The History of YouTube: From Startup to Global Video Giant

April 10, 2026

By the SaveThat team

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Today, YouTube is a given. It's the second most visited website in the world after Google. But 20 years ago, sharing a simple video on the internet was an ordeal. Here's a look back at the creation of YouTube, the platform that democratised video and invented the concept of "Broadcast Yourself".

1. 2005: Three Former PayPal Employees and an (Almost) Failed Idea

It all began in California. Three former PayPal employees, Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim, were looking for a startup idea. Legend has it they initially wanted to create a video dating site called "Tune In Hook Up". The idea didn't take off. However, they quickly realised a major problem of the era: sharing personal videos online was absurdly difficult (files too large, incompatible formats). The spark came from the impossibility of finding news footage, like the infamous Super Bowl 2004 incident. They pivoted to a simplified video hosting platform. The three partners registered the domain YouTube.com on 14 February 2005.

2. "Me at the zoo": The Starting Point

On 23 April 2005, Jawed Karim uploaded the very first video in YouTube's history: "Me at the zoo". It's a mundane 18-second clip in front of elephants at San Diego Zoo. The quality is poor, the speech is simple, but the revolution was underway. YouTube made publishing accessible to everyone, without technical knowledge. The success was explosive. The site went from a few users to millions of daily views within months, driven by user-generated content and, admittedly, the sharing of copyrighted videos.

3. 2006: Google Acquires the Platform

This explosive growth posed a problem: server and bandwidth costs became astronomical for a young startup with no real business model. YouTube was burning cash and facing lawsuit threats. That's when Google stepped in. Convinced that video was the future of the Web, the Mountain View giant acquired YouTube in October 2006 for $1.65 billion in stock. This acquisition, considered risky at the time, is now regarded as one of the most profitable in tech history.

In less than two years, YouTube went from a garage project to a global platform. From a simple idea, the company became a complete economic ecosystem, creating jobs, passions and discoveries that forever redefined the internet.