When did Google buy YouTube? Who isn’t aware of YouTube clips these days? We all watch music videos and other video content uploaded by many video creators worldwide. This popular video-sharing platform is owned by Google. In this article, we are going to find out the entire story of why and when did Google buy YouTube which is still one of the best consumer tech acquisitions or simply the best tech deal to date.
Larry Page claimed that Google is the perfect search engine because it “would understand exactly what you mean and give back exactly what you want”. Given the state of search technology today, that far-reaching vision requires research, development, and innovation to realize.
Google has become a search giant for almost all Indian households browsing the internet. As we all know, Google is one of the world’s leading search engines, serving media worldwide, and is much more than just a search engine. It was founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin in 1996 as a startup and was originally named Backrub.
Google was initially started in a garage, and now Google has its headquarters in Mountain View, California. With more than 32,000 employees, Google has grown in just one year and is giving equal competition to the well-established company, Microsoft.
Google was first a search engine and later spread its wings in the fields of cloud computing, artificial intelligence, online advertising, computer software, and many more. With Google’s smart algorithms, the search results are quick and the most accurate.
Google is also the developer of the Android operating system in 2005, thus setting Google as the default browser and making Google apps pre-installed on many Android phones so they can’t be deleted. Google has set its standards high, and almost any computer science graduate across the world wants to be a part of it.
Alphabet
Since 2015, Google has become a subsidiary of Alphabet. Being Google’s parent company, it holds many other companies, some of which belong to Google, and some others are outsiders. Eric Schmidt became the CEO of Alphabet and Sundar Pichai has been appointed as Google’s CEO, replacing Larry Page.
As of December 3rd, 2019, Sundar Pichai is also the CEO of Alphabet. Google possesses other google services such as Google Playstore, YouTube, Google Maps, Google videos, Google advertisements and wearable technology, smartphones, and much more. Google turns 23 as of September 2021, with more than 1,00,000 happy employees.
Google’s Evolution
Google was initially just a search engine for web browsers in 1998.
Google introduced Adwords in 2000. Google Adwords is now renamed Google Ads, which is for display and video ads. Most media companies and organizations wish to advertise themselves and their products through Google Ads.
In 2002, Google released the Google API. The API refers to the application programming interface. This allows the user to communicate through Google services and deliver their responses. Google search, Google Translate, and Gmail are some of the examples of the Google API. The Google API provides services free of charge.
The following year, Google launches Google labs to help engineers steer new ideas. It is now Google Code labs and is not gone, but it can be enabled through Gmail. It contains repositories and is free of charge.
In the following year, Google launched the Google Toolbar. It was an internet explorer in those times and is discontinued now. It was later developed by Google and NCH software and was released to the public as a Mozilla plug-in for Firefox up to June 2011.
Google launched Gmail for user-generated content in 2004, as an online email service.
In the same year, Google Books was launched. It is a platform to search for any scanned magazine or book all over the world.
In 2005, Google launched Google Maps, which gives geographical navigation and also a 360-degree satellite aerial view covering the entire planet.
In 2006, Google.org, a charitable trust, was bought by the public. It is a non-profit trust benefitting millions of people over the globe.
Google purchased YouTube for 1.65 billion in 2006.
In 2007, the partnership with Android mobile application development played a key role.
This is just a brief on Google’s milestones and its raising history. Google thrived and succeeded in almost every platform it invested in. Of course, there are downfalls too… but Google managed to maintain its pace and make it to the next generation platform.
Google’s Strategies
Google never settles on one. Be it Google’s smart algorithms or any other Google service, Google loves innovative and brainstorming ideas.
It keeps the focus and never disappoints.
Google cares about selling ads (yes you heard it right selling ads !!!! i.e. video ads), YouTube (a video hub), and other Google services.
When search queries drive people (from the main google search engine) to their desired webpage it makes Google happy as it contributes to its economy.
YouTube
YouTube is an online video platform created for video sharing over the internet without any restrictions. This has grown to become one of the world’s foremost video distribution sites.
YouTube was founded by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim in San Bruno, former employees at PayPal in California. It was brought to the public on February 14, 2005. Since it started, YouTube has become world-famous and there has been a rapid growth in YouTube users.
It is owned by Google and is the second-largest revenue producer for Google after online advertisements. YouTube has over 2.5 billion users and one billion daily watch hours. It has content in every aspect and is a revolutionary social media platform for short videos.
YouTube videos have nearly 30,000 hours of content being uploaded per hour. This rate is being increased drastically day by day because of YouTube’s popularity.
According to a survey, India has more than 467 million active YouTube users per hour. Thus, making India top the list of the world’s most active YouTube users. The United States of America stands next on this list, with over 247 million active YouTube users in 2022.
YouTube has grown in popularity, and as of 2021, it generates a revenue of 2,884.5 crores. YouTube reports that it made a 30% profit in the past four years.
What Made YouTube So Popular?
We all spend most of our lazy Sunday’s binge-watching YouTube. So a product’s success (be it a health product or a technological one) depends on many factors. First, what does the product offer as a whole to the user? It should be either the first or the best.
YouTube ticked both the boxes with flying colors. It was one of its kind and enjoyed instant success among the common masses. It was unique as people had not had such a great experience before.
Not only YouTube is a video site and is used primarily for sharing videos, but YouTube also got many other features for its content creators, since YouTube has user-generated content.
At the end of the day, YouTube is nothing more than a link between content creators and content consumers. Its success till now is because the company stuck to its principles and never looked back. They made sure that the experience of the user was not hindered, and at the same time, they generated bucket loads of cash.
The Features Of YouTube For Content Creators
Getting Started
You don’t need to be a pro or have an expensive setup for your YouTube videos. All that matters is content. As long as your videos are engaging and the content is great you will be successful. Only thing is that you should stick to your principles.
One of the key examples is Bhuvan Bam with his YouTube channel, BB ki Vines. He started filming his YouTube videos with his iPhone. The stunning part is that all the characters enacted in his videos which almost count up to 12 are played by Bhuvan himself. Having long hair and different styles applied to it, he can portray different characters in his videos.
Gradually earning subscribers, his video editing skills and his setup got upgraded reaching the target audience with ease nowadays. But the important point is that you will not turn into a star overnight. It takes lots of dedication, passion, and perseverance, and most importantly you should love the work which you do as then only you can see progress in your journey as a YouTube content creator.
A Google account is required to launch your own YouTube channel. It is always a good practice to create a separate Google account for your YouTube channel, as it will not interfere with your daily tasks.
Then comes the crucial part: what kind of channel do you want to run? Here as well, comes the golden rule. Either be first or be the best. In simple terms, either you create content on niche topics or you create the best content out there on the online video platform.
Expansion Of Your YouTube Channel
After successfully setting up the base, your entire focus should shift to how to grow your channel. You don’t have to do anything extraordinary. People will love your videos until they are unique and of high quality. All it takes is a lot of patience and genuine hard work.
Building Your Community
Then you have to shift your focus to building your community. It is nothing more than reaching out to other video creators and increasing the reach of the YouTube videos posted. With persistence and hard work, you should have your successful channel on this online video site.
Policies And Guidelines
Just like how every game has its own set of rules and regulations which you have to follow, there are some set policies and guidelines on YouTube, which you have to abide by to have a trouble-free and smooth experience as a content creator.
These policies keep a check on the incoming content on the platform. Its absence is sure to wreak havoc as people might be posting all the illegal stuff thereby making it unsafe for its viewers. You have to make sure that all the videos you post abide by these rules and policies. Failing leads to the taking down of the YouTube video which was posted, demonetization (you are not paid for the views your video has earned), and much much more.
Getting Paid For Your Work On YouTube
So now coming to the sweet part, the thing for which most of the YouTubers come for “THE MONEY”. Actually unlike your regular 9 to 5 corporate job where you work for some stipulated time and then at the end of every month you get paid. But YouTube works differently. They have a program called YouTube Partner Programme for paying the YouTube content creators. The eligibility criteria for this partner program is that you should have at least 4 thousand valid public watch hours in the previous year and at least 1,000 subscribers to your YouTube channel.
Other Streams Of Income For YouTube Content Creator
Ad Revenue And YouTube Premium
As a channel owner, you can earn revenue by featuring display, overlay, or video ads. YouTube Premium makes sure that you can earn a percentage of a subscriber’s fee when they watch your YouTube videos.
Super Chat And Super Stickers
Give your fans another way to connect with you during live streams and Premieres. Super Chat and Super Stickers are fun, bright messages and stickers that fans can buy to show their support and help them stand out.
Selling Merchandise
Eligible channels with a large and engaged audience can sell branded merchandise from within their videos and on YouTube. Make sure that you utilize this feature to its full extent as it will be a great source of passive income along with your YouTube videos.
Channel Membership
A paid membership is a great way to give your biggest fans exclusive benefits, like custom loyalty badges, emojis, and members-only content. The amazing part of this paid membership is that you choose which rewards to offer and how to price them. Isn’t it cool right?
YouTube Brand Connect
Connect with brands that would be interested in partnering with you for branded content campaigns. Brand Connect uses Google’s technology to understand your audience and match you with great brands. They then use their full-service campaign management to drive results for you. They give you the choice of working with different brands. You choose which brands (which match your intentions as well as aspirations) you want to collaborate with.
YouTube Creators’ Fellowship
The YouTube Creators’ Fellowship is a new program that gives creators access to $100 million across 2021 and 2022. If you’re a content creator who is shooting and sharing short videos, you’re eligible to join and make money from them.
Super Thanks
Super Thanks gives fans a fun way to show their gratitude for your content by offering them an additional source of revenue. With Super Thanks, you can add a special animation to your videos that only appears when someone likes your video. You’ll also receive a unique, colourful comment in the comments section of the video, so you can easily communicate with your most loyal fans.
Features Of YouTube For Content Consumers
Consumer content means media content and information primarily released or published for consumption by end-user consumers in the market, including audio, video, video games, book publications, gadgets, beauty products, and whatnot, and includes related consumer data obtained in connection therewith.
Likes
Likes are a major instrument in the tuning, whether it be a content creator’s development or a content consumer’s reference to content related to a brand that is usually advertised or promoted by the content creator.
The more likes a video gets, the more likely it is to be featured in relevant YouTube search results and more related videos will pop up that might just be what the viewer wants to know about. Liking videos on YouTube enables a viewer to discover their taste or fondness for certain genres of media content.
Subscriptions
Individuals who choose to follow a channel and its content to keep up with the latest videos. YouTube videos gain their views from their subscribers for a particular channel. More the subscribers, the more views for a channel.
Viewers get gravitated toward creators with more subscribers and popularity, and in most cases, since content creators with more subscriptions satisfy the basic criteria of delivering good work, they end up scouting for the viewer’s necessary searches. The greater the number of subscribers, the greater the viewer’s blind acceptance and acknowledgement of his/her content.
Shorts
YouTube Shorts are portrait videos that last for 60 seconds or less. They are the most visited when someone wants to dally some time away. They are both entertaining and educating. All these clips help in promoting brands, growing channels, and media companies and helping consumers reach certain topics that entice them and let them have a brief quickie about them. They are the fastest way to learn about and experience a product or someone’s work.
Watch Later
This feature enables a consumer to save a certain video, or a short, to his or her created playlists, or a default one, so that he or she can view it later, anytime in the future. This is simply a function designed for people who spot a video that they want but do not have time to watch at that particular moment.
The pre-built playlist allows you to save YouTube videos in a special section, making it easy to use and efficient for viewers/consumers who lack time, internet connection, etc. at that moment.
Playlist
Creating a YouTube playlist is a great way to create content you can enjoy or share videos with others (eg your collection of music videos). Anybody can make them easily, share them with friends, add or delete videos, and fittingly arrange and manage their collections that can be viewed any number of times.
Playlists make life easier for all its users to search for the videos they want to watch—with a few simple gestures, the required videos are saved and sorted in their own YouTube accounts. They help consumers organize their channel and give them a personalized experience, filling their feed with only the content they require or have a fascination with in particular, in a systematic and easy operation.
All these features that refurbish quickly with time and YouTube users, this made YouTube one of the best video-sharing websites on the globe.
Google’s Acquisition Of YouTube
Even though YouTube is an approachable video-sharing platform that has received a tremendous response all over the world, it lacks a proper business model and details on how it will generate revenue.
This is when Google comes into the picture. Google purchased YouTube in November 2006. Google paid YouTube 1.65 billion. Since then, YouTube serves as Google’s subsidiary and has been one of the largest revenue-producing apps. Purchasing YouTube was one of Google’s largest investments while it was still in its eighth year.
YouTube acquisition by Google made the rules that it still works in the company’s current headquarters in San Bruno, California, alongside its 67 employees.
Shares in Google and YouTube parent Alphabet slipped 5% in after-hours trading after the tech giant reported first-quarter results below Wall Street expectations in the post-earnings conference.
CFO Ruth Porat, speaking to wall street analysts on a conference call to discuss the results, said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine had an outsized impact on YouTube ads.
Though google tried to mimic YouTube by developing a site which was poorly named google videos (online video site) that site failed not badly but very badly.
Then they finally purchased the online video-sharing website by Chad Hurley and Steve Chen. Purchasing YouTube for 1.65 billion dollars has to be considered the best tech deal. YouTube as an investment has a great domino effect on both companies. Both will be benefitted uniquely. First YouTube will get the necessary funding and workforce to improve its services and Google on the other hand will get an X-factor for its advertising revenue. So it becomes a win-win situation for both.
Everyone feels this way. For a relatively low cost, Google acquired a product that was already established and had a dominant position in a huge category. Furthermore, Google has done a wonderful job as a steward of the company. The product is still good and works well, and consumers love it! And Google did a huge amount of heavy lifting to solve the IP issues in the business world.
From a distance, you might think that Google essentially left the product (and the team) alone while helping them fix some of the underlying structural business issues. This post-acquisition success is pretty rare in consumer tech M&A, but it’s not unheard of.
Google’s acquisition of YouTube, Android, and Keyhole (the foundation of google earth) was considered by many (including myself) to be brilliant acquisitions which strongly and coherently supported Google’s core strategy.
Know more about: How To Uninstall Google Chrome (Easy Steps)
So to sum up the entire story it was a technological masterstroke to buy YouTube. Google snapped up this great opportunity although the YouTube acquisition was not an easy task financially and repented for their mistake of developing google video.
Last Updated on July 3, 2022 by sujatashah
