Exactly two decades ago, on February 14, 2005, YouTube was launched, a platform conceived for ordinary people to share their homemade videos. Its revolutionary impact on the audiovisual and entertainment sectors surpassed all expectations of its creators Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim, former PayPal employees.
The initial video, titled 'Me at the Zoo,' showed Karim in front of the elephant cage at the San Diego Zoo in California. Since then, YouTube has diversified its content, from tutorials to music videos and covers, playing a key role in boosting artists like Justin Bieber, Dua Lipa, and Ed Sheeran.
Even super-productions like those made by the YouTuber MrBeast have been seen, who recreated the challenges of the series 'Squid Game,' accumulating hundreds of millions of views. The platform has given rise to a new profession: full-time content creator, which has become a popular goal among aspiring young people.
The importance of YouTube is such that it has set a global trend, being the preference of nearly 30% of children aged 8 to 12, according to surveys. Figures like Jimmy Donaldson, known as MrBeast, stand out with millions of followers and million-dollar earnings, while companies like T-Series also shine on the platform.
The acquisition of YouTube by Google in 2006 for 1.65 billion dollars marked a milestone in the consolidation of the internet. However, with the emergence of rivals like Twitch, Instagram, and TikTok, competition has increased. Despite this, YouTube has secured its place in audiovisual history, with an astonishing amount of over 14 billion videos hosted on the platform, according to recent studies.
