The video platform YouTube was founded in 2005, and in 2006, the first people began regularly uploading videos to the platform, thus shaping an industry. One of them was Phil Laude, who, along with his two friends, founded the YouTube trio Y-Titty. In a podcast, he talks about his experiences back then and how the industry now seems to him.
Who is it about? Former YouTuber Philip “Phil” Laude was a guest on the podcast Henke’s Corner. Together with his friend Matthias “TC” Roll, he founded the YouTube channel Y-Titty, where they regularly uploaded comedy videos starting in 2006. In 2009, Oğuz “OG” Yılmaz joined them.
In their sketches, they addressed all kinds of topics, mostly parodying pop culture themes. The trio also released songs, which always had a comedic touch.
In the YouTube industry, Y-Titty belongs to the pioneers of that time. In 2015, the trio disbanded, and the three pursued their own careers.
Phil Laude continued to upload sketches and parodies in the style of Y-Titty, but did so alone on his own channel. By now, he has over 1.23 million subscribers on his YouTube channel (source: YouTube). He has also had several acting roles, including in his own series Almania.
Gronkh also started his career around the same time with Let’s Plays and inspired many:
YouTube back then
What was YouTube like for Phil Laude back then? Phil Laude talks in the podcast Henke’s Corner about how the early days of YouTube were for him. He says he is grateful to have been part of the creation of an industry and that the platform has gone through many different phases since then.
When he and his friend TC started the Y-Titty channel, there were only a few videos on the platform. Most of them were animal videos. YouTube was only available in English at that time, had no partner system – so no money could be made – and YouTube did not yet belong to Google.
Phil Laude says that TC and he made videos just out of boredom and were mainly inspired by the satire videos of the former content creator “der echte Gangster” – or as he is better known to many: Angry German Kid or Unreal Tournament Kid.
Even before their beginnings in 2006, Y-Titty filmed sketch videos. They couldn’t upload them to YouTube yet – the platform was only founded in 2005 – and instead uploaded them to platforms like Rapidshare or local social networks.
This, however, is also the case with other media, such as series, Phil Laude continues. One can no longer perceive much, which would complicate communication between each other.
Also, the YouTuber Dimitri “Dima” was involved in the early days of YouTube. In an interview on YouTube, he talked about how sudden fame was for him: One of the first major German YouTubers was so besieged by his fans that he felt like a Pokémon.
The YouTuber further explains that if one had “taken YouTube somewhat seriously,” one became well-known. For the first YouTubers, the content was still relatively insignificant, as they were “sending into the void,” he says.
“Everyone lives in their bubble”
How does Phil Laude view YouTube today? Phil Laude thinks the biggest difference from earlier YouTube is that one wouldn’t notice anything anymore: “So much is happening. It has become so huge. Everyone lives in their bubble.” (source: YouTube from minute 12:15).
Back then, there was a YouTube world, the YouTuber believes, where theoretically one could have known all the content creators. The offer was much smaller.
This, however, is also the case with other media, such as series, Phil Laude continues. One can no longer perceive much, which would complicate communication between each other.
Also, the YouTuber Dimitri “Dima” was involved in the early days of YouTube. In an interview on YouTube, he talked about how sudden fame was for him: One of the first major German YouTubers was so besieged by his fans that he felt like a Pokémon.
