Ongoing YouTube Platform News

[Ryuzaki]

With the slow but continual release of new features, I felt it'd be worth it to have one master thread for it all. Among the most recent pieces of news:

A/B/C Thumbnail Testing​

YouTube has officially released A/B/C Thumbnail Testing for everyone, though it'll take weeks to roll out to every channel. It's now out in the open for everyone instead of select channels for testing. YouTube is NOT testing for Click-through Rates. They're testing for Watch Time, which helps makes sure people aren't clickbaiting and the user is satisfied.

In-Stream Ads to Defeat Ad-Blockers​

YouTube is testing baking ads into the actual stream of the video server-side rather than injecting them into the stream browser-side. This will make it extremely difficult for ad-blockers to function, which is a huge positive for creators. You'll still be able to skip ads and all that. People who expect everyone to work for free are already having a tantrum.

Demonetization Timestamps​

On the desktop YouTube Studio, you can now find (for most scenarios) timestamps for the offending part of a video that caused a problem with a description when you appeal. Which is basically "At 7 seconds you said 'fuck' which isn't allowed in the first 10 seconds". This is nice and all but apparently you can't just edit that part out and reappeal for monetization on the video. Which is absurd. It's also absurd that they've had this data forever and it took dang near a decade to let creators see it.

Other Recent Updates​

• YouTube has released built-in games into the browser and mobile app, called Playables. They run really well.
• You can get a preliminary tier of monetization at 500 subs and 3000 watch hours that let you get super-chats and channel memberships, but still not ads. But if you get approved your ads will turn on as soon as you're eligible, saving some time.
• They've changed the Research tab of the YouTube Studio to the Inspiration tab, including AI tools and helping you find "outliers", which are videos that performed very well based on the channel's average. It has keyword research and all that still, too.
• When the person in the video mentions "Subscribe to me" language, the subscription button lights up and flashes in the app and browser.

You can always find the most recent updates here

• Creator Updates
• Viewer Updates
• Policy Updates

 

[Jesse]

This will make it extremely difficult for ad-blockers to function, which is a huge positive for creators.

Devil's Advocate: If someone is making most of their money from something other than ads, a lower viewership from increased ads could potentially be a net negative. Thoughts?

 

[Ryuzaki]

Devil's Advocate: If someone is making most of their money from something other than ads, a lower viewership from increased ads could potentially be a net negative. Thoughts?

You can choose how many ad slots you want to include, so you can compensate however you want. There's been "studies" provided by YouTube and by creators who all have basically concluded that the Adsense ads don't interfere with anything (since everyone and every video is subject to them) and tastefully done in-video sponsorship reads that don't happen at the very beginning of the video don't affect anything either. Everyone is accustomed to them, knows they can either "skip ad" or double-tap forward 15 seconds until they pass the ad read.

I don't think YouTube (at the moment) intends to show more ads. They're simply trying to show the ones they already show by getting around ad blockers. Rather than there being more ads, there will probably be more YouTube Premium subscribers (which is a better RPM for creators, too).

 

[Ryuzaki]

New updates:

• All eligible users now have access to thumbnail split-testing.
• A “community notes” feature like X/Twitter has is being tested.
• You can now use the editor on 6+ hour videos, though it takes longer to publish.
• You can now multi-select comments to moderate in the published tab (already available in the other tabs like held for moderation).
• YouTube Shopping will now be available in Korea.
• Comment topics sorted by AI on the mobile app is appearing on long-form and now also shorts. Helps to read and moderate.

 

[Ryuzaki]

Community Spaces​

YouTube is testing out a new Community Spaces feature that's basically your community tab but for your members. Looks like it'll get mixed in with your own postings, where you can press one of those filter buttons to only see the creator's posts.

I feel like they need to not stray away from their core offering, but I'm sure they're trying to replicate what Patreon did, ultimately.

YouTube Shorts Stickers & Responses​

Shorts has stickers being tested where people can respond or join in, and anyone can click the sticker and watch the entire group of shorts.

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It's like a more fun and visual version of hashtags, I suppose. On this example above it's like "here's my dog, use this sticker and show us your dog." Then from any short that used the sticker, you can click on it and pull up all the #sticker'd videos.

Removal of Contact Email​

YouTube is still allowing you to insert your contact email in the backend but it's no longer showing on the front end, presumably because they want to get their cut of sponsorships, having fairly recently launched their own BrandConnect backend method for getting sponsorships through YouTube itself (where they'll take a fat cut).

 

[wikibum]

@Ryuzaki Quick questions for you:

- Do you recommend long form videos or short term videos? I heard from a lot of people, that have couches, that YouTube recommends longer form videos (10+ minutes, rather than 3 minute or 2 minute videos). Obviously as long as you provide the user with value.

- Thumbnail testing is great. They actually show the videos more often with it. Its also easier to figure out what thumb works best vs. the old way where you test manually. Do you put borders around your video thumbnails? What have you seen work best?

Thanks for your help!

 

[Smith]

They actually show the videos more often with it.

First time I've heard this. What do you mean/where did you hear this?

long form videos or short term videos

I've heard the same as you (10min +) but I think it comes down to 'retention' and 'time on platform' ... so theoretically if you create short form 2-3 min videos that keep people on the edge of their seat for the next video and they click to the next video, you could still get great exposure through browse/suggest features on YouTube. But again, what I've heard is 10 min plus is the way to go.

 

[Ryuzaki]

- Do you recommend long form videos or short term videos? I heard from a lot of people, that have couches, that YouTube recommends longer form videos (10+ minutes, rather than 3 minute or 2 minute videos). Obviously as long as you provide the user with value.

Longer videos are going to generate more watch-time and keep people on the platform longer. This is THE most positive signal YouTube is looking at right now, as it's probably the easiest way to measure viewer satisfaction. Also, longer videos means they can show more ad slots, which is beneficial to YouTube and the creator.

So, I'd say yes. There's a line between length & quantity though, as the amount of time it takes to create high-quality but much longer videos is quite a bit more. Will the performance of those videos make it outpace shorter ones in the algorithm to make up for the loss of views? Is views really the metric to worry about or revenue... it's a lot to consider.

Thumbnail testing is great. They actually show the videos more often with it. Its also easier to figure out what thumb works best vs. the old way where you test manually. Do you put borders around your video thumbnails? What have you seen work best?

I've not heard or seen evidence myself that testing thumbnails results in more impressions. My qualm with it, as is always the case with testing, is you have to show the worse performing option to know what the best one is. In the case of YouTube you'll be squandering views that will determine the future success of the video, as those metrics will get baked into your overall metrics per each algorithm.

This is a different story for massive channels with guaranteed views regardless. I feel like this kind of testing at the level of a big channel is splitting hairs, but each little hair adds up to a pony tail. I think we should refine our thumbnails over the course of many videos, so we can intuit an idea of what performs, and then only split-test small changes. The danger is greater for smaller channels using this, I think, except for search-based channels.

 

[wikibum]

First time I've heard this. What do you mean/where did you hear this?

I didn't hear it from anywhere. I just noticed that new videos I test thumbnails on get higher views than older (not very much older but older) videos that I don't test thumbnails on.

think we should refine our thumbnails over the course of many videos, so we can intuit an idea of what performs, and then only split-test small changes. The danger is greater for smaller channels using this, I think, except for search-based channels.

I agree with that. I don't think I will test thumbnails on every single video. I am just looking for a winning theme if that makes sense.

My logic is that testing is for longterm gain. I am testing 5 videos (each with 3 different style thumbnails). Once I get winners. I will check all 5 videos and see what was special about the winners and then create thumbnails for the rest of the videos based on the winning theme/style. I wouldn't test thumbnails on every single video. That's for sure

 

[Ryuzaki]

Monetization Suspension Appeals Change​

A change is being tested and is incoming to everyone where once you get kicked from the YouTube Partner Program, you get 7 days to appeal before that suspension happens.

Previously, you'd get booted, have to appeal while you're raking in views you're not getting paid for, then if you get back in you lost a bunch of days worth of income. This way, if your appeal is granted, you don't lose money.

From my understanding YouTube rightfully and manually/automatically (and more often than not automatically detects a false positive on channels that are riding the line) bans a lot of channels every day, and instead of fixing that automated detection system, they spend a lot of manual labor reinstating channels. They manually review the channel and you can create an appeal video showing how much effort you put into your videos. And more often than not it works, and then 6 months later you're banned again and repeating the process. Now you can at least not lose a week's worth of income every time it happens.

If you get rejected in that 7 day period, you have to wait 90 days to re-apply to the partnership program again. In that time you're cleaning up your channel from re-used content and all that. If you don't appeal in the 7 day window because you didn't notice, you'll be suspended and have 21 days to appeal that decision.

The deadline to appeal will show up in the Earn hub/tab in YouTube Studio.

Simplifying the Channel Page​

In the next few weeks, the channel home tab is being simplified for small channels. The home tab is being removed if you haven't modified that customizable page, have less than 10 videos, and haven't published more than one content type (shorts, live, community, etc.).

If all this applies to you, you can go in and customize the home tab and set it up however you like with For You, Playlists, Shorts, and whatever shelf you like.

Contact Email Disappeared & Is Back​

Also, the fiasco where the contact email was gone and I suspected they were trying to interfere with external sponsorships.... it's back now. Who knows if it was a bug or what. But it's back.

 

[Jesse]

A change is being tested and is incoming to everyone where once you get kicked from the YouTube Partner Program, you get 7 days to appeal before that suspension happens.

This is excellent news and kills off one of the major gripes a lot of people had about the platform.

 

[Ryuzaki]

YouTube Play Button Awards Are Now Smaller​

YouTube, presumably as a way to save money since they're printing these by the billions now with Shorts channels, has decided to make the Play Button Awards smaller. They've changed designs in the past too, so this is no surprise.

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I don't mind them being smaller. But if I was someone who was collecting as many as I could and designing a wall with them I'd be annoyed.

Channel QR Codes Are Now Available​

On your mobile YouTube app, go to the "You" tab on the bottom and click on Share Channel and find the chip for your QR Code, which will look like this:

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You can share this online, print it off on business cards, etc. I'm not surprised QR codes never popped off and I doubt they will now. I think YouTube did this simply because they made it available for their ads, specifically for TV viewers so they can whip out their phone and pull up the ad's website. Might as well use the tech elsewhere and call it "progress".

The Join Button Now Illuminates​

Just like when a video asks you to subscribe and the subscribe button lights up and animates, the Join button will now do that if you're monetized and have channel memberships enabled.