History of YouTube

YouTube was founded in February 2005 by Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim; its first video, "Me at the zoo", went up on Apr 23, 2005, and Google bought it for $1.65 billion in stock in November 2006. This timeline runs from those beginnings through the Partner Program, Shorts and the 20th anniversary in 2025.

0:00 YouTube was founded in February 2005 by three former PayPal employees, Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim: the youtube.com domain was activated on Feb 14, 2005, and the first video, Karim's 19-second "Me at the zoo", was uploaded on Apr 23, 2005. Google bought the company the next year, and twenty years later YouTube said more than 20 billion videos had been uploaded. This page tells that story in order; the features YouTube dropped along the way are on Retired YouTube Features, and what YouTube offers today starts at YouTube.

Quick facts

Founded	February 2005, by Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim
Domain activated	Feb 14, 2005
First video	"Me at the zoo", Apr 23, 2005
Official launch	Dec 15, 2005
Bought by Google	Announced Oct 9, 2006; closed Nov 13, 2006; $1.65 billion in stock
Partner Program	May 3, 2007
Shorts	Beta in India Sep 14, 2020; United States Mar 18, 2021
CEO	Neal Mohan, since Feb 16, 2023
Videos uploaded	More than 20 billion by Apr 23, 2025

Sources for the table: each section below.

Founding (2005)

The three founders had worked together at PayPal. They tell different versions of where the idea came from: Karim has said he could not find a video of a news event online and wanted a site where anyone could share clips, while Hurley and Chen have said they first planned an online video dating service. The domain went live on Feb 14, 2005, and the site was built over the following months (The Spokesman-Review).

"Me at the zoo" (Apr 23, 2005)

The first video on YouTube is 19 seconds of Jawed Karim standing in front of the elephants at the San Diego Zoo, remarking on their "really, really, really long trunks". It is still online on his channel, which holds no other upload, and passed 355 million views by its 20th anniversary (Android Authority; Tubefilter). Karim has used its description over the years to comment on YouTube's changes, among them the removal of public dislike counts.

Official launch (Dec 15, 2005)

YouTube officially launched on Dec 15, 2005, by which time it was already drawing about 8 million views a day (The Spokesman-Review).

Google buys YouTube (2006)

On Oct 9, 2006 Google announced it would buy YouTube for $1.65 billion in Google stock. The announcement said YouTube was serving more than 100 million video views and 65,000 new uploads a day, and that it would keep its brand, its staff and its San Bruno, California offices. The deal closed on Nov 13, 2006, with YouTube run as an independent subsidiary.

The Partner Program (2007)

On May 3, 2007 YouTube invited a first group of its most popular homegrown creators, among them Smosh, LisaNova and HappySlip, into the Partner Program, which until then had been open only to professional media partners. They chose which videos to monetize, YouTube placed ads beside them, and they shared in the revenue. That arrangement grew into today's YouTube Partner Program, and the entry rules have changed many times since: 10,000 lifetime views from Apr 6, 2017, 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours from Jan 16, 2018, a lower tier for fan funding later, and new thresholds again from Feb 1, 2027 (see Partner Program Changes in 2027).

Shorts (2020 to 2024)

YouTube's answer to short vertical video began as an early beta in India on Sep 14, 2020, with videos of 15 seconds or less. The beta reached the United States from Mar 18, 2021, when YouTube said the Shorts player was already getting 6.5 billion daily views, and rolled out to more than 100 countries in July 2021. Shorts creators began sharing in ad revenue on Feb 1, 2023, replacing the Shorts Fund, and uploads after Oct 15, 2024 can be Shorts of up to three minutes. See YouTube Shorts and Shorts Monetization.

Changes of the 2020s

0:00 A few decisions changed how YouTube looks to everyone. Public dislike counts were hidden on Nov 10, 2021. Every channel got a unique @handle from Oct 10, 2022 (see Handles). Susan Wojcicki, CEO since 2014, stepped down on Feb 16, 2023, and Neal Mohan, YouTube's chief product officer, succeeded her.

20th anniversary (2025)

YouTube marked 20 years on Apr 23, 2025, the anniversary of "Me at the zoo". It said more than 20 billion videos had been uploaded in that time (it first said "trillion" and corrected it), that more than 20 million are uploaded on an average day, and that viewers leave more than 3.5 billion likes and 100 million comments daily. It celebrated with a birthday logo, a cake-shaped progress bar on some videos including the first one, and a "20" animation on likes (Tubefilter).

Since then

0:00 As of Nov 6, 2026, the biggest scheduled change is to the Partner Program: new applicants from Feb 1, 2027 need 1,000 subscribers plus 8,000 watch hours in a year or 20 million Shorts views in 90 days, announced on the YouTube blog on Aug 10, 2026. George Vanous of Freedom! showed the 4,000-hour target on the Earn page in YouTube Studio, which doubles that day, and pointed out that channels that join the program before then keep their partnership. YouTube's own press page now says Shorts average more than 200 billion daily views and that YouTube has localized versions in more than 100 countries in 80 languages.

Frequently asked questions

When was YouTube founded? YouTube was founded in February 2005 by Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim; the youtube.com domain was activated on Feb 14, 2005 and the site officially launched on Dec 15, 2005.

What was the first video on YouTube? The first YouTube video is "Me at the zoo", 19 seconds of co-founder Jawed Karim at the San Diego Zoo's elephant enclosure, uploaded on Apr 23, 2005. It is still on his channel.

When did Google buy YouTube, and for how much? Google announced it would buy YouTube on Oct 9, 2006 for $1.65 billion in Google stock, and the purchase closed on Nov 13, 2006.

When did YouTube start paying creators? YouTube invited its first homegrown creators into the Partner Program, sharing ad revenue with them, on May 3, 2007. Shorts creators began sharing in ad revenue on Feb 1, 2023.

Who owns YouTube? Google has owned YouTube since November 2006; Google is part of Alphabet. YouTube's CEO is Neal Mohan, who took over from Susan Wojcicki on Feb 16, 2023.

How old is YouTube? YouTube turned 20 in 2025, counting from its founding in February 2005 and its first video on Apr 23, 2005.