Mastering CC License Application: A Comprehensive Guide

How to Use Creative Commons Copyright Licenses [Complete Guide]

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

You might have noticed that, when you post a video, you get to choose how you want to copyright it: standard license, or creative commons. You’ve also probably noticed that when you looking for royalty-free music or stock footage a lot of it is licensed through creative commons.

So, what exactly are creative commons ?

To hold the copyright to a creative work means that you own it, and anybody who wants to use your work for anything (i.e. uses a song you composed in their YouTube video) has to do so on your terms. When you license your work through creative commons you do not give up your rights to your creative work (a common misconception).

When you use a creative commons license you are outlining the terms under which other creators are allowed to use your creations in their projects for free if they credit you for your work.

If you do not want anyone using your work for free in any context, you stick to traditional copyrighting.

But if you’ve created a piece of music, a photograph, or a clip that you wouldn’t mind other people using, potentially as a way to get your name out there, you might want to consider creative commons.

There are 6 different creative commons licenses. Which is right for you will depend on your answers to these two questions:

Are you okay with a creator making money off of something they create using your work?

Are you okay with a creator producing a derivative of your work?

To say ‘no derivatives’ is to say ‘I’m okay with people using it, so long as they don’t change it’. One example of a derivative is a techno remix of a song. If you are alright with other creators making derivatives of your work, you may also want to require them to ‘ShareAlike’. ShareAlike means that the creator of that techno remix of your song has to use the same creative commons license you used for your original to distribute the remix.

An example of a derivative someone might make of a YouTube video would be auto-tuning it to make a song or cutting up your video to make one that’s just ‘the funny parts’.

Here are the 6 creative commons licenses, and a chart you can use as a quick reference tool.

Attribution – CC BY

If you’re using music or other media with this license, all you need to do is credit the artist.

If you license your video this way, people can do whatever they like with any element of it (video or sound) so long as they credit you. I.e. if someone wanted to mute your clips and use you as stock footage in a bigger project, they could.

Attribution-ShareAlike – CC BY-SA

If you use music, photos, or any other media licensed this way, then you must both credit the artist and license your video this same way. Meaning, you can’t use YouTube’s standard license and must instead allow for others to use your work the way you are using the licensed media.

If you apply this license to your video, you’re saying you don’t mind people using all or portions of your video for their project so long as they allow others to use their work in the same way.

Attribution-NoDerivs – CC BY-ND

This one can get tricky.

Essentially, you can use media licensed this way so long as you don’t alter it or create a different version. For example, you can’t take a song licensed this way and use it in a mashup with another song. That part is clear. Where it gets tricky is when you want to use a song in your video.

Under normal copyright rules, using a royalty-free song in the background of your video would not count as creating a derivative. The definition of derivative according to creative commons is a bit broader and includes ‘syncing’. This means you can’t take an ‘Attribution-NoDerivs’ song and create any kind of music video for it.

For example, you can’t edit clips of yourself snowboarding so that they’re in sync with a song that has this license.

Whether or not you can play the song in the background of your vlog while you are speaking can be a bit of a grey area. In theory, it shouldn’t be a problem, but if you’re accessing the music through a social site like SoundCloud then it might be best to ask the artist first.

There’s no reason to license your YouTube videos this way. If people cannot alter your video, all that’s left is for them to repost it. Even though they’d also be crediting you, they’d still essentially be stealing views and ad revenue from your original video.

Attribution-NonCommercial – CC BY-NC

If you’re using stock footage, music, or stock photos licensed this way then you should still be able to monetize your video. YouTube monetization and commercial use are different things. However, there is a lot of confusion about this issue, and chances are the rights holder intends for this license to mean ‘no monetization’.

What you definitely could not do with a NonCommercial license is to use the song/other media in an actual commercial for a product, including product placement that a brand is paying you for.

If you license your video this way, people can use it in whatever way they like so long as they credit you and don’t try to make money off of it. Once again, that doesn’t mean they can’t use it in a YouTube video which they monetize because, technically, they’d be making money off of the ad that ran ahead of the video and not the video itself.

The thing to be careful of with this license is that it’s not ‘ShareAlike’. So, if you license your video this way somebody could use your clips as stock footage and then provide them - as part of their project – for free to a third person to use in a project they were making money off of.

Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike – CC BY-NC-SA

Music and other media with an ‘Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike’ license can be used in and altered for your videos, so long as you aren’t making money off those videos. You must also use this same license for the video you create using elements licensed this way.

If you license your video this way, people can use it or a portion of it in their project if they credit you. They must also use this same license for their video if they do. This protects you from the situation where a third person who never licensed your original content is making money off of it.

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs – CC BY-NC-ND

There aren’t many situations where you would be using media licensed this way in your YouTube videos. You can’t alter it, sync videos to it, or make money from any video that uses it.

You also probably shouldn’t use this license for your videos. ‘NoDerivs’ means there are not many ways people could use your content, except to repost full videos and steal your views.

Edit Video with the Most Excellent Video Editor

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

You might have noticed that, when you post a video, you get to choose how you want to copyright it: standard license, or creative commons. You’ve also probably noticed that when you looking for royalty-free music or stock footage a lot of it is licensed through creative commons.

So, what exactly are creative commons ?

To hold the copyright to a creative work means that you own it, and anybody who wants to use your work for anything (i.e. uses a song you composed in their YouTube video) has to do so on your terms. When you license your work through creative commons you do not give up your rights to your creative work (a common misconception).

When you use a creative commons license you are outlining the terms under which other creators are allowed to use your creations in their projects for free if they credit you for your work.

If you do not want anyone using your work for free in any context, you stick to traditional copyrighting.

But if you’ve created a piece of music, a photograph, or a clip that you wouldn’t mind other people using, potentially as a way to get your name out there, you might want to consider creative commons.

There are 6 different creative commons licenses. Which is right for you will depend on your answers to these two questions:

Are you okay with a creator making money off of something they create using your work?

Are you okay with a creator producing a derivative of your work?

To say ‘no derivatives’ is to say ‘I’m okay with people using it, so long as they don’t change it’. One example of a derivative is a techno remix of a song. If you are alright with other creators making derivatives of your work, you may also want to require them to ‘ShareAlike’. ShareAlike means that the creator of that techno remix of your song has to use the same creative commons license you used for your original to distribute the remix.

An example of a derivative someone might make of a YouTube video would be auto-tuning it to make a song or cutting up your video to make one that’s just ‘the funny parts’.

Here are the 6 creative commons licenses, and a chart you can use as a quick reference tool.

Attribution – CC BY

If you’re using music or other media with this license, all you need to do is credit the artist.

If you license your video this way, people can do whatever they like with any element of it (video or sound) so long as they credit you. I.e. if someone wanted to mute your clips and use you as stock footage in a bigger project, they could.

Click here

Attribution-ShareAlike – CC BY-SA

If you use music, photos, or any other media licensed this way, then you must both credit the artist and license your video this same way. Meaning, you can’t use YouTube’s standard license and must instead allow for others to use your work the way you are using the licensed media.

If you apply this license to your video, you’re saying you don’t mind people using all or portions of your video for their project so long as they allow others to use their work in the same way.

Attribution-NoDerivs – CC BY-ND

This one can get tricky.

Essentially, you can use media licensed this way so long as you don’t alter it or create a different version. For example, you can’t take a song licensed this way and use it in a mashup with another song. That part is clear. Where it gets tricky is when you want to use a song in your video.

Under normal copyright rules, using a royalty-free song in the background of your video would not count as creating a derivative. The definition of derivative according to creative commons is a bit broader and includes ‘syncing’. This means you can’t take an ‘Attribution-NoDerivs’ song and create any kind of music video for it.

For example, you can’t edit clips of yourself snowboarding so that they’re in sync with a song that has this license.

Whether or not you can play the song in the background of your vlog while you are speaking can be a bit of a grey area. In theory, it shouldn’t be a problem, but if you’re accessing the music through a social site like SoundCloud then it might be best to ask the artist first.

There’s no reason to license your YouTube videos this way. If people cannot alter your video, all that’s left is for them to repost it. Even though they’d also be crediting you, they’d still essentially be stealing views and ad revenue from your original video.

Attribution-NonCommercial – CC BY-NC

If you’re using stock footage, music, or stock photos licensed this way then you should still be able to monetize your video. YouTube monetization and commercial use are different things. However, there is a lot of confusion about this issue, and chances are the rights holder intends for this license to mean ‘no monetization’.

What you definitely could not do with a NonCommercial license is to use the song/other media in an actual commercial for a product, including product placement that a brand is paying you for.

If you license your video this way, people can use it in whatever way they like so long as they credit you and don’t try to make money off of it. Once again, that doesn’t mean they can’t use it in a YouTube video which they monetize because, technically, they’d be making money off of the ad that ran ahead of the video and not the video itself.

The thing to be careful of with this license is that it’s not ‘ShareAlike’. So, if you license your video this way somebody could use your clips as stock footage and then provide them - as part of their project – for free to a third person to use in a project they were making money off of.

Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike – CC BY-NC-SA

Music and other media with an ‘Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike’ license can be used in and altered for your videos, so long as you aren’t making money off those videos. You must also use this same license for the video you create using elements licensed this way.

If you license your video this way, people can use it or a portion of it in their project if they credit you. They must also use this same license for their video if they do. This protects you from the situation where a third person who never licensed your original content is making money off of it.

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs – CC BY-NC-ND

There aren’t many situations where you would be using media licensed this way in your YouTube videos. You can’t alter it, sync videos to it, or make money from any video that uses it.

You also probably shouldn’t use this license for your videos. ‘NoDerivs’ means there are not many ways people could use your content, except to repost full videos and steal your views.

Edit Video with the Most Excellent Video Editor

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

You might have noticed that, when you post a video, you get to choose how you want to copyright it: standard license, or creative commons. You’ve also probably noticed that when you looking for royalty-free music or stock footage a lot of it is licensed through creative commons.

So, what exactly are creative commons ?

To hold the copyright to a creative work means that you own it, and anybody who wants to use your work for anything (i.e. uses a song you composed in their YouTube video) has to do so on your terms. When you license your work through creative commons you do not give up your rights to your creative work (a common misconception).

When you use a creative commons license you are outlining the terms under which other creators are allowed to use your creations in their projects for free if they credit you for your work.

If you do not want anyone using your work for free in any context, you stick to traditional copyrighting.

But if you’ve created a piece of music, a photograph, or a clip that you wouldn’t mind other people using, potentially as a way to get your name out there, you might want to consider creative commons.

There are 6 different creative commons licenses. Which is right for you will depend on your answers to these two questions:

Are you okay with a creator making money off of something they create using your work?

Are you okay with a creator producing a derivative of your work?

To say ‘no derivatives’ is to say ‘I’m okay with people using it, so long as they don’t change it’. One example of a derivative is a techno remix of a song. If you are alright with other creators making derivatives of your work, you may also want to require them to ‘ShareAlike’. ShareAlike means that the creator of that techno remix of your song has to use the same creative commons license you used for your original to distribute the remix.

An example of a derivative someone might make of a YouTube video would be auto-tuning it to make a song or cutting up your video to make one that’s just ‘the funny parts’.

Here are the 6 creative commons licenses, and a chart you can use as a quick reference tool.

Attribution – CC BY

If you’re using music or other media with this license, all you need to do is credit the artist.

If you license your video this way, people can do whatever they like with any element of it (video or sound) so long as they credit you. I.e. if someone wanted to mute your clips and use you as stock footage in a bigger project, they could.

Attribution-ShareAlike – CC BY-SA

If you use music, photos, or any other media licensed this way, then you must both credit the artist and license your video this same way. Meaning, you can’t use YouTube’s standard license and must instead allow for others to use your work the way you are using the licensed media.

If you apply this license to your video, you’re saying you don’t mind people using all or portions of your video for their project so long as they allow others to use their work in the same way.

Attribution-NoDerivs – CC BY-ND

This one can get tricky.

Essentially, you can use media licensed this way so long as you don’t alter it or create a different version. For example, you can’t take a song licensed this way and use it in a mashup with another song. That part is clear. Where it gets tricky is when you want to use a song in your video.

Under normal copyright rules, using a royalty-free song in the background of your video would not count as creating a derivative. The definition of derivative according to creative commons is a bit broader and includes ‘syncing’. This means you can’t take an ‘Attribution-NoDerivs’ song and create any kind of music video for it.

For example, you can’t edit clips of yourself snowboarding so that they’re in sync with a song that has this license.

Whether or not you can play the song in the background of your vlog while you are speaking can be a bit of a grey area. In theory, it shouldn’t be a problem, but if you’re accessing the music through a social site like SoundCloud then it might be best to ask the artist first.

There’s no reason to license your YouTube videos this way. If people cannot alter your video, all that’s left is for them to repost it. Even though they’d also be crediting you, they’d still essentially be stealing views and ad revenue from your original video.

Click here

Attribution-NonCommercial – CC BY-NC

If you’re using stock footage, music, or stock photos licensed this way then you should still be able to monetize your video. YouTube monetization and commercial use are different things. However, there is a lot of confusion about this issue, and chances are the rights holder intends for this license to mean ‘no monetization’.

What you definitely could not do with a NonCommercial license is to use the song/other media in an actual commercial for a product, including product placement that a brand is paying you for.

If you license your video this way, people can use it in whatever way they like so long as they credit you and don’t try to make money off of it. Once again, that doesn’t mean they can’t use it in a YouTube video which they monetize because, technically, they’d be making money off of the ad that ran ahead of the video and not the video itself.

The thing to be careful of with this license is that it’s not ‘ShareAlike’. So, if you license your video this way somebody could use your clips as stock footage and then provide them - as part of their project – for free to a third person to use in a project they were making money off of.

Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike – CC BY-NC-SA

Music and other media with an ‘Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike’ license can be used in and altered for your videos, so long as you aren’t making money off those videos. You must also use this same license for the video you create using elements licensed this way.

If you license your video this way, people can use it or a portion of it in their project if they credit you. They must also use this same license for their video if they do. This protects you from the situation where a third person who never licensed your original content is making money off of it.

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs – CC BY-NC-ND

There aren’t many situations where you would be using media licensed this way in your YouTube videos. You can’t alter it, sync videos to it, or make money from any video that uses it.

You also probably shouldn’t use this license for your videos. ‘NoDerivs’ means there are not many ways people could use your content, except to repost full videos and steal your views.

Edit Video with the Most Excellent Video Editor

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

You might have noticed that, when you post a video, you get to choose how you want to copyright it: standard license, or creative commons. You’ve also probably noticed that when you looking for royalty-free music or stock footage a lot of it is licensed through creative commons.

So, what exactly are creative commons ?

To hold the copyright to a creative work means that you own it, and anybody who wants to use your work for anything (i.e. uses a song you composed in their YouTube video) has to do so on your terms. When you license your work through creative commons you do not give up your rights to your creative work (a common misconception).

When you use a creative commons license you are outlining the terms under which other creators are allowed to use your creations in their projects for free if they credit you for your work.

If you do not want anyone using your work for free in any context, you stick to traditional copyrighting.

But if you’ve created a piece of music, a photograph, or a clip that you wouldn’t mind other people using, potentially as a way to get your name out there, you might want to consider creative commons.

There are 6 different creative commons licenses. Which is right for you will depend on your answers to these two questions:

Are you okay with a creator making money off of something they create using your work?

Are you okay with a creator producing a derivative of your work?

To say ‘no derivatives’ is to say ‘I’m okay with people using it, so long as they don’t change it’. One example of a derivative is a techno remix of a song. If you are alright with other creators making derivatives of your work, you may also want to require them to ‘ShareAlike’. ShareAlike means that the creator of that techno remix of your song has to use the same creative commons license you used for your original to distribute the remix.

An example of a derivative someone might make of a YouTube video would be auto-tuning it to make a song or cutting up your video to make one that’s just ‘the funny parts’.

Here are the 6 creative commons licenses, and a chart you can use as a quick reference tool.

Attribution – CC BY

If you’re using music or other media with this license, all you need to do is credit the artist.

If you license your video this way, people can do whatever they like with any element of it (video or sound) so long as they credit you. I.e. if someone wanted to mute your clips and use you as stock footage in a bigger project, they could.

Attribution-ShareAlike – CC BY-SA

If you use music, photos, or any other media licensed this way, then you must both credit the artist and license your video this same way. Meaning, you can’t use YouTube’s standard license and must instead allow for others to use your work the way you are using the licensed media.

If you apply this license to your video, you’re saying you don’t mind people using all or portions of your video for their project so long as they allow others to use their work in the same way.

Attribution-NoDerivs – CC BY-ND

This one can get tricky.

Essentially, you can use media licensed this way so long as you don’t alter it or create a different version. For example, you can’t take a song licensed this way and use it in a mashup with another song. That part is clear. Where it gets tricky is when you want to use a song in your video.

Under normal copyright rules, using a royalty-free song in the background of your video would not count as creating a derivative. The definition of derivative according to creative commons is a bit broader and includes ‘syncing’. This means you can’t take an ‘Attribution-NoDerivs’ song and create any kind of music video for it.

For example, you can’t edit clips of yourself snowboarding so that they’re in sync with a song that has this license.

Whether or not you can play the song in the background of your vlog while you are speaking can be a bit of a grey area. In theory, it shouldn’t be a problem, but if you’re accessing the music through a social site like SoundCloud then it might be best to ask the artist first.

There’s no reason to license your YouTube videos this way. If people cannot alter your video, all that’s left is for them to repost it. Even though they’d also be crediting you, they’d still essentially be stealing views and ad revenue from your original video.

Attribution-NonCommercial – CC BY-NC

If you’re using stock footage, music, or stock photos licensed this way then you should still be able to monetize your video. YouTube monetization and commercial use are different things. However, there is a lot of confusion about this issue, and chances are the rights holder intends for this license to mean ‘no monetization’.

What you definitely could not do with a NonCommercial license is to use the song/other media in an actual commercial for a product, including product placement that a brand is paying you for.

If you license your video this way, people can use it in whatever way they like so long as they credit you and don’t try to make money off of it. Once again, that doesn’t mean they can’t use it in a YouTube video which they monetize because, technically, they’d be making money off of the ad that ran ahead of the video and not the video itself.

The thing to be careful of with this license is that it’s not ‘ShareAlike’. So, if you license your video this way somebody could use your clips as stock footage and then provide them - as part of their project – for free to a third person to use in a project they were making money off of.

Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike – CC BY-NC-SA

Music and other media with an ‘Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike’ license can be used in and altered for your videos, so long as you aren’t making money off those videos. You must also use this same license for the video you create using elements licensed this way.

If you license your video this way, people can use it or a portion of it in their project if they credit you. They must also use this same license for their video if they do. This protects you from the situation where a third person who never licensed your original content is making money off of it.

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs – CC BY-NC-ND

There aren’t many situations where you would be using media licensed this way in your YouTube videos. You can’t alter it, sync videos to it, or make money from any video that uses it.

You also probably shouldn’t use this license for your videos. ‘NoDerivs’ means there are not many ways people could use your content, except to repost full videos and steal your views.

Edit Video with the Most Excellent Video Editor

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

The Infographic Cache of 2017’S YT Facts and Figures

Infographic - Mind Numbing YouTube Facts,Figures and Statistics

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Since YouTube.com domain was first registered more than a decade ago, it has become one of the most used video sharing platforms on the planet. Former PayPal employees Chad Hurley, Steven Chen and Jawed Karim founded YouTube in 2005 and only a year later their platform was one of the world’s fastest growing websites, surpassing MySpace with more than 100 million video views in the July of the same year. It wasn’t long before YouTube was purchased by Google on November 13. 2006 and since then the world’s most popular video sharing platform has grown continuously.

In 2017, more than 500 hours of video content are being uploaded to YouTube each minute, and over 1.5 billion active users utilize it to share their memories, music they love, business ideas or anything else they feel strongly about. The following infographic will present some of the most interesting YouTube facts and statistics that will enable you to understand better one of the most popular websites ever created.

It’s hard to pick highlights from such an interesting and comprehensive read, but a couple of key stats shine out.

• YouTube has just 0,5 billion users less than Facebook

Mark Zuckerberg is perhaps one of the best-known business geniuses who made his fortune by creating the social network everyone wanted to be a part of. With more than 2 billion active users Facebook is the largest online community on the Internet today. YouTube has 1.5 billion active monthly users which makes it the second largest platform of its kind, well ahead of Instagram, LinkedIn or Twitter.

• People aged 24 to 44 watch the most videos on YouTube

This information isn’t particularly surprising since younger generations use the Internet more frequently than the older ones. 49% of all YouTube users are aged between 24 and 44, but this statistic will likely change in the future since YouTube’s popularity can only increase. What comes in as a surprise is the fact that men spend 24% more time on YouTube than women. Could it be that men are more interested in music, short videos or promotional business videos than women or perhaps, women are simply more practical and thus tend to spend less time aimlessly going through endless video content.

• 9% of the videos are taken down because of the copyright infringements

At one point in the early 2000’s, it seemed as if the copyright laws will be changed forever by the Internet. Since then countless initiatives have prevented YouTube users to view, upload or share content that they don’t have the permission to use. In 2017, 9% of all videos uploaded on YouTube are taken down by the copyright holders. This means that YouTubers must make sure that all content they upload is unique or that they at least have a permission to use it.

• An average person spends 40 minutes on YouTube each day

YouTube is probably one of the best pastimes the Internet can offer, and for that reason, a common person spends 40 minutes on YouTube per day. When you add an average life expectancy into the equation the math shows that during their lifetimes, people spend nearly 2 years on YouTube, or 1 year and 10 months to be exact.

• Pop music singers are the most popular celebrities on YouTube

Naturally, music is the most searched term on YouTube, and celebrities like Justin Bieber, Katy Perry or Rihana have millions of subscribers with billions of total video views. Unlike Facebook where the most popular celebrities are Christiano Ronaldo or Vin Diesel, an actor and a football player, YouTube stars are mostly musicians and Pop Culture icons whose music is available to fans across the globe because of this platform. Some of the historically most viewed videos on YouTube are Luis Fonsi’s Despacito, Psy’s Gangnam Style or Tayler Swift’s Shake it Off that all have a staggering amount of views.

Let us know what you think about these interesting facts about YouTube in the comments below and feel free to share this article with your friends and colleagues.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Since YouTube.com domain was first registered more than a decade ago, it has become one of the most used video sharing platforms on the planet. Former PayPal employees Chad Hurley, Steven Chen and Jawed Karim founded YouTube in 2005 and only a year later their platform was one of the world’s fastest growing websites, surpassing MySpace with more than 100 million video views in the July of the same year. It wasn’t long before YouTube was purchased by Google on November 13. 2006 and since then the world’s most popular video sharing platform has grown continuously.

In 2017, more than 500 hours of video content are being uploaded to YouTube each minute, and over 1.5 billion active users utilize it to share their memories, music they love, business ideas or anything else they feel strongly about. The following infographic will present some of the most interesting YouTube facts and statistics that will enable you to understand better one of the most popular websites ever created.

It’s hard to pick highlights from such an interesting and comprehensive read, but a couple of key stats shine out.

• YouTube has just 0,5 billion users less than Facebook

Mark Zuckerberg is perhaps one of the best-known business geniuses who made his fortune by creating the social network everyone wanted to be a part of. With more than 2 billion active users Facebook is the largest online community on the Internet today. YouTube has 1.5 billion active monthly users which makes it the second largest platform of its kind, well ahead of Instagram, LinkedIn or Twitter.

• People aged 24 to 44 watch the most videos on YouTube

This information isn’t particularly surprising since younger generations use the Internet more frequently than the older ones. 49% of all YouTube users are aged between 24 and 44, but this statistic will likely change in the future since YouTube’s popularity can only increase. What comes in as a surprise is the fact that men spend 24% more time on YouTube than women. Could it be that men are more interested in music, short videos or promotional business videos than women or perhaps, women are simply more practical and thus tend to spend less time aimlessly going through endless video content.

• 9% of the videos are taken down because of the copyright infringements

At one point in the early 2000’s, it seemed as if the copyright laws will be changed forever by the Internet. Since then countless initiatives have prevented YouTube users to view, upload or share content that they don’t have the permission to use. In 2017, 9% of all videos uploaded on YouTube are taken down by the copyright holders. This means that YouTubers must make sure that all content they upload is unique or that they at least have a permission to use it.

• An average person spends 40 minutes on YouTube each day

YouTube is probably one of the best pastimes the Internet can offer, and for that reason, a common person spends 40 minutes on YouTube per day. When you add an average life expectancy into the equation the math shows that during their lifetimes, people spend nearly 2 years on YouTube, or 1 year and 10 months to be exact.

• Pop music singers are the most popular celebrities on YouTube

Naturally, music is the most searched term on YouTube, and celebrities like Justin Bieber, Katy Perry or Rihana have millions of subscribers with billions of total video views. Unlike Facebook where the most popular celebrities are Christiano Ronaldo or Vin Diesel, an actor and a football player, YouTube stars are mostly musicians and Pop Culture icons whose music is available to fans across the globe because of this platform. Some of the historically most viewed videos on YouTube are Luis Fonsi’s Despacito, Psy’s Gangnam Style or Tayler Swift’s Shake it Off that all have a staggering amount of views.

Let us know what you think about these interesting facts about YouTube in the comments below and feel free to share this article with your friends and colleagues.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Since YouTube.com domain was first registered more than a decade ago, it has become one of the most used video sharing platforms on the planet. Former PayPal employees Chad Hurley, Steven Chen and Jawed Karim founded YouTube in 2005 and only a year later their platform was one of the world’s fastest growing websites, surpassing MySpace with more than 100 million video views in the July of the same year. It wasn’t long before YouTube was purchased by Google on November 13. 2006 and since then the world’s most popular video sharing platform has grown continuously.

In 2017, more than 500 hours of video content are being uploaded to YouTube each minute, and over 1.5 billion active users utilize it to share their memories, music they love, business ideas or anything else they feel strongly about. The following infographic will present some of the most interesting YouTube facts and statistics that will enable you to understand better one of the most popular websites ever created.

It’s hard to pick highlights from such an interesting and comprehensive read, but a couple of key stats shine out.

• YouTube has just 0,5 billion users less than Facebook

Mark Zuckerberg is perhaps one of the best-known business geniuses who made his fortune by creating the social network everyone wanted to be a part of. With more than 2 billion active users Facebook is the largest online community on the Internet today. YouTube has 1.5 billion active monthly users which makes it the second largest platform of its kind, well ahead of Instagram, LinkedIn or Twitter.

• People aged 24 to 44 watch the most videos on YouTube

This information isn’t particularly surprising since younger generations use the Internet more frequently than the older ones. 49% of all YouTube users are aged between 24 and 44, but this statistic will likely change in the future since YouTube’s popularity can only increase. What comes in as a surprise is the fact that men spend 24% more time on YouTube than women. Could it be that men are more interested in music, short videos or promotional business videos than women or perhaps, women are simply more practical and thus tend to spend less time aimlessly going through endless video content.

• 9% of the videos are taken down because of the copyright infringements

At one point in the early 2000’s, it seemed as if the copyright laws will be changed forever by the Internet. Since then countless initiatives have prevented YouTube users to view, upload or share content that they don’t have the permission to use. In 2017, 9% of all videos uploaded on YouTube are taken down by the copyright holders. This means that YouTubers must make sure that all content they upload is unique or that they at least have a permission to use it.

• An average person spends 40 minutes on YouTube each day

YouTube is probably one of the best pastimes the Internet can offer, and for that reason, a common person spends 40 minutes on YouTube per day. When you add an average life expectancy into the equation the math shows that during their lifetimes, people spend nearly 2 years on YouTube, or 1 year and 10 months to be exact.

• Pop music singers are the most popular celebrities on YouTube

Naturally, music is the most searched term on YouTube, and celebrities like Justin Bieber, Katy Perry or Rihana have millions of subscribers with billions of total video views. Unlike Facebook where the most popular celebrities are Christiano Ronaldo or Vin Diesel, an actor and a football player, YouTube stars are mostly musicians and Pop Culture icons whose music is available to fans across the globe because of this platform. Some of the historically most viewed videos on YouTube are Luis Fonsi’s Despacito, Psy’s Gangnam Style or Tayler Swift’s Shake it Off that all have a staggering amount of views.

Let us know what you think about these interesting facts about YouTube in the comments below and feel free to share this article with your friends and colleagues.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Since YouTube.com domain was first registered more than a decade ago, it has become one of the most used video sharing platforms on the planet. Former PayPal employees Chad Hurley, Steven Chen and Jawed Karim founded YouTube in 2005 and only a year later their platform was one of the world’s fastest growing websites, surpassing MySpace with more than 100 million video views in the July of the same year. It wasn’t long before YouTube was purchased by Google on November 13. 2006 and since then the world’s most popular video sharing platform has grown continuously.

In 2017, more than 500 hours of video content are being uploaded to YouTube each minute, and over 1.5 billion active users utilize it to share their memories, music they love, business ideas or anything else they feel strongly about. The following infographic will present some of the most interesting YouTube facts and statistics that will enable you to understand better one of the most popular websites ever created.

It’s hard to pick highlights from such an interesting and comprehensive read, but a couple of key stats shine out.

• YouTube has just 0,5 billion users less than Facebook

Mark Zuckerberg is perhaps one of the best-known business geniuses who made his fortune by creating the social network everyone wanted to be a part of. With more than 2 billion active users Facebook is the largest online community on the Internet today. YouTube has 1.5 billion active monthly users which makes it the second largest platform of its kind, well ahead of Instagram, LinkedIn or Twitter.

• People aged 24 to 44 watch the most videos on YouTube

This information isn’t particularly surprising since younger generations use the Internet more frequently than the older ones. 49% of all YouTube users are aged between 24 and 44, but this statistic will likely change in the future since YouTube’s popularity can only increase. What comes in as a surprise is the fact that men spend 24% more time on YouTube than women. Could it be that men are more interested in music, short videos or promotional business videos than women or perhaps, women are simply more practical and thus tend to spend less time aimlessly going through endless video content.

• 9% of the videos are taken down because of the copyright infringements

At one point in the early 2000’s, it seemed as if the copyright laws will be changed forever by the Internet. Since then countless initiatives have prevented YouTube users to view, upload or share content that they don’t have the permission to use. In 2017, 9% of all videos uploaded on YouTube are taken down by the copyright holders. This means that YouTubers must make sure that all content they upload is unique or that they at least have a permission to use it.

• An average person spends 40 minutes on YouTube each day

YouTube is probably one of the best pastimes the Internet can offer, and for that reason, a common person spends 40 minutes on YouTube per day. When you add an average life expectancy into the equation the math shows that during their lifetimes, people spend nearly 2 years on YouTube, or 1 year and 10 months to be exact.

• Pop music singers are the most popular celebrities on YouTube

Naturally, music is the most searched term on YouTube, and celebrities like Justin Bieber, Katy Perry or Rihana have millions of subscribers with billions of total video views. Unlike Facebook where the most popular celebrities are Christiano Ronaldo or Vin Diesel, an actor and a football player, YouTube stars are mostly musicians and Pop Culture icons whose music is available to fans across the globe because of this platform. Some of the historically most viewed videos on YouTube are Luis Fonsi’s Despacito, Psy’s Gangnam Style or Tayler Swift’s Shake it Off that all have a staggering amount of views.

Let us know what you think about these interesting facts about YouTube in the comments below and feel free to share this article with your friends and colleagues.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Also read: