{"id":61233,"date":"2026-10-29T10:23:05","date_gmt":"2026-10-29T07:23:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thesauditimes.net\/en\/?p=61233"},"modified":"2026-10-29T10:23:05","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T07:23:05","slug":"youtube","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesauditimes.net\/en\/youtube\/","title":{"rendered":"YouTube: the video platform owned by Alphabet and what it does"},"content":{"rendered":"

YouTube is the video-sharing service run by Google LLC, part of the Alphabet Inc. group, with its base in San Bruno, California. Its stated mission is “to give everyone a voice and show them the world”, and it hosts everything from home clips and music videos to podcasts, live sport and full television channels.<\/p>\n

The service matters now because it has become one of the largest media businesses in the world. Alphabet said YouTube’s advertising and subscription revenue together exceeded $60 billion in 2025, and Nielsen data cited by TIME showed it took 12.7% of all US television viewing time in February 2026.<\/p>\n

\"YouTube:
YouTube offices at 901 Cherry Avenue in San Bruno, California. Photo: Coolcaesar, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Overview and Founding<\/h3>\n

YouTube was founded in February 2005 by three former PayPal colleagues, Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim. The YouTube.com domain went live on 14 February 2005, and Karim uploaded the first video, the 19-second clip “Me at the zoo”, on 23 April 2005.<\/p>\n

Growth was fast. When Google agreed to buy the company in October 2006, YouTube was serving more than 100 million video views a day, with 65,000 new videos uploaded daily. Google paid $1.65 billion in stock and kept YouTube as a separate brand based in San Bruno.<\/p>\n

Since then YouTube has grown from a site for short amateur clips into a platform that also streams television channels, sport and long podcasts, much of it now watched on TV sets in living rooms.<\/p>\n

Key Milestones<\/h3>\n