Video
download and streaming site YouTube has passed the 100m views a day
mark with 2.5 billion videos viewed last month, according to the latest
online stats. In April that figure was 35 million a day, an indication
of how rapidly the public's appetite for online video is growing.
Formed barely 18 months ago, the site's ease of use (you can upload
video in most formats) and straightforward way of letting users embed
video in their own site (see below) has helped it become the most popular video
service in the US with 60% of all video downloads according to site
trackers HitWise.
Founded by ex-PayPal employees, Chad Hurley and
Steve Chen (pictured above), YouTube is one of the only massively popular multimedia
websites that is still independent after Rupert Murdoch bought MySpace
in 2005. Investment in April 2006 from Sequouia Capital of $8m was
expected to help Youtube to launch an as yet secret advertising
model. The
site currently uses Google Ads and YouTube's strategy is hotly
anticipated because, well, no-one yet has really illustrated how to
make money out of expensive high-bandwidth web video. However, for a
site launched in February 2005, getting more daily views than most
commercial TV channels, the executives can't be too worried.
Examples of YouTube:
An air raid in Haifa, July 16
Rachmaninoff Moment Musical No. 4