Two decades ago, a simple dinner party conversation sparked what would become the world’s largest video-sharing platform. YouTube, founded by PayPal colleagues Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim, started as an idea for people to share videos about their ideal partners. Today, it’s a global entertainment giant with over 2.5 billion users and a billion hours of content watched daily.
The platform’s first-ever video, Me at the Zoo, uploaded by Karim in April 2005, may not have been a viral sensation, but it laid the foundation for a digital revolution. By 2006, Google saw YouTube’s potential and acquired it for $1.65 billion—one of the best deals in tech history. What followed was an explosion of content, from viral cat videos to music debuts and even breaking news.
Over the years, YouTube has faced challenges, from copyright issues to competition from short-form platforms like TikTok. But instead of fading, it adapted—introducing YouTube Shorts to counter TikTok’s rise and expanding premium services to compete with streaming giants like Netflix and Disney+.
As YouTube celebrates 20 years, its impact on entertainment is undeniable. Once a quirky startup, it now influences media consumption worldwide, outpacing cable TV in viewership. Whether through gaming streams, how-to guides, or billion-view music videos, YouTube has shaped how we watch, learn, and create—and it’s not slowing down anytime soon.