YouTube is 10 years old!

By 05/19/2015 November 10th, 2015 Technology

This month marks ten years since the launch of YouTube, undoubtedly the world’s most popular online video platform.  The domain name was registered on the 14th February 2005, with the first video uploaded by one of the YouTube founders on 23rd April and public testing of the site began in May. YouTube launched a month long celebration on the 1st May, promising to share some of the most memorable video moments from the past ten years, with a “YouTube A – Z: A Letter A Day Throughout May”.

It’s hard to believe something that was launched just ten years ago has more than 1 billion users and receives 300 hours of video uploads every minute (Source: YouTube). Whether you are looking for inspiration for a new hair style, want to learn how to use Photoshop or bake a birthday cake, there is a video for you.

YouTube’s EMEA Director spoke to Marketing Week and highlighted their core purpose of “creating a platform that allows people to share their content and engage with other people interested in that content faster and better and more easily than they can do anywhere else”.  He also outlined YouTube’s plans for marketers over the next ten years:

  • Staying at the heart of the ‘creative revolution’: Anyone with a smartphone or camera can try their hand at video producing and YouTube wants to encourage this
  • Moving brand focus beyond the viral hit: YouTube is working on how brands can make a viral hit a part of their wider marketing strategy. First, building up a strong community around their product or category, leading to a viral hit
  • Staying ahead in technology: YouTube has recently launched 360-degree videos and the capability to load 4K videos to the site, strengthening its ability to stay ahead of tech advancements
  • Personalisation and retargeting: YouTube has offered personalised content for a long time but are continuously working on improving and fine-tuning their offering.
  • Watching the competition: With Facebook now encouraging users to upload directly using their own video hosting service and other sites like Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram, YouTube needs to stay on top of their innovation game.
  • Utilize Celebrity Bloggers: Brands are increasingly recognising the power in teaming up with celebrity bloggers or “vloggers”. TopShop recently teamed up with Zoella (who has over 8 million subscribers) for a YouTube video. The results were amazing – 40% of people who watched the video redeemed the voucher mentioned.

With so much achieved within ten years, it will be exciting to see what happens over the next ten.