YouTube: a history

YouTube, the online video site, marks its fifth year this week. Here are some of the key staging posts in its history.

Gordon Brown's appearances on YouTube have not been a success
Gordon Brown's appearances on YouTube have not been a success

February 2005: YouTube founders, Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim begin work on a video sharing site - they all met at PayPal

April 2005: First video uploaded to YouTube - a video of Jawed at San Diego Zoo

November 2005: YouTube secures first round of funding with Sequoia Capital for $3.5m

December 2005: Official Launch (8m videos watched a day)

February 2006: 15m videos watched a day; 20,000 uploaded a day

May 2006: Mobile video uploads released

July 2006: 65,000 new videos uploaded every day, site passes 100m video views per day

August 2006: YouTube launches first advertising concepts - Participatory Video Ads (PVA) and Brand Channels

Autumn 2006: YouTube signs deal with three major music labels (Sony BMG, Warner, Universal)

October 2006: YouTube partners with first major network (CBS) Begins testing Content Id tool to protect copyrighted material

October 2006: YouTube partners with Audible Magic to create audio identification technology

October 2006: Google acquires YouTube for $1.65bn, says its revenues are “not material”

November 2006: YouTube signs first major sports deal with NHL

January 2007: estimated that YouTube is consuming as much bandwidth as the entire internet did in 2000

March 2007: Viacom, owner of MTV and Nickelodeon, launches $1bn law suit against Google and YouTube for “illegally” showing hit shows. YouTube insists it has followed the rules contained in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act

May 2007: First known instance of a Rickroll - prank links that send you to a video of Rick Astley singing Never Gonna Give You Up

May 2007: Premier League threatens legal action against YouTube for alleged copyright infringement. Again YouTube says it operates within copyright law.

May 2007: First users offered commercial partnerships with YouTube

May 2007: YouTube and EMI form partnership

January 2008: 10 hours of video uploaded every minute. YouTube bandwidth costs estimated at £1m a day

May 2008: 13 hours of video uploaded every minute. Forbes magazine estimates YouTube revenues at $200m a year

June 2008: YouTube integration into Sony Bravia TV

July 2008: YouTube integration in TiVo

October 2008: 5 hours of footage uploaded every minute

January 2009: President Obama launches channel on YouTube

February 2009: Pope launches channel

May 2009: 20 hours of video uploaded every minute

July 2009: 3D Launch

October 2009: Live-stream of U2 concert

October 2009: Channel 4 agrees YouTube deal to put all its catch-up tv on the site

October 2009: Chad Hurley reveals in a blog that YouTube has exceeded 1billion views per day

December 2009: 5 agrees similar partnership to Channel 4

January 2010: YouTube video rentals launch

March 2010: 24 hours of video uploaded per minute

March 2010: YouTube begins streaming Indian Premier League cricket worldwide

March 31: YouTube launches new, cleaner design to encourage viewers to stay on the site for longer