YouTube's genius was to realize that that was no longer the case. They've said in interviews that a lot of the impetus to create the product was to realize tha

YouTube's genius was to realize that that was no longer the case. They've said in interviews that a lot of the impetus to create the product was to realize that tools like cell-phone video and iMovie meant that video would rapidly become a lot cheaper to produce, and that meant there'd be a market for video-sharing. Cell-phone video is also what took the average duration of a video down from 60min 8mm cassettes to 2-3min digital clips, which are the perfect size for a webpage view.