YouTube has seen several significant updates over the last two years. Yesterday Google announced another notable refresh for the video service, rolling out a whole “new look.”
The redesign places subscriptions front and center.
What It Means for Users
- Users get a simpler look, thanks to a grey color scheme and spare layout more consistent with other Google properties.
- Finding and following favorite channels becomes easier. The left side of the homepage allows users to create a personalized, customizable channel line-up.
- Bigger video thumbnails ensure ease-of-navigation.
More Subscribers, More Channel Views
Last year YouTube channel subscriptions more than doubled. Opportunities to subscribe will now get better visibility, supporting continued strong subscriber growth. At the same time a cleaner, more prominently placed Guide better surfaces appealing channel content. Brands that cultivate their YouTube presence will be rewarded with more subscribers and more views.
Responding to Mobile
More than 20% of YouTube’s traffic now comes from mobile devices. YouTube is “taking the next step by bringing your subscription-filled Guide with you across both the site and all devices.” Earlier this year Thismoment embraced responsive design and enabled it in our product. Naturally, we’re happy to see YouTube offering a high quality Guide experience “across hundreds of millions of devices.” Like the other changes, enhanced mobile access promises to deliver more views to brands that build their YouTube following.
What It Means for Our Customers
The announced changes will eventually be required for brand pages, but they are optional initially. For our customers with YouTube brand channels powered by Thismoment Distributed Engagement Channel (“DEC”), rest assured that we are in lockstep with Google to ensure a seamless transition as future brand page-specific updates are released.
Google’s announcement marks another important evolution of YouTube. Congratulations to the team!
- Chris McGarry
VP of Product Marketing
