
current headquarters in San Bruno, Calif.
source: Wikipedia
Wikipedia states that in November 2005, venture firm Sequoia Capital invested $3.5 million in the company, which initially began as an angel-funded enterprise. (Sequoia-backed companies are now collectively worth more than 20 percent of the total value of NASDAQ.) Then, in 2006, Sequoia and Artis Capital Management put an additional $8 million into the company.
According to Business Insider and Film Creations (and other sources) what sparked the idea for YouTube was Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction at the 2004 Superbowl Halftime. However, even though the video can be easily found on YouTube, it was not the first video posted to the site. The first YouTube video was posted by co-founder Jawed Karim and is a brief clip of him at the San Diego Zoo.
Other important dates (see Daily Infographic)
- October 2006: Google buys YouTube for $1.65 billion
- June 2007: launched in nine countries
- December 2008: HD video launched (720P HD)
- October 2009: Channel 4 partners with YouTube to start showing catch-up TV
- November 2009: full HD launched (1080P HD)
- May 2010: 2 billion daily views (That's 11,574 per second.)
- December 2010: True view ads launched
- May 2011: 3 billion daily video views (That's 34,722 per second.)
- December 2011: First major redesign
- go to Web Archive to see what YouTube used to look like
- January 2012: 4 billion daily video views (That's 42,296 per second.)
- December 2012: First video hits one billion views: Gangnam Style by Psy (see Film Creations)
YouTube now (well, as of a year ago)
- 800 million + monthly visitors
- 72 hours + video uploaded per minute (That's over a decade of content every day.)
- No. 2 search engine (bigger than Bing, Yahoo, Ask and AOL)
- 4 billion hours of video viewed each month (That's over 450,000 years of video viewed monthly.)
The history of advertising on YouTube (see Mashable Infographic)
- June 2007: YouTube mobile site launches, drastically changing how video is distributed
- March 2009: YouTube signs Disney parternship
- April 2009: Shows and movies launch with hundreds of movies and thousands of full-length TV episodes
- October 2009: Livestream of U2 concert
- February 2010: Global livestream of President Obama's YouTube interview
monetization
- 94 of Adage's Top 100 advertisers run campaigns on YouTube
- The number of advertisers using display ads on YouTube increased 10 fold in the last year
partners
- signed more than 10,000 partners to date (2011), including Disney, Turner, Univision and Channel 4
- hundreds of partners are making six figures a year
mobile
- No. 1 video viewing mobile website in the USA, with 7.1 million unique monthly users
traffic
- more video is uploaded to YouTube in 60 days than the three major US networks created in 60 years
- 70 percent of YouTube traffic comes from outside the US
- YouTube is localized in 25 countries across 43 languages
- YouTube's demographic is broad: 18-54 years old
Convergence: home videos to YouTube
Marketing Specialist Stephen Wilson said it perfectly: "Part of what makes YouTube somewhat unique is this wide spectrum of diversity.
Today, YouTube is used for just about every reason imaginable. You can quickly
find videos from media giants like CBS or children’s piano recitals for
grandparents and relatives to watch worldwide."
What used to be family gatherings around a TV set has turned into much less private and much more accessible individual viewings around the world.
However, a major factor is no longer sharing sweet moments with grandma or grandpa; now, there is a much larger community who is more obsessed with popularity, such as the number of views, "likes" and shares a YouTube video gets. Personal home videos have converged into public entertainment.
What used to be family gatherings around a TV set has turned into much less private and much more accessible individual viewings around the world.
However, a major factor is no longer sharing sweet moments with grandma or grandpa; now, there is a much larger community who is more obsessed with popularity, such as the number of views, "likes" and shares a YouTube video gets. Personal home videos have converged into public entertainment.
Tyler Oakley
(see time 9:30-10:25)
(see time 9:30-10:25)
Oakley explains that he started his YouTube channel to keep in touch "in my own little way". He explains how surprised he was when one of his first videos received 100 + views. He said, "I do not have 100 friends."
Steven Fernandez aka "Baby Scumbag"
(see times 22:40-23:18 and 24:28 to 25:20)
(see times 22:40-23:18 and 24:28 to 25:20)
Fifteen-year-old Fernandez initially rode to YouTube fame on his skateboard, but that isn't the only way he's retaining his fame. He now goes by the name "Baby Scumbag" and posts videos of him doing, well, "scummy" things.
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