Good morning. Welcome to the last few days of 2025. It was a big year for creators—OpenAI’s ChatGPT infiltrated social feeds and workflows, creators from IShowSpeed to Ryan Trahan made cross-country roadtrips a new content format, and the majority of SNL new recruits were creators. 

But one milestone that’s underscored all these moments? YouTube turned 20. So over the next few editions, we’re rounding the year with our own study of YouTube’s last two decades to mark the occasion. Read on for our first installment →

— Hannah Doyle & Syd Cohen

When you think back on the videos that defined YouTube as a platform these last 20 years, a few certainly come to mind: “Me at the zoo,” “Gangnam Style,” maybe something from Jenna Marbles’ library. 

But part of what makes YouTube special is that it isn’t a monolith. Every one of us has a video that indelibly marked our journeys on the platform—and maybe even further ventures into the creator industry. 

To that end: We’re kicking off our YouTube at 20 exploration with our team’s top picks for the videos that shaped YouTube into what it is today.

If we’re talking about YouTube videos that shaped my brain chemistry, nothing tops this one. I used to watch Epic Rap Battles of History in the back of the school bus so much that I got in trouble for using all of my family’s data one month.

But this video is important for other reasons. This collaboration between Smosh’s Anthony Padilla and Ian Hecox, Mythical’s Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal, and the ERB team serves as a snapshot of what audiences overlapped a decade ago, prior to the rise of super-niche channels and creator strategies. With 102 million views (10 million gained in the last three years alone), it’s one of ERB’s highest performing videos—not to mention one of the most impactful on internet culture.

Artists vs. TMNT also unknowingly gave us a sneak peek of one of the biggest deals in creator history. In 2019, Mythical bought Smosh after the abrupt shutdown of Smosh’s parent company, Defy Media—selling Smosh back to Padilla and Hecox just four years later. Mythical still owns a minority stake in Smosh.

Although Mythical and Smosh were well into their time on YouTube when this video was released, I don’t think either channel could have anticipated what they would go on to do for other creator deals and studios.

So…who won? Who’s next? You decide.

Full disclosure: In 2009, I was not wearing makeup that wasn’t stolen from older family members. But that didn’t keep me from watching (and appreciating) the art of Michelle Phan. 

Her Poker Face tutorial shows how to do makeup from Lady Gaga’s iconic music video (my Myspace profile song at the time, and arguably the hottest song of 2009). What made it special? Makeup tutorial videos were a nascent niche at the time. Phan’s video was 1) real service with 2) personality that 3) capitalized on a trend—all hallmark traits creators still apply to their videos today.

Bigger picture: Phan’s videos, along with content from other beauty creators like NikkieTutorials and Jaclyn Hill, proved a bellwether for YouTube as a home for creator businesses. If creators are the intersection of art and commerce, beauty is one of the foundational niches of the platform—Phan was in YouTube’s first TV advertisements and was one of the first creators to score a brand deal with a major brand like L’Oreal. Fast-forward to today, and beauty is still one of the top-performing niches on the platform (Bailey Sarian averages 500K views an upload). And? It’s shaping commerce. 92% of Gen Z women report that their beauty and wellness routines have been impacted by creators, according to a recent LTK study.

The moment: 2005, less than a year after YouTube launched.

The video: Someone uploaded a video of SNL’s Digital Short, Lazy Sunday. It starred SNL cast members Chris Parnel and Andy Samberg (one-third of comedy music group The Lonely Island) enjoying a day of eating cupcakes and watching The Chronics of Narnia. 

Why it made a mark: On YouTube, the bootleg video was viewed more than 5 million times in just a few months—before NBC asked the platform to take it down. The video’s popularity, coupled with NBC’s reaction, generated press around YouTube…and the video started receiving upwards of 100 million views per day. 

YouTube CEO Neal Mohan credits Lazy Sunday as a "seminal moment” for the platform—it proved that YouTube could be more than just people uploading personal videos. It could be a tool for mainstream companies to get their content seen.

Before Casey Neistat became one of the founding fathers of the vlog format, he was a student under designer Tom Sachs and a filmmaker working on his own HBO show. 

In 2012, Neistat had uploaded a handful of film projects to YouTube, but branded videos weren’t common on the platform. 

Enter: Make It Count. Neistat got a brief from Nike, with a budget to make a movie about its tagline “Make it Count.” Neistat instead put the film budget towards travel and uploaded the video to YouTube. The risk paid off. The video, which Neistat created with filmmaker Max Joseph, got millions of views and demonstrated that brand dollars on YouTube were well spent. 

The content we’re looking forward to reading, watching, and listening to this weekend.