A ton of great updates have been announced for YouTube since our last update post! We’ve kept up with it all, and we’re excited to share the insane amount of cool new features and changes coming to YouTube September 2022! We’ve got a lot to cover, so let’s dive straight in!
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Creator Music is here
We covered this topic briefly in our last update roundup. However, with new details being released, we wanted to make sure we revisited it.
If you asked any YouTube creator what the most annoying part of video creation is… they’d probably say music. From finding the right songs that fit the tone of your video, to figuring out the licensing required to actually use them. It’s a lot of work, and there are many limitations on the songs you can use which can make it a difficult process.
YouTube has officially announced Creator Music, an update that will bring a large library of popular music to the platform. It’s currently in beta testing!
With this library of music for your videos, you’ll have two options:
- Use revenue-sharing tracks, where both the creator and the rights holders can earn money from the content in which it’s used.
- Purchase the rights to use copyrighted music, with the terms and rates clearly and simply explained.
YouTube is currently partnered with indie labels like Empire, Believe, Downtown and Merlin to provide this music for creators. We’re unsure when they’ll begin partnering with major labels, but we’re looking forward to watching the music library grow.
The Future of Educational Content on YouTube
YouTube has long been a platform loved by its users for its seemingly endless supply of educational content. In fact, educational content has been a big part of YouTube content strategy for a while, and it seems like that will continue. We’ve got a few updates in this category, so let’s go!
Educational content video player
A new YouTube embedded player has been announced for education apps to get rid of distractions for those looking for a deeper learning experience. This player removes a few aspects of your usual viewing experience on YouTube, namely ads, external links, and recommendations.
This player is currently available for select partners to start, including EDpuzzle, Google Classroom, Purdue University, and Purdue Global. We expect to see this player expand onto other apps soon as well.
Courses on YouTube
With many video creators choosing to start selling courses, YouTube is aiming to keep that content on the platform instead of sending users to third-party websites.
You’ll soon be able to create structured learning experiences directly on YouTube, with both free and paid course options becoming available. This is huge!
With this new feature, playlists can be made to encompass educational content related to a specific topic. Users can buy individual videos or full access to the course playlist depending on their needs. This paid content will be available for lifetime access, and will also remove ads and allow users to play videos in the background.
The first beta will be rolling out to the US and South Korea to start, and you can expect this feature to be available worldwide next year.
Quizzes in the community tab
To complement the new course features, creators will also be able to run quizzes through the community tab. This feature is intended to be used as a way to further engage users who have watched your educational course content, though we’re sure we’ll see many other creative uses of this feature.
Quizzes will include multiple choice questions, and in-depth answer explanations to help users fully understand the information taught in your courses. Additionally, this could be used as a marketing tool to draw more viewers to your courses.
This feature will be rolled out in the coming months. How do you plan to use it? Let us know in the comments down below!
Changes are Coming to Channel Pages
Your YouTube channel page is soon going to see some updates to improve your audience’s viewing experience. Let’s take a look at two of the major changes:
Navigation adjustments
Basic navigation adjustments will make it easier for viewers to find the content they’re looking for, thanks to the addition of new tabs. Now, your videos will be categorized by their type: videos, shorts, and live.
To make things even easier, tabs on your channel will only appear if that type of content is present on your channel. For example, if you haven’t gone live before, the “Live” tab will be hidden. This applies to all other tabs, including playlists. Hooray for a simpler navigation experience!
Lastly, the “Shorts” tab will be extremely helpful in converting viewers of your short-form content into supporters of your content across the board. Now, when viewers click on your channel from the Shorts feed, they land directly on the “Shorts” tab of your channel page. This will make it much easier for users to find your long-form content, as well as your membership button, channel store, and community tab.
New channel section: for you
Channel sections have proven to be extremely useful for both organizing your content, and creating the best experience for your audience. Sections are used to highlight content like your most popular videos, most recent uploads, and playlists dedicated to specific topics.
Recently, YouTube announced a new section that we’re really excited about: the “For You” section.
This new section will contain an automatically curated playlist to help new viewers find the content on your channel that best suits them. No need to go searching through your uploads to find something that speaks to them! YouTube is going to place the videos they are most likely to click on based on their watch history and engagement right in front of their eyes!
We’ve seen similar features on the platform before, notably the “Best for Viewer” option on End Screens. But with an entire playlist of content recommendations specifically for viewers on your channel page, we’re expecting to see even more views from relevant content.
This is something you are absolutely going to want on your channel page, so keep an eye out!
Vertical Videos will Become More Appealing
Vertical video content has been exploding across the web, and it shows no sign of slowing down. Let’s be honest, the way it’s been integrated into YouTube’s video feed thus far has been less than optimal. Black bars on the sides? No thanks.
YouTube has an answer to this, and we’ll see it roll out soon!
On the mobile home feed, Shorts content and vertical videos will now appear as 4:5 thumbnails by cropping in on the cover image. This is important to know from a strategic standpoint, as you’ll have to be mindful of keeping crucial elements visible on your thumbnail.
Creators should expect a modest improvement in views and watch time with this new vertical video rendering, so we’re looking forward to seeing the impact this update will have.
Goodbye, Incorrect Captions!
Ever find yourself watching a video, but the captions aren’t quite right? It can be really distracting and not to mention super inconvenient for those who need accurate captions to properly enjoy the video.
Instead of leaving suggestions or requests in the comment section, YouTube has provided a new option for viewers to smoothly improve captions. They call it “Touch Captions”, and here’s how it works:
- Viewers can open the video’s transcript
- Hover over an incorrect caption
- Click to edit
- Submit your suggestion without interrupting your watching experience
Super simple, right? Though, it’s important to note that captions can only be edited if this feature is turned on for that video or channel.
Promoting Your Content Just Got Easier
Promoting your content is a crucial part of growing your YouTube channel. However, for many creators, Google Ads is just a bit too complicated. In order to give creators easier access to paid media promotion, YouTube has introduced the Promotion Tab in Studio.
The Promotion tab allows users to bypass Google Ads and create ads from their videos directly on the YouTube platform. The goal is to create a simpler end-to-end workflow, so creators can easily run quick promotions.
The new update recognizes how effective advertising on YouTube can be as a part of your strategy. The feature is currently available for a selected handful of creators, as it’s still in the experiment phase.
When it does roll out for everyone, it’ll be important to remember that you should still be familiar with Google Ads best practices. Do tests with a small budget before diving straight in.
New Ways to Research
YouTube Search Insights have been super helpful when it comes to doing research for content strategy. After its release earlier this year, it was reported that over 80% of creators in the experiment were satisfied with the tool.
Now, YouTube is experimenting with a few new features on the Analytics Research tab.
The new features, Watch Interest, Watch Activity, and Personalized Insights, will provide additional information to help you narrow in on new content ideas that might interest your viewers.
Watch Interest
Until this point, the only information we could use came from what viewers were searching. Now, YouTube has added the Watch Interest feature to help content creators identify top, rising, or recent videos within a topic.
Now, when you have an idea for a new video, you’ll easily be able to check if your audience has an existing interest in any related topics.
Watch Activity
This feature will allow you to see your audience’s watch activity within a given topic.
Personalized Insights
Personalized Insights will provide you with content suggestions based on your audience’s unique interests and your saves.
What’s great about this particular feature is that it aims to provide you with topics that are related to your own interests, but still relevant to your current content.
Start Making Money with Shorts
We’ve been waiting for this one for a while! We’re excited to share that YouTube will be bringing ads to Shorts!
We’re still waiting for more information about exactly how ads will be integrated into the Shorts platform. What we do know is that they will not be attached to specific videos like their long-form counterparts. Ads will be displayed between videos, and revenue from those ads will be pooled together every month.
This is similar to how TikTok has been placing ads on their platform, so we can only wonder if they will soon follow YouTube’s new revenue model. What we do know is that this exciting change to YouTube Shorts will increase the competition between these two platforms.
With 1.5 billion people viewing Shorts every month, and now a promising income stream on the horizon, creators on TikTok might start to lean towards YouTube’s short-content feature.
What do you think about this battle of the platforms? Who do you think will come out victorious? Let us know down below.
Partner Program Requirements are Changing
Piggybacking off of the new Shorts monetization features, let’s talk a bit about YouTube’s Partner Program and how it’s changing.
Current eligibility guidelines for the program require creators to reach 4,000 total watch time hours within 12 months, and 1,000 subscribers. However, due to the length of Shorts, these watch time requirements have been a bit of a barrier for Shorts-focused creators.
YouTube seems to be changing these requirements in 2023 to allow Shorts creators to join the program if they have received 10 million views in the previous 90 days. Hopefully, this will allow creators and businesses to monetize their content faster.
Wrap Up
Wow, that’s a lot of great updates! We want to know what you’re most excited about, so be sure to let us know down below! Will any of these features be making an appearance in your strategy?
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