43 Fun Facts About YouTube

YouTube's three founders had all been early employees of which company?

Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim all worked at PayPal before founding YouTube in February 2005; Hurley had designed PayPal's logo.

Per Jawed Karim, YouTube's idea partly came from being unable to find clips of which 2004 event?

He also could not find video of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

The first video ever uploaded to YouTube, on 23 April 2005, was titled what?

'Me at the zoo' shows Jawed Karim at San Diego Zoo, filmed by his school friend Yakov Lapitsky, and was uploaded on 23 April 2005 to the channel 'jawed'.

In the first video uploaded to YouTube, Jawed Karim stands in front of which animals?

Elephants: Karim's entire commentary is that they have 'really, really, really long trunks'.

How much did Google pay to acquire YouTube in November 2006?

Susan Wojcicki, then a Google executive, recommended and managed the purchase.

What slogan did YouTube adopt in its early years?

'Broadcast Yourself' sat under the YouTube logo through the site's early years until it was dropped in 2012, summing up the pitch of letting anyone post their own video.

Roughly how many hours of video were uploaded to YouTube every minute, per 2024 figures?

More than 500 hours of video were uploaded every minute in 2024 by YouTube's own figures, which works out to about 30,000 hours of new video every hour.

In which year did YouTube launch its Partner Program, letting creators earn ad revenue?

The YouTube Partner Program launched in May 2007, letting selected creators share advertising revenue from their videos; it was broadened to more creators that December and later to other countries.

Which former Google executive, in whose garage Google was founded, was YouTube's CEO from 2014 to 2023?

Susan Wojcicki was Google's 16th employee and rented Larry Page and Sergey Brin her Menlo Park garage in 1998; she ran YouTube from February 2014 until stepping down in February 2023.

Who was named YouTube's CEO in February 2023?

Neal Mohan, YouTube's chief product officer since 2015, was named CEO on 16 February 2023 when its previous chief stepped down after nine years.

Which video became the first on YouTube to reach a billion views, on 21 December 2012?

Psy's 'Gangnam Style' hit a billion views on 21 December 2012, five months after release, and was also the first video to pass two billion, in May 2014.

Which Pinkfong video became YouTube's most-viewed of all time in November 2020?

'Baby Shark Dance' overtook the previous record holder as YouTube's most-viewed video on 2 November 2020 and became the first to pass 10 billion views in January 2022.

Which 2017 Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee video was the first ever to reach six billion views?

'Despacito' passed six billion views in February 2019 and held the most-viewed title from August 2017 until November 2020.

'Charlie bit my finger', the 2007 viral clip of two English brothers, was sold in 2021 as what?

The family auctioned the clip as an NFT in May 2021; the winning bid of $760,999 came from 3F Music, and the video had once been the most-viewed on the site.

How many contestants competed for the $5m prize in Beast Games (Prime Video, December 2024)?

Beast Games gathered 1,000 contestants, a record for a game show, competing for a $5 million prize billed as the largest cash prize in television history.

Which Indian music label became the first channel to reach 100,000,000 subscribers, in May 2019?

T-Series, the Bollywood music label founded by Gulshan Kumar, passed 100 million subscribers on 29 May 2019 after a long, meme-fuelled race with PewDiePie.

Which YouTube comedy series, begun in 2009, became a Cartoon Network show in 2012?

The Annoying Orange, Dane Boedigheimer's talking-fruit series, began on YouTube in October 2009; Cartoon Network premiered The High Fructose Adventures of Annoying Orange in June 2012.

What is the real name of PewDiePie, the first individual YouTuber to pass 100 million subscribers?

Felix Kjellberg, born in Gothenburg in 1989, built PewDiePie on horror-game Let's Plays such as Amnesia, passed 100 million subscribers in August 2019 and moved to Japan in 2022.

What was PewDiePie's October 2018 diss track aimed at the Indian label overtaking him called?

'Bitch Lasagna', released 5 October 2018, mocked the label during the subscriber race; 'Congratulations', with Roomie and Boyinaband, followed in March 2019 when the label passed him.

YouTube Rewind 2018 overtook which music video as the most-disliked video on the site?

Justin Bieber's 'Baby' had long been the most-disliked video; YouTube Rewind 2018 passed it on 13 December 2018, a week after release, and went past 10 million dislikes that month.

In November 2021, YouTube announced it would hide what from viewers?

YouTube hid public dislike counts from 10 November 2021, saying it would reduce harassment of smaller creators; creators kept seeing their dislike numbers in YouTube Studio.

A YouTube channel receives the Gold Creator Award, or Gold Play Button, on reaching how many subscribers?

The Gold Creator Award marks 1,000,000 subscribers; Silver comes at 100,000 and Diamond at 10 million, and YouTube sends the plaques to eligible channels in good standing.

The Red Diamond Creator Award is given to channels that reach how many subscribers?

The Red Diamond Creator Award marks 100,000,000 subscribers, ten times the Diamond award's 10 million; the first one was presented in May 2019.

YouTube Shorts launched as a beta in September 2020 in which country, soon after it banned TikTok?

YouTube Shorts began as a beta in India on 14 September 2020, less than three months after the Indian government banned TikTok, and rolled out worldwide in July 2021.

In September 2024, YouTube announced that Shorts could be up to how long?

From 15 October 2024 Shorts could run up to 3 minutes, triple the previous 60-second limit, with any square or vertical upload of that length treated as a Short.

YouTube Premium was first unveiled in November 2014 under what name?

Music Key launched in beta in November 2014 as an ad-free music subscription bundled with Google Play Music All Access; it was folded into a broader paid tier the next year and renamed Premium in 2018.

YouTube Kids, the child-focused app, was first released as an Android and iOS app in which year?

YouTube Kids launched on 23 February 2015 in the United States for Android and iOS, with a simplified interface, parental controls and curated channels.

The 2017 advertiser exodus over ads beside extremist content became known by which nickname?

Creators dubbed the 2017 advertiser pullout the Adpocalypse; YouTube responded by requiring channels to have 10,000 lifetime views to join its Partner Program, raised to 1,000 subscribers in 2018.

Which comedy duo of Ian Hecox and Anthony Padilla had YouTube's most-subscribed channel three times?

Smosh's 2005 lip-sync of the Pokémon theme was briefly the most-viewed video on the whole site, and the channel held the most-subscribed title three times, most recently in 2013.

In 2023, Hecox and Padilla bought back a majority stake in their channel from which company?

Mythical Entertainment, Rhett & Link's company, bought the channel out of Defy Media's collapse in 2019; Hecox and Padilla bought a majority stake back in June 2023, with Mythical keeping a minority.

Which child star's toy-unboxing channel made him Forbes's highest-paid YouTuber from 2018 to 2020?

Ryan Kaji, star of Ryan's World (originally Ryan ToysReview), topped Forbes's list three years running, earning an estimated $29.5 million in 2020 alone.

Which company bought the YouTube founders' previous employer in 2002, making them rich?

eBay bought PayPal in 2002 for about $1.5 billion.

How long is the first video ever uploaded to YouTube?

The first upload runs 19 seconds, filmed at San Diego Zoo by Karim's school friend Yakov Lapitsky and posted on 23 April 2005.

Which news network co-hosted the 2007 presidential debates that took questions via YouTube videos?

CNN co-hosted the CNN-YouTube debates in 2007: Democrats in Charleston, South Carolina in July and Republicans in St. Petersburg, Florida in November, answering questions submitted as YouTube clips.

YouTube was founded on which holiday in 2005?

YouTube was founded on Valentine's Day, 14 February 2005, when the founders activated the domain youtube.com; the site opened in public beta that May.

YouTube Gaming, launched in 2015, was built to compete with which live-streaming service?

YouTube Gaming launched in August 2015 as a dedicated app and site for game streams, taking on Twitch, which Amazon had bought for about $970 million in 2014.

In which California city has YouTube been headquartered since moving there in October 2006?

YouTube moved to 901 Cherry Avenue in San Bruno in October 2006, weeks before Google completed its takeover, and later expanded across neighbouring office parks in the city.

Which comedy trio's 2005 SNL sketch 'Lazy Sunday' became one of YouTube's first viral hits?

The Lonely Island (Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone) made 'Lazy Sunday' for SNL in December 2005; unofficial uploads drew over five million views before NBC had them pulled in February 2006.

Until 2015, a new video's view count would famously freeze at which number while being verified?

Counts stuck at 301 (shown as '301+') while YouTube verified the views were genuine; after a change on 5 August 2015 counts updated in real time again.

A Nike ad starring which footballer was the first YouTube video to reach one million views?

Nike's 'Touch of Gold' clip of Ronaldinho juggling a ball against the crossbar became the first YouTube video to pass one million views, in November 2005.

Hurley and Chen said YouTube's original concept was a video dating site influenced by which website?

Steve Chen said the dating concept was influenced by Hot or Not; the founders even posted Craigslist ads offering attractive women $100 to upload videos, but too few came in and the site opened to all videos.

Who ran YouTube as CEO from 2010 to 2014, after Chad Hurley stepped back?

Salar Kamangar, Google's ninth employee, ran YouTube from October 2010, when Chad Hurley stepped back to an advisory role, until a new chief took over in February 2014.

Which company sued YouTube in 2006 because its similarly named site kept being overloaded?

Universal Tube & Rollform Equipment of Perrysburg, Ohio, owner of utube.com, sued in November 2006 after millions of mistyped visits crashed its site; it later moved to utubeonline.com.