YouTube is celebrating its 20th birthday by rolling out a suite of new features, including a 4x playback speed for Premium subscribers and an AI-powered “Ask Music” tool that generates custom radio stations based on user prompts. The platform, which began with a humble 19-second clip titled “Me at the Zoo” in 2005, now boasts over 2.7 billion monthly users and more than 20 billion videos uploaded to date.
Among the updates, YouTube is expanding voice replies for creators, allowing them to respond to comments with audio notes, and introducing customizable multi-view setups for YouTube TV subscribers. A revamped Connected TV interface will also streamline navigation and comment engagement. To mark the milestone, YouTube added playful Easter eggs, including a clickable “Yoodle” that rick-rolls users with a special mashup of “Never Gonna Give You Up.”
The platform shared staggering statistics: over 20 million videos are uploaded daily, users post 100 million comments each day, and creators receive 3.5 billion likes daily. YouTube also revealed that 300 music videos have surpassed 1 billion views, with Adele’s “Hello” holding the record for fastest to hit the mark at 88 days.
Analysts now rank YouTube as the “new king of all media,” projecting 2025 revenue to surpass Disney’s (excluding parks). With innovations like NFL Sunday Ticket and YouTube Music, the platform continues to shape entertainment, proving that Jawed Karim’s elephant trivia was just the beginning of a global phenomenon.
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