YouTube

Owner

Google, part of Alphabet; bought in 2006 for $1.65 billion in stock^[6]

Chief executive

Neal Mohan, since February 2023^[8]

Revenue

More than $60 billion in 2025, ads and subscriptions together^[3]

Ad revenue, latest quarter

$11.21 billion in the third quarter of 2026, up about 9%^[4]

Music and Premium subscribers

More than 150 million, including free trials^[4]

Share of U.S. TV viewing time

More than 15% in August 2026 (Nielsen)^[4]

Uploads

More than 20 million videos a day (company figure)^[1]

Shorts views

An average of 200 billion a day (company figure)^[1][2]

Origins

YouTube began in 2005 as a site where ordinary users could publish video on the Internet. Its first clip, "Me at the zoo," was posted on April 23, 2005: 18 seconds of the co-founder Jawed Karim in front of the elephants at the San Diego Zoo. About a month later, while the site was still in test, it was serving roughly 300,000 video views a day, and by the end of the year about 2 million.^[5] Karim's fellow founders were Chad Hurley and Steve Chen.^[7]

0:01 Me at the zoo The first video on YouTube, posted April 23, 2005 by co-founder Jawed Karim, all 19 seconds of it.

2:50 Dinner at YouTube, 2007 From the company's own Making of YouTube: staff filming each other. "This is what it's like to work here."

Google agreed to buy the company in October 2006 for $1.65 billion in stock, keeping the brand separate.^[6][7] Susan Wojcicki, a longtime Google executive who had helped arrange the deal, ran YouTube from 2014 until February 2023, when she left the post and Neal Mohan, its chief product officer, took over.^[8]

0:00 Chad and Steve announce the Google deal The co-founders thank users on camera after the sale to Google.

How it works

Anyone with an account can upload, and YouTube says more than 20 million videos arrive each day, with versions localized for more than 100 countries in 80 languages.^[1] Its short vertical format, Shorts, averages 200 billion views a day by the company's count.^[2] The company earns money in two main ways: advertising shown with videos, and subscriptions such as Premium and Music, which remove ads and which had more than 150 million subscribers worldwide, trials included, by October 2026.^[4] It shares that money with the people who supply the videos, and says it paid more than $100 billion to creators, artists and media companies over the four years before January 2026.^[2]

Rules on what may stay up are set by the company's Community Guidelines. Creators must disclose realistic altered or synthetic footage, and YouTube said in 2026 that it was extending its spam systems in response to concern about "AI slop," and building tools on Content ID, its rights-matching system, so that people can manage the use of their likeness in generated video. It also backs the proposed NO FAKES Act in the United States.^[2]

Business and reach

Alphabet reports YouTube's advertising income each quarter. Its statement in February 2026 that annual revenue across ads and subscriptions had passed $60 billion added subscriptions to the picture.^[3] Advertising alone reached $11.21 billion in the third quarter of 2026, up from $10.26 billion a year earlier, a growth rate of about 9%, in a quarter when Alphabet's total revenue rose 25% to $127.6 billion.^[4]

Its place in the living room has grown as well. YouTube says it has ranked first in U.S. streaming watch time for nearly three years, citing Nielsen as of January 2026.^[1] In August 2026, Nielsen's measure put it above 15% of all time spent with television in U.S. households, for the first time.^[4] YouTube's own economic study claims that its U.S. ecosystem added $55 billion to gross domestic product in 2024 and supported more than 490,000 full-time jobs, figures that are the company's own.^[2]

Copyright

Copyright was the first great fight. In 2007 Viacom sued for more than $1 billion, claiming mass infringement of its programs. A federal judge ruled for YouTube in 2010 and again in 2013, finding it protected by the legal safe harbor for platforms that remove material promptly when notified. The two companies settled in March 2014 without disclosing terms; press reports said no money changed hands.^[9]

Children and teenagers

In September 2019, Google and YouTube agreed to pay $170 million, a record for the U.S. children's online privacy law at the time, to settle allegations by the Federal Trade Commission and New York that they collected data from viewers of child-directed channels without parental consent and used it to target ads. Of the total, $136 million went to the commission and $34 million to the state.^[10]

On March 25, 2026, a Los Angeles jury found Meta and YouTube negligent in the case of a young woman who said social media use as a child had worsened her mental health, in a trial selected as a test for thousands of similar claims.^[15] It set damages at $6 million, half of them punitive, with YouTube bearing 30% of the compensatory share. A Google spokesperson said the company disagreed, would appeal, and regarded YouTube as a streaming platform rather than a social network.^[11]

That question of definition also arose in Australia. The government first signaled an exemption for YouTube because schools use it, then in July 2025 said its ban on accounts for under-16s would cover the service, with fines of up to A$49.5 million. YouTube objected, saying it is not social media.^[12] It later said it would comply and would sign out users under 16 from Dec 10, 2025, though they could still watch without an account.^[13]

Moderation and politics

Decisions about who may speak on a platform of this size have political weight. YouTube suspended Donald Trump's channel after the January 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, and he sued. In September 2025 the company agreed to pay $24.5 million to settle, without admitting liability; $22 million was designated for a trust connected with a White House ballroom project, and the remainder for other plaintiffs.^[14]

Generative AI

By the end of 2025, YouTube said, more than 1 million channels a day were using its artificial intelligence creation tools, and it planned to let creators make Shorts with their own generated likeness.^[2] The same technology raises the problems the company says it is addressing, from low-quality mass uploads to unauthorized imitations of real people.^[2]

Timeline

1. April 23, 2005 "Me at the zoo," the first video, is posted.^[5]
2. October 2006 Google agrees to buy YouTube for $1.65 billion in stock.^[6]
3. 2007 Viacom sues for more than $1 billion.^[9]
4. March 2014 Viacom and YouTube settle.^[9]
5. 2014 Susan Wojcicki becomes chief executive.^[8]
6. Sept 4, 2019 Google and YouTube agree to a $170 million children's privacy settlement.^[10]
7. Feb 16, 2023 Neal Mohan succeeds Wojcicki.^[8]
8. Sept 29, 2025 A $24.5 million settlement with Donald Trump is filed.^[14]
9. Dec 10, 2025 Australia's under-16 account ban takes effect.^[13]
10. Feb 4, 2026 Alphabet reports that 2025 revenue passed $60 billion.^[3]
11. March 25, 2026 A Los Angeles jury finds Meta and YouTube liable.^[11]
12. August 2026 YouTube passes 15% of U.S. television viewing time.^[4]