I will try keep this really brief, with minimum technical info. You're asking something which can not be answered in a couple of paragraphs. You're asking something which would require a consultation on...
Firstly, you'd need a very good skill-set and an understanding of virtual machine environments to begin with. Since you'd be running this on your own in the beginning! A strong understanding of Shell, and VIM. A degree in network administration and security. A degree in operating system administration before you even started. I'd probably recommend getting a degree in computer science also, I believe there are members on this board who have done one or more of these exams and might have some insight on what they entail.
- What's Involved, plus costs
Ideally, there is no way to know if you or your website would ever get as successful as Youtube, and I say that not because I doubt you, but because I've friends who tried to run a competing service to Youtube, and while it did very well, they as a team could not keep up with the data storage demands they were facing and eventually they moved from a virtual environment to a connected raid environment. And unless you are minted and/or your business is capable of funding itself through a product or service which your users subscribe too, along with acquiring contracts with some of the leading advertising agencies around the world whom will advertise on your website, you would only be at the half-way mark - to covering your running costs for a virtual setup.
- Cost and initial setup for a non virtual setup
Non virtual networked setups such as raid hosting cost an average minimum of 15,000 and can cost upwards of 40,000 depending on the size, and popularity of your website. There was only one successful platform who actually done well to build a user-base as a Youtube
rival platform before BitChute happened. That company came to me and sought my help for consultation on how to build their new data center infrastructure and move away from a virtual environment. And even though they did everything correct, they realised that it was a loosing battle to cover the necessary expenditure for a raid based hosting environment with cloud facilities which is what is required when working with colossal websites like this.
One example of this : RAID1 is used for disk mirroring to create data redundancy, in the event of a hardware failure. RAID1 would create a copy of your original disc (Main disc), so no data gets lost in the event of a system crash. I recommended this option to them as RAID6 would mean they would be required to have multiple hard-drives in the event of a data failure, which is what RAID6 requires, and its evidently more expensive because of the various beneficial factors it offers over RAID1, and the same for RAID10 over RAID6 and so on... And obviously the more hardware you have the more it's going to cost you in upkeep.
The reality here is, you will be using rackspace which is essentially a unit of storage delegated to you and they are called power distribution units (PDU). they come with electricity, fiber optics w/metered internet connection, a shelving unit and nothing more. This rack space can be rented from datacenter providers, and each country has one major supplier. You would start off filling these PDU's with actual
bare-metal server stacks and when you run out of room, you'd need to purchase another rack from the data center and bridge your networks and simply network them together, similarly to how cloud servers are connected. The costs of doing this are very costly, but this is what would be required when you eventually move away from virtual ENV's.
In reality, this is not what Youtube do. You would do what I'd call self-catered hosting. You would buy a air-conditioned property preferably one designed for fabricating temperatures suitable for server storage. You'd obviously hire your own in-house staff which would consist of networking engineers, hardware engineers, carpenters, and electricians. You would be best hiring in-house personal security, as agency security would hike up your insurance costs (completely different topic), and along with them, you would have the day and night staff to ensure everyone is kept on their toes, and the overseers of your website would ensure the upkeep of the systems and that they are running smoothly.
The cost of migrating from what you started with would cost you anything in the range of 15,000 to 80,000 in consultations fees alone and based on those consultations. Your whole team would be following to the letter to ensure the move is as successful as possible. Your also responsible for creating contracts with network facilitators to avail of high speed transit connections, and they vary from country to country, and that is something else you also need to consider is; the country in which your servers will be located and all the implications of the different laws that will or will not protect your companies best interested in the event of any legal matter which may arise.
And that's only touching on the basics. I could write a book on this stuff, since I've made a career out of this industry myself. It's not for the fainthearted for sure. You need to be committed and confident with your staff, and you need to know more than they know. So start taking classes for course work and get yourself certified in the different fields involved in this type of business.
You also should have put this in the breakroom forum, as it is not ASP related.