By Michael Liedtke, Technology Writer
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) --YouTube's legacy extends beyond its pioneering role in the Internet's video revolution. The 10-year-old site provided a stage for exhibitionists, narcissists and activists to broadcast their opinions, show off their talents, expose abuses or just pass along their favorite clips of movies, TV shows, music, cute kittens and other interests.
The rampant sharing on YouTube quickly attracted a massive audience that loved watching what they wanted when they wanted, even if much of the material was being contributed by amateurs.
YouTube's rapid rise demonstrated that influential media hubs could be built around free content supplied by an Internet service's users. Other companies that went on to embrace a similar strategy included Facebook, which limited its online social network to college and high school students until opening up the service to anyone 13 or older beginning in September 2006. That was just before YouTube's whirlwind success culminated in its $1.76 billion sale to Google Inc.
In the spirit of sharing popularized by YouTube, here are a few moments to remember from the site's first decade:
MAJOR MILESTONES
YouTube's potential to transform people's viewing habits became apparent during the autumn of 2005 when a Nike soccer shoe ad called "Touch of Gold" became the first video on the site to be watched 1 million times.
The dance video "Gangnam Style" became the first YouTube video to surpass 1 billion views in 2012. The clip from South Korean rapper Psy still reigns as YouTube's most-watched video at 2.3 billion views. The only other video to break the billion barrier so far has been "Baby" by Justin Bieber, but YouTube expects clips by singers Katy Perry, Shakira, Taylor Swift, Meghan Trainor and Miley Cyrus to eventually join the exclusive club.
In 2007, about six hours of video footage was being transferred to YouTube every minute. Now, about 300 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube each minute, or about 432,000 hours per day. That means it would take about 49 years to watch all the videos posted on YouTube on a typical day.
VIDEO VILLIANS
Most TV and movie executives initially reviled YouTube, contending the site's early success stemmed from its lax controls against video pirates posting copyrighted clips. Even Google initially viewed the video site as a "'rogue enabler' of content theft," according to internal documents that surfaced in a copyright lawsuit filed against YouTube.
YouTube steadfastly denied wrongdoing and, as a defense, pointed to its policy of removing pirated video whenever asked by a copyright holder.
Shortly after being bought by Google, YouTube built an automated detection system that prevents most unauthorized clips from appearing on its site.
THE BIG WINDFALL
In need of additional computing power and legal protection against the pirating claims, YouTube's founders decided to sell in 2006. They negotiated the Google deal in a series of meetings in a Denny's restaurant in Palo Alto, California, instead of YouTube's dinky office located above a pizza parlor in nearby San Mateo. The purchase price was originally set at $1.65 billion in Google stock, but the value of the shares had climbed by the time the deal closed in November 2006 to set the final price at $1.76 billion.
The biggest winners were co-founders Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim , who collectively received nearly $700 million in Google stock. Hurley now runs a mobile video site called MixBitApp. Chen is an entrepreneur-in-residence at Google's venture capital arm. Karim is financing and advising startups at Y Ventures.
YouTube employed fewer than 70 people at the time of the sale, and at least 18 of them became millionaires. Other early investors in the site who pocketed smaller windfalls included TV talk show host Maury Povich and former network TV news broadcaster Forrest Sawyer.
WHAT IT'S WORTH NOW
Google has never disclosed how much money YouTube brings in or even if the site is profitable. The research firm eMarketer projects YouTube will sell about $4.3 billion in advertising this year, after subtracting commissions and licensing fees. That would translate into about 7 percent of Google's projected revenue of $60 billion this year after subtracting advertising commissions.
If it were an independent company, YouTube likely would be worth at least $20 billion, based on investors' assessment of Netflix — the Internet's leading video subscription service. Netflix currently has a market value of $37 billion, or about five and half times its projected revenue this year.
“Heretic” and “Maria” Set As Red Carpet Premieres At AFI Fest
The American Film Institute (AFI) has announced that Heretic, the psychological thriller starring Hugh Grant, and Maria, based on the life of opera singer Maria Callas starring Angelina Jolie, will round out the Red Carpet Premieres section at this year’s AFI Fest. The Heretic Gala Screening will take place on Thursday, October 24, and the Maria Gala Screening will be held on Saturday, October 26. The complete Red Carpet Premieres section includes the world premieres of Music By John Williams, Robert Zemeckis’ Here, Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl and Clint Eastwood’s Juror #2. All Red Carpet Premieres will take place at the historic TCL Chinese Theatre. The full lineup for AFI Fest 2024 will be unveiled on October 1.
“At the heart of AFI Fest is an unwavering dedication to celebrating the best in global cinema--together,” said Bob Gazzale, AFI president and CEO. “We look forward to uniting artists and audiences once again to be inspired by the art form in a powerful sense of community.”
Heretic follows two young missionaries (Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East) who are forced to prove their faith when they knock on the wrong door and are greeted by a diabolical Mr. Reed (portrayed by Grant), becoming ensnared in his deadly game of cat-and-mouse. The film is directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods and produced by Stacey Sher, Beck, Woods, Julia Glausi and Jeanette Volturno. The film will be released nationwide by A24 on November 8.
Directed by Pablo Larraín, Maria presents a tumultuous and beautiful depiction of one of the world’s most renowned artists and reimagines the legendary soprano in her final days in Paris, as Callas (Jolie)... Read More