YouTube has become the most popular video-sharing site in the world. But surprisingly, few people know “who owns YouTube.” The company was started in 2005 by Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Kiyani to provide a place for one-time, casual uploads of home video clips. It is now the third most visited website on the internet regarding traffic, behind Google and Facebook.
YouTube quickly became famous for not only its ease of use but also its vast library of content. The site developed an audience by providing everything from viral videos to educational videos to footage from live events. With more than 6 billion hours of video watched per month on Youtube, it has managed to stay relevant even after the dot com bust.
Who owns YouTube?
It’s surprising to discover that Google owns Youtube. The video-sharing site is owned by a non-profit corporation known as the YT Network. The previous owner was Google’s venture capital arm, Google Ventures. YouTuber Hank Green recently noted, “Google’s the corporation. Youtube is the people.”
To learn more about YouTube and its history, read on.
History of YouTube
Jawed Karim, Steve Chen, and Chad Hurley met in 2002 at Stanford University. Their goal was to create an easy way to share home videos with friends and family. Hurley and Chen were members of the video club, and Karim was an engineering student who took online classes. They started developing a new video-sharing site called the Labs project.
Why Google bought YouTube
We just saw who owns YouTube. I hope you understand. If you were to ask anyone in 2005 what Google was, most would probably respond “Google” in a confused tone. The company had just started as a search engine based on a research project created by two Stanford graduates Larry Page and Sergey Brin, in 1995. The following year the company moved to Stanford, and in 1998 they officially launched Google as a search engine.
Despite its early start, Google struggled to find its place in the market. The company initially missed the chance to provide a free alternative to Microsoft’s Internet Explorer web browser. By 2005 Google found its niche, providing users with a quick and easy way to find information. And now they finally found their mojo, winning an Emmy award for its YouTube video coverage of the 9/11 tragedy.
How has YouTube changed since Google acquired it?
Google went on to acquire YouTube for a cool $1.65 billion. Although Google had expected to make some money from the site and was willing to wait a while to become profitable, the company has become the world’s largest video-sharing website with a website that makes money by selling ads. When Google paid for it, YouTube had a couple of million registered users. Today, over 1.8 billion people visit the site every month. YouTube also operates a network of music, television, movies, and comedy sites, with over $7 billion in annual ad revenue.
Viewers now rely on Youtube to help them discover movies and video clips, and celebrities are growing to rely on it as well. As a result, Google has become a significant force in the entertainment industry and the media business.
The history of YouTube
When YouTube was founded, it was very much a side project to the three young men. Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Kiyani had met as co-workers at WebTV Networks (WTVN), a video-on-demand service that began in 1999. They soon began seeking a way to make it easier for people to upload videos. By 2004, they decided to develop the site into a website that would be “a place where users can upload, share, and discover videos online, and where everyone can create, build, and share their own YouTube channel.” At the time, YouTube was one of the top 50 websites in the world.
In 2005, Steve Chen and Jawed Kiyani completed their mission and launched Youtube in the United States. The site quickly began to gain traction and soon attracted millions of users.
Why is YouTube so popular?
YouTube has created a global platform for video sharing that has managed to grow at a rapid pace without losing its popularity. The ease of uploading content to YouTube ensures that users can post any content that they have captured. Since users are not worried about getting the video ready before posting it, they are more likely to be spontaneous and relaxed about posting videos that are meant to be interesting.
Since the entire video takes up less space than a whole webpage, it makes sense for users to upload their videos on the internet. Although at times, YouTube may have restricted the upload of content that is inappropriate for children, the vast amount of content available on YouTube does not tend to be inappropriate for viewers under the age of 17.
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