17 years with YouTube: Its history and relevance in the digital world

12 February 2022 | Newsworthy

Remember the first thing you looked up on YouTube? The platform that gives us tutorials, music and endless content is celebrating, because this February 14 it celebrates 17 years of existence.

We tell you how it became the second most visited site in the world and revealing data about its influence in the digital world.

The YouTube story: reinventing video

The platform was created by an idea that emerged at a friend’s party when one of them wanted to share the videos of the fellowship, but it was annoying and time-consuming to do so by email. These friends also worked together at PayPal, their names are Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim and yes, they are the co-founders of YouTube.

The idea of creating a site where videos could be shared in a simple way was born on February 14, 2005, but it was until April of the same year that the tool for publishing videos was added, and the first video was uploaded to the site. From there, YouTube’s growth was unparalleled. Eight months later, Nike —a brand that is distinguished by creative marketing and always at the forefront— uploaded a video to the platform with former football player Ronaldinho. This video was the first to reach a million views and, thanks to this, companies saw the potential that YouTube had.

The platform also became popular when people started sharing videos of all kinds and posted the link on their social networks such as MySpace. It was clear that YouTube had come to the internet to stay and revolutionize the way of communicating through video. At the time, the New York Post estimated that it should be worth between $600 million and $1 billion. Therefore, Google and MySpace released their versions, but obviously they were not successful.

However, there was one problem: despite the popularity and growth, YouTube did not generate income; on the contrary, it faced lawsuits over copyright issues. Although they were taking action, this scenario was confusing, as growth indicated the success of popularity, but as a business, it did not look good.

In the middle of the complicated situation, Google took the opportunity to buy the platform for 1650 million dollars, which, of course, now does not come close to a tenth of what it is worth, but it is also undeniable that Google turned it into what it is today.

Over the years, Google provided increasingly useful tools to YouTube, for example: In 2007 added the search system and more languages, in 2011 there was already the possibility of renting movies and videos could now last more than 15 minutes, in 2017 it took action on the language and topics that were discussed in the videos and, if the rules were broken, these were demonetized or discharged. Currently, YouTube is very intuitive and that allows the users to range from children, with YouTube Kids, to people between 45 and 65+ years old, who make up 27% of users.

YouTube changed the internet

YouTube reinvented video as an attractive and creative way to communicate and create communities. Throughout its 17 years people have experienced in this platform all the possible reaches —until now— of this format. We’ve seen influencers evolve or stay in the past. And, regarding these characters, they are also a product of the influence of the platform in daily life.

The consumption of information was made faster by the format and the ease of this platform to upload and reach millions of people. Thus, it opened a window to know other realities, even if they are on the other side of the world. For example, the punk band Pussy Riot has used YouTube to spread and broadcast their protests against the government of Putin, who is distinguished by its measures to curb information.

It even had an important impact on the way of doing politics, since it allows the publicity of the contenders, debates and criticisms to be disseminated and submitted to public opinion more easily. Freedom of expression won when YouTube allowed any user to upload content and mass media ceased to have that privilege. In 2012, a study from the Pew Research Center in the United States announced that YouTube is the most widely used medium for information.

YouTube marketing has evolved, as the first commercials came out in 2007 and, after keeping its financial data in total confidence for years, in 2020 YouTube announced that its revenue reached 15 billion dollars in 2019.

Although now networks like Instagram and TikTok are also focused on leading video content, YouTube continues to offer a format that has no equal when it comes to telling stories and teaching. Well, one of the values that this platform maintains effective is the possibility of learning in it. Therefore, brands that choose to be present on YouTube should keep in mind that the audience, beyond entertaining themselves, seeks to learn something new. Proof of this is that videos of type “How to do...?” increase by 70% every year.

On the other hand, the relationship that exists between YouTube and the people who create content on that platform is very special and different from other social networks. Close communication is maintained, and creation is encouraged through badges and recognitions. This is because most of the views that the platform has come from the influencers that keep it always active.

Interesting and relevant facts about YouTube

It is available in 80 languages, covering 95% of the internet population.
Every minute 500 hours of video are uploaded.
The first video that was uploaded lasted 19 seconds and was by Jawed Karim, one of the co-founders. The video is titled “Me at The Zoo”.
"Baby Shark Dance", uploaded in 2016, remains the most watched video with over 8.1 million views.
Two billion people a month consume YouTube content.
More than 70% of the platform’s views are via smartphone.
90% of people using the platform acknowledge that they know brands and new products there.
90% of the people who consume videos on the network, do it on YouTube.
The Lego channel leads corporate channels across the platform with six billion views.