YouTube brought endless content—and endless culture wars

A chat with YouTube CEO Neal Mohan

In a conversation with Bloomberg, YouTube CEO Neal Mohan maps out how the company is taking what it’s learned thus far and embedding itself into the “lean-back” TV viewing experience.

Youtube, explained

YouTube began as a quirky site where users uploaded funny, random videos—a do-it-yourself television service. Today, it’s a global media powerhouse and home to everything from movie trailers to video podcasts, livestreams, and much more. Want to learn more about the streaming giant? Check out our 5-minute explainer here.

YouTube's first-ever video was nothing special

YouTube has grown into a cultural force in its two-plus decades of existence. Its beginnings, though, were modest, especially its first video: a 19-second clip about a visit to the San Diego Zoo. This brief resource explains the origins and longtail impact of "Me at the zoo," a simple video uploaded by Jawed Karim on April 23, 2005.

YouTube occupies more US screen time than Netflix

As consumers continue to shift their viewing activity away from traditional cable and broadcast TV, they’re spending an increasing amount of time streaming content, much of it on YouTube. In fact, Nielsen data from August 2025, shows that YouTube accounted for 13.1% of US screen time, compared to Netflix’s 8.7%.

YouTube was acquired by Google for $1.65B in stock during its second year

In 2006, Google acquired YouTube for $1.65B, only two years after its launch. Sequoia Capital, one of Silicon Valley's best-known venture firms, was an early investor in the streaming video platform, seeing it as the next step in the evolution of user-generated content that flourished online during the mid-2000s.

YouTube's first video was grainy video of co-founder Jawed Karim at the zoo

Some 500 hours of content are posted to YouTube every minute. The video at the beginning of that massive growing stream of content is this one—"Me at the Zoo." Uploaded in April 2005 by YouTube co-founder Jawed Karim, it shows him at the San Diego Zoo talking about elephants.

Was Google's acquisition of YouTube a good deal?

Google's acquisition of YouTube was a game-changer, but was it a good deal in retrospect? Here, the hosts of the popular "Acquired" podcast explore whether the deal measures up to the mythology, starting with a memo from early investor Sequoia Capital.

‘Nipple-gate’ helped spark the creation of YouTube

After Justin Timberlake exposed Janet Jackson during Super Bowl XXXVIII, frustrated viewers searching for clips inspired Jawed Karim and his partners to build YouTube as a platform for sharing missed moments.

Reimagining YouTube as cable TV, complete with channel-surfing

The site streams YouTube content as if it were broadcast television, providing the ability to flip through channels and enter videos mid-stream, and you also can't easily skip ahead. The product is designed in part to bring back serendipity to video discovery.

YouTube evolved into a film distributor

YouTube has evolved from a random clearinghouse of user-uploaded video content to a global media powerhouse. One example is the use of YouTube to distribute "Milk & Serial," a slasher film made for $800 that eventually racked up hundreds of thousands of views.

How YouTube's biggest creator changed the platform forever

Jimmy Donaldson, aka MrBeast, has accrued 241 million subscribers on YouTube by obsessing over content and spending sometimes millions to produce a single video. He is known for recording himself doing extreme stunts, like staying underwater for 24 hours, and gifting people with large amounts of money. Creators have imitated his style ever since. Dive into how MrBeast transformed YouTube here.

YouTube began as a quirky site invented by former PayPal employees

In February 2005, YouTube was launched by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. Their idea was to build a platform to support the convenient sharing of videos online, a relatively novel idea in the days of cable TV and early social media.

Understanding 'YouTube Face,' the platform's pervasive thumbnail style

It's an image that's rampant across the web's premier video platform: open mouths, astonished eyes. It looks cheesy and cheap, yet its practitioners are some of YouTube's most popular personalities. The Ringer's Nate Rogers digs into the history of the phenomenon to learn why it's had such staying power.

YouTube plans on embracing AI-powered features

YouTube CEO Neal Mohan lays out a series of priorities and predictions for how the online video giant will continue to evolve. Mohan says the company wants AI to play a bigger role—in addition to figuring out how YouTube can evolve and improve the experience of streaming its content.

TikTok can turn everyday users into stars

TikTok is such a cultural force, it’s now a platform for turning ordinary users into stars. This "Planet Money" podcast episode performs a deep dive into how Tai Verdes went from working a day job and dreaming of becoming a successful musician to using TikTok to gain a following.

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew on its future

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew dives into how the trendsetting video app and cultural phenomenon works, from what distinguishes its algorithm and drives viral videos, to the challenges of content moderation and digital addiction in this wide-ranging conversation with the head of TED, Chris Anderson.

Conspiracy theories today are often born from online radicalization

New York Times tech columnist Kevin Roose examines how individuals become radicalized while using platforms like YouTube. Hate crimes that took place before the COVID-19 pandemic inspired the podcast, which looks at online commentators, algorithms, and isolation, and possible explanations for how increased online activity can sometimes lead to violent crime.

Hank Green on the problem with being a creator

YouTuber Hank Green takes over The Financial Diet's platform to talk about the creator economy. He walks the audience through the financial decisions involved when making content. He also describes brand deals, and who actually owns the content posted on social media platforms—the creator or the platform itself?

YouTube's 10 most viewed music videos of all time

YouTube arrived in 2005 with a short, innocuous video about the San Diego Zoo. Just 20 years later, it's one of the most popular websites and a go-to for countless music fans. This list of the site's most popular music videos analyzes how the videos hold up after reaching billions of views. The biggest takeaway? "Gangnam Style" is still a thrilling watch.

How the YouTube algorithm works, according to MrBeast

In this brief interview clip, the YouTube savant "MrBeast" summarizes how the YouTube algorithm—which he relies on to make his content go viral—actually works.

How K-pop conquered the world

How did Korean musical acts go from unpopular and at times maligned to filling arenas and creating one of the most viral music videos of all time? This 25-minute audio documentary from BBC World Service explains how social networks, plastic surgery, and government tax breaks helped turn K-pop into the multibillion-dollar global juggernaut we know today.

YouTube no longer provides data to Billboard

Billboard began using data from YouTube in 2013, tracking the platform’s most popular songs as it became a hub for listeners. That relationship ended in January 2026, when YouTube announced it was ending the partnership, citing a disagreement over how Billboard weighted premium users more heavily than free users.

TikTok explained: how the app became a global phenomenon

Since 2018, the short-form, video-sharing app TikTok has gone from launching in the US to becoming a habit-forming cultural force that’s signed up more than half of the country's population as users.

Inside the life of a 13-year-old beauty influencer

Thirteen-year-old Evelyn started posting get-ready-with-me style videos the summer before she entered 7th grade. Pull back the curtain on how she rose to internet fame through cutting observations of her peers at school, and how platforms like TikTok have responded to those under 13 joining the creator economy.

YouTube's recommendation algorithm relies on over 80 billion daily pieces of information

These signals include which videos a user has watched, searched for, and liked, as well as channel subscriptions and feedback selections, such as videos marked "not interested." Each user's viewing habits are compared with those of other users with similar habits, and this information is used to suggest additional content.

Understanding TikTok-owner ByteDance's business model

ByteDance has ridden TikTok's major success to become the world's most valuable startup. This deep dive showcases some of the company's smartest moves and tactics, and where it's headed next.

A 2002 profile of unprofitable Netflix as it bet on a subscription model

The streaming behemoth saw the potential in subscriptions early, and in this 2002 profile CEO Reed Hastings was already talking about plans to offer "downloadable" movies. The profile serves as a historical artifact confirming the startup's risky bets and showcases the contingent factors that led to its success. (Some users may experience a paywall.)

How TikTok ate the internet

TikTok is now deeply integrated into American culture, thanks to the app’s powerful algorithm and focus on entertainment which have influenced popular trends and social media content consumption in the US. This immersive piece highlights TikTok’s role in helping shape everything from music to fashion and even politics in the US—while its connection to China has also drawn scrutiny and raised national security concerns.

How Netflix battled Blockbuster

The most consequential business stories involve intense rivalries. The story of Netflix versus Blockbuster is one of those: an agile upstart versus an entrenched incumbent. This nine-part podcast explores the key strategies and pivotal moments in the rivalry that upended the entertainment business, setting the stage for the streaming wars.

A small fraction of creators make money on YouTube

YouTube has become one of the world's leading entertainment platforms almost entirely on the back of users who upload their own content. An estimated 3.7 million new videos get uploaded to YouTube each day, but only a small, very popular fraction are able to make money from their content.

TikTok is one of the fastest-growing social media platforms of all time

Centered around user-generated short videos, the platform was created by the Chinese technology company ByteDance Ltd. With over 1.8 billion users, the app has become a global force.

Airbnb started as a vacation rental startup and soon disrupted the hospitality industry

In this podcast episode, Airbnb gets the "How I Built This" treatment. The "How I Built This" host speaks with the entrepreneurs behind today's largest businesses about how they got started. In this episode, Airbnb's cofounder Joe Gebbia talks about how he built Airbnb.

MrBeast is one of YouTube's biggest creators

Jimmy Donaldson always wanted to be an entrepreneur. His drive to succeed helped create the world's most successful YouTube channel through his media personality MrBeast. This in-depth interview with Steven Bartlett reveals the intimate details of Donaldson's experience as a big-time creator and more.

A conversation with Wikipedia’s cofounder

In the early 2000s, the nonprofit free encyclopedia Wikipedia launched and became one of the most visited sites on the internet. This lengthy interview with cofounder Jimmy Wales provides insight into how the encyclopedia originated, how it is funded, its plans for the future, and a number of other facts about the hugely influential resource.

Learn about the long and contested history of free speech in America

This podcast examines how American free speech protections evolved—from the Founders' debates to landmark Supreme Court rulings—and why the country arrived at one of the most expansive speech regimes in the world.

Watch a video about how cellphones conquered the world

A fight with a telecom giant. A stunt call on a New York sidewalk. A forgotten memo that rewired the world. Host Sony Kassam sits down with Marty Cooper, the father of the cellphone, and Arlene Harris, the first lady of wireless, to explore the innovation, politics, and high-stakes battles that pried connectivity out of corporate control, unlocked the airwaves, and built the always-on world we live in today, for better or for worse.

Social media algorithms are shaping real-life language through memes

The evolution of the internet in the early 2000s supercharged the creation and spread of memetic content. Now, highly tuned algorithms on platforms like TikTok and YouTube influence the language, phrasing, and content of creators, which shapes how we use language in the real world.

The 30 most popular YouTubers

From music superstars like Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift to streamers like PewDiePie and MrBeast, the ranks of YouTube’s most-subscribed-to accounts includes a mix of everything from celebrities whose YouTube presence complements the rest of their persona to stars who made a name for themselves solely from the platform. This ranking from Search Engine Journal breaks down the 30 biggest YouTube accounts as of June 2004.

The creator economy—which is projected to be worth as much as $480B by 2027—is a system powered by people creating online content for monetizable audiences.

What we learned about Google

Google processes over 8.5 billion searches every day—more than the number of people on Earth. This short breakdown covers how the company evolved from a Stanford research project into a global tech leader, with products like YouTube, Gmail, and Android reaching billions worldwide.

The history of Reddit, the front page of the internet

The hyperactive online forum and social media platform has transformed since 2006 from a simple link-sharing site to a behemoth in digital media. Topping off its ascendancy, Reddit went public on the New York Stock Exchange in 2024, solidifying its future amid a shifting technological climate. Dive into Reddit's nearly two decades of growth with this detailed timeline.

The evolution of X, from startup to Musk-owned giant, reflects rapid tech shifts

Twitter began in 2006 as a side project and grew into a major global platform, widely used for news, activism, and political discourse. Despite mainstream success, it faced ongoing management turmoil, business struggles, and rising concerns over misinformation and user safety.

A timeline of Google's growth

As of 2025, Google will approach its third decade of existence. A period that's seen the company go from dominating the search market to the launch of one billion-user product after another, from Gmail to YouTube. This detailed timeline lays out what happened when, laying out Google's history in detail. It marks key milestones, like the introduction of Google Maps, and what year they happened.

There are 'YouTube camps' that teach children how to create content for the video platform.

Mark Zuckerberg credits some of Facebook's success to constant evolution

Before becoming the head of OpenAI, Sam Altman was the president of Y Combinator—a startup accelerator company that supported companies like Airbnb, DoorDash, and Coinbase. In 2016, Altman interviewed Zuckerberg about creating Facebook and its growth over time. Zuckerberg said that, unlike other companies (think: CourseMatch), Facebook kept growing and adding new features, which prevented the app from becoming obsolete.

Amazon has experienced relentless, if occasionally bumpy, growth since its founding

From its founding in 1994 to a slew of acquisitions and new products and services launched in the decades since then, Amazon has experienced relentless, if occasionally bumpy, growth. This timeline from The Verge lays out some of the major events in the company’s story, including its IPO, rollout of its lucrative cloud-computing division, and much more.

MrBeast became one of YouTube's biggest creators

Jimmy Donaldson, aka "MrBeast," has racked up more than 312 million subscribers on the platform thanks to high-energy videos that mostly feature challenges, stunts, and philanthropy. He joined YouTube in February 2012, and his 800-plus videos have racked up more than 57 billion views.

Airbnb's Brian Chesky explains 'Founder Mode' and how he took back control

The short-term rental CEO learned hard lessons through the pandemic, specifically around a culture focused on management and not building products. In the fall of 2024, Chesky gave a well-received speech at a startup conference that prompted debate in the startup world. He summarizes the talk here.

Google's early focus on simplicity and user experience drove its future successes

Google Search revolutionized information retrieval in 1998, but additional web-based products, including Gmail, Maps, Docs, and YouTube reinforced the company's core ad business while allowing it to aggregate the world's information. Forming Alphabet protected this business from riskier moonshot projects.

Viral pop artists create systems of participation, not just music

Musicologist (and Swift expert) Paula Clare Harper weighs in on the factors that make music go viral. Tracks designed for shareability that feed well into content algorithms on streaming platforms are able to grow in popularity, with traditional human gatekeepers sidelined.