The team at YouTube is constantly working toward improving their platform. Generally every month there’s new tools, resources or features that get released, and August 2022 was no exception.
Staying up to date with so many updates however, is a lot of work. That’s why we’re bringing you this YouTube update roundup so that you can start taking advantage of these new goodies as soon as they’re out. There’s quite a bit to cover, so let’s jump straight into it!
PS – we’re considering doing these updates more consistently. So if you find this roundup helpful, please let us know in the comments if you’d like us to continue. 🙂
Jump to a specific section if preferred:
YouTube Creator Updates
New creative features on community tab
The community tab has been a valuable tool to drive engagement, but we couldn’t help but feel that it was missing something. Perhaps this new feature is YouTube’s answer!
While visual posting options were limited in the past, you’ll now have a variety of options to make your posts pop! Similar to posting options that you’re already familiar with on apps like Instagram, you’ll soon be able to add text, filters, and stickers to your channel updates.
This update is currently being tested with a group of randomly selected creators on Android, with iOS soon to follow.
YouTube seems to be aligning its features to fit with social media consumer habits across the board. Do you think this will increase the community tab’s popularity? Let us know in the comments below!
Access to copyrighted music for creators
Arguably one of the most important parts of packaging content is music. Finding the right song to fit your video can take time, especially when your options are limited due to fear of copyright infringement.
Thanks to YouTube’s expanding partnerships with music labels and publishers, you can expect to see more music options in their library.
With this update, you’ll be able to access a large quantity of copyrighted music while keeping your ability to earn revenue on your content. This means a greater opportunity to create more engaging videos and ads!
Location information in video descriptions
More information is coming to description boxes, namely the ‘Places Mentioned’ feature.
Initially, this feature was limited to select locations like restaurants and cafes, and could only be accessed on the mobile app. With this feature expanding, information will be available for categories such as travel locations, recreational facilities, and businesses via Google Maps.
Location information continues to be unavailable on desktop, and locations are still limited. However, you can expect to see this expand further over time.
This feature could be great for businesses looking to provide more information about their locations and offerings. If you aren’t interested in adding it to your video descriptions, you can turn off automatic additions through your settings and make further changes during the editing process.
YouTube Studio Updates
New metrics just dropped
How we analyze data in YouTube analytics continues to change. We now have access to a few new metrics to help us identify wins and opportunities on the platform.
In your subscription source report, you’ll now be able to see how many subscribers have come from non-video posts on the community tab. With the updates we mentioned earlier in this blog post, it seems like YouTube has a lot planned for this feature in the future. If you aren’t using the community tab already, now seems like a good time to start.
Remix views have also been added to YouTube analytics. You’ll now receive more data about video remixes, including total views, the top 15 mobile remixes, and the top 50 web remixes. The remix feature has great potential for organic shares from your audience, so this data can be extremely helpful in seeing how your content performs outside of your channel.
YouTube Studio editor gets an upgrade
Editing in the YouTube Studio just got easier. The trim feature’s newest update aims to provide a more intuitive and consistent experience for its users by doing three things:
- Adding a new “cut” section to replace the older (and harder-to-find) split option. This feature allows for more fine grain time editing.
- Making the edges of the “trim” and “cut” features color-coded and wider, to make them more identifiable and grabbable.
- Moving the “preview” and “edit” features to make them more discoverable.
These changes are already available to everyone on desktop, so give them a try!
New design on the copyright details page
The copyright details page is where creators can find info regarding content ID claims and copyright takedowns impacting their videos. While functionality remains the same, a couple of things are changing.
First off, the design of this page has been improved to provide a smoother experience for users.
The second change made is a new entry point to this page. You will now see a new copyright tab on the left side of the screen while on a specific video’s details page.
Copyright is kind of a big deal, so hopefully these small changes will remove even the slightest bit of stress from navigating the process.
YouTube Mobile Updates
Mobile zoom feature
YouTube is testing a new feature on mobile that will allow viewers to zoom in on any video. This “pinch to zoom” feature is currently being tested exclusively by YouTube Premium subscribers, and the experiment will wrap on September 1st. Once the testing phase is done, YouTube will decide whether the feature should be permanently available. Let’s see!
Current feedback suggests the presence of quality limitations when zoomed in. However, with eight zoom levels, you will be able to adjust this based on your preference. This feature could help with catching easter eggs, small details in tutorials, or maybe finding yourself in the background or a crowd for bragging rights.
Manage your channel on the go
When YouTube added analytics to the mobile studio, the game shifted. The ability to manage your channel on the go has been lucrative, and the response seems to have pushed for more similar updates. Here’s what’s new:
- You can now make changes to your channel’s name, banner, avatar, and description directly from the mobile app. No matter where you are, as long as you have your phone, you’ll have more power to customize and update your channel.
- A new “monetization” tab has been added to the navigation bar. Here, you can access information about your monetization opportunities, including the partner program.
It looks like the developers are aiming to make the mobile studio a fully viable option for managing your channel as technology continues shifting towards handheld devices.
YouTube Shorts Updates
Create a #short tool
The mobile app now allows users to select up to 60-second segments of their pre-existing long-form videos to post as Shorts. If the selected clip is less than 60 seconds, creators can shoot additional footage with the Shorts camera or add in videos from their phone. The tool automatically crops videos in a vertical format, so you don’t have to do any further editing.
One of the best parts of this feature is the direct link back to the original content. Creating short-form videos to complement long-form content is always a good strategy, and this direct link will erase friction between the two content formats. Now, your long-form videos are just one click away, so we predict that Shorts made with this tool will do a great job of driving traffic to your content with higher monetization opportunities.
Despite competing with TikTok, it seems YouTube stands firm with its belief in long-form content. However, it’s impossible to ignore the benefit of leveraging short-form videos in today’s social space. Give this feature a try, and see for yourself!
Comment stickers join the roster
Yet another experiment from YouTube, Shorts comment stickers are another familiar sight from competitor apps. This feature allows users to create video responses to comments on both their short and long-form content, and we’ve already seen this be successful on TikTok and IG Reels.
Replying to comments with videos opens up new opportunities to engage your viewers. Encourage your audience to get involved by showing them that you care about their input. You can also use this tool to answer audience questions to create even more helpful content.
It’s worth noting that YouTube’s version of this feature has a few limitations compared to its competitors. While the comment you are responding to is overlayed on your video, these stickers lack the same functionality as, say, TikTok. Clicking on the sticker won’t bring you back to the original video the comment was left on, or provide information about the author. Viewers seeing these stickers will not be provided with the same context as they would on other apps, which removes the opportunity for some popular use cases on other apps.
YouTube hopes to add this functionality in the future, and will continue to provide more info as development progresses.
Algorithm changes for better integration
You’ve probably heard one of two things; “Shorts drive major traffic to long-form content,” or “Shorts will ruin your YouTube channel.” Funny enough, neither of these has been particularly true up until now.
YouTube has recently opened up about its algorithm concerning Shorts, and the truth is that the two formats had a major disconnect between them. Shorts data would not impact the recommendations outside that section of the website or app.
New algorithm updates will aim to bridge the gap between Shorts and long-form videos, especially regarding recommendations. With these recent changes, the algorithm will now consider recently uploaded long-form content from channels the user engaged with via Shorts for its recommendations.
YouTube’s focus on improving Shorts has shown some pretty incredible results, and we’re excited to continue running our own experiments on the feature. Make sure you stay tuned for future articles detailing our results!
Wrap Up
Whew, ok that was a lot! If you stuck around to the end of this article, hopefully you’re walking away with some new ideas and inspiration for taking advantage of these new updates. We’d love to hear your thoughts, so drop a hello, a question or any feedback you have in the comments!
Also, if you’d like to dive deeper into your own YouTube Marketing efforts, hit the banner below or visit here to book a free strategy call with our team today!
