YouTube

In YouTube’s 2022 Priorities letter, CEO Susan Wojcicki cited podcasting (just before NFTs) as an additional source of revenue for Creators. Podcasts already exist on the site as videos, but this is the latest mention that strongly implies that YouTube is going to provide a more dedicated experience. What form could YouTube Podcasts take and does that sound like something you’d use?

Short-form videos have taken the internet by storm over the past few years thanks to the rise of platforms such as TikTok. YouTube Shorts first made its debut in 2020, and in the time since, creators have collectively generated over 5 trillion views.

YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki has outlined the video streaming platforms “2022 Priorities” which, annoyingly, could include NFTs.

In recent weeks, YouTube very quietly introduced an annual plan for YouTube Premium and Music Premium. It currently features a rather notable discount compared to paying every month, but that ends very soon.

The latest YouTube “new” feature that users can test, though it’s not widely available, is “Smart downloads” for the Android app. 

YouTube on smart TVs is gaining a simple mobile sign-in feature to help improve the account linking process and, in turn, reduce the stress of adding your details to selected devices. The video streaming service also appears to be adding a “Repeat” video toggle for Android TV, games consoles, and other platforms.

YouTube for mobile seems to go through a number of design phases, but one area that is receiving some attention is the channel homepage UI.

YouTube videos often get millions or even billions of views, but the hit game Minecraft has hit a new milestone this year. Combined, all videos about Minecraft on YouTube have surpassed a whopping one trillion views on the platform.

Drama has been ongoing between Roku and Google nearly all of this year over the use of YouTube and YouTube TV on the biggest streaming platform in the United States. Today, Roku and Google have finally settled on a deal to keep the app available to Roku owners.

YouTube is expanding the availability of video chapters within the streaming app to more smart TVs and video game consoles.

Since the start of this year, Google has been testing a new YouTube app/experience for the regular Chromecast. The new YouTube Cast app looks to be widely rolled out for the 3rd-gen Chromecast and Ultra this week.

Google announced last month that YouTube would be retiring the dislike count on videos, a change that has already taken effect and has been highly controversial among users. For those who want to keep YouTube dislike counts alive a little bit longer, a neat browser extension makes that possible, at least for now.

Back in May, YouTube started testing “Listening controls” that looked to bring a dedicated music player to the main app for Premium subscribers. This UI is now widely rolled out for all videos.

There was no YouTube Rewind in 2020, and the Google company announced in October that the series was coming to an end entirely. That said, YouTube is still doing various “top” video lists for 2021.

Google has said before that the TV is one of the biggest areas where YouTube is growing, and as such the company has been improving its YouTube app on smart TV platforms. This week, the YouTube app for TVs is changing how it handles playlists.