From a Zoo in San Diego to 467M users in India: YouTube’s 20-year journey
Exactly 20 years ago on April 23, 2005, a short clip titled “Me at the zoo” became the first video ever uploaded to YouTube. Filmed by Yakov Lapitsky and featuring the tech entrepreneur Jawed Karim.
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It’s not flashy. There’s no music, filters or viral catchphrase. Just a guy in a jacket, standing in front of two elephants at the San Diego Zoo, saying, “The cool thing about these guys is that they have really, really, really long trunks.” Yes! that was the first-ever YouTube video.
Exactly 20 years ago on April 23, 2005, short clip—titled “Me at the zoo” became the first video ever uploaded to YouTube. Filmed by Yakov Lapitsky and featuring the tech entrepreneur Jawed Karim.
Karim, one of YouTube’s three co-founders along with Chad Hurley and Steve Chen, had no idea at the time that this casual moment at the zoo would become the foundation of a platform that now shapes media, entertainment and even democracy itself. Back then, YouTube was just an idea, a place to share videos easily online.
Since its upload, “Me at the zoo” has amassed over 357 million views as of April 2025. It has been analyzed, memed, remixed and cited in everything from tech talks to textbooks. It is often described as the symbolic heart of YouTube, a perfect reflection of what the platform stood for, that is authenticity, accessibility and everyday voices.
Over the years, Karim has subtly updated the video’s description, adding layers of quiet commentary as the platform evolved. Meanwhile, YouTube has grown far beyond what its founders likely imagined. From viral music videos and breaking news to beauty tutorials and billion-dollar creators, it’s a universe that started with a single, softly spoken observation about elephant trunks.
As of July 2023, YouTube continued to dominate as a global video platform, with India leading the user base at approximately 467 million users, followed by the United States with 246 million. Demographically, YouTube has a fairly balanced gender split, with 51.4% of its viewers being women and 48.6% being men, showcasing its universal appeal.
From a content perspective, YouTube continues to expand at an astonishing pace. Over 500 hours of video are uploaded every minute, which translates to roughly 3,00,000 hours of new content per hour. YouTube’s financial and commercial influence is also significant. Nearly $35 million in revenue is generated from the United States alone, making it a major market for the platform.
In fact, advertising on YouTube is also gaining traction as about 59% of social media users feel that ads on YouTube are more relevant than those shown on linear TV or other streaming platforms, indicating a higher level of engagement and effectiveness for brands using the platform.
In a world where content often chases spectacle, “Me at the zoo” remains charming in its ordinariness, a digital time capsule of a much simpler internet. It didn’t just mark the beginning of YouTube, but an era of revolution. Now, YouTube ranks as the second most visited website in the world, just behind its parent company, Google, according to data from Semrush.
