YouTube: the video platform owned by Alphabet and what it does

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.

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.

Overview and Founding

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.

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.

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.

Key Milestones

• 2005: YouTube is founded in February, and the first video is uploaded on 23 April.
• 2006: Google agrees on 9 October to buy YouTube for $1.65 billion in a stock deal.
• 2017: Work begins on rebuilding the YouTube app for television screens.
• 2023: Neal Mohan becomes chief executive in February, succeeding Susan Wojcicki.
• 2023: YouTube starts carrying NFL Sunday Ticket games.
• 2025: The service marks 20 years in April with more than 20 billion videos uploaded.
• 2025: Revenue from ads and subscriptions passes $60 billion for the year.
• 2026: Nielsen data shows YouTube with 12.7% of US television viewing time in February.

What It Does

At its core YouTube is a free, advertising-funded platform where anyone can upload and watch videos. Creators who join its partner programme share in the advertising revenue earned on their channels, and the company says it paid more than $100 billion to creators, artists and media companies over the four years to early 2026.

Alongside the main service it runs short videos through Shorts, which averaged 200 billion daily views according to Mohan’s January 2026 letter. It is also a large podcast destination, with YouTube saying about a billion people watch podcasts on it each month.

Paid products form the second leg of the business. YouTube Music and YouTube Premium remove advertising and add features, while YouTube TV sells a bundle of live television channels in the United States. NFL Sunday Ticket is sold as an add-on.

The company is also adding tools built on artificial intelligence. In September 2025 it showed more than 30 such tools for making, editing, translating and dubbing videos, and since 2024 it has labelled content when creators disclose that they used AI tools.

YouTube is widely used in Saudi Arabia. It was the leading social platform in the Kingdom in 2025 with 27.2 million users, according to our report on social media use, and Statista puts its potential advertising reach at 91% in our 2026 statistics guide.

In Numbers

• Revenue from ads and subscriptions: more than $60 billion (2025, Alphabet)
• Advertising revenue in the fourth quarter: $11.38 billion (2025, Alphabet)
• Daily visitors: more than 2 billion people (2025, TIME)
• Videos uploaded since launch: more than 20 billion (April 2025, AFP)
• Share of US television viewing time: 12.7% (February 2026, Nielsen via TIME)
• Shorts daily views: 200 billion on average (January 2026, YouTube)

Leadership

YouTube is led by Chief Executive Officer Neal Mohan, who signs the company’s annual letter as CEO. YouTube reports into Google within the Alphabet group.