YouTube audience passes 1 billion a month, thanks fans ‘around the planet’

More than 1 billion people are now visiting YouTube each month, the video sharing site wrote in a blog post.

The news comes five months after Facebook said its online social network had reached that figure.

BBC wrote that this made YouTube Facebook's only challenger as the internet's largest social network.

YouTube, bought by Google for $1.76 billion in 2006 when it had an estimated 50 million users worldwide, was described by the Associated Press today as "one of the most influential forces in today's media landscape." 

It has given Google the means to sell online ads beyond its already dominant search engine.

In 2011, YouTube refocused its site to prioritize watching along distinct channels of its creators, categorizing such genres as beauty or music, better allowing advertisers to target their desired audiences. 

In 2012, it seeded and funded 96 channels, and partnered with Hollywood producers to improve the internet prospects of popular movies and TV series.

In its blog post, YouTube broke down its popularity in statistics, writing that:

• Nearly one out of every two people on the Internet visits YouTube.
• Our monthly viewership is the equivalent of roughly 10 Super Bowl audiences.
• If YouTube were a country, we’d be the third largest in the world after China and India.
• PSY and Madonna would have to repeat their Madison Square Garden performance in front of a packed house 200,000 more times. That’s a lot of Gangnam Style!

It thanked "the fans all around the world who tune in, subscribe and share their favorite videos with the planet" for its success.