The Business of YouTube (Infographic)

I can’t recall the first viral YouTube video I watched, and I can’t recall exactly how (or in what format) we shared the Internet’s most legendary videos before the service launched in 2005.

Considering how much the site has evolved since then—I mean, we have “YouTube celebrities” now—it’s only fitting that as the site turns 10 years old, we should take a look at YouTube as a business (and vehicle for PR and marketing).

One of the more staggering statistics that speaks to the site’s ubiquity is that 61 percent of Americans had watched 75.6 million videos, and that number has only grown since January 2014.

Even more mind-blowing than that? More than 100 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute.

From its initial days of rapid growth and dealing with piracy, to its sale to Google in 2006 for $1.65 billion and copyright wars, new advertising models, and now pay-to-watch content, it’s been incredible to watch YouTube’s journey. It's the quintessential story of the Digital Age tech company, and my guess is that it’s only getting started.

For more eye-popping YouTube stats and figures, check out the Syracuse University infogrpahic (which, we'll note, is a couple years late with the date of YouTube's launch) below.