Welcome to another episode of From the Vault, where we grab the duster and vacuum and dive back into the Squiz Kids archive and dust off some of our favourite, most popular or most timely shortcuts.
And today I've pulled from the shelf our shortcut on YouTube.
And that's because it's super topical right now, what with all the teen social media ban stuff around and more and more kids watching YouTube on a daily basis.
Which reminds me, have you checked out SquizzKid's YouTube channel?
Give it a like and a subscribe while you're there.
Now, this shortcut was recorded a couple of years back, so the numbers when we talk about uploads and views might be a little bit out of date, but the lesson in the shortcut remains the same.
And that is for us all to be wary at all times when we're consuming online content.
And to do as our friend Squizzy the Newshound tells us, and that's to stop, think and check to make sure that we're not being tricked into believing stuff that's not real.
So, without any further ado, grab your remote and press play, and let's find out about the history and mechanics of the world's most popular video streaming platform.
Enjoy.
This is a Squiz Kids podcast.
Your fresh take on what's happening in the world around you.
It is the second most visited website on the internet.
It all started with a very lame video from the zoo.
And like everything, it does have a dark side.
This is your Squiz Kids shortcut to YouTube.
The podcast where we dive into the who, what, when, where, why and how of the big news stories.
I'm Amanda Bower.
And I'm Bryce Corbett.
Now Bryce, I don't know about you, but on school holidays, my kids love to spend hours and hours on YouTube.
Oh, yes.
They watch videos about science, which I can't complain about.
They watch people doing sports tricks.
They learn how to play certain songs on their instruments.
Ah, nice.
You name it.
It's all basketball and Fortnite all the time at our house.
Oh, yeah.
Today we'll take you through how YouTube came into being, who are some of the most famous YouTubers and why you need to stop, think and check when watching YouTube.
Listen carefully.
There's a squeeze at the end.
How?
Nowadays, with YouTube so ubiquitous which is a fancy word for found everywhere it's hard to remember that 20 years ago, most people didn't have a phone with a camera.
Imagine that.
Let alone a way to record video.
But as people started getting that video recording technology on their phones, which was around 2004, there were three young men sitting at a dinner party and they were talking about how they wish there was an easy way to share the videos that we're making on the internet.
And so they started to build YouTube.
The?
U refers to the fact that the videos would not be made by the company but by its users, and Tube was a nod to old fashioned TVs which had a special tube inside to make them work.
And in May 2005, the very first YouTube video was posted.
It was 19 seconds long and it was called Me at the Zoo.
It featured one of the founders, Jawad Karim, talking about elephants and their trunks.
But, Bryce, that makes it sound like it's some amazing scientific content.
It is very lame.
Basically, all he says is they have really, really, really long trunks and that's cool.
I'll stick a link to it in your episode notes.
Be prepared to be extremely underwhelmed.
Now, despite that pretty uninspiring start, in less than six months YouTube had gotten millions of dollars of investment money.
Yeah, and that's because YouTube just took... off.
So, four months after that ridiculous elephant video, the site had its first video with 1 million views a Nike ad featuring the Brazilian soccer player, Ronaldinho.
I'll put a link to that in your episode notes.
My goodness, can that man play?
He sure can.
Then, a year later, in 2006, Google paid to get this 165 billion for the platform, which is pretty incredible considering that youtube had fewer than 100 employees.
Google saw how big it could become and, of course, that google could make money from youtube by selling ads that would play before and during videos.
Six years later, in 2012, youtube had its first video that got 1 billion views Gangnam Style.
Who could forget that?
Who could forget Gangnam Style?
Okay, so 10 years after Gangnam Style, how big has YouTube gotten, Amanda?
All right, Bryce, are you ready for these stats?
Yeah, I'm ready.
I'm sitting down.
Hit me.
All right.
So I did already say that YouTube is the second most visited website in the world after Google search.
About 500 hours of video content is uploaded to YouTube every minute.
Whoa!
Oh my gosh.
2.5 billion people use YouTube at least once a month.
That's a lot of people.
And every month, people are watching 4 billion hours of video content on the platform.
Oh my gosh.
That is amazing.
More than 300 videos have more than a billion views.
Wow.
Including, and I am...
Very sorry to bring this up and put it in your head.
Please don't say it.
Please don't say it.
Baby shark dance video.
That was the first video to crack an astonishing 10 billion views.
Gosh, that makes me sad.
And last year, YouTube generated $44 billion Australian dollars in revenue.
Wow.
In one year, $44 billion.
Unbelievable.
That is big money.
Now, is that why so many kids want to be YouTubers, Amanda?
Well, probably.
But the reality is that most people who make content on YouTube do not earn a living from their video views.
You get paid somewhere between $3 and $5 for every 1,000 views.
So you won't be able to put food on the table, let alone buy a fancy car, unless you're regularly getting hundreds of thousands of views.
All right.
So who are the YouTubers that are making millions of dollars, and how are they getting that money?
Who?
All right, let's answer that second question first.
How are these YouTubers getting their money?
Now, of course, there's money to be made on YouTube by having the ads play before, during and after your video.
But there is much more money to be made by finding sponsors for your content.
So, for example, Bryce, I'm guessing that you have heard of Dude Perfect.
Oh, yeah, of course.
Those American guys who do all kinds of trick shots and sports stuff.
Yeah, so their sports channel is the most popular sports channel on YouTube.
They have more than 56 million subscribers.
Wow.
And crucially, they partner that's their word for it with all kinds of companies like BMW and Nike.
Okay.
And partnership doesn't mean that they're just friendly, does it?
No.
It means that those companies give Dude Perfect money to create content that promotes their product.
Exactly.
So when you see them driving a BMW, they've been paid to drive that car.
Now, on top of that, YouTubers also sell merch.
So MrBeast, who has more than 100 million subscribers, and he creates videos centered on stunts and donations and promotions.
He sells T-shirts, stickers, hoodies, key rings on his website.
And experts estimate that MrBeast fans spend more than $2 million a month on his merch.
What?
Unbelievable.
No wonder he can do those stunts where he gives away a ton of money.
He is making a ton of money.
Yeah, indeed he is.
Now, according to the Forbes Financial magazine, Mr Beast made more money than any other YouTuber last year.
Right.
$54 million American dollars.
Oh, my goodness.
Second on the list is the creator Unspeakable, who has four YouTube channels that mostly feature him playing video games.
All right, yep.
But it is numbers three and four on this richest YouTuber list that really blow my mind.
Their combined age, Bryce, is 19.
So there are two people whose combined age is 19 and they're on that rich list.
Yep, number three and four.
Wow, I'm going to bet...
One of them is Ryan Kaji, right?
The kid from Hawaii who does a ton of toy unboxing and reviews.
You are exactly right.
So Ryan is now at the ripe old age of 11.
I'm getting too old for this.
But he's been a YouTuber since he was four.
Oh.
Which makes me think it was probably his parents who decided to create the channel.
Yeah, you think?
Same goes for an eight-year-old girl called Anastasia, whose channel is dubbed into more than ten languages.
Wow.
It's called Like Nastya and the first video was uploaded when she was just two and living in Russia.
Right.
Her family is now in America and apparently she earned $28 million last year.
Wow.
And she also does lots of videos about toys, right?
Yep.
And you know, Bryce Squizzy, the News Ham would be very cross with us if we didn't spend some time talking about why we have to stop, think and check when we watch YouTube.
Why?
So, Bryce, the first thing to stop and think about is this.
If YouTubers are being paid by their partners and sponsors to make a video, how will that affect what they say about those products?
Good question.
And, of course, if you think the YouTuber is cool, you're probably more likely to think that the product they're talking about is cool too.
It's very important to be aware of that.
Yep.
And there are other things to keep in mind when you're on YouTube.
So lots of researchers have spent time looking at how easily kids can be exposed to videos showing violence or smoking or drinking or other inappropriate things.
You may not be searching for them when you go onto YouTube, but they could appear on the right hand side of the video you're watching.
You know where all those other videos are.
Or it could even be in the ads that play before your video.
They could be inappropriate.
Yeah, absolutely.
Of course there is a kid version of YouTube, where the videos are run through computer programs to check for inappropriate content.
Yeah, and that is good.
But think back to what we said at the very beginning.
If there are 500 hours of content being uploaded every minute, it is pretty easy for stuff to slip through the cracks.
So if you're ever uncomfortable or worried about what you're seeing on YouTube, you should check with an adult.
Absolutely.
Time for the quiz.
This is the part of the podcast where you get to test how well you've been listening.
Question number one.
What was the very first YouTube video about?
Yeah, that's right.
It was about elephants at the zoo.
Apparently very dull.
Question number two.
Which diabolical video has more than 10 billion views and counting?
I know this one, but I'm not going to say it.
I have a hard time saying it too.
It's the baby shark dance.
Don't stay in my head.
Don't stay in my head.
Oh, no, there it is.
It's in my head all day.
Great.
Thank you.
Question number three.
Before believing everything you see on a video, what does Squizzy the News Hound want you to do?
That's right, he wants you to stop, think and check.
And if you want to learn more about consuming media critically, definitely check out our free media literacy curriculum for primary school kids.
News Hounds.
We'll put a link in your episode notes.
That's all we have time for today.
Thanks for joining us as we explored the who, what, how, where, when and why of YouTube.
Now get out there and have a most excellent day.
Over.
Thank you.
