Tuesday 9 March 2001.
ZAGE Event Building Japan.
This was actually quite unusual. The ZEB, or ZAGE Event Building, was normally only used during major celebrations, large product showcases, or important company anniversaries. Yet today, despite there being no major holiday or global ZAGE event, the massive building was already filled with people from all over the world.
Why?
Because Zaboru had personally invited a huge number of YouTube content creators.
Especially those who already had more than 10,000 subscribers, which was honestly an enormous number in this era since YouTube itself was still relatively new. Right now, the largest channel on the platform was the official ZAGE Channel with around one million subscribers, followed by Zaboru's personal channel which already had over eight hundred thousand subscribers. Aside from those two monsters, almost no other channel even came close yet.
But subscriber numbers were not the real reason everyone had been invited here today.
Meanwhile, the inside of ZEB was filled with countless content creators talking excitedly with each other. Some were gaming streamers, some created funny skits and meme videos, some talked about strange conspiracy theories, and others focused on tutorials, music, sports, or random daily-life content.
There was "RetroKuma" from Japan, a loud gaming YouTuber famous for screaming during horror games while somehow still clearing them perfectly. Beside him was "TokyoBite," a Japanese food channel run by a married couple who traveled across Japan reviewing ramen shops and weird street food.
From the USA, there was "CrazyMikeTV," a chaotic prank and challenge creator who somehow always ended up breaking furniture in his videos. Near him sat "PixelForge," a calmer American channel focused on PC hardware reviews, game optimization tutorials, and modding experiments.
Several creators from China were also present. "DragonScroll" was famous for conspiracy and mystery videos discussing ancient ruins, secret organizations, and supernatural stories. Meanwhile, "LanLan Music House" had become surprisingly popular for uploading emotional piano covers of game soundtracks and anime songs.
From London, "TeaTime Football" was loudly arguing about sports with another creator while recording everything for content. Nearby, "FogWalker" quietly discussed urban legends, ghost sightings, and mysterious disappearances around Europe with a small portable camera already recording.
The platform itself still felt chaotic and experimental, but that chaos was exactly what made YouTube feel alive.
Even though most of them still treated YouTube more like a hobby than a real job, they were unknowingly shaping the future of entertainment itself.
And today?
Zaboru was about to change their lives forever.
This meeting was exactly why Zaboru had gathered them here. He was going to talk about the future of YouTube, the updates that would soon be shown to the entire world, and the direction ZAGE wanted to take with online video. The event was also being broadcast live on YouTube itself and shown on television, making it both a creator gathering and a public announcement at the same time.
Not long after, Zaboru finally appeared on stage. He wore a fitted shirt that subtly outlined his body, with a sleeveless vest layered over it, giving him a casual but strangely powerful presence. His hair had already grown long again, and he tied it into a ponytail, making him look far more mature and charismatic than before. The moment he walked out, cameras flashed, creators started whispering excitedly, and even some of the female creators could not help staring for a few extra seconds.
Zaboru smiled brightly and waved at the audience. "Hello, everyone! First of all, I'm sorry for suddenly calling all of you here since last week, especially those who came from across the world, hehehe. I know some of you probably thought, 'Why is this bald-no-more and now handsome game company boss suddenly summoning us like final boss NPC?' But don't worry, this is important for real." He paused for a moment, then chuckled mischievously while raising both hands like an innocent man being falsely accused. "And of course, this is absolutely not a distraction from a certain new console that is about to release soon. Hah! Not at all. Pure coincidence. Extremely innocent. ZAGE would never do something like stealing public attention at the perfect timing, right?"
The entire hall burst into laughter because everyone immediately understood the reference. Microsoft was preparing its Xbox launch, Apple had just started making noise with iPlay, and somehow ZAGE had suddenly gathered YouTube creators from around the world right before the industry's attention could fully shift elsewhere. Zaboru's timing was far too suspicious to be accidental, and the fact that he openly joked about it made the audience laugh even harder.
Then the massive screen behind Zaboru suddenly turned on, displaying one giant word in bright red letters.
"YouTube."
The audience immediately became quieter.
Zaboru looked back at the screen for a moment before grinning. "Heh... this platform is kind of nuts, right?" he said while laughing softly. "It honestly hasn't even been that long since ZAGE released YouTube, but look at it already. We have a strong community, tons of creators, and somehow every type of human being imaginable decided to gather in one place."
The audience laughed.
"We got streamers screaming at horror games for six hours straight. We got math tutorials somehow getting hundreds of thousands of views. We got coding tutorials making teenagers suddenly think sleeping is optional." Zaboru pointed toward one side of the crowd. "We even got gym creators teaching people how to suffer correctly."
Several creators immediately laughed after hearing that.
"We got movie reviewers fighting each other over fictional characters, food channels eating enough ramen to feed entire villages, conspiracy channels convincing people that pigeons are government spies..." Zaboru paused dramatically before pointing toward DragonScroll's direction. "No offense."
DragonScroll immediately raised both hands defensively while the audience burst into louder laughter.
"And somehow..." Zaboru continued while smiling wider, "all of this chaos actually works. The community is alive. It feels real. Every time I open YouTube, I see people teaching each other, entertaining each other, making memes, arguing about games, helping strangers fix computers, sharing music, and honestly? That's beautiful."
For a brief moment, Zaboru's tone became softer.
"Most entertainment companies try too hard to control people. But YouTube?" He looked around the hall again. "You guys made this place yourselves."
Zaboru chuckled after seeing the audience reaction. Everyone already looked entertained, relaxed, and curious about where this conversation was heading.
"But hey, let me ask something first," Zaboru said while looking around the hall. "Do you guys actually get paid for this?"
The audience immediately became quieter.
"Well... not really yet, right?" Zaboru continued. "I mean directly from YouTube itself. Sure, some of you get exposure, self-satisfaction, fan donations, sponsorships, or maybe free ramen from local stores after becoming famous online..." He glanced toward TokyoBite. "Honestly, that one is actually pretty valuable."
The audience burst into laughter.
"But from YouTube itself?" Zaboru shrugged dramatically. "Nothing."
Then he scratched the back of his head with an awkward expression.
"Ugh... hearing it out loud like this makes ZAGE sound incredibly stingy, doesn't it?"
Everyone laughed again, including several ZAGE staff members sitting near the front who immediately avoided eye contact like they did not want responsibility for this conversation.
RetroKuma suddenly shouted from the crowd, "I screamed for five hours straight against horror ghosts and only got emotional damage!"
The entire hall exploded with laughter.
Another creator from the USA immediately added, "CrazyMikeTV broke three chairs for content and YouTube still paid him with absolutely nothing!"
"THAT'S BECAUSE YOU KEEP BREAKING YOUR OWN HOUSE!" someone else shouted.
Even Zaboru started laughing harder now.
"Exactly!" Zaboru pointed dramatically toward the crowd. "You people are literally carrying this platform with pure passion, sleep deprivation, and unstable mental health!"
The laughter somehow became even louder.
Then Zaboru's smile softened slightly.
"But honestly... we are aware of it."
"Honestly, everyone, we are aware of this," Zaboru said, his tone becoming more sincere. "We are aware of your hard work. We are aware of how important you are as content creators, not only for YouTube, but for the entire community growing around it. You are the people who make this platform feel alive every single day. You upload videos when nobody promises you anything. You entertain people, teach people, make them laugh, help them learn, and sometimes make them question whether pigeons are secretly government agents."
The audience laughed again, but this time the atmosphere felt warmer than before.
Zaboru smiled and continued, "But when it comes to payment, believe me, we have been working behind the scenes to solve this. I don't want YouTube to become a place where creators only receive applause while the platform itself gets stronger because of their effort. That would be unfair. If your videos bring people here, if your creativity builds this community, then there must be a system that allows you to benefit from that growth too."
He paused for a moment and looked across the hall, letting the words settle properly. Many of the creators were no longer laughing now. Some looked surprised, some looked hopeful, and others looked almost nervous because they could sense that Zaboru was about to announce something important.
"But before I tell you how we are going to pay content creators, and how much you can earn in the future, there is one thing everyone here needs to understand first." Zaboru raised one finger while the giant screen behind him slowly changed. "Ads."
Zaboru smiled as the screen behind him changed again, this time displaying one large word.
"ADS."
A few creators immediately groaned, while others laughed because the word alone already sounded dangerous. Zaboru raised both hands as if calming a crowd before they could start a riot.
"I know, I know. Ads sound annoying," he said with a chuckle. "The moment people hear the word ads, they imagine some random company interrupting their video with toothpaste, shoes, or a man screaming about a miracle kitchen knife just like in Television."
The audience laughed loudly, and even some ZAGE staff members smiled because the example was painfully accurate.
"But ads are also one of the strongest ways to generate money for platforms like YouTube," Zaboru continued. "A lot of companies want exposure. They want people to see their products, their games, their movies, their food, their services, and sometimes their extremely suspicious weight-loss machines that look like torture devices."
Another wave of laughter spread across the hall.
Zaboru grinned and pointed at the screen. "And because YouTube is growing fast, those companies are already coming to us. We have made many advertising deals behind the scenes, and believe me, these deals are not small. Some companies are willing to pay a ridiculous amount just to appear in front of the right audience."
The creators began murmuring among themselves. For many of them, this was the first time they fully realized how valuable YouTube's audience had already become.
Zaboru's grin became wider. "But don't worry. You all know ZAGE, right? And you all know me, right? I am the famous bad businessman, after all."
The audience laughed again.
"So naturally, every ZAGE decision will not be the usual smart business decision." He tapped his chest proudly, as if being called a bad businessman was an achievement. "If this were a normal company, maybe they would take most of the ad money, give creators a tiny piece, and then call it a generous opportunity. Very smart. Very efficient. Very disgusting."
His smile sharpened slightly.
"But ZAGE is not going to do that trust me hehehe."
Zaboru smiled before the giant screen behind him suddenly changed into a mock-up YouTube interface. "Anyway, these ads will vary," he explained while pointing toward different parts of the UI. "Some ads will appear on the home menu, some below videos, and some before the video itself starts playing."
The audience immediately started murmuring again.
But Zaboru quickly raised one finger dramatically.
"And before you all start preparing weapons to attack me, relax first," he said while laughing. "We already thought about the annoying part."
The audience laughed.
"These ads are designed to not completely ruin the viewing experience," Zaboru continued. "For example, if it's a video ad, the longest ones are around thirty seconds. And yes, before anyone asks..." He pointed dramatically toward the audience again. "You can skip them after four seconds if you are not interested."
The crowd immediately reacted loudly.
"ONLY FOUR SECONDS!?"
"WAIT THAT'S ACTUALLY GOOD!"
RetroKuma suddenly stood up dramatically. "I CAN SURVIVE FOUR SECONDS OF SUFFERING!"
The entire hall burst into laughter again.
Zaboru grinned proudly. "Exactly. Also, the interval between ads is intentionally long. Around two to five minutes, or sometimes several videos before another ad appears. We don't want viewers to feel like they are being attacked by ten toothpaste commercials every sixty seconds."
"Thank God..." someone whispered loudly enough for the microphone to accidentally catch it.
Even Zaboru started laughing.
"And yes!" he added proudly. "Most ads are skippable!"
This time the audience reaction became noticeably more positive. Several creators even started clapping lightly because, honestly, compared to television commercials, the system sounded surprisingly reasonable.
Zaboru heard the crowd murmuring among themselves and chuckled again. "I know, I know. Right now this probably sounds like I'm just selling commercials to you all." He sighed dramatically before shrugging. "Unfortunately... that's because I literally am."
The audience exploded into laughter once more.
"But this part is necessary," Zaboru continued while smiling. "Because next, I'm going to explain the important part."
His grin widened.
"How exactly are we going to pay content creators."
The giant screen behind him slowly changed again as the entire hall immediately became much quieter.
To be continue
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