[REVISION HISTORY]

History and evolution of YouTube

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2026-10-09 16:59 UTC → 2026-10-26 18:12 UTC · added ~~removed~~

YouTube was founded in 2005 by former PayPal employees Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim to address technical challenges regarding video uploads and playback. The platform gained rapid traction, marked by the upload of the first video, ‘Me at the zoo’. In October 2006, Google acquired the company for $1.65 billion. At the time of the acquisition, YouTube was a small operation with 65 employees facing significant financial losses from bandwidth costs and legal uncertainties regarding copyright. The company operated out of a modest headquarters in San Mateo, California, located above a pizzeria and a Japanese restaurant. Despite its small scale, the platform was already processing an average of 100 million videos daily. Two decades after ~~this~~ the acquisition, the platform has transitioned from a struggling startup into ~~a major global~~ the world's largest audiovisual infrastructure. Modern engagement on the platform now involves complex content creation strategies, including video SEO, audience analysis, and competitor study to maximize viewership.

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