How old is youtube website

Source: The Verge , Business Insider. Source: NPR. Source: Variety , YouTube Blog. Source: The Verge. For you. World globe An icon of the world globe, indicating different international options. Get the Insider App. Click here to learn more. A leading-edge research firm focused on digital transformation. Good Subscriber Account active since Shortcuts.

Account icon An icon in the shape of a person's head and shoulders. It often indicates a user profile. Log out. US Markets Loading H M S In the news. Paige Leskin. YouTube has more than 2 billion monthly users visiting the video-sharing platform for their favorite vlogs, music videos, sports highlights, and more. It's been 15 years since YouTube's website launched to the public in May YouTube was founded earlier that year by three early PayPal employees.

Since then, it's become the most popular free video-sharing platform in the world. Take a look at the history of YouTube, from its start as a failed video-dating website to a powerhouse platform that's launched a new generation of money-making YouTubers and influencers. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. Late Three early employees of e-payment startup PayPal — Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim — start working on an idea for a website for users to upload video-dating profiles.

They work out of Hurley's garage in Menlo Park, California. The website launches to a small subset of users. Instead, users start uploading videos of all kinds to YouTube. April Based on the feedback, the cofounders transformed YouTube into a free video-hosting platform where each clip has a unique link. However, the story of how the cofounders got to this point is a much contested one. April While YouTube is still in private beta, first video ever is uploaded to the website.

The video, called "Me at the Zoo," is only 18 seconds long. It shows Karim, one of the cofounders, standing in front of elephants at the San Diego zoo and talking about their trunks. May YouTube launches its beta version to the public for the first time. As you can see, the design has changed quite a bit since then — the latest redesign to YouTube's homepage was in November Sequoia partner Roelof Botha worked at PayPal with the cofounders, and learned about YouTube after using it to upload old wedding and honeymoon videos.

October YouTube sees a video hit 1 million views for the first time. The video is a viral Nike ad showing Brazilian soccer player Ronaldinho receiving his pair of "Golden Boots," and it demonstrates the power of YouTube's role in marketing and virality. December YouTube officially launches out of beta, and is made available to the public. At this point, YouTube is getting 8 million views a day. NBC's complaint paves the way for YouTube's "Content Verification Program," which launched in October to help content creators easily identify videos that infringe on their copyrights and get them removed.

Susan Wojcicki — YouTube's current CEO, who was in charge of Google's acquisitions at the time — credits this video with convincing her that it would be worth it for Google to invest in user-generated content by purchasing YouTube. When YouTube is acquired months later, these firms' investments pay out massively. The move helps the traditional media company enter the new digital age, and marks the beginning of YouTube's several key partnerships with content providers later down the road.

May A baby named Charlie takes the world by storm. The second home video of the toddler biting his brother's finger — and then smiling — is one of the earliest YouTube videos to go viral. July YouTube teams up with CNN to host a presidential debate during the election cycle, featuring video questions submitted by the public. Seven out of the 16 presidential candidates in announced their campaigns via YouTube.

August Google rolls out its first ads on YouTube videos. Instead of an option for traditional pre-video ads, the company chooses a new in-video format featuring semi-transparent banners that pop up on the lower portion of videos, and can be clicked away after several seconds.

December YouTube rolls out its "Partner Program" to select creators, allowing them to earn money from their content based on ad revenue. It allows YouTubers to turn their hobby into a career: Not even a year later, the most successful creators were earning six-figure incomes.

September The viral hit, "Evolution of Dance," becomes the first YouTube video to hit million views. The video turned its star, motivational speaker Judson Laipply, into one of the earliest viral YouTubers.

November YouTube expands its ad offerings to include sponsored videos and pre-roll ads, a format YouTube long said it wouldn't resort to because those ads were too intrusive to the audience. However, the benefits paid to brands and advertisers beat out customer experience in the end.

Bieber would release his music video for "Baby" the following year, and it remains one of the most-disliked videos on all of YouTube. April YouTube teams up with media company Vivendi. They together launch a new music video service called Vevo, in response to music companies' complaints about piracy and unfair licensing terms. As part of the deal, Vevo can distribute its music videos on YouTube, setting the groundwork for Vevo's massive YouTube presence today.

October YouTube reveals that it has surpassed the milestone of 1 billion views a day. By this point, more than 20 hours of video are being uploaded to YouTube every minute. April Felix Kjellberg joins YouTube to create content under the channel name PewDiePie, where he first provides video-game commentary before expanding into vlogging and internet memes.

The YouTuber has since surpassed million subscribers, and is the most-subscribed-to solo creator on the platform today. The campaign ends up going viral, and even President Barack Obama participates.

In his place, Google appoints Salar Kamangar, who the company says was already leading YouTube's daily operations for two years prior. December YouTube introduces skippable ads with a format called "TrueView," allowing consumers to skip over ads after five seconds and launch straight into the videos they want to watch. YouTube Live has allowed the site to stream all types of content, including concerts, sports games, the royal wedding, and the Olympics.

YouTube partners with established brands and major celebrities, a move that creators see as the platform's disregard for their value and influence. May After a soft launch with indie movies a year earlier, YouTube launches offers a rental service, from which consumers can choose thousands of movies and TV shows to rent and stream directly on the platform.

The move is seen as a bid to compete with streaming companies like Netflix and Hulu. Spring YouTube plays an instrumental role in a series of anti-government protests, dubbed the Arab Spring, by helping disseminate messages of freedom and democracy.

With YouTube, protesters are able to upload videos sharing their messages and political criticism. Many of those videos end up going viral around the world. YouTube exec on making the site safer for kids.

Target of homophobic harassment speaks out after YouTube keeps videos up. YouTube star Lilly Singh is late-night's newest host. The first ever YouTube video was uploaded on April 23, -- exactly 15 years ago, today.

YouTube co-founder Jawed Karim posted the second video, titled "Me at the zoo. To this day, it is the only video on Karim's channel. Upon clicking play, the screen fills with a young Karim's face, his disheveled hair taking up the screen front and center. Read More. There he is. In front of the elephants. Unlike many YouTube creators' videos these days, Karim's video does not include what's considered the more traditional sign off: "Subscribe to my channel!

He ends the video simply by stating: "And that's pretty much all there is to say.