YouTube celebrates their 10th anniversary
YouTube is certainly a household name and depository of videos from all over the globe, but it may surprise some folks when they learn the site is only ten years old.
The history of YouTube began on February 14, 2005 when three former PayPal employees activated the Internet domain name “YouTube.com” and started to create a “video sharing” website on which users could upload, share, and view videos.
Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim developed the site over the next few months and finally offered the public a preview of the site in May 2005, six months before YouTube made its official debut.
Screenshot: Jawed Karim “Me at the Zoo” – first YouTube video
Like many technology startups, YouTube was started as an angel-funded enterprise from a makeshift office in a garage. In November 2005, venture firm Sequoia Capital invested an initial $3.5 million; additionally, Roelof Botha, partner of the firm and former CEO of PayPal, joined the YouTube board of directors.
In April 2006, Sequoia and Artis Capital Management put an additional $8 million into the company, which had experienced hugely popular growth within its first few months.
The first YouTube video was titled Me at the zoo, and shows co-founder Jawed Karim at the San Diego Zoo.
The video was uploaded on April 23, 2005, and can still be viewed on the site.
During the summer of 2006, YouTube was one of the fastest growing sites, uploading more than 65,000 new videos and delivering 100 million video views per day in July.
It was then ranked the fifth most popular website on Alexa, far out-pacing even MySpace’s rate of growth. According to a July 16, 2006 survey, 100 million video clips were viewed daily on YouTube, with an additional 65,000 new videos uploaded every 24 hours.
October 9, 2006: it was announced that the company would be purchased by Google for US$1.65 billion in stock. The purchase agreement between Google and YouTube came after YouTube presented three agreements with media companies in an attempt to escape the threat of copyright-infringement lawsuits.
YouTube planned to continue operating independently, with its co-founders and 67 employees working within Google.
The deal to acquire YouTube closed on November 13, and was, at the time, Google’s second largest acquisition.[
Time magazine featured a YouTube screen with a large mirror as its annual ‘Person of the Year’ in 2006, citing user-created media such as YouTube, and featuring the site’s originators along with several content creators.
YouTube was awarded a 2008 Peabody Award and cited for being “a ‘Speakers’ Corner’ that both embodies and promotes democracy”.
In December 2009, Entertainment Weekly placed YouTube on its end-of-the-decade “best-of” list, describing it as: “Providing a safe home for piano-playing cats, celeb goof-ups, and overzealous lip-synchers since 2005.”
The growth continued with programming in the UK and all over the globe, the introduction of streaming and a broader viewership.
In late 2011 and early 2012, YouTube launched over 100 “premium” or “original” channels.
On December 21, 2012, Gangnam Style became the first YouTube video to surpass one billion views.
On March 21, 2013, the number of unique users visiting YouTube every month reached 1 billion.
In 2013, YouTube continued to reach out to mainstream media, launching YouTube Comedy Week and the YouTube Music Awards.
All of this and much more, in just 10 years.
