YouTube

YouTube for Android TV adds animated comment count to video info pill

Damien Wilde | Apr 16 2024 - 1:45 am PT

YouTube for Android TV is getting yet another UI tweak with an animated comment count in the info pill section to help highlight and improve interaction with videos while watching on displays.

Unlike on mobile or desktop, it’s much harder to see information easily on a TV, as full-screen viewing is standard. Other recent changes to the YouTube player on TVs help you view comments, likes, view count, and video details in a less intrusive way. These latest changes help funnel people into the new UI by enticing a click or tap.

The new layout has been rolling out for a few weeks and designed to increase interaction from TV, but we’ve spotted another minor tweak to YouTube’s video info pill on Android TV and Google TV in the past 24-48 hours that might improve interaction further still.

When you hover and highlight the video info pill you’ll get a short animation showing the YouTube channel name or uploader and a count of the comments. After a second, it will switch to show a “Learn more about this video” message, and the two messages will switch at regular intervals. When viewing videos fullscreen, it has zero effect on the content you are viewing.

Previously, this section would only show the video title and the channel that uploaded the content. By shoehorning in the comment count metrics and adding an explicit message to “learn more,” it might make people more aware of the ability to see ongoing discussions relating to a video on platforms like Android TV. The like count is only shown when you expand this section with a click on your remote with other details including upload date and the full comment section.

We’re seeing the updated info pill on YouTube for Android TV v4.31.300, but given that it has started to appear over the past couple of days, this is likely part of a server-side rollout. Let us know if you’re seeing this admittedly minor change down in the comments section below.