Google owned YouTube has announced to roll out various products and tools in 2022. The move is aimed to redefine the video experience in 2022 and beyond. Neil Mohan, Chief Product Officer of YouTube offers an inside look at this year’s new products, tools, and features for creators, viewers, and partners. Here is the list of new tolls by the online video sharing and social media platform.

Shorts logo – new improvements for YouTube shorts

According to Mohan, YouTube will give every opportunity possible to creators, who are the heart and soul of the platform. He confirms that YouTube will continue to invest across its multiple formats: Shorts, Live, and video on demand (VOD). “And in the months ahead, we will bring even more engagement and monetization options across all three formats,” informs Mohan.

Short-form content is incredibly popular – YouTube Shorts have now enjoyed over 5T all-time views.

“In 2022, we’ll continue to improve the product and make it easier to create videos. Building on a feature we introduced last year that lets you remix audio from videos across YouTube, we’ll introduce new capabilities that empower creators to express themselves even more – new video effects, editing tools, and more. And to help Shorts creators engage with their audience more personally, we’ll also introduce the ability to reply to individual comments by creating a Short.”

Additionally, Mohan informs that in the coming months, YouTube will start to test other ways to make money on Shorts — like exploring new ways for Shorts creators to build branded content through BrandConnect, integrating fan-funded features like Super Chat into Shorts, and bringing the ability to shop directly from a Short.

Last year, YouTube launched the YouTube Shorts Fund to start rewarding creators for their work.

Collaborative livestreaming

Live is another area, writes Mohan that will see progress this year to build on our momentum — daily live watch-time more than tripled between January 2020 and December 2021. “We’ll introduce collaborative livestreaming, which (you guessed it!) allows creators to go live together and create even more interactive streams for their audiences. One of the biggest questions livestreaming creators have is “What do I talk about?” The ability to “go live together” should hopefully open up streams to more casual conversation and interactions with other creators, making it easier and more fun to go live. Creators will also be able to grow their network and reach, and their communities will have a chance to interact and build connections.

Gifted memberships

Features like Super Chat and Channel Memberships have helped a new generation of Live creators participate in the creator economy, and this year, Mohan says that YouTube plans to expand this even further. “We’ve just started testing gifted memberships — the ability to purchase a channel membership for another viewer in the livestream — to a small group of channels. We know this is a top request, and plan to roll out more widely in the coming months!.”

Channel guidelines

For all video viewed on YouTube, Mohan informs that they want to allow for more thoughtful engagement. One area of focus has been improving comments so that they feel more helpful for creators and viewers alike. For example, we’re testing out the ability for creators to set channel guidelines so they can better shape the tone of conversations on their channel.

And viewers will have the option to sort comments timed to the exact moment they’re watching in a video — giving valuable context to comments as they read them.

Timed comments

Something creators have repeatedly told us is that they often struggle with generating new content ideas or have a tough time figuring out which ideas will be successful. “To address this need, we’ll be introducing new insights in YouTube Studio that empower smarter creation. Our tool will harness YouTube and Google’s data sets and allow creators to better understand viewer demand, helping generate concrete content ideas for upcoming videos.”

Web3 also opens up new opportunities for creators. We believe new technologies like blockchain and NFTs can allow creators to build deeper relationships with their fans. Together, they’ll be able to collaborate on new projects and make money in ways not previously possible. For example, giving a verifiable way for fans to own unique videos, photos, art, and even experiences from their favorite creators could be a compelling prospect for creators and their audiences. There’s a lot to consider in making sure we approach these new technologies responsibly, but we think there’s incredible potential as well.

And across all these formats, you’ll see even more ways to help creators make money and build a business. In 2021, we reached the incredible milestone of 2 million creators in the YouTube Partner Program, with 10 ways for them to make money. All of this work takes into account the feedback from creators, so keep it coming.

Viewers

As of January 2022, on average viewers are watching over 700 million hours of YouTube content on TV daily, he informs.

“And in the year ahead, we want to give these viewers easier navigation and even more interactivity. One of the ways we’ll do this is through a device that you always have within reach: your phone. Soon, we’ll be unveiling a new way for viewers to use their phones while they watch YouTube on their TV to read or leave comments, share videos with a friend, and much more — stay tuned!.”

YouTube TV

With an aim to further streamline the user interface, Mohan also announced that YouTube will launch a redesign this year that will further streamline the user interface, including updates to Library and Live, which will give viewers more control over how they organize and watch their favorite content with an even smoother experience.

To offer a safer experience for kids and families, YouTube has developed ways to let young people of all ages more safely explore their diverse and developing interests through YouTube Kids and supervised accounts.

Last year, YouTube enabled supervised accounts for parents who’ve decided their tweens and teens are ready to explore YouTube.

What is Supervise accounts

Supervised accounts allow parents to choose from three different content settings that align with content ratings for pre-teens and older.

Opportunities in the metaverse

According to Mohan, YouTube Music will continue giving listeners the most expansive experience, featuring a catalog of over 80 million official singles, albums, remixes, covers, and hard-to-find music.

“Finally, we couldn’t have a piece about innovation without touching on the metaverse! We’re thinking big about how to make viewing more immersive. The first area in which you can expect to see an impact is gaming, where we’ll work to bring more interactions to games and make them feel more alive. It’s still early days, but we’re excited to see how we can turn these virtual worlds into a reality for viewers,” informs Mohan.

Shopping on YouTube

One of the most anticipated opportunities YouTube will bring to its brands this year is shopping. This new experience taps into the deep trust creators have built with their communities to help partners expand into the booming world of e-commerce. “We’re thinking about shoppable videos, Live Shopping, and, more broadly, how shopping appears across the app. With shoppable videos — like this partnership for Black-owned Friday — users can shop tagged items in their favorite creators’ videos.”

Live shopping offers viewers an interactive setting where they can engage with creators while they drop new products, unveil exclusive deals, or discuss their latest shopping haul.

Last November, YouTube hosted the “Holiday Stream and Shop,” a weeklong event with creators like MrBeast, the Merrell Twins and Gordon Ramsay alongside global brands Walmart, Samsung, and Verizon. It showed tremendous engagement — a total of over 2 million views and 1.4 million Live Chat messages.

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