The History of YouTube till 2021
Hi everyone,
I hope you all are doing well.
In this fourth attempt, I will talk about YouTube history that I had a chance to read on the internet. Let’s start the discussion.
Background:
The need for video content was right from the emergence of the internet. Apparently, the availability of video content was very low in the beginning due to the below 3 important facts:
1. Lack of good video sharing platforms.
2. Low Internet Speed.
3. Lack of appropriate cameras.
In the beginning of year 2000’s, broadband internet service along with excellent camera smartphones started to appear at homes, which gave the ability to everyone to record and upload videos on the internet. In the year 2005, YouTube was formed by Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim. People noticed the website and started to upload their different videos. In the beginning, the video quality was not so good, but with the passage of time, it improved. People made a good fortune by posting videos on this website. YouTube became an alternative route to being famous and watching TV.
History:
The first video that appeared on YouTube was titled "Me at the zoo" by Jawed Karim (by YouTube’s Co-founder) on 23rd April 2005. This testing video was full of poor audio and without any editing. Editing videos was not in vogue during those days and yet CobaltGruv commented "interesting" about this video. After this first video, people started to uploading important/unimportant/unedited videos like "Me at the zoo" and other videos about family vacation and pets playing with each other, etc. At that time, most of the videos were not so good and mostly unbearable for a normal human being on the one hand and some videos went famous (viral) on the other hand. The viral videos were heavily shared on available social media platforms of that time and were used to be remembered for a long period of time.
First Paid Partner Program:
YouTube offered its first Paid Partner Program in the year 2007. To qualify for this program, you had to actually have a decent amount of Subscribers and YouTube didn't roll ads out on all videos at that time. Actually, it didn't change the user experience too much. Creators made some money out of this Program.
Video Improvements:
With the passage of time, video editing techniques got improved and people started to remove the unwanted parts of the video during editing to make the video more interesting and people are still making sure to remove unwanted parts from the videos. The frequency of publishing a new video was mostly once a week or once during 14 days. The video quality and editing were average. Video publishing schedule was a new thing during those days. Nowadays, the situation is different, every other day, we see a new excellent quality video.
Videos with Ads:
Then, in the year 2009, came the 5-second ads with the “Skip Ad” option, which was universally hated but from this point, YouTube started its monetization journey. Some of the leading content creators in that year were:
1. Ray William Johnson of “Equals Three”.
2. Lucas Cruikshank of “Fred”.
3. Steven Jay Williams of “Boggie2998”.
4. Jenna Marbles, NigaHiga, and many more.
Then, came a time where RPG was the norm. RPG stands for React, Prank, and Gaming. Let’s explain this phenomenon in detail.
Reaction Videos:
In these videos, a cartoon, or any other kind of video was played and the content creator used to give his good or bad reactions. YouTube algorithms also supported these videos. The list of notables of that time included Fine Bros., Tyrone Magnus, Jinx, and h3h3.
Prank Videos:
One big name that was moving waves was Ed Bassmaster. He had been doing pranks for years. His pranks were genuine. During that time, a new class of pranksters came up. The pranks done by these guys were a mixture of both entertainment, disgust, violence, and sociopathic behaviors. Prankster mostly used to catch a common man walking on the street and start using nasty jokes. The idea was to do whatever it takes to get Views. Sam Pepper, Moe & Ethan Bradberry, FouseyTube, Roman Atwood, and many others were part of this group. Fake pranks were also part of this game till finally, the whole YouTube community decided to stop it. The reason behind it was h3h3 productions, which exposed these pranks. These pranksters can be rightfully credited for bringing more watchers to YouTube.
Gaming Videos:
In this era, YouTuber recorded themselves while playing a video game with their commentary and reaction to the said game. PewDiePie is credited with starting this fashion called "Let's Play" videos. His latest stats as of January 2021 tells us that he has over 108 Million Subscribers. Others for e.g., Markiplier and Jacksepticeye also were from this category and also saw great success.
The hours of uploaded videos went up during 2012 & 2013 when the audience became more aware of this platform. This was an unprecedented phenomenon.
The Year 2016 till now:
Let’s see what happened from the years 2016 till today. As time passed, the YouTube content creators also grew and we started to see fights on this platform. Controversy and drama were the hallmarks of this era. Videos exposing other YouTubers started to popup. Names like LeafyIsHere, h3h3, Bradberry Bros., and Joey Salads started attacking one another by exposed videos. In some cases, it was justifiable and in some cases, it wasn't. The beginning of YouTube’s Copyright procedure can be attributed to a case lodged by MattHossZone at h3h3 productions. In another incident, Philip DeFranco exposed a child abuse case happening over a channel called “Daddy O Five”. Right at that time, YouTube made some major structural changes in its systems and announced the “YouTube Heroes Program”. In this Program, users were rewarded for flagging videos that contained inappropriate or hate speech.
In February 2017, PewDiePie (Felix Kjellberg), due to an article written about him by Wall Street Journal declaring him an anti-Semite because of some jokes that he had made in his videos, big advertisers started to stop giving ads on YouTube. YouTube cut its business ties with Kjellberg to keep the business relations going on with giant advertisers like Coca-Cola.
Now, it is mandatory for content creators to follow the latest guidelines published by YouTube in order to live and earn on this platform.
YouTube is now an integral part of our lives. It gave people careers and gave an alternative to television. It changed everything. It entertained us and informed us about current affairs in the US and around the world. Now, you find almost every piece of information on this platform.
Other important information about YouTube is given below:
1. YouTube’s Logo was changed in 2011, 2013, 2015, and 2017.
2. In 2006, YouTube was bought by Google for US $ 1.65 Billion.
3. In 2008, a Live Streaming service was added to YouTube.
4. YouTube Premium was launched in 2014.
5. In 2015, YouTube Kids was launched.
6. YouTube Shorts was started in the year 2020.
7. Third Quarter 2020 revenue was around US $5 Billion.
8. YouTube has been downloaded 5 Billion + times from Play Store till now and has a rating of 4.2.
I will be adding more info to this article in the future as well.
Thank you for reading this article.
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Have a great day ahead.
You may also like to read my other three Posts. The links are given below:
How to use YouTube like a Pro?
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