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The story
A thread on 5ch asked when YouTube actually became popular in Japan. It kicked off after an “AI Overview” claimed the service only took hold around 2014–2015, prompting a wave of pushback from users saying “I was using it normally back in 2007.” As the discussion unfolded, posters noted that Nico Nico Douga was the dominant platform in Japan at the time and YouTube was seen as a foreign site, while names of now-forgotten video sites like Stage6 came up too. The low smartphone penetration rate as of 2010 also became a talking point, highlighting just how differently each generation experienced that sense of “catching on.”
What people said
In Japan, YouTube can be said to have become "widely adopted by the general public" around 2014–2015.
And yet I was using it completely normally back in 2007
YouTube was a foreign site, so it was more for niche enthusiasts.
I was still on a flip phone at that point.
I remember uploading random stuff on a whim—like "Heso" and "Garage"—encoded from VHS tapes at terrible, low quality.
Nico Nico started around 2006, right?
and I used to watch their activities on video sites a lot in the run-up to "Polyrhythm" becoming a hit in 2007.
Nico Nico Douga was the mainstream platform, but their stuff was up on YouTube too.
Is that really all it was?
My company-issued phone turned into a smartphone that same year—guess that was early then.
The other one actually had better picture quality than YouTube.
Back then all there really was besides that was something like Pia Cast, so Nico Douga felt revolutionary.
That's right—Nico Douga was basically a mirror site for YouTube until YouTube shut it out.
In the early 2010s, that's when I was doing game livestreams on Nico Nico.
YouTube ("Tsube") only really became mainstream around the second generation of YouTubers, I'd say.
Back when first-gen guys like HIKAKIN were just starting to blow up, everyone was still laughing it off, and Nico Douga was still stronger.
I see, so that's how it looked from a kid's point of view.
Stage6, now that's nostalgic.
I looked it up just now and I'm surprised it only lasted about a year and a half.
2006
August – Launched.
2007
September 14 – Maintenance performed; page layout and other changes made.
November 30 – Several days of maintenance performed. Address changed from stage6.divx.com to www.stage6.com.
2008
February 10 – Hacked by crackers. See the Cracking section.
February 25 – Announced closure at the end of February. Upload service ended.
February 28 – Download and viewing services ended.[5][1]
Yeah, exactly.
In the end a lot of the Nico Nama (Nico Nico Live) crowd are on YouTube too and doing great.
People who came up through Nico Nama really do have next-level talking skills.
I was young and didn't really understand the internet, so I mostly just watched Nico Nico.
Hold on, isn't Nico Nico actually the older one? Seriously asking.
YouTube ("Tsube") came first and got overtaken by Nico Nico, but then Nico Nico ended up declining.
Nico Nico originally worked by streaming comments over YouTube ("Yōtsube") videos.
I think it got blocked by YouTube after about two days.
Honestly, I'm a pretty serious old-timer, you know.
Back then my impression of it was just some site for uploading dumb home videos.
Also, I remember watching old foreign music videos that had been transferred off VHS tapes.
How old are you guys anyway lol
Turning a proud 57 next month.
Isn't that just you getting thrown off by the name lol
Well, it was a bit sketchy, I'll admit.
Back then, for me, online shopping meant Rakuten.
Background and Key Points of This Discussion
YouTube launched in the United States in 2005, and Google acquired it the following year, in 2006. Around the same time in Japan, Nico Nico Douga appeared; since it originally worked by overlaying comments on top of uploaded YouTube videos, it ended up getting blocked by YouTube not long after launch. The disagreement in the thread comes down to a difference between “when people first knew the service existed” and “when it spread to the general public”: the 2007 camp appears to be people who were already into video sites themselves, while the 2014 camp appears to be people whose viewing habits only spread after smartphones became widespread. In fact, smartphone ownership in Japan as of 2010 remained at only a few percent, and it would take several more years from there for video viewing to become a habit across society as a whole. Though not stated outright in the comments, this gap in device adoption rates may well be what’s behind people’s differing sense of the timeline.
※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Hello! Project board) thread “Wasn’t YouTube already in normal use back in 2007? Did it only spread to the general public from 2014 onward?“
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