The following timeline provides a brief history of YouTube, detailing how its policies and algorithms have shaped content creation on the platform, tracing YouTube’s evolution from its 2006 acquisition by Google to the algorithmic personalization we experience today in 2024.
Google purchased YouTube for $1.65 billion in November 2006, replacing Google Video. At the time of the acquisition, YouTube was the most visited video site. This acquisition connected the power of search with video, laying the foundation for Google’s future algorithmic integration.
In 2007, YouTube launched their Partner Program, which allowed popular creators to earn a cut of revenue from the ads placed on their videos based on the performance of their channel.
According to YouTube, “for millions of creators, making videos on YouTube isn’t just a creative outlet, it’s a source of income.” The monetization of the platform has the power to influence creators to tailor their content towards popularity to increase engagement with their channel.
Changes to YouTube’s algorithm in 2012 resulted in creators adjusting the length of their videos. Some creators shortened their videos to increase the likelihood that their videos would be watched to completion while others increased the length of their videos so they could rack up more viewing hours.
YouTube did not clarify which the algorithm preferred, stating “make videos your audience wants to watch, and the algorithm will reward you.”
In 2015, YouTube began measuring viewer satisfaction, using feedback from surveys, likes, shares, dislikes, and “not interested” to prioritize recommended content to viewers. This is when the algorithm got personal, with the goal of finding videos of interest for each individual viewer, not necessarily based on popularity.
If viewers are recommended videos that interest them, they are more likely to spend additional time on the platform. This increases YouTube's viewer metrics, making it more appealing to advertisers.
YouTube set out to achieve the goal of its users watching one billion hours of content a day, and they achieved that in 2016.
The following quote from YouTube’s VP of Engineering, Cristos Goodfrow, sheds light on the outcome of their decision to recommend tailored content to viewers.
“A few years back, we made a big decision at YouTube. While everyone seemed focused on how many views a video got, we thought the amount of time someone spent watching a video was a better way to understand whether a viewer really enjoyed it. It wasn’t an easy call, but we thought it would help us make YouTube a more engaging place for creators and fans.”
In 2021, YouTube announced a surge in ad sales since the pandemic which resulted in a $30 billion payout to creator over the past 3 years. This boastful announcement informs content creators of their potential to make a lot of money on the platform if their content is successful, attracting even more creators to the algorithmic influence of YouTube.
Additionally, more content attracts more viewers. This appeals to advertisers, leading to an increase in advertising dollars that YouTube can allocate to creators.
As of 2024, the algorithm provides distinct recommendations to each user, tailored to their interests and watch history and weighted based on the videos’ performance and quality. While the success of a video may seem randomized, engagement plays a role in what is successful and therefore, what is created.
This algorithmic tuning is not only influenced by viewers' engagement on the platform, but also influenced by their patterns and behaviors on other sites, location history, and connected Google account activity.
While the success of a video may seem randomized, engagement plays a role in what is successful and, therefore, what is created.