YouTube's first-ever video turns 19! Here's everything we know about it

Nineteen years ago today, on April 24, 2005, video-sharing platform YouTube had its first ever video uploaded by a user with the username, "jawed".

Jawed Karim, one of YouTube's co-founders, posted the 19-second clip titled "Me at the zoo", showing himself in front of an elephant exhibit at San Diego Zoo, as he spoke about the elephants’ trunks.

As of April 24, 2024, the video has garnered more than 317 million views.

The website’s domain name was registered on February 14, 2005, by three former PayPal employees, Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Karim, a Fox9 report, published earlier this year, stated.

Initially, the trio had planned to start a dating website but later they realised that people would also enjoy sharing their home videos.

The first video was posted on YouTube a month before the platform's public launch in May 2005.

Shortly after its launch, YouTube became popular as a social media platform for sharing videos and was acquired by Google just over a year later.

Today, YouTube is headquartered in San Bruno, California.

According to a recent report by Pew Research, YouTube is the most popular online platform among teenagers.

The report surveyed over 1,400 13- to 17-year-olds for nearly a month and found that almost one in five teens use YouTube almost constantly.

Meanwhile, over 30% visit the platform several times a day.