YouTube is indeed one of the biggest platforms for video sharing. When YouTube was launched, nobody thought that it would become such a giant video search engine and gain widespread popularity. This video-sharing website is basically owned by Google and provides a platform where video can be uploaded and shared. Of course, the easy accessibility of the internet everywhere has also added to the increase in the number of YouTube users. Gone are the days when high-speed internet was a luxury. Nowadays, we are privileged enough to enjoy top-notch services like Cox cable internet that have a widespread coverage and impressively affordable rates. And a good internet connection is all you need to be able to enjoy non-stop YouTube videos for free. There is a never-ending sea of the most interesting data and content that you can explore on it.
Generally speaking, an average user spends around 15 to 25 minutes on YouTube. Though you might actively be using YouTube, how much do you really know about it? Do you know its founders or how it works? Never thought so, right? So, here we have gathered the most fascinating facts about YouTube that you might not be aware of. Keep reading and you will get to know them all. Here we go!
YouTube Originated as a Dating Site
The concept of YouTube we see today is not how it basically originated. If we go back in time, we would know that YouTube was intended to be a video dating site. I bet you did not know this before. Later it was decided by its founders to not pursue this track as they noticed that people were not very comfortable sharing their introductory videos online. Hence, there was a shift in the idea. Rather than a dating site with the slogan “Tune In, Hook Up”, it eventually evolved to be one of the most popular videos sharing sites that we all know today.
Founders of YouTube
YouTube was created by three founders who happened to be PayPal employees namely, Chad Hurley, Jawed Karim, and Steve Chen, back in 2005. Hurley was the one who designed the PayPal logo. In fact, it will not be wrong to say that there might not have been any YouTube if there wasn’t PayPal since the three founders made use of the bonuses during the eBay buyout of PayPal.
Owned by the Big Fish
Google, always keeping a keen eye on the market trends and foreseeing the potential of YouTube, bought this video-sharing website at a whopping price of $1.65 billion somewhere around November 2006.
YouTube’s First Video
The first video uploaded on YouTube was on 23rd April 2005 by one of the founders, Jawed Karim, who mainly talked about elephants while covering his visit to the San Diego Zoo. The video was titled Me at the Zoo.
Audience and Global Spread
Around 20% of the YouTube audience is from America, the rest of the 80% traffic is from the other countries across the globe. As many as more than 1.9 billion users visit YouTube every month. The website is accessible in more than 98 countries in localized versions and can be viewed in around 76 different languages!
The Most Popular Music Video to Hit Billion Views
Gangnam Style was the first music video to cross a billion views on YouTube, smashing all records and making waves all over the world. This South Korean artist became an instant superstar and was even called a force for world peace by the U.N.
YouTube is bigger than Bing
Being the second largest search engine in the world, YouTube is bigger than Yahoo and Bing combined. Yes, Google owns two of the most popular search engines in the world. That is huge!
Business Perspective
YouTube has signed around 10,000 advertising partners and the number keeps growing. These include big names like Disney, Univision, Channel 4, and Turner, etc. YouTube usage is massive since viewers watch as much as 100 million hours of video each day. Mind-blowing, isn’t it?
HD Content
YouTube has the most high-definition content than any other online video-sharing site across the world. The global rollout of watching YouTube in high definition took place in November 2009.
17 Videos Hold the Crown of being Number One in terms of Views
Altogether, there are around 17 videos that hold the record of being the most-watched videos on YouTube, including the ever-popular Despacito by Luis Fonsi.
Final Words
It will not be an exaggeration to say that we are obsessed with YouTube and love watching videos of all sorts – musical, non-musical, funny, informative, or tutorials – on this platform in our leisure time. The aforementioned interesting facts add more to our knowledge about this incredible video-sharing platform, making us love it more and more!
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