YouTube, which was launched 20 years ago this week with a simple, low-resolution video, has morphed into a media colossus.
That first-ever video — watch it below — was posted by YouTube co-founder Jawed Karim at the San Diego Zoo in the US, who shot footage of himself in front of the elephant enclosure, where he made inane remarks about the length of the creatures’ trunks.
“Alright, so here we are in front of the elephants. The cool thing about these guys is that they have really, really, really long trunks,” he said. The video has been watched more than 356 million times.
It might have been inane, but Karim’s video marked the start of a revolution in the way people create, share and consume video content online. It marked the beginning of user-generated content on what would become the world’s largest video-sharing platform.
YouTube was founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley and Karim. A year later, it had become the de facto platform for sharing videos online, with more than 100 million daily views by mid-2006. In October of that same year, Google acquired YouTube for US$1.65-billion in stock – making it, in hindsight, one of the best acquisitions in tech history: in 2023, YouTube generated more than $40-billion in ad revenue alone and would be worth hundreds of billions of dollars today if it was a standalone business.
Since its founding, 20 billion videos have been uploaded to the platform.
New features
YouTube was officially launched in South Africa 15 years ago, according to a statement from Google on Thursday.
It said YouTube is rolling out a series of features to mark its 20th anniversary, including a new, limited-time YouTube logo, which is described as a “subtle nod to YouTube’s Bay Area beginnings” – in reference to the area around San Francisco that houses Silicon Valley.
Read: YouTube: a $455-billion media giant hiding in plain sight
“Users might also spot some birthday cheer on select videos with a special birthday-themed scrubber and animation when they hit that like button. And for those on their desktop, they can try typing ‘bday’ anywhere on the watch page for a quick blast from the past,” the statement said.
First video ever uploaded to YouTube:
“Beyond the immediate celebrations, YouTube is unveiling some new features rolling out soon. These include a new 4x playback speed for YouTube Premium members, and a refreshed TV viewing experience coming this summer,” it said, presumably in reference to the northern hemisphere summer (South Africa’s winter).
“Some fun facts about YouTube’s history will also be shared, highlighting some useful, often overlooked features within the app and desktop experience,” it said. — (c) 2025 NewsCentral Media
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