- [Judah] It's April 23rd, 2005,
and this is the first video uploaded
to a new site called YouTube.
It's a 19 second, 240p clip of YouTube co-founder,
Jawed Karim, at the San Diego Zoo.
- All right, so here we are,
in front of the elephants.
- [Judah] He, alongside his two co-founders,
Steve Chen and Chad Hurley, left their positions
as early employees of PayPal,
originally to start a new kind of dating website.
- We even had a slogan for it.
Tune in, hook up.
(audience laughing)
- Tune in, hook up.
That was the original idea behind YouTube.
The intent was for users to upload videos
talking about themselves
and what they were looking for in a partner.
In using the Wayback Machine,
you can see the earliest layout
of the site that featured a section
where users could search for matches rather than videos.
But as we know, YouTube took a different turn.
After launching, the site had zero traction.
The founders even tried desperately
posting ads on Craigslist,
offering $20 to women who would post videos
but no one was interested.
So they decided to pivot
and opened up the site to any video.
This decision changed everything.
In just one year,
YouTube was serving more than 100 million videos per day,
and in 2006, Google acquired the site for $1.65 billion.
Fast forward to today, and YouTube has become a powerhouse.
With over 2 billion monthly active users,
it's the second most visited site in the world.
And with this success, a new type of career emerged,
YouTube Creator.
This is probably one of the most interesting jobs out there,
yet one of the hardest jobs for people born
before the digital age to really understand.
You see, YouTube creators are part of a new category of work
called new-collar jobs.
Unlike white-collar jobs,
that usually require a college degree,
generally pay well, in are office based
or blue-collar jobs that often pay less,
typically require some sort of certification,
and entails manual labor, new-collar jobs
are difficult to define in terms of pay.
They only require talent
or skills that are genuinely self-taught
and thanks to the internet, can be performed anywhere.
It's really interesting just to see how fast
the world is changing.
A 2017 Dell study,
estimated that 85% of the jobs
that will exist in 2030 haven't been invented yet.
This chart shows the jobs and existed 12 years ago
that are either gone or disappearing.
Jobs that exist today,
but weren't mainstream 12 years ago
and jobs that are likely to exist in the next 12 years.
As you can see, YouTube creators
are in that middle bucket
as one of these new fields of work.
And it's become so popular that 75% of children
between the ages of six and 17
say that they want to be YouTubers when they grow up.
That's more than the number that want to be doctors,
teachers, even astronauts.
Yet, if you ask most people, YouTube is not a real job.
This video started six months ago when I broke my foot.
I had to get physical therapy,
and one day while seeing the therapist,
she asked me what I do for a living,
and I told her that I'm a YouTube strategist.
(cricket chirping)
That is how she looked at me, very confused,
but honestly I wasn't surprised
because this is one of those new-collar jobs
that people don't totally understand.
And to be honest
my family has no idea what it is that I do.
But what really hurt me was when she told me
about her daughter who wanted to grow up to be a YouTuber
and how she thought it was a complete waste of time.
That's when I knew I had to make this video.
You see, in her eyes,
YouTubers were just kids with cameras
who didn't make real money,
have real skills or add real value to society.
Today, YouTube is far beyond goofy cat videos, pranks
and chocolate rain.
♪ Chocolate rain ♪
♪ Made me cross the street the other day ♪
- It's evolved into a major platform
where people can create meaningful content,
make real money, build businesses, change lives
and turn their passions into careers.
So why is there still this negative stigma
around this as a job?
Well, in part, I get it,
because there is not a defined career path.
There's not like a starting wage.
And to be perfectly honest
it doesn't work out for everybody.
But I think the biggest reason
why people don't take this job as a YouTuber seriously,
it's because they don't understand it.
It's like this quote from Friedrich Nietzsche,
"And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane
by those who could not hear the music."
In 2021, an Oxford economic study,
revealed that YouTube's creative ecosystem
contributed over $25 billion to the US GDP.
And the YouTube Creator Economy
has similarly contributed to the GDP in other countries
around the world.
In less than five years after introducing ads,
YouTube launched the YouTube Partner Program,
allowing creators to share in the success
of its advertising business.
Today, YouTube offers 10 monetization options
for millions of creators, allowing them to earn money,
support their families, and create additional jobs.
And this doesn't include all the other revenue streams
creators have access to
such as sponsorships and affiliate partnerships.
There is a ton of money to be made
and that study also showed
that YouTube creators supported over 425,000
full-time equivalent jobs in the United States alone.
And there's this misconception that you have to be famous
or be a million subscribed channel
to make money off of YouTube.
But when you start stacking
all the different monetization options
that YouTube gives you,
you can make a considerable income even as a small creator.
Becoming the next Mr. Beast is a fun dream,
but it doesn't have to be the goal.
You can make a great living on YouTube
without having to reach ridiculous numbers
for views or subscribers.
And by the way, being a YouTuber
is way more than just grabbing a camera
and filming yourself.
Now, I understand that's what it looks like,
because at the end of the day,
you only see what gets posted.
But behind every video you see on YouTube
is hours of research, scripting, filming, editing,
optimizing and more.
A lot goes into creating content that you may never see.
So yes, YouTubers make money.
Yes, YouTubers have a huge impact on society,
but is that it?
Just make videos for a platform
that might not be around forever?
I don't think so.
While I don't believe that YouTube is going anywhere.
Creators are using YouTube as a springboard
to launch themselves into other industries
and established long lasting careers beyond the platform.
Creators have used their YouTube channels
to bring greater success to their businesses
or careers to enter the world of fashion,
food, film, sports, even music.
♪ And take it slowly ♪
♪ Shake, shake, shake, shake, shake, shake ♪
- Okay, the point is, YouTube doesn't have to be the end.
For many is just the start.
I, for example, have this job
where I get to show up and help other creators
but I didn't get it because of some fancy YouTube degree.
I got it because of YouTube
where I was creating content for myself
and for companies and for other people.
And that's how I got my start.
Remember that first video
that was uploaded April 23rd, 2005?
Well, I uploaded this one 18 years later,
April 23rd, 2023,
which is now an official holiday known as Creator Day.
To appreciate content creators around the world
that have made an impact in our lives
and for the real jobs that they do.
Keep creating.
(upbeat music)