YouTube is turning 15, and to celebrate, the Morning Brew put together this nice package of stats:
It’s been 15 years to the day since YouTube cofounder Jawed Karim uploaded the platform’s first-ever video, 18 seconds of him pontificating about elephant trunks at the San Diego Zoo. Here’s a brief timeline on what’s happened since:
2005: YouTube launches its public beta in May, and with $3.5 million from Sequoia Capital it goes beyond beta by the end of the year.
2006: Google acquires YouTube for $1.7 billion.
2007: “Charlie bit my finger” becomes the first viral video, proving babies are cuter than cats, and YouTube goes mobile-friendly the same month the first iPhone hits stores.
2008: “Evolution of Dance” gets a record-breaking 100 million views.
2009: Justin Bieber. Vevo. The music world is never the same.
2012: Psy’s “Gangnam Style” gets a historic 1 billion views.
2014: Susan Wojcicki becomes YouTube’s third CEO.
2017: The “Adpocalypse” and “Elsagate” throw the platform under public scrutiny.
As of last year, 500 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube…every minute. There’s no sign of that number going down, especially amid COVID-19.
