YOUTUBE’S first-ever video was uploaded 20 years ago today: a 19-second clip with more than 355 million views.
The snippet of footage dates back to YouTube’s April 23, 2005 launch.
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It’s called “Me at the zoo” and it was uploaded by YouTube co-founder Jawed Karim.
This early clip is a now seen as an iconic part of the internet’s history – and marks the beginning of one of the most popular websites of all time.
These days, YouTube is a household name, and is owned by tech giant Google.
But in 2005, it was just a hopeful project dreamed up by three former PayPal employees Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Karim (who uploaded that first clip).
In the video, we see Karim posing in front of a pair of elephants.
He’s being recorded by his high school pal Kayov Lapitsky at California’s San Diego Zoo.
TUBE GOOD TO BE TRUE?
Karim worked with YouTube as an informal adviser, and retained a small share in the site.
When it was snapped up by Google in 2006, Karim is believed to have received around $64 million in share value.
He went on to launch a venture fund in 2008, which became an early investor in Airbnb in 2009.
In 2013, Karim used his “Me at the zoo” video to criticise Google publicly.
It was in response to a policy change that forced YouTube users to create a Google+ account if they wanted to post comments on videos.
Karim changed the video description on the clip to: “I can’t comment here anymore, since I don’t want a Google+ account.”
Google eventually backed down on the decision, and ultimately killed off Google+ in 2019.
In November 2021, Karim updated his video description again with the note: “When every YouTuber agrees that removing dislikes is a stupid idea, it probably is. Try again, YouTube.”
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As of today, Karim’s video description includes a warning about how “microplastics are accumulating in human brains at an alarming rate”.
That change was made back in February 2025.
VIEW-TIFUL!
Today, YouTube is ranked as the second-most-visited site in the world behind Google’s main search engine.
It attracts billions of users every single month – with over a billion hours of videos watched per day.
YOUTUBE’S EARLIEST FEATURES
Here’s when some of YouTube’s first features arrived…
- April 2005 – First video uploaded
- July 2005 – Top videos page
- August 2005 – Five-star rating system
- October 2005 – Playlists
- October 2005 – Full-screen view
- October 2005 – Subscriptions
- Januyar 2006 – Groups
- February 2006 – Personalised profiles
- March 2006 – 10 minute video limit
- May 2006 – Cell phone uploading
- June 2006 – Viewing history
Picture Credit: Google / YouTube
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Google bought up the site all the way back in 2006 for $1.65 billion.
It’s almost certainly worth far more today – with 2024 advertising and subscription revenue alone exceeding $50 billion.
YouTube started life as a website usually viewed in the web browser of a computer.
But now it’s widely accessible, including on iPhones and Androids, smart TVs, games consoles, and even VR headsets.
