Can you believe it’s been a whole 15 years since YouTube’s website went live? We’ve come a long way.

February 14th, 2005. The internet was well established but still in the early days of much of the established worldwide web we have today. Social sites like Facebook were just getting started and YouTube’s website went live for the first time.

It was a simple yet brilliant idea. A website where people could easily post and share videos – a world of possibility. No doubt even the wisest of technology analysts could have predicted their growth into a website used by billions of people around the globe.

It wasn’t long until YouTube was bought by Google to invest in the serious infrastructure they needed to cater to their rapidly growing library of videos and viewers.

Now with so much success behind them and a lot of changes over the years, YouTube are looking at the year and decade ahead by outlining their priorities:

Grow the creator ecosystem to be the best place for creators

Creators are the heart of YouTube, and they’re pioneering new content by vlogging about their lives, covering topics like gaming, fitness, comedy, hobbies, makeup tutorials, and every kind of How To imaginable. Want to fix that 10 year old refrigerator or car? YouTube likely has the video to replace every single part, and in multiple languages! Creators are at the cutting edge of culture and also becoming next generation media companies, boosting local economies with new jobs. Compared to last year, the number of creators earning five figures annually has increased more than 40 percent. And more than 170,000 YouTube channels around the world have over 100,000 subscribers ⁠— that’s hundreds of thousands of small businesses growing through the platform. YouTube is unique as a platform since we share the majority of revenue with our creators. Going forward, our goal is to continue to grow revenue and audiences of YouTube creators. We appreciate everything creators do to inspire, educate, and entertain their audiences. We know their fans appreciate them, too, and today we’re launching the third annual #LoveNotes campaign. Click here to show support for your favourite creators.

Partner with the music industry

to grow revenue, break new artists and promote music. YouTube offers twin engines for revenue with advertising and subscribers, paying out more than $3 billion to the music industry last year from ads and subscriptions. We’re also partnering with artists to support and amplify their work through every phase of their career. Dua Lipa was in YouTube’s first-ever Foundry program — our initiative to develop independent music acts. Justin Bieber and Billie Eilish have built massive global audiences by directly connecting and engaging with fans on YouTube. At just 18 years old, Billie is now one of the world’s biggest stars with five recent Grammy wins. And from its early days, YouTube has been a home for artists who found creative ways to use the platform to help expand their reach. In 2005, OK Go had one of the first viral hits with their music video, “A Million Ways.” Fans posted their own versions of the boy band-inspired choreography, and OK Go decided to make it official with a dance challenge on YouTube. We continue to see unknown artists make it big with a single viral hit. Last year, Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” became a YouTube phenomenon and the longest-leading single atop the Billboard Hot 100.

Work with media companies to extend their audiences

through time shifting, new geographies and new users. We’re also boosting awareness of subscription services, sports and news highlights, long-form content, and movies with trailers and clips. And we’re connecting networks and media partners to a consumer base that is increasingly cutting the cord. Today, YouTube TV has more than 2 million subscribers, and our service has expanded nationwide in the U.S., offering access to more than 70 channels, including cable networks, live sports, and on-demand programming.

Help advertisers

Advertisers recognise the reach and effectiveness of YouTube to build awareness, improve consideration, and drive results. In 2020, we’ll continue to make our solutions simpler and more effective, while keeping responsibility front of mind. We’ve spent the last three years working to strike the right balance between what advertisers think of as brand safety and what creators think of as demonetization. We continue to develop tools that give advertisers confidence about where their ads run. We’re also working to offer more transparency and certainty to creators with more guidance on our advertiser-friendly guidelines and an expansion of our creator self-certification program.

Continue to be a place where users come to laugh and to learn

YouTube has become the world’s largest video library, a place where people come to be entertained, watch their favorite creators, get help with homework, learn a new hobby, see the latest music video and find community. We’ve seen the ways video is an effective medium for learning ⁠— users can see how to do something and repeat the lesson as many times as needed! Whether it’s help with a math class for college or learning how to sew and becoming an entrepreneur, we know YouTube is a key force for learning. To amplify this positive impact, we’re investing in quality family content, including our $100 million fund dedicated to the creation of thoughtful, original children’s content on YouTube and YouTube Kids.