The halftime show at Super Bowl XVIII has gone down in history as one of the most memorable incidents since the creation of television, and it isn’t likely to be forgotten anytime soon. The program was a collaborative effort, bringing together several of 2004’s biggest pop stars, including Britney Spears, Kid Rock, Nelly, P. Diddy, and of course, Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson. When Timberlake neared the end of his single “Rock Your Body” and tore off a piece of Janet’s bustier, the world changed forever, dramatic as that may sound.

We all know that immediately following “Nipplegate”, the FCC received a record number of complaints about indecency, and the NFL, CBS, and MTV (who executive produced the show) immediately changed their policies on working with artists in live settings. Everybody remembers the backlash, but what about the positives? The effects of Ms. Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction are still being felt today, and in ways most people don’t even realize.

Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake performing during the Super Bowl XVIII halftime show (image courtesy of The Sports Fan Journal).

After over 140 million people saw her exposed breast, the spectacle became a topic of conversation for weeks across the nation. Plenty of people had seen it (the Super Bowl is the biggest television event every year), but there were of course millions of others who hadn’t. At the time, there was no way to go back and rewatch the show, unless you had taped it. While it certainly wasn’t the first, this particular halftime show is likely the most powerful example of the power of FOMO (fear of missing out), which has become a cornerstone of marketing today. The ensuing media blitz led to a massive uptick in TiVo subscriptions, but that wasn’t enough for some.

One person who was upset at having missed the event (which would go on to be one of the biggest of the year) was Jawed Karim, who at the time was working for PayPal. Karim didn’t catch the halftime show, and was unable to find any videos of the incident online. To combat this, he and his friends Steve Chen and Chad Hurley began working on code for a site where people could upload their own content. That site would end up being YouTube, which launched not long after.

Once YouTube launched, it was an enormous success, thanks in part to people looking for clips of Janet and Justin’s performance. Just one year later, Google saw the potential of the site and purchased it for over $1.5 billion. In addition to that figure, the three were offered plenty of stock, which would go on to make all of them very wealthy, and the rest for YouTube is history.

Sadly, while Karim, Chen, and Hurley all benefitted greatly from her nipple slip, Jackson took the brunt of the criticism. She released an album several weeks later, Damita Jo, and while the sales figures ended up being alright, the following two she has released since are considered some of her least successful records. Her career has never bounced back from the damage it suffered back in 2004, and it’s unfortunate, as Janet Jackson was one of the best pop/R&B stars we’ve known.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/hughmcintyre/2015/02/01/how-janet-jacksons-super-bowl-wardrobe-malfunction-helped-start-youtube/