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YouTube's first-ever video was published 19 years ago and it was filmed at a zoo

The 19-second clip was uploaded by YouTube co-founder Jawed Karim on April 23, 2005, and it was a simple video about his visit to the zoo.

YouTube's first-ever video was published 19 years ago and it was filmed at a zoo
Cover Image Source: YouTube I @Jawed Karim

The popularity of YouTube has grown immensely over the years. It is not just a video-sharing platform—it's also considered the second-largest search engine after Google. Expanding far past it's humble beginnings in 2005, Youtube is now home to billions of videos. 

Representational Image Source : The YouTube logo as shown in the YouTube booth at the Licensing Expo 2016 at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center on June 22, 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Gabe Ginsberg/Getty Images)
Representational Image Source: The YouTube logo as shown in the YouTube booth at the Licensing Expo 2016 at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center on June 22, 2016, in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Gabe Ginsberg/Getty Images)

Youtube was created by former Paypal employees Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. Karim was the first person to upload a video, which was  a 19-second clip of him standing in front of several elephants at the San Diego Zoo. 

 Image Source : YouTube founders Chad Hurley and Steve Chen in the press room the 2008 Producers Guild Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on February 2, 2008 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic)
Image Source: YouTube founders Chad Hurley and Steve Chen in the press room at the 2008 Producers Guild Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on February 2, 2008, in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic)

Who knew that a short grainy quality video could be the start of a new internet revolution. It gave the people a platform to express themselves freely. The not-so-clear footage with a simple caption, "Me at the zoo," lacked in length and quality but at the same time, it had a charm of its own. The video was separated into three sections - “Intro,” “The Cool Thing,” and “End.”

In the clip, Karim starts “All right, so here we are, in front of the elephants.” After a brief introduction, Karim addresses the elephant in the room, quite literally, as he describes them, "The cool thing about these guys is that they have really, really, really long trunks. And that's cool." After the brief explanation, he is seen looking back at the elephant enclosure and finishing the video with a simple line, “And that's pretty much all there is to say."



 

The brief clip was uploaded a month before the platform became public. The platform's beta version was released in May 2005 and attracted over 30,000 visitors per day. By December of that year, the platform attracted over two million video views each day, as per Britannica. After that, there was no going back. The number of visitors and the videos uploaded on the platform kept increasing.

Since its release, almost two decades ago, Jawed Karim's “Me at the zoo” has raked over 317 million views and 16 million likes. Since the video was shot in San Diego Zoo, the zoo's social media page (@sandiegozoo) expressed their happiness on being a part of the clip. Their comment read, "We're so honored that the first-ever YouTube video was filmed here!" Others were in awe of YouTube's growth.

Image Source : YouTube I @manjiligurung
Image Source: YouTube I @manjiligurung
Image Source : YouTube I @Luka2000_
Image Source: YouTube I @Luka2000_

As of today, the most streamed video on the platform is the iconic nursery rhyme "Baby Shark," which has been viewed 14 billion times - a record figure for the platform. Following the nursery rhyme is the pop hit "Despacito" sung by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee, which has garnered 8 billion views, as per a report by Statista

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