YouTube Turns Six, Celebrates 3 Billion Views Per Day

We'll admit it, the Internet's a better place because of YouTube, the online video sharing site acquired by Google in 2006 for a cool $1.65 billion. YouTube, which turns six today, has its flaws -- what six-year-old doesn't? -- but for the most part, we still find ourselves watching the occasional video. We're far from alone.

In celebration of its 6th birthday, YouTube decided to share boast some surprising statistics. According to YouTube, the video sharing site is home to 3 BILLION views a day, representing a 50 percent increase over last year. To put that into perspective, the world's population is a little over 6.92 billion.


Back in 2007, YouTube was being force fed 8 hours of uploaded video per minute. That number tripled to 24 hours per minute in 2009 and is now at 48 hours per minute. Naturally not all of that is quality content, but 48 hours of uploaded content every 60 seconds is bound to result in some gems, many of which end up on Tosh.0.

Happy birthday YouTube, and here's to another six.