**History and Acquisition**:
– Founded by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim
– Idea sparked by difficulty sharing videos at a dinner party
– Inspired by Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show controversy
– Original concept was a video dating service
– First video uploaded titled ‘Me at the zoo’ in April 2005
– Google acquired YouTube for $1.65 billion in stock in 2006
– Deal finalized on November 13, 2006
– Google’s acquisition led to increased interest in video-sharing sites
– YouTube introduced the slogan ‘Broadcast Yourself’
– Experienced rapid growth and consumed significant bandwidth
**Business Model and Platform Expansion**:
– Started as a venture capital-funded startup
– Revenue generation evolved from ads to paid content and subscriptions
– Introduced YouTube Premium for ad-free viewing
– Incorporated Google’s AdSense program for revenue sharing
– Annual advertising revenue increased to $29.2 billion in 2022
– Expanded beyond the core website to mobile apps and network television
– Allows linking with other platforms
– Video categories include music videos, news, documentaries, vlogs, and more
– Content is mainly user-generated with collaborations and corporate sponsorships
– Established media and entertainment corporations have YouTube channels
**Social Impact, Criticism, and Milestones**:
– Influenced popular culture and created celebrity status
– Criticized for spreading misinformation and sharing copyrighted content
– Concerns over privacy violations, censorship, and child safety
– Inconsistent implementation of platform guidelines
– Despite criticism, YouTube remains a major platform for content consumption
– Over 3 billion videos watched daily
– 48 hours of new videos uploaded per minute
– 30% of videos accounted for 99% of views
– More than 100 hours uploaded per minute in 2013
– Introduction of new logo in 2013
**Organizational Changes and Leadership**:
– YouTube CEOs: Chad Hurley (2005-2010), Salar Kamangar (2010-2014), Susan Wojcicki (2014-2023), Neal Mohan (2023-present)
– YouTube moved to a new office in San Bruno in 2006
– Salar Kamangar became CEO in 2010
– Susan Wojcicki became CEO in 2014
– Expansion of headquarters in San Bruno in 2016
– Introduction of channel subscriptions in 2018
– Launch of YouTube Red and YouTube Music in 2015
– Creation of YouTube Kids and YouTube Gaming in 2015
**Technological Features and Enhancements**:
– Video Technology: VP9, H.264/MPEG-4 AVC codecs, Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP
– AV1 Format: Rolled out by YouTube in January 2019
– HTML Video: Default playback method since January 27, 2015
– Resolution Evolution: From 320×240 pixels to 8K resolution
– Codec Changes: Transitioned to H.264/MPEG-4 AVC as default
– Frame Rates: Supported up to 60 frames per second since 2014
– HDR Video: Added in November 2016
– 3D and 360-Degree Video: Supported since 2009 and 2015 respectively
YouTube is an American online video sharing platform owned by Google. Accessible worldwide, YouTube launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim, three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in San Bruno, California, United States, it is the second most visited website in the world, after Google Search. YouTube has more than 2.5 billion monthly users, who collectively watch more than one billion hours of videos every day. As of May 2019[update], videos were being uploaded to the platform at a rate of more than 500 hours of content per minute, and as of 2021, there were approximately 14 billion videos in total.
 Logo used since 2017 | |
 Screenshot of the video player on September 13, 2023 | |
| Type of business | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
Type of site | Online video platform |
| Founded | February 14, 2005 |
| Headquarters | 901 Cherry Avenue San Bruno, California, United States |
| Area served | Worldwide (excluding blocked countries) |
| Owner | Google LLC |
| Founder(s) | |
| Key people |
|
| Industry | |
| Products | |
| Revenue |  US$31.5 billion (2023) |
| Parent | Google LLC (2006–present) |
| URL | youtube (see list of localized domain names) |
| Advertising | Google AdSense |
| Registration | Optional
|
| Users |  2.7 billion MAU (January 2024) |
| Launched | February 14, 2005 |
| Current status | Active |
Content license | Uploader holds copyright (standard license); Creative Commons can be selected. |
| Written in | Python (core/API), C (through CPython), C++, Java (through Guice platform), Go, JavaScript (UI) |
In October 2006, YouTube was purchased by Google for $1.65 billion (equivalent to $2.31 billion in 2023). Google expanded YouTube's business model of generating revenue from advertisements alone, to offering paid content such as movies and exclusive content produced by and for YouTube. It also offers YouTube Premium, a paid subscription option for watching content without ads. YouTube incorporated Google's AdSense program, generating more revenue for both YouTube and approved content creators. In 2022, YouTube's annual advertising revenue increased to $29.2 billion, more than $9 billion higher than in 2020.
Since its purchase by Google, YouTube has expanded beyond the core website into mobile apps, network television, and the ability to link with other platforms. Video categories on YouTube include music videos, video clips, news, short and feature films, songs, documentaries, movie and teaser trailers, live streams, vlogs, and more. Most content is generated by individuals, including collaborations between "YouTubers" and corporate sponsors. Established media, news, and entertainment corporations have also created and expanded their visibility to YouTube channels in order to reach greater audiences.
YouTube has had unprecedented social impact, influencing popular culture, internet trends, and creating multimillionaire celebrities. Despite its growth and success, the platform is sometimes criticized for allegedly facilitating the spread of misinformation, the sharing of copyrighted content, routinely violating its users' privacy, enabling censorship, endangering child safety and wellbeing, and for its inconsistent or incorrect implementation of platform guidelines.