The Tube

What is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear Youtube?

Multi-million dollar computer company, inappropriate videos, educational, helpful, or just a waste of time?


Well it is actually all of those things. I personally spend a lot of time on the Tube, and I usually watch music performances live, or football videos, or piano covers of songs... you get the point. Well I think that the people who created Youtube will eventually make users pay to become members, so i strongly advise you to become a member now. I am considering this also. I think this because Youtube already has 120 something million dollars since they were sold to Google. And that is even with the site being free to access. They make money off Youtube because of the advertisements on the side bars, and the TV commercials. I also like Youtube because if I want to buy a song on Itunes, but i don't know if it has any "vulgar" language in it, i can just head on over to the Tube and check it out for myself therefore saving me $.99, and a wasted song if it is bad.

Well that is not the point of this post. The point is to show how much revenue a free internet site can generate. Here are the numbers:

(numbers courtesy of wikipedia)

Annual monthly income: $15 million
In late 2006, Google bought online video site Youtube for $1.65 billion in stock

Well, Youtube also has televised the presidential debates, and the Youtube video awards.

Obviously Youtube is a billion dollar industry.

info courtesy of wiki

Like many technology startups, YouTube was started as an angel-funded enterprise from a makeshift office in a garage. In November 2005, venture firm Sequoia Capital invested an initial $3.5 million;additionally, Roelof Botha, partner of the firm and former CFO of PayPal, joined the YouTube board of directors. In April 2006, Sequoia put an additional $8 million into the company, which had experienced huge popular growth within its first few months.
During the summer of 2006, YouTube was one of the fastest growing websites on the Web, and was ranked the 5th most popular website on Alexa, far outpacing even MySpace's rate of growth. According to a July 16, 2006 survey, 100 million video clips are viewed daily on YouTube, with an additional 65,000 new videos uploaded every 24 hours. The website averages nearly 20 million visitors per month, according to Nielsen/NetRatings, where around 44% are female, 56% male, and the 12- to 17-year-old age group is dominant. YouTube's preeminence in the online video market is staggering. According to the website Hitwise.com, YouTube commands up to 64% of the UK online video market.


Wikinews has related news:
Google purchases YouTube for $1.65 billion
On October 9, 2006, it was announced that the company would be purchased by Google for US$1.65 billion in stock. The purchase agreement between Google and YouTube came after YouTube presented three agreements with media companies in an attempt to escape the threat of copyright-infringement lawsuits. YouTube will continue operating independently, with its co-founders and 67 employees working within the company. The deal to acquire YouTube closed on November 13, and was, at the time, Google's second largest acquisition.

Well there is Youtube in a rather large nutshell, hope you enjoyed it.