Tuesday, September 15, 2015

YouTube Is Reprogramming Itself - Olympia Portale

YouTube is reprogramming itself and rolling out a new suite of products and updated platforms to place a greater emphasis on content discovery, according to a recent article in AdAge (http://adage.com/article/digital/youtube-reprogramming-video/300322/?utm_campaign=SocialFlow&utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Social). After realizing that the site's "horizontal only" video platform was lagging behind the competition from a UX standpoint, CEO Susan Wojcicki put the engineers in charge to create not only vertical video capabilities but also 360 degree video, apps for gaming, and a newly updated mobile app.

Wojcicki has tasked YouTube's director of engineering with transforming the site from a pure video portal to an active participant in original content creation. YouTube is "planning to debut several feature films from DreamWorks Animation's AwesomenessTV and producing original series with YouTube stars such as the Smosh Brothers."

Also on the agenda is the challenge of helping viewers wade through the billions of available videos to find exactly what they want to watch. This is in response to the rising popularity of programmers such as Netflix and Hulu, which help facilitate the discovery process. "'We want YouTube to be an experience where you can go and find any kind of video for education or for entertainment,' Ms. Wojcicki said. 'But if you have a specific need or a specific interest like gaming, for those users you can have a full-featured gaming experience too.'"

The goal is to extend YouTube's reach: grab more eyeballs and increase the time spent watching videos. Along with this is a commitment to increasing the time people spend watching advertisements.

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