YouTube on Google TV and smart TVs tweaks its sidebar with ‘More’ section including movies

Ben Schoon | Sep 1 2022 - 1:35 pm PT

YouTube’s app for Google TV, Android TV, and other smart TV platforms is picking up a small tweak to clean up its sidebar with a “More” section.

Rolling out now to some users, this updated interface changes up the sidebar on the YouTube app for TVs yet again. Google has altered this sidebar on numerous occasions over the past couple of years, adding YouTube Music to it and changing icons, amongst other changes.

This time around, the change is relatively minor. At the bottom of the sidebar in the YouTube app for TVs, there’s now a “More” section that holds three other options.

You’ll find Movies & TV Shows, Live, and Sports under this new section. Movies & TV Shows existed in its own sidebar tab previously, as did Live. Sports appears to be an entirely new addition, perhaps related to YouTube’s recent dabble in streaming live MLB games.

Regardless, this change certainly cuts down on the UI a bit, cleaning up the various options. There are now nine options on the sidebar, as opposed to 10 in previous designs. Certainly a minor change, but it provides more separation between the core sections and the settings, and leaves a lot more room for future expansion.

We’ve observed this change on Google TV, but it will presumably be available on Roku and other smart TV platforms over time.