YouTube hits landmark 1 billion users per month

YouTube, launched in 2005, has hit a landmark — its monthly user rate has hit 1 billion each month.

The Google-owned, video-sharing site attributed the growth to advances in smartphones, it reported on its blog. It’s now a decent competitor to Facebook, which touted a billion user number in October 2012, BBC reports.

Google paid $1.76 billion for the product in 2006, when there were roughly 30 million users around the world, BBC reports.

“Nearly one out of every two people on the Internet visits YouTube,” the company said, in its statement. “Tens of thousands of partners have created channels that have found and built businesses for passionate, engaged audiences.”