Tokyo ( CNN ) On the 29th floor of Roppongi Hills , an upscale Tokyo high-rise full of offices , restaurants and residences , two actors in kimonos sit on a tatami mat and glare at each other as artificial smoke billows around them . It 's been a long day of filming `` The Crawler in the Dark , '' a new sci-fi horror movie set in Japan 's Meiji era . This movie wo n't be released in theaters ; it 's going directly to YouTube . The file sharing website is celebrating 10 years since the first 19-second video `` Me at the zoo , '' was uploaded on April 23 , 2005 by one of the site 's founders . A decade later , the site gets billions of views every day . And the most popular YouTube channels draw larger audiences than many TV networks . In 2015 , YouTube is striving to improve the quality of its content by investing in `` YouTube Spaces , '' like the one in Tokyo , where `` creators '' like Tokyo independent filmmaker JR Lipartito have access to professional studios , training , and many resources once out of reach for low budget productions . `` Having a set , especially a period set like this , is almost inaccessible for an independent filmmaker , '' Lipartito says . `` It really breaks down the barriers . '' David Macdonald , who moved to Japan as an English teacher two decades ago , is now the Head of YouTube Spaces for Asia Pacific . `` YouTube is not only cats and dogs on skateboards any more . It 's a place for great content . Great high quality content , '' Macdonald says . The Tokyo space is one of five worldwide available for free to YouTube partners , who create content and share ad revenue with the website . `` Helping creators find better audiences , more audiences , and just improve their craft , '' Macdonald says . Anyone can create a YouTube channel . The most popular , 25-year-old Swedish gamer PewDiePie , has more than 36 million subscribers . Many of his videos have a viewership that exceeds popular television programs . YouTube has 300 hours of video uploads per minute . The website wants more of those videos to be polished productions . Japanese film and TV company Toei is partnering with YouTube to encourage more Japanese samurai dramas -- called Jidaigeki . The goal is to attract new subscribers in one of YouTube 's biggest markets . `` They 're building sets . We have high quality cameras , high quality sets , high quality actors , '' says Bob Werley , one of the actors in `` The Crawler in the Dark . '' Werley and fellow actor Masa Hitokawahata hope their higher quality work will appeal to more of YouTube 's one billion users . `` It 's going to raise the bar , '' Werley says . `` We 've seen a lot more people wanting to use [ the studio ] , becoming aware of it , getting excited about it . '' If a video goes viral , the financial rewards can be significant . Thousands of the most popular YouTube creators earn six-figure incomes through ad revenue and sponsorships . A handful earn in the millions of dollars .
April 23 marks 10 years since first video , YouTube , '' was uploaded to `` Me at the zoo . Site gets billions of views every day ; 300 hours of uploads every minute . New studios being opened for budget filmmakers to improve quality of output .