by tyler | Apr 9, 2024 | Tech
YouTube announced on Tuesday that it’s launching new Shopping features that allow creators to curate shoppable collections, better plan their shoppable videos, quickly monetize older videos and more.
The launch of the new features come as TikTok Shop is seeking to take on YouTube Shopping and other competitors in the space. TikTok is reportedly aiming to grow the size of its TikTok Shop U.S. business tenfold to as much as $17.5 billion this year.
YouTube is launching “Shopping Collections” to allow creators to curate products from their favorite brands for users to browse through. Creators can pick a selection of products based on a theme, such as an everyday makeup look or a capsule wardrobe. The collections will appear in a creator’s product list, Store tab and video description. At launch, creators will be able to make Collections on the Studio app on their phone. YouTube plans to launch the feature on desktop soon.
Image Credits: YouTube
Image Credits: YouTube
In addition, YouTube is launching a new Affiliate Hub in its app to make it easier for creators to find information about the latest list of Shopping partners, competitive commission rates and promo codes. Creators will also be able to use the hub to request samples from top brands. YouTube says the idea behind the new hub is to make it easier for creators to plan their next shoppable video.
YouTube is also adding Fourthwall, a website builder that helps creators build shops, to its list of integrated platforms. By allowing users to connect their Fourthwall shop, YouTube is making it easier for users to create and manage their content directly in YouTube Studio. YouTube already offers integrations with Shopify, Spreadshop and Spring.
Image Credits: YouTube
Image Credits: YouTube
Last year, YouTube launched features that allow creators to tag products across their video library in bulk based on products added to the video’s description. YouTube is now expanding this feature to all Shopping creators. The company notes that this feature can help creators earn more revenue from their older content if it’s still getting high traffic.
As part of Tuesday’s announcement, YouTube revealed that users watched over 30 billion hours of shopping related videos in 2023. The platform saw a 25% increase in watch time for videos that help people shop on YouTube.
by tyler | Apr 1, 2024 | Tech
Google is shutting down its Podcasts app in the U.S. in a matter of days. The company has begun warning the app’s users they will need to migrate their subscriptions to YouTube Music by April 2 to follow and stream their favorite shows going forward. Users who don’t make the move immediately will still have additional time to migrate, but will no longer be able to stream from the Podcasts app directly after this date.
The Google Podcasts app, installed over 500 million times on Android devices globally, for over half a decade has offered a simple and streamlined interface for discovering, following and listening to podcasts, as well as tools to add podcasts by RSS feed. Unfortunately for fans of the app, the tech giant said last September it would begin to wind down the Podcasts app in early 2024 as part of its broader plan to centralize its audio services under YouTube.
In 2020, YouTube Music offered a similar transition strategy to move music listeners away from Google Play Music ahead of its shutdown that same year. However, the Google Podcasts app continued to be maintained for years because YouTube Music wasn’t ready to support podcasts until more recently. By the end of 2023, YouTube Music was able to support podcasts globally, and, by February, they had the ability to upload their RSS feeds, too.
The move to shift podcasting over to YouTube could help Google become a bigger player in the space, not only by combining its efforts and sharpening its focus, but also because interest in video podcasts — which were already popular on YouTube — is on the rise. This week, for example, Spotify forged a deal with Universal Music Group (UMG) to bring video podcasts to U.S. users of its streaming app after earlier in March announcing tests of video podcasts in 11 other markets around the world.
Bleeping Computer was the first to notice the shutdown date for Google Podcasts in the U.S., and a support page on Google’s site confirms that users in the U.S. will only be able to use the Podcasts app through the end of March 2024. For those who miss the in-app pop-ups, Google will offer users additional time to save their subscriptions by allowing them to use the app’s export feature through July 2024.
Google did not immediately return a request for comment, but after publication did respond to say that while it was still “tracking towards” the April 2 timeline for the U.S., it has not shared a timeline for the rest of the world yet.
From its earlier statements , though, the plan is to discontinue Google Podcasts globally in 2024.
After spat with TikTok, UMG expands Spotify partnership to include music videos and more
Updated, 3/29/24, 5:00 PM ET with Google comment.
by tyler | Mar 18, 2024 | Tech
YouTube is now requiring creators to disclose to viewers when realistic content was made with AI, the company announced on Monday. The platform is introducing a new tool in Creator Studio that will require creators to disclose when content that viewers could mistake for a real person, place or event was created with altered or synthetic media, including generative AI.
The new disclosures are meant to prevent users from being duped into believing that a synthetically-created video is real, as new generative AI tools are making it harder to differentiate between what’s real and what’s fake. The launch comes as experts have warned that AI and deepfakes will pose a notable risk during the upcoming U.S. presidential election.
Today’s announcement comes as YouTube announced back in November that it was going to roll out the update as part of a larger introduction of new AI policies .
YouTube says the new policy doesn’t require creators to disclose content that is clearly unrealistic or animated, such as someone riding a unicorn through a fantastical world. It also isn’t requiring creators to disclose content that used generative AI for production assistance, like generating scripts or automatic captions.
Image Credits: YouTube
Image Credits: YouTube
Instead, YouTube is targeting videos that use the likeness of a realistic person. For instance, creators will have to disclose when they have digitally altered content to “replace the face of one individual with another’s or synthetically generating a person’s voice to narrate a video,” YouTube says.
They will also have to disclose content that alters the footage of real events or places, such as making it seem as though a real building caught on fire. Creators will also have to disclose when they have generated realistic scenes of fictional major events, like a tornado moving toward a real town.
YouTube says that most videos will have a label appear in the expanded description, but for videos that touch on more sensitive topics like health or news, the company will display a more prominent label on the video itself.
Viewers will start to see the labels across all of YouTube formats in the coming weeks, starting with the YouTube mobile app, and soon on desktop and TV.
YouTube plans to consider enforcement measures for creators who consistently choose not to use the labels. The company says that it will add labels in some cases when a creator hasn’t added one themselves, especially if the content has the potential to confuse or mislead people.
YouTube adapts its policies for the coming surge of AI videos
by tyler | Mar 18, 2024 | Tech
YouTube is now requiring creators to disclose to viewers when realistic content was made with AI, the company announced on Monday. The platform is introducing a new tool in Creator Studio that will require creators to disclose when content that viewers could mistake for a real person, place or event was created with altered or synthetic media, including generative AI.
The new disclosures are meant to prevent users from being duped into believing that a synthetically-created video is real, as new generative AI tools are making it harder to differentiate between what’s real and what’s fake. The launch comes as experts have warned that AI and deepfakes will pose a notable risk during the upcoming U.S. presidential election.
Today’s announcement comes as YouTube announced back in November that it was going to roll out the update as part of a larger introduction of new AI policies .
YouTube says the new policy doesn’t require creators to disclose content that is clearly unrealistic or animated, such as someone riding a unicorn through a fantastical world. It also isn’t requiring creators to disclose content that used generative AI for production assistance, like generating scripts or automatic captions.
Image Credits: YouTube
Image Credits: YouTube
Instead, YouTube is targeting videos that use the likeness of a realistic person. For instance, creators will have to disclose when they have digitally altered content to “replace the face of one individual with another’s or synthetically generating a person’s voice to narrate a video,” YouTube says.
They will also have to disclose content that alters the footage of real events or places, such as making it seem as though a real building caught on fire. Creators will also have to disclose when they have generated realistic scenes of fictional major events, like a tornado moving toward a real town.
YouTube says that most videos will have a label appear in the expanded description, but for videos that touch on more sensitive topics like health or news, the company will display a more prominent label on the video itself.
Viewers will start to see the labels across all of YouTube formats in the coming weeks, starting with the YouTube mobile app, and soon on desktop and TV.
YouTube plans to consider enforcement measures for creators who consistently choose not to use the labels. The company says that it will add labels in some cases when a creator hasn’t added one themselves, especially if the content has the potential to confuse or mislead people.
YouTube adapts its policies for the coming surge of AI videos
by tyler | Mar 12, 2024 | Tech
Google announced a number of new features for Google Play listings for games including AI-powered FAQs, displaying the latest YouTube videos, new immersive ad formats, and support for native PC game publishing. The announcements were made at the Google Games Developer Summit held in San Fransisco.
As part of the announcement, the company is releasing new tools related to Play Store listings to attract more users. Developers can display promotions and the latest YouTube videos directly in their listings — they will be shown to users in the Games tab of the Play Store.
Google is also introducing support for AI-powered FAQs on the game’s information page in English. Currently, these features are rolling out to a limited set of developers. The company had been testing AI-generated FAQ answers on Play Store for non-game-related apps for some time.
Image Credits: Google
Image Credits: Google
To drive more in-app purchases, Google is also now allowing developers to set discounts for users who have the company’s Play Pass subscription . Additionally, the tech giant will launch the subscription service in Korea later this year.
Image Credits: Google
Image Credits: Google
The company will also now allow game devs to utilize Play Points — points are Play Store’s rewards program and were introduced in 2019 — for exclusive in-app offers. Plus, the Play Points program will expand to Brazil this year. The company noted that the rewards program now has over 220 million members in over 35 markets.
Google still earns the majority of its revenue from ads. That’s why the company is introducing new ad offerings for game developers. One of the most noticeable announcements today is the introduction of immersive in-game ads, which Google claims to blend in the game environment across genres. The company is offering this format through its AdMob platform with placement points such as intermission breaks and level progressions.
Image Credits: Google
Image Credits: Google
The company is also pushing tools for developers to push purchases. First, it’s allowing game makers to see who uninstalled the app through a default uninstaller list. Developers can also now target groups like lapsed payers, users who have never purchased before, or players who have not received any push notifications in the last seven days.
In the last few years, Google has made its Play Games for PC program available in more than 120 countries . The program was first introduced to allow users to play Android games on their computers. Now, the company is set to allow publishers to put native PC games on the Play Store. Google said that titles like “Lineage2M”, “Odin: Valhalla Rising”, “Genshin Impact”, and “Dragonheir: Silent Gods” are already available with “Solo Leveling: Arise” slotted to launch later in the year.
Image Credits: Google
Image Credits: Google
