CreationFounded February 14, 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley and
Jawed Karim.Was independent until 2006, when it was bought by
Google. The first video ever uploaded was from the founders. It was
titled Me at the Zoo.
NowToday, YouTube has over a billion users- almost a third of
the total internet users.It gives creators the opportunity to
monetize videos- the most successful creators make enough for it to
be a full-time job.The average viewing session is about 40
minutes.On mobile alone, it reaches more 18-34/18-49 year olds than
American Cable televison.
Top Creators
Lets-playsSome of the most popular channels on youtube are
gaming channels. Creators record themselves playing and reacting to
video games. The most interesting personalities can become very
popular. PewDiePie, AKA Felix Kjellberg, has 42 million people who
enjoy his humourous attitude, as well as watching his wild
reactions (screaming) to horror games.
Memes and Viral VideosYoutube has spawned, or built upon, many
memes and viral videos over the years. These include: Keyboard Cat;
Numa Numa, Carameldansen; Charlie bit my finger; and more recently,
Gangnam Style and What does the fox say. It also enabled the huge
spread of the Rickrolling internet prank.
Most-viewed videosStrangely enough, despite the huge interest in
gaming channels, nearly all of the most-viewed videos on YouTube
are music videos of some sort.
