YouTube’s first 20 years, from dating site to home-video platform to ‘king of all media’

The grainy, 19-second YouTube video that started it all hardly had the makings of a viral sensation. Shot at the San Diego Zoo in the US state of California, the primitive video clip showed Jawed Karim, the platform’s co-founder, complimenting the elephants in the frame behind him. “The cool thing about these guys is they have really, really, really long trunks,” Karim said. The clip, titled “Me at the zoo”, was the first video uploaded onto YouTube 20 years ago, opening the door to a new medium. From those modest beginnings, the site opened the gates for users from around the world to post funny, viral videos that could take the internet by storm, racking up millions of views and earning some of them millions of US dollars. Popular music artists such as Justin Bieber rose to fame on YouTube, and social media stars, including MrBeast turned their large followings into powerful entertainment companies. The destination for home-made videos such as “Charlie bit my finger” is now the streaming home to large music festivals like Coachella and American football games. Google-owned YouTube’s revenue last year was estimated to be US$54.2 billion, which would make it the second-largest media company behind Walt Disney, according to a recent report from research firm MoffettNathanson, which called YouTube “the new king of all media”. More people are watching YouTube on television sets rather than on smartphones and computer screens, consuming more than 1 billion hours on average of YouTube content on television daily, the company said on its website. That has opened up opportunities for video creators like Dhar Mann, who started posting videos on YouTube in 2018 with no film background. Today, his company operates on 125,000 sq ft (11,600 square metres) of production space in Burbank, California, employs roughly 200 people and works with 2,000 actors a year on family-friendly programmes that touch on how students and families deal with topics such as bullying, narcolepsy, chronic inflammatory bowel disease and hoarding. Mann made US$45 million last year, according to estimates by US business magazine Forbes. Most of his company’s revenue comes through YouTube. “I didn’t have to wait two years for a studio to greenlight my deal and send me a cheque,” 40-year-old Mann said. “I was able to get instant access to monetisation as soon as I got people watching my videos, so YouTube has changed my life. I don’t think it’s just the future of TV – it is TV, and the world is catching on.” When YouTube first started, its founders were not thinking they would take on the television industry. They envisioned it as a dating site where people would upload videos and score them. When that did not work, the founders decided to open up the platform for all sorts of videos. Users drove traffic to YouTube by sharing videos on social networking website MySpace. One of the key ways YouTube built a large following was by embracing and, crucially, paying its video creators – the people who were posting content on the site. In 2007, YouTube launched a partnership programme, providing a way for creators to make money through ads. This financially motivated creators to keep posting, which brought more eyeballs and advertisers to YouTube. Patrick Starrr, who produces make-up tutorial videos, said he made his first US$1 million through YouTube at the age of 25. He left his job at retailer MAC Cosmetics in Florida and moved to Los Angeles. “I’m living proof that you can turn your passion into a profession, and your purpose into power,” wrote Starrr, 35, in an email. “YouTube gave me the mic, and I haven’t put it down since.” It was still a fledgling career path at the time. Creators learned as they went, figuring out who to hire for their teams and how to negotiate their own brand deals. Some dealt with sceptical parents. “My mom would always give me so much c**p about it – she would say, ‘Why do you want to do YouTube?’” said Chucky Appleby, now an executive at MrBeast. His reply: “Mom, you can make a living from this.” MrBeast’s holding company, Beast Industries, which employs more than 400 people, made US$473 million in revenue last year, according to Business Insider. Appleby, 28, said he has since bought a Jeep for his mum. YouTube benefited from being a video pioneer, but it faces growing competition from social media rivals including Instagram and TikTok that try to woo influencers to post content on their platforms. In 2020, YouTube launched its own form of shorter videos called “Shorts” to better compete with TikTok. The company has also diversified the way that creators can make money beyond ads and brand deals. And in 2016, YouTube announced a slate of premium scripted shows. Cobra Kai, a series based on the Karate Kid film franchise, began as a YouTube Original and ended up becoming a hit for Netflix. YouTube this week celebrated more than 20 billion videos being uploaded to the platform, and said it now sees an average of some 20 million videos uploaded daily. It has become the world’s largest digital video service in terms of time spent by viewers and ad revenue, according to Ross Benes, an analyst at market research company eMarketer. “If you go back 20 years, it would have seemed laughable that this website with kids making parody videos would become a threat to [broadcasting channels] Disney, ABC and CBS,” Benes said. “That’s what they were able to accomplish.” Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse

YouTube’s first 20 years, from dating site to home-video platform to ‘king of all media’

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}From modest beginnings 20 years ago, YouTube has become a rival to streamers and broadcasters. It recently saw its 20th billion video upload

From modest beginnings 20 years ago, YouTube has become a rival to streamers and broadcasters. It recently saw its 20th billion video upload