YouTube is improving its apps experience for those who watch videos via their TV, the company announced today. After observing that many YouTube users were already using the mobile app and engaging in videos while watching the big screen, the company is now introducing a new feature that allows users to connect their TV to their iOS or Android device. device to synchronize videos between devices. This makes it easier for users to engage with other YouTube features, such as comments, like button or creator support among others, says YouTube.
The company pointed to research that showed that over 80% of people claimed to use another digital device while watching television as the driving force behind this product decision. It then looked at how people used its own YouTube mobile app and saw that many would open the video while watching YouTube on their TV and would engage with the content on their device by liking, subscribing and more.
YouTube said it saw the opportunity to leverage this user behavior to address the challenges it has faced in designing a big-screen experience. Over the years, its designers have struggled to make the TV app easier to use, as remote controls are difficult to navigate, most TVs do not have built-in web browsers, and there is often less space to work with – especially when users watch videos. in full screen.
The new mobile feature helps solve some of these challenges as it allows users to access their mobile app instead of syncing their phone to the TV. After opening the YouTube app on the TV, they can then open the mobile app on their phone and click “Connect” at the prompt that appears to sync their view.
This is something of the reverse of the typical “casting” experience, where users would tap the Cast icon in the YouTube mobile app to connect their phone to the TV. YouTube confirmed that the new feature does not rely on casting protocols, such as Google Cast or DIAL, to work. Instead, users just stay logged in to their YouTube account on both devices – there is no technical complexity to the end-user experience, a spokesman said.
Once synced via the new feature, users can then interact directly with the video from their phone while watching, which YouTube says makes it easier to read video descriptions, leave comments, share a video with a friend, or use other features to support creators, like Super Chat or channel memberships among others.
But this feature also lays the foundation for other experiences YouTube is building, including e-commerce. The company says it is already testing new designs for its video playback site that would make it easier for users to browse and shop for products seen in videos directly from the big screen. These designs help guide the users to their mobile device when they are ready to buy.
In this case, a message may appear on the big screen suggesting that users open the mobile app for a “different screen experience.” When they do, they will see a list of products in the video, which they can then view with a tap.
Image credit: YouTube shopping experience
YouTube has been signaling its interest in online shopping for some time after launching livestream shopping last year following other improvements such as. merch shelves and purchase ads. At this year’s Brandcast event in May, YouTube also said it would soon roll out more livestream shopping features, including co-streams where creators could go live together and redirects that send a creator’s audience to a brand’s channel.
According to a statement earlier this year from YouTube’s Chief Product Officer Neal Mohan, e-commerce is a major focus area for YouTube.
Unspecified is the credible threat that TikTok has in this market. TikTok has sent users directly to other shopping platforms such as Shopify or Amazon, which has generated millions in sales – without Google sites being used along the way.
“One of the most anticipated opportunities we will bring to our brands this year is Shopping,” Mohan had written. “This new experience leverages the deep trust creators have built with their communities to help our partners expand into the thriving world of e-commerce. We think of buyable videos, live shopping, and more. in general, how shopping looks across the app, ”was the post.
Another benefit of syncing the app directly to the TV platform is that it could give YouTube more control over critical aspects of the user experience that it may not always dictate on third-party TV platforms. For example, the company got into a dispute with Roku over the distribution of its YouTube and YouTube TV apps on the streaming media device manufacturer’s platform because YouTube wanted to control things like how search results were displayed or how voice search worked. In previous years, it also had issues with Amazon before finally reaching agreement.
YouTube says the new feature will work on all smart and connected TVs that have the latest YouTube app. It will also require users to be logged in to YouTube on both the TV app and the mobile version, both of which are connected to the Internet.
The feature will roll out across all platforms with the latest YouTube app over the next few weeks, YouTube says.