YouTube product features, creator monetization, and policy changes (2005–2022)

1. YouTube domain registered and company founded

   Feb 14, 2005Labels: YouTube, Chad Hurley, Steve Chen

   • YouTube
   • History

2. First video uploaded: “Me at the zoo”

   Apr 23, 2005Labels: Jawed Karim, Me at

   • Smithsonian
   • TIME

3. Google acquisition of YouTube completed

   Nov 13, 2006Labels: Google, YouTube

   • YouTube
   • History

4. YouTube Partner Program launched (pilot)

   May 4, 2007Labels: YouTube Partner, YouTube

   • TechCrunch
   • YouTube Blog

5. YouTube begins trials of Content ID

   Jun 12, 2007Labels: Content ID, YouTube

   • Content ID
   • WSJ

6. Annotations feature introduced

   Jun 4, 2008Labels: Annotations, YouTube

   • WIRED
   • YouTube Blog

7. YouTube adds 4K video support

   Jul 9, 2010Labels: 4K support, YouTube

   • YouTube Blog

8. YouTube Live officially launches

   Apr 8, 2011Labels: YouTube Live, YouTube

   • VentureBeat
   • YouTube Blog

9. YouTube Kids app launches in the U.S.

   Feb 23, 2015Labels: YouTube Kids, YouTube

   • Guardian
   • YouTube Kids

10. YouTube introduces Cards (mobile-friendly interactivity)

    Mar 16, 2015Labels: Cards, YouTube

    • 9to5Google
    • History

11. YouTube Gaming launches

    Aug 26, 2015Labels: YouTube Gaming, YouTube

    • Guardian
    • YouTube Gaming

12. YouTube Red subscription service launches

    Oct 28, 2015Labels: YouTube Red, YouTube

    • Pitchfork
    • Premium

13. 360-degree live streaming introduced

    Apr 1, 2016Labels: 360 streaming, YouTube

    • WIRED
    • History

14. End Screens launched to replace annotations

    Oct 26, 2016Labels: End Screens, YouTube

    • TechCrunch
    • YouTube Blog

15. Super Chat introduced for live monetization

    Jan 31, 2017Labels: Super Chat, YouTube

    • DW
    • MacRumors

16. Partner Program adds 10,000-view eligibility threshold

    Apr 6, 2017Labels: YouTube Partner, YouTube

    • YouTube Blog
    • MediaPost

17. Annotations Editor discontinued (no new annotations)

    May 2, 2017Labels: Annotations Editor, YouTube

    • YouTube Blog
    • Failory

18. New YPP thresholds: 1,000 subs and 4,000 hours

    Jan 16, 2018Labels: YouTube Partner, YouTube

    • Creator Blog

19. YouTube Red rebranded as YouTube Premium

    May 17, 2018Labels: YouTube Premium, YouTube

    • Premium
    • Guardian

20. Channel Memberships expand creator subscription monetization

    Sep 18, 2018Labels: Channel Memberships, YouTube

    • Yahoo Tech

21. FTC announces COPPA settlement with Google/YouTube

    Sep 4, 2019Labels: COPPA settlement, FTC

    • FTC

22. Mid-roll ads eligibility lowered to 8 minutes

    Jul 1, 2020Labels: Mid-roll ads, YouTube

    • DIW

23. YouTube Shorts beta announced

    Sep 15, 2020Labels: YouTube Shorts, YouTube

    • BBC
    • Shorts

24. YouTube asserts right to monetize all content

    Nov 18, 2020Labels: YouTube terms, YouTube

    • Terms
    • WIRED

25. Shorts beta expands to the United States

    Mar 1, 2021Labels: YouTube Shorts, United States

    • YouTube
    • Shorts

26. YouTube announces $100 million Shorts Fund

    May 11, 2021Labels: Shorts Fund, YouTube

    • CNBC
    • TechCrunch

27. Public dislike counts removed from videos

    Nov 10, 2021Labels: Dislike counts, YouTube

    • TechCrunch
    • YouTube

28. Community Guidelines warnings updated to be policy-specific

    Aug 4, 2022Labels: Community Guidelines, YouTube

    • YouTube Blog