YouTube has just announced a huge milestone, one that shows just how powerful the world of online video really is.

The Google property and most popular video site on the internet has just hit a billion unique users every month.

“In the last eight years you’ve come to YouTube to watch, share and fall in love with videos from all over the world. Tens of thousands of partners have created channels that have found and built businesses for passionate, engaged audiences,” says YouTube.

“From the aspiring filmmaker in his basement and the next great pop musician, to the fans all around the world who tune in, subscribe and share their favorite videos with the planet, thank you for making YouTube what it is today. You have truly created something special.”

The only other comparable network would be Facebook, which has over a billion monthly active users.

When you think about a billion uniques in a month, the number itself is simply staggering. In just one month, about 10 Super Bowl-sized audiences watch at least one video on YouTube. If YouTube’s monthly unique audience were a country, it was be the third biggest country in the world (behind China and India).

Almost half of all people on the internet watches a video on YouTube each month.

Considering that there are about 6.9 billion people on Earth, 1 billion would represent about 14.5% of the entire world.

And the mind-blowing comparisons could go on and on. The point is simply this: YouTube is hands down one of the most ubiquitous presences in our lives.

In other YouTube-related billion view milestones, last December, viral smash “Gangnam Style” became the first video to ever break the 1 billion view milestone.

[Image via jm3, Flickr]