YouTube at 20: How the Viral Video Site Forever Changed TV | Television Academy

Home>Features>Emmy Magazine>Articles

February 13, 2025

YouTube at 20: How the Viral Video Site Forever Changed TV

As YouTube and its creators continue to attract audiences and revenue in the billions — it’s now the leading streamer in terms of viewing time — some see the gap shrinking between its fare and traditional programming

By Juan Morales

On February 14, YouTube will celebrate its 20th anniversary. In retrospect, Valentine’s Day was a fitting launch date, because the streaming-video behemoth has received a lot of love over the years.
An estimated 2.5 billion users — nearly half of all internet users worldwide — currently access YouTube every month. That’s second only to Facebook, which attracts just over 3 billion.
The attraction is content. Lots of it. An estimated 500 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute — that’s 720,000 hours each day. The platform’s billions of users watch billions of hours every day, generating many billions of views.

And, of course, all that engagement generates billions in revenue. The primary source is advertising, with additional contributions from subscription offerings, including YouTube Music, ad-free YouTube Premium and YouTube TV, the streaming service that provides access to more than 100 broadcast and cable networks.

Source Links: YouTube at 20: How the Viral Video Site Forever Changed TV | Television Academy