How YouTube Started Its Growth
YouTube is a user-generated video sharing website. It enables users to quickly and easily upload videos up to ten minutes in length where they can be viewed on the computer or mobile device. Employing Adobe Flash Video technology, content includes a variety of original videos produced by users, movie and TV clips, music videos and other amateur content. Some content is offered by mainstream media such as BBC, CBS and UMG, but most is uploaded by individuals.
Created in 2005 by three former PayPal employees, YouTube was purchased by Google in November 2006 by Google for $1.65 billion. The story goes that YouTube founders Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim got the idea for the service after having problems sharing videos shot at a party. There is question of the story’s veracity, but it was useful for marketing. The first headquarters were located over a pizzeria and Japanese restaurant in San Meteo, CA.
The YouTube domain, www.youtube.com, was activated in February 2005 with the first video uploaded in April. It featured founder Jawed Karim’s visit to the San Diego Zoo, and is still available for viewing. A beta test was offered to the public in May 2005 with the official launch of the service following in November. By July 2006, there were more than 65,000 new videos uploaded daily with 100 million views per day. Current estimates suggest that 20 hours of new videos are uploaded every minute. YouTube is ranked the third most visited website, after Google and Yahoo.
YouTube made it easy anyone with a computer to post videos online that millions of people could view within minutes. It has turned video sharing into an important part of Internet culture and social media. The embedding feature, or the ability to easily display videos on pages outside of YouTube, is often used in blogs and social networking sites.
An agreement was reached between YouTube, MGM, CBS and Lions Gate Entertainment in November 2008 which will enable the companies to offer movies and television shows along with advertising.