YouTube plans a complete overhaul of its TV app
The new TV app includes a range of updated features, including some that could change how some creators categorize videos by enabling them to split videos into different episodes and seasons to make it easier for viewers to navigate and watch them on TV, reflecting what viewers expect across subscription video platforms.
YouTube is rolling out what it calls “immersive previews,” a cinematic trailer for a video that plays automatically when a user navigates to a creator’s page.
“When we launched Primetime Channels in the main app, one of the things we wanted to make sure we delivered was that if you’re looking for HBO’s House of the Dragon and you go to that channel page, you want to search by season and episode and get the rich, immersive channel page experience that people expect for serialized content,” said Christian Ostlin, YouTube’s vice president of product management.
According to the platform, content creators tend to use this format, making videos that are between 20 minutes and 40 minutes long, with a number of episodes and seasons being released, so YouTube gives them the tools to create what it calls Creator Show Pages.
Creator Show Pages are a useful way for viewers to discover a creator and their shows in a similar way to other streaming services, where you watch one episode and you can see the entire season, which can encourage viewers to continue watching, or even download the entire season before they start watching.
YouTube also plans to roll out features aimed at helping creators grow their businesses, including a simple, prominent subscription function on the TV app while videos are playing, and a feature that generates QR codes from links in video descriptions.
YouTube hopes this change will boost creators' subscriber numbers, and also boost engagement through the use of the QR code feature.
YouTube says it's rolling out immersive previews, QR code links and new subscription functionality this year, with episodes and seasons functionality rolling out gradually starting in 2025.
YouTube says the number of creators who make the majority of their revenue from TV has grown by 30 percent year-over-year.
Over the past three years, the number of top creators getting the most screen time has increased by more than 400 percent.
Ostlin says YouTube took creators' concerns seriously when developing the new app, which took years to develop.
