Did you check out the zoo two decades ago? More than 364 million individuals certainly did.
On April 23, 2005, YouTube co-founder Jawed Karim stood near the elephants at the San Diego Zoo, provided some casual commentary, and shared it on YouTube. This marked the very first video ever uploaded to the service. Initially envisioned as a dating platform, YouTube instead launched a new digital era: one filled with vast content, influencers and creators, algorithm-driven engagement, the rapid dissemination of misinformation, and a society increasingly molded by metrics — likes, shares, and views.
Its influence is so extensive that quantifying it is challenging. Last year alone, the video-sharing website generated $36.15 billion in advertising revenue, as reported by Variety. At VidCon 2025, YouTube’s VP of Creator Products, Amjad Hanif, revealed that approximately 20 million videos are added to the site every single day.
YouTube wasn’t the first social networking site. Platforms such as GeoCities, Classmates.com, SixDegrees.com, Friendster, and MySpace all emerged earlier. However, those sites operated as static digital spaces for users to share personal details or connect with acquaintances from their offline lives. There was no algorithm, and certainly no “content” as we comprehend it today. YouTube, in its initial phase, resembled this model. Yet somehow it not only persisted but thrived, transformed the landscape of our communication, and made it possible for documentary filmmakers, comedians, and artists to share their creations. What began as a venue intended for dating has evolved into a hub of monetization and the foundation of the $250 billion creator economy.
How did we arrive at this point? And, two decades later, what lies ahead?
The inception of the creator economy
YouTube didn’t simply host videos; it established the first genuine creator economy, paving the way for a generation of influencers who could genuinely earn a living from their craft. Indeed, individuals were creating videos prior to YouTube, but traditional media had substantial barriers. Hollywood gatekeepers determined who could be seen, heard, and compensated. YouTube shattered that paradigm.
“The reason YouTube has outlasted nearly every other platform, or maintained its relevance, is that regarding longform video, it’s quite straightforward — it’s not merely a content platform, it’s a backbone for the creator economy,” stated Matt Navarra, a social media expert, in an interview with Mashable. “While other platforms were chasing trends, YouTube built the essential infrastructure.”
Google bought YouTube in 2006, and once YouTube became a part of the largest and most influential search engine globally, it possessed an impressive amount of resources, traffic, and capital — and it allocated some of those resources, traffic, and funds to its users.
In 2007, YouTube initiated the YouTube Partner Program, introducing creator payments, which Mark Bergen, a journalist and author of Like, Comment, Subscribe: How YouTube Drives Google’s Dominance and Controls Our Culture, claims effectively invented the notion of the content creator as a profession. Users started depending on the platform for income, and that financial motivation fostered loyalty among creators; few were willing to leave a platform that financially rewarded them, especially when competitors couldn’t provide the same benefits. Additionally, new creators began streaming into the YouTube ecosystem, eager to achieve the same freedom and recognition that was available to them only on this platform.
Yet long before the earnings and refined productions, passion was the primary driving force. Early creators like John and Hank Green weren’t after fame or financial gain — since neither truly existed at that time. “When we began, there was no way to earn money and no status associated with it,” Hank Green reminisced during VidCon 2025’s “YouTube Legends” panel. That was part of the charm. “Nobody [was] being paid well, but everyone was together, enjoying it, and the sense of community, it turns out, is more vital for happiness than money. I miss those times when I was earning $20,000 a year surrounded by fellow enthusiasts who never expected it would become a cultural powerhouse,” he shared. “But I’m also very pleased that there is now an opportunity for incredibly talented individuals who would have never had creative careers to pursue those paths now.”
YouTube has “cracked the code of the creator economy and has maintained control over that for nearly 20 years. Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Snapchat, everyone has attempted and failed to come close,” Bergen informed Mashable. He noted that none of the other platforms “have constructed an economy and workforce of this magnitude and scope.”
Navarra highlighted that the early YouTubers — creators such as John and Hank Green, Rhett & Link, Grace Helbig, and Tyler Oakley, many of whom were inducted into the inaugural VidCon Hall of Fame this year — didn’t just produce content; they built