20 billion videos in 20 years, YouTube's major milestone

YouTube, the world’s largest video-sharing platform, announced on Wednesday that more than 20 billion videos have been uploaded to it. The milestone underscores the fact that YouTube, which began as a simple dinner party conversation, has become an integral part of a global digital lifestyle and is becoming a more-watched medium in the United States than cable TV.

Journey begins at zoo

The idea for YouTube came to three PayPal colleagues, Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim, in 2005 while they were attending a dinner party. The YouTube.com domain was registered on Valentine’s Day, February 14, 2005, and on April 23, Jawed Karim uploaded the first video, ‘Me at the Zoo,’ in which he stands in front of elephants at the San Diego Zoo. The 19-second video has been viewed 348 million times.

Growth Journey

From 2005 to 2025, YouTube has grown beyond anything anyone could have imagined. Today, nearly 20 million videos are uploaded to YouTube every day. The platform is packed with all kinds of content, from concert clips to podcasts to political ads to educational tutorials to entertainment and personal vlogs.

World’s largest digital video platform

YouTube has become the world’s largest video platform in terms of viewer time and advertising revenue. According to market analyst Ross Baines, YouTube will surpass all cable TV networks in the US in terms of paid subscribers within the next two years.

YouTube’s daily viewership on TV sets alone has surpassed one billion hours. According to Google, this summer, YouTube will introduce new features and quality upgrades to further improve the TV viewing experience.

YouTube Music and Premium Success

According to market tracker Statista, YouTube’s Music and Premium services have more than 100 million subscribers. Overall, the platform attracted more than 2.5 billion global users in 2024.

Google’s wise investment

YouTube’s real rise began when Google bought it in 2006 for $1.65 billion in shares. Google’s search and advertising expertise made YouTube a lucrative platform for creators, where creators could earn revenue from their popular videos.

At the same time, they resolved copyright issues by making deals with studios and trying to make the platform a legal and safe place.

YouTube’s place in competitive world

Today, YouTube is competing not only with streaming platforms like Netflix, Disney, and Amazon Prime, but also with short-form video apps like TikTok and Instagram Reels.

According to analyst Ross Baines, ‘If you go back 20 years, the idea that kids making parody videos would one day pose a threat to companies like Disney, ABC, and CBS would seem ridiculous, but YouTube has done it’.

This 20-year journey of YouTube is an example of a monumental revolution that gave the world a new way to connect through video and provided the common man with a global platform for expression.