What Happened to YouTube? The Rise of YouTube
When YouTube was launched in 2005, no one would have predicted that it would grow to the extent it has now where it is the 2nd largest search engine behind Google, its parent company, as is covered in detail over at runrex.com. It has gone from being a site where folks would frequent to watch funny and viral videos, especially cat videos, to a major player in online advertising. One thing that is always overlooked as far as YouTube is concerned is that, having been launched only in 2005 as mentioned above, it is a relative newbie, which makes its rise even more remarkable as it has only been in operation for just short of 15 years. Within these 15 years, we have seen it go from a relatively small website which was used for posting funny viral videos, or videos of people hurting themselves, to a big player in the online marketing world generating billions in advertising revenues in the US and worldwide every year. This article will look to try and trace it steps and paint a picture on the rise of YouTube with the help of the gurus over at guttulus.com.
Even though YouTube is part of the Google family as mentioned above, it was actually founded on Valentine’s day of 2005 by three former PayPal employees; Chad Hurley, Jawed Karim and Steve Chen. Before the launch, the idea to come up with YouTube, according to the founders, was born at a dinner party in San Francisco about a year before in 2004. They identified how difficult it was to find and watch viral clips online, with their discussion centering on how hard it was to find the clip of the now infamous Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction during the Halftime show of the 2004 Superbowl as discussed in detail over at runrex.com. After its founding, the beta version of YouTube was up and running in May of 2005 and a month later the site saw its very first video posting. This was a 19 second clip of Jawed Karim, one of the co-founders, standing in front of elephants at the zoo. This clip was entitled “Me at the Zoo” and it is still searchable and viewable on YouTube even now. As discussed over at guttulus.com, in September of 2005, YouTube had its second milestone with the first video there to accrue 1 million views. This was a Nike promo video of Brazilian soccer superstar Ronaldinho receiving his pair of golden boots and showing off his famous juggling skills.
This video by Nike showcased YouTube’s promotional potential as per the gurus over at runrex.com, and from then on its rise gathered steam. This is because, the cash injections begum to come in, starting with about $3.5 million from Sequoia Capital in November 2005 which allowed YouTube to increase its bandwidth and improve its servers allowing it to launch to the public. In June of the following year, 2006, YouTube struck a deal with NBC to help the media company get into the new digital era by promoting its fall TV lineup, which was another milestone as it signaled the beginning of YouTube’s strategic partnerships with content providers. Then followed another big milestone by the company, one which changed its course, when it was acquired by Google in a deal worth about $1.65bn. Given what we know now, you have to say it was excellent foresight by Google, who even called the deal “the next step in the evolution of the internet”, with more details on this momentous deal to be found over at guttulus.com.
After the acquisition by Google, came another major milestone when in May of 2007, YouTube launched the “YouTube Partner Program” that allowed folks to get paid for their viral content. A year later from this, as per the excellent guttulus.com, there were people who were earning as much as a million dollars from YouTube with others even quitting their jobs after realizing they were earning more from YouTube than from their regular jobs. Then came another big milestone for YouTube when in July of 2007, it teamed up with CNN to host and show the presidential debate for the election cycle of 2008. The first ads for YouTube were then rolled out by Google in August 2007, which were semi-transparent banners appearing on the lower15 or 20% of videos about 10 to 15 seconds into a video, with more on this to be found on the highly regarded runrex.com. Other major milestones that followed include the launch of Justin Bieber by Usher on YouTube in April of 2009, the same month YouTube won a Peabody Award. This was also the same year YouTube went fully mainstream with all sorts of organizations and groups launching YouTube channels, even the Vatican. The launch of YouTube live followed in 2011, yet another major milestone, allowing the site to stream content of all types from concerts to events such as the royal wedding and even sporting events such as the Olympics.
YouTube has continued to rise, with Google introducing more and more features aimed at reinventing and revolutionizing the way people watch video, as well as changing the digital marketing world, with more on this to be found over at the excellent runrex.com and guttulus.com