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YouTube
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YouTube is an American online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005,[7] by Chad Hurley, Jawed Karim, and Steve Chen, who were former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in San Bruno, California, it is the second-most-visited website in the world, after Google. In January 2024, YouTube had more than 2.7Template:Nbspbillion monthly active users, who collectively watched more than one billion hours of videos every day.[8] Template:As of, videos were being uploaded to the platform at a rate of more than 500 hours of content per minute,[9][10] and Template:As of, there were approximately 14.8Template:Nbspbillion videos in total.[11]
On November 13, 2006, YouTube was purchased by Google for US$1.65 billion (equivalent to $Template:Inflation billion in Template:Inflation year).[12] Google expanded YouTube's business model from generating revenue through advertisements alone to offering paid content such as movies and exclusive content explicitly produced for YouTube. It also offers YouTube Premium, a paid subscription option for watching content without ads. YouTube incorporated the Google AdSense program, generating more revenue for both YouTube and approved content creators. In 2023, YouTube's advertising revenue totaled $31.7Template:Nbspbillion, a 2% increase from the $31.1Template:Nbspbillion reported in 2022.[13] From Q4 2023 to Q3 2024, YouTube's combined revenue from advertising and subscriptions exceeded $50Template:Nbspbillion.[14]
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 trailers, teasers, TV spots, 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 to reach bigger audiences.
YouTube has had unprecedented social impact, influencing popular culture, internet trends, and creating multimillionaire celebrities. Despite its growth and success, the platform has been criticized for its facilitation of the spread of misinformation and copyrighted content, routinely violating its users' privacy, excessive censorship, endangering the safety of children and their well-being, and for its inconsistent implementation of platform guidelines.
History
{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}}Template:See also
Founding and initial growth (2005β2006)
YouTube was founded by Chad Hurley, Jawed Karim, and Steve Chen. The three were early employees at PayPal and had become wealthy after eBay's acquisition of the company.[15] Hurley had studied design at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and Chen and Karim studied computer science together at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.[16]
According to a story that has often been repeated in the media, Hurley and Chen developed the idea for YouTube during the early months of 2005, after they had experienced difficulty sharing videos that had been shot at a dinner party at Chen's apartment in San Francisco. Karim did not attend the party and denied that it had occurred, but Chen remarked that the idea that YouTube was founded after a dinner party "was probably very strengthened by marketing ideas around creating a story that was very digestible".[17]
Karim said the inspiration for YouTube came from the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show controversy when Janet Jackson's breast was briefly exposed by Justin Timberlake during the halftime show. Karim could not easily find video clips of the incident and the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami online, which led to the idea of a video-sharing site.[18][19] Hurley and Chen said that the original idea for YouTube was a video version of an online dating service and had been influenced by the website Hot or Not.[17][20] They created posts on Craigslist asking attractive women to upload videos of themselves to YouTube in exchange for a $100 reward.[21] Difficulty in finding enough dating videos led to a change of plans, with the site's founders deciding to accept uploads of any video.[22]

YouTube began as a venture capitalβfunded technology startup. Between November 2005 and April 2006, the company raised money from various investors, with Sequoia Capital and Artis Capital Management being the largest two.[15][23] YouTube's early headquarters were situated above a pizzeria and a Japanese restaurant in San Mateo, California.[24] In February 2005, the company registered www.youtube.com.[25] The first video was uploaded on April 23, 2005. Titled "Me at the zoo", it shows co-founder Jawed Karim at the San Diego Zoo and can still be viewed on the site.[26][27] The same day, the company launched a public beta and by November, a Nike ad featuring Ronaldinho became the first video to reach one million total views.<ref>{{cite web|title=Hurley Declaration|url=https://static.googleusercontent.com/media/www.google.com/en//press/pdf/c_hurley_declara
- β {{#if: | {{{author}}} }} {{#if: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/digital/youtube-ad-revenue-tops-8-6b-beating-netflix-in-the-quarter-1235085391/ | YouTube Ad Revenue Tops $8.6B, Beating Netflix in the Quarter }} {{#if: | {{{publisher}}}. }} {{#if: June 11, 2022 | Accessed: June 11, 2022. }}
- β {{#if: | {{{author}}} }} {{#if: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/01/05/googles_grumpy_makes_python_go/ | Google's Grumpy code makes Python Go }} {{#if: | {{{publisher}}}. }} {{#if: September 16, 2017 | Accessed: September 16, 2017. }}
- β {{#if: | {{{author}}} }} {{#if: https://googlecode.blogspot.no/2009/05/guice-deuce.html | Guice Deuce }} {{#if: | {{{publisher}}}. }} {{#if: March 25, 2017 | Accessed: March 25, 2017. }}
- β {{#if: | {{{author}}} }} {{#if: https://highscalability.com/blog/2008/3/12/youtube-architecture.html | YouTube Architecture }} {{#if: High Scalability | High Scalability. }} {{#if: October 13, 2014 | Accessed: October 13, 2014. }}
- β {{#if: | {{{author}}} }} {{#if: https://github.com/youtube/vitess | Golang Vitess: a database wrapper written in Go as used by Youtube }} {{#if: | {{{publisher}}}. }} {{#if: September 16, 2017 | Accessed: September 16, 2017. }}
- β {{#if: | {{{author}}} }} {{#if: https://www.forbes.com/advisor/business/social-media-statistics/ | Top Social Media Statistics And Trends Of 2023 β Forbes Advisor }} {{#if: | {{{publisher}}}. }} {{#if: June 15, 2023 | Accessed: June 15, 2023. }}
- β {{#if: | {{{author}}} }} {{#if: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/ztq2g2p | YouTube turns 20! The numbers behind the platform }} {{#if: | {{{publisher}}}. }} {{#if: 2025-07-23 | Accessed: 2025-07-23. }}
- β {{#if: | {{{author}}} }} {{#if: https://blog.youtube/news-and-events/you-know-whats-cool-billion-hours | You know what's cool? A billion hours }} {{#if: | {{{publisher}}}. }} {{#if: April 19, 2021 | Accessed: April 19, 2021. }}
- β {{#if: | {{{author}}} }} {{#if: https://www.tubefilter.com/2019/05/07/number-hours-video-uploaded-to-youtube-per-minute/ | More Than 500 Hours Of Content Are Now Being Uploaded To YouTube Every Minute }} {{#if: | {{{publisher}}}. }} {{#if: June 10, 2019 | Accessed: June 10, 2019. }}
- β {{#if: | {{{author}}} }} {{#if: https://www.visualcapitalist.com/the-50-most-visited-websites-in-the-world/ | The 50 Most Visited Websites in the World }} {{#if: | {{{publisher}}}. }} {{#if: December 6, 2021 | Accessed: December 6, 2021. }}
- β {{#if: | {{{author}}} }} {{#if: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20250213-youtube-at-20-a-computer-that-drunk-dials-online-videos-reveals-statistics-that-google-doesnt-want-you-to-know | How a computer that 'drunk dials' videos is exposing YouTube's secrets }} {{#if: | {{{publisher}}}. }} {{#if: February 13, 2025 | Accessed: February 13, 2025. }}
- β {{#if: | {{{author}}} }} {{#if: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-35460398 | How did Google become the world's most valuable company? }} {{#if: | {{{publisher}}}. }} {{#if: May 26, 2021 | Accessed: May 26, 2021. }}
- β {{#if: | {{{author}}} }} {{#if: https://abc.xyz/assets/91/b3/3f9213d14ce3ae27e1038e01a0e0/2024q1-alphabet-earnings-release-pdf.pdf | Alphabet Q1 2024 Earnings Release }} {{#if: | {{{publisher}}}. }} {{#if: November 1, 2024 | Accessed: November 1, 2024. }}
- β {{#if: | {{{author}}} }} {{#if: https://www.businessinsider.com/google-cfo-analysts-ai-subscription-growth-2024-9 | Google CFO Discusses YouTube's Advertising and Subscription Revenue }} {{#if: | {{{publisher}}}. }} {{#if: November 1, 2024 | Accessed: November 1, 2024. }}
- β 15.0 15.1 {{#if: | {{{author}}} }} {{#if: https://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/10/technology/10payday.html | Venture Firm Shares a YouTube Jackpot }} {{#if: | {{{publisher}}}. }} {{#if: March 26, 2017 | Accessed: March 26, 2017. }}
- β {{#if: | {{{author}}} }} {{#if: https://www.smh.com.au/technology/youtube-founders-now-superstars-20061011-gdokrc.html | YouTube founders now superstars }} {{#if: | {{{publisher}}}. }} {{#if: March 18, 2021 | Accessed: March 18, 2021. }}
- β 17.0 17.1 Template:Cite magazine
- β {{#if: | {{{author}}} }} {{#if: https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/tech/news/2006-10-11-youtube-karim_x.htm | Surprise! There's a third YouTube co-founder }} {{#if: | {{{publisher}}}. }} {{#if: March 26, 2017 | Accessed: March 26, 2017. }}
- β {{#if: | {{{author}}} }} {{#if: https://www.businessinsider.com/idea-for-youtube-came-from-janet-jackson-nipplegate-2015-10 | Here's how Janet Jackson's infamous 'nipplegate' inspired the creation of YouTube }} {{#if: | {{{publisher}}}. }} {{#if: April 13, 2024 | Accessed: April 13, 2024. }}
- β Earliest surviving version of the YouTube website Wayback Machine, April 28, 2005. Retrieved June 19, 2013.
- β {{#if: | {{{author}}} }} {{#if: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAJEXUNmP5M | r p 2006: YouTube: From Concept to Hypergrowth β Jawed Karim }} {{#if: | {{{publisher}}}. }} {{#if: | Accessed: {{{access-date}}}. }} Template:Cbignore
- β {{#if: | {{{author}}} }} {{#if: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/mar/16/youtube-past-video-dating-website | YouTube was meant to be a video-dating website }} {{#if: | {{{publisher}}}. }} {{#if: March 15, 2019 | Accessed: March 15, 2019. }}
- β {{#if: | {{{author}}} }} {{#if: https://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/12/technology/12hedges.html | San Francisco Hedge Fund Invested in YouTube }} {{#if: | {{{publisher}}}. }} {{#if: September 8, 2018 | Accessed: September 8, 2018. }}
- β {{#if: | {{{author}}} }} {{#if: https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/06/AR2006100600660.html | Ready for Its Close-Up }} {{#if: | {{{publisher}}}. }} {{#if: March 26, 2017 | Accessed: March 26, 2017. }}
- β
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{{#if: https://whois.domaintools.com/youtube.com | Whois Record for
www.youtube.com}} {{#if: DomainTools | DomainTools. }} {{#if: April 1, 2009 | Accessed: April 1, 2009. }} - β {{#if: | {{{author}}} }} {{#if: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/2480280/YouTube-Overnight-success-has-sparked-a-backlash.html | YouTube: Overnight success has sparked a backlash }} {{#if: | {{{publisher}}}. }} {{#if: March 26, 2017 | Accessed: March 26, 2017. }} Template:Cbignore
- β {{#if: | {{{author}}} }} {{#if: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNQXAC9IVRw | Me at the zoo }} {{#if: | {{{publisher}}}. }} {{#if: August 3, 2009 | Accessed: August 3, 2009. }} Template:Cbignore