How Long it Would Take to Watch Every YouTube Video

How long would it take to watch all the videos on YouTube?…..I was posed this question recently and my response was about 40 years. “With all the garbage that’s out there I would imagine you could get through it all in about 40 years”, I said. Not even close!

When I heard the answer I was amazed. I was referred to an article written about a year ago by a group of students at Kansas State University. They found that on average there were more than 150,000 videos uploaded per day with an average length of 2 hours and 46 minutes. That means that in March of 2008 it would take a little over 412 years to watch every YouTube video!! Another year has passed so I wouldn’t be surprised if that was in the upper 400’s by now.

It makes me wonder when YouTube is going to put a cap on user uploads (currently there is only a cap on size per file). In 2007, YouTube used as much bandwidth as the entire internet in 2000. Currently, it’s estimated that YouTube’s bandwidth alone costs Google well over $1 million per DAY! This number is only going to increase with technology like the Flip mini camcorders which is going to draw in many more YouTubers. Not to mention the offering of HD video on YouTube, which is going to increase the bandwidth usage and the size of each of the files.

Examples like this make me wonder why I don’t just dump all of my savings into telecom. With all the online video (Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, etc.), and news that all medical files will be stored electronically you have to believe that when the market turns, telecom is going to have to go up big to support the technology. Not to mention the Obama Administration has already committed to improving this countries infrastructure.

You can see more about the Kansas State Study here