YouTube is growing stronger every day. Which just shows how the balance of power has shifted over the last few years. At some point we’re not actually going to need TV as we now know it.
YouTube Milestones
The Google-owned YouTube is celebrating hitting new milestones. And the statistics being touted are pretty spectacular.
YouTube videos are now viewed 4 billion times every day. To put that into context that’s the equivalent of more than half the world’s population watching one video on YouTube on a daily basis. And it’s an increase of 25 percent in the last eight months.
Also up massively are the number of uploads, with 60 hours of video added to YouTube every minute. In other words, one hour of video every second. Eight months ago, in May 2011, it was 48 hours uploaded every minute.
YouTube has helpfully created its own video (and site) showing what these numbers mean in real terms.
No End In Sight?
As amazing as this growth is, it shows no sign of slowing down. YouTube is the ubiquitous online video site, and the more content there is, both professional and amateur, the more people will tune in to watch.
The amount of video being uploaded to the site will likely increase at an even faster rate from now on. As more and more people switch to smartphones with decent cameras on board, more footage will be captured as it happens.
And then there is the professional content YouTube is banking on to turn the site into a goldmine.
Conclusions
As its stats range upwards, so YouTube’s (and its parent Google’s) power increases in the sector. At a time when the old media companies are struggling to cope with what the Internet means to its business, it’s companies such as YouTube that are due to shape how content is consumed in the Web age.
[Via The Official YouTube Blog]
