Draft:YouTube

Background
YouTube is an American global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California, United States. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google and is the second most visited website, after Google Search. YouTube has more than 2.5 billion monthly users, who collectively watch more than one billion hours of videos each day. As of May 2019, videos were being uploaded at a rate of more than 500 hours of content per minute.

In October 2006, YouTube was bought by Google for $1.65 billion. Google's ownership of YouTube expanded the site's business model, expanding from generating revenue from advertisements alone to offering paid content such as movies and exclusive content produced by YouTube. It also offers YouTube Premium, a paid subscription option for watching content without ads. YouTube also approved creators to participate in Google's AdSense program, which seeks to generate more revenue for both parties. YouTube reported revenue of $29.2 billion in 2022. In 2021, YouTube's annual advertising revenue increased to $28.8 billion, an increase in revenue of 9 billion from the previous year.

Since its purchase by Google, YouTube has expanded beyond the core website into mobile apps, network television, and the ability to link with other platforms. Video categories on YouTube include music videos, video clips, news, short films, feature films, songs, documentaries, movie trailers, teasers, live streams, vlogs, and more. Most content is generated by individuals, including collaborations between YouTubers and corporate sponsors. Established media corporations such as Disney, Paramount, NBCUniversal, and Warner Bros. Discovery have also created and expanded their corporate YouTube channels to advertise to a larger audience.

Logo (2005?)


Logo: On a black background, a blue gradient rounded rectangle zooms in. Then the YouTube logo at the time forms, with the Tube part zooming in, then said part moving to make way for the You part.

Technique: Flash animation

Music/Sounds: A slightly dramatic, but calm piano tune.

Availability: TBA.

Legacy: The first on-screen logo YouTube ever had.

Logo (May 22, 2007)


Logo: We simply see the YouTube logo at the time on a white background.

Technique: None.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Seen on YouTube's official channel's video YouTube.

3rd Logo (December 13, 2010)


Logo: On a white gradient background, a TV zooms in with the YouTube logo, which is darkened and glitchy. It quickly cuts to clips from the top 10 YouTube videos from 2010, lasting a split second for each. It then cuts to static, then to the SMPTE color bars, and finally to the same logo, albeit in its normal brightness and less glitchy.

Technique: Live-action photo of the TV combined with overlaid computer animation for the logo.

Music/Sounds: It starts with static, then the audio associated with the clips from the YouTube videos, then static again, then a 1KHz sine wave, and finally the start of the music it uses.

Availability: Seen on the first YouTube Rewind, which is YouTube Rewind 2010.

4th Logo (Wii/Nintendo 3DS variant) (November 22, 2012-June 28, 2017)


Logo: On a black background, we see the YouTube logo at the time.

Technique: None.

Music/Sounds: A 2-note calm guitar theme along with a long synth note.

Availability: Seen when you highlight the YouTube app on a Wii or Nintendo 3DS.

5th Logo (201?-2022)
Logo: On an almost black background, we see the YouTube play button. It moves to make way for the text "YouTube" in white.

Trivia: This logo follows a similar concept to the 1st logo in 2005.

Variant: A still version exists.

Technique: Simple animation. None for the still version.

Music/Sounds: Same as YouTube TV or none.

Availability: Seen when you boot up YouTube on a smart TV or on cable until late 2022.

6th Logo (2022-)


Logo: On an almost black background, we see a multicolored streak emerge and turn into a red progress bar, with the play icon at the left. The bar then moves back, changing into the play button with the icon at the front, and while it turns red the white text "YouTube" slides in next to it.

Variant: An extended version exists.

Technique: 2D computer animation.

Music/Sounds: A bass drop followed by a rising synth, turning into a 2-note synth tune, or none.

Music/Sounds Variant: An extended version exists, where some synth ambience in G major is heard as the bass drop is extended.

Availability: Current. Seen when you boot up the YouTube app on a smart TV or cable after the late 2022 update.