YouTube

In February 2005, three former PayPal employees, Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim, launched a website that let anyone upload a video and share it with the world. The first clip, Karim's 19-second visit to the San Diego Zoo, went up on April 23. Within a year, the site was serving 100 million videos daily. Google bought YouTube in November 2006 for $1.65 billion in stock, a bet that reshaped the internet.

Today, YouTube is the dominant force in online video. More than 500 hours of content land on its servers every minute. Every day, users collectively watch over a billion hours. The platform's library spans nearly every imaginable topic: music videos, gaming streams, DIY repairs, college lectures, cooking shows, political debates, and scripted series. Its recommendation algorithm, often criticized and studied, drives much of that viewing, creating rabbit holes that can turn a casual search into a four-hour session.

YouTube's business model is advertising-first, but it has built a layered revenue system. The YouTube Partner Program, launched in 2007, shares ad revenue with creators who hit 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours. Beyond ads, creators can earn through channel memberships, Super Chat donations during live streams, merchandise shelves, and brand deals. YouTube Premium, introduced in 2015 as YouTube Red, offers ad-free viewing, background playback, and offline downloads for $11.99 a month. YouTube Music and YouTube TV add music streaming and live TV packages. The platform's analytics tools, accessible through YouTube Studio, give creators detailed data on audience retention, traffic sources, and search behavior, including a Research tab that shows what viewers are searching for across the site. [edit]