Category: YouTube

YouTube Original Series Will Be Free To Watch From 24th September
YouTube is an app that is found in almost every smartphone and is enjoyed by most users. The website or app allows people to consume video content alongside music for free. Its business model is centred around ad revenue with ads people watch in between videos and such. For the most part, the app is a free service but does offer some paid services like Youtube Premium. Freshly, Google, its parent company has announced that is making the paid service free for all to watch.

YouTube Originals

The company had previously announced YouTube Originals which was introduced to make the platform similar to Netflix and other paid streaming platforms. In other words, users are offered a wide variety of movies and episodic series to choose from. However, the difference between the other services and YouTube Originals has now broadened. While Netflix employs a monthly subscription fee, Youtube is offering its Originals service for free. The service, until now, has been exclusive to Youtube’s Premium users but is now set to change.

Weird City

YouTube Premium

YouTube has also added new features for Premium subscribers of its service to enjoy. It includes:
- A new “Recommended Downloads” section in its app library.
- It is now possible to switch between songs and music videos with a single tap.
- The ability to download up to 500 songs from their Liked Songs list and other playlists
So How Do They Still Make Money?

How does a free service earn like Google, Facebook, Instagram or YouTube earn money? The answer is ads; most popular service out there run an ad-based revenue and YouTube Originals will also be loaded with them now. Previously, to the premium subscription, users had to shell out INR 129 a month which include:
- An ad-free experience while watching videos.
- The ability to run the app in the background.
- Download videos at a higher quality.
- Lastly, a subscription to YouTube Music Premium.
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According to Google, every YouTuve Originals series released after 24th September will be available to everyone regardless of paid or unpaid status. However, premium users still receive a lot of benefits over the free users including:
- The premium users are not bothered by ads.
- Paid users get immediate access to every episode while paid users must wait for timed releases.
- Get to enjoy the director’s cut and bonus scenes.
August 17, 2019
YouTube Home Feed Update Provides Better Control Over Recommendations

YouTube is one of the largest and most recognisable platforms for viewing online content. However, the company has been a target of various criticism over the past couple of weeks. The media giant has faced multiple critiques regarding it’s Home Feed and recommendations column.

Now, YouTube has sought to give users more control over which videos that may possibly show up on their Feed.

The Problem

Users are shown a collection of videos when browsing YouTube which is cleverly provided based on their preferences and browsing history. YouTube uses an algorithm to cater to its millions of visitors every day in a personalised fashion. Advertising strategies and paid artificial boosting from content creators have unfortunately caused an issue. Users have started receiving recommendations of videos that they have neither subscribed or would likely never see. The problem lies in the implementation, not the system itself. Artificial boosting offers a healthy growth to any channel but not if it is received by a person that is not inclined to watch their videos.

New Suggestions

After numerous backlash, YouTube is finally offering more choices to its consumers. People who wish to stop receiving unwanted content can remove suggestions from their Home Feeds. Users can do this by tapping the three-dot menu next to a video on the homepage or Up Next, then “Don’t recommend channel.” The option, once activated, removes any unnecessary videos that one might end up receiving via notifications or in their feeds. Furthermore, users can still look up the dismissed channel by simply searching for it or their videos.

Explore Topics & Videos

The addition of the new explore topics and related videos options now allows one to browse more videos of their preferred genres. The suggestions could be related to the video a person is watching or more from the same channel. The options presented are based on users existing personalized suggestions and are meant to help them quickly find what they are looking for. Explore feature can be found on the homepage when you scroll up or on the Up Next when browsing.

Transparency

YouTube has stated that it uses the data collected via the channels a person visits and their similar interests to recommend videos. The company now plans to include a small box underneath a video that provides more information when recommending similar content. For example, a cooking video recommended might carry a tag of baking in the small box. This is done to explain why certain videos from unfamiliar new channels may end up on the homepages.

Also Read: Lenovo India Introduces “Made To Order” Customisable Laptops

The new features will be made globally available. An update for the YouTube app on iOS will be released prior to the Android counterpart and even the desktop main website. The company has added a great new feature which is a pro-consumer move. It should help the company regain lost reputation over past mishaps and pave the way for a user-friendly business model. It is also likely to ensure YoutTube’s long-standing reign in the online multimedia segment.

June 27, 2019
YouTube Music And YouTube Premium On Discount For Students In India

American video-sharing website YouTube released the Music and Premium service in India back in the month of March. The former is a music service that leveraged YouTube’s vast library of songs to provide a replacement for music streaming services. The latter is an ad-free, feature-laden paid YouTube subscription. Now, the company has announced new student plans for the services which let eligible college students get discounted access to YouTube Music and YouTube Premium.

About The Plans

The latest student plans for YouTube Music and YouTube Premium services are applicable for students from accredited universities in India. Students can apply for membership starting Rs. 59 per month for Music Premium and Rs.79 per month for Premium. This plan is applicable starting Wednesday, the 29th of May. This is significantly lower than the Rs 99 per month fee for the former and Rs. 129 per month for the latter. As mentioned above, YouTube Music is a music streaming service from the popular video sharing platform. Besides offering official songs and albums, there is a range of different covers and remixes users may not be able to find elsewhere. While the ad-enabled version is free to use, the aforementioned amount can be paid for an ad-free experience.

Also read: Intel’s Showcases Twin Screen Gaming Laptop At Computex 2019

YouTube Premium, on the other hand, is a feature-rich version of the traditional YouTube, offering features that weren’t previously available on the platform. The YouTube Premium subscription has all the benefits of YouTube Music but adds on a background play mode ad-free videos on the platform, more downloadable videos available and access to YouTube Original content. Interested users can check out the latest plans on this page here. Students, to fulfil their eligibility will have to provide some kind of student identification. Presently, YouTube is also providing a month of free trial to select members.

May 29, 2019
YouTube Music And YouTube Premium Launched In India

In a bid to regain the market captured by the barrage of music streaming services in India, YouTube has launched two new services. These services are YouTube Music and YouTube Premium. While the former will be a standard music streaming service similar to the likes of Saavn, Apple Music and Spotify; the latter is an ad-free, feature-laden paid YouTube subscription.

YouTube Music

YouTube Music is a music streaming service from the popular video sharing platform. Besides offering official songs and albums, there is a range of different covers and remixes that the company claims the users may not be able to find elsewhere. While the app is currently free to download and is ad-supported, users can also purchase a premium subscription for Rs. 99 per month which will get rid of the advertisements. The existing subscribers of another music streaming service from the company, Google Play Music will get a free subscription to the newly launched YouTube Music Premium. Notably, Play Music will exist as a standalone application.

YouTube Music was first launched in the year 2014 under the name Music Key and provided ad-free music streaming to users in the United States. Interestingly, it has arrived in India a few weeks after the launch of Spotify, another popular music streaming service.

YouTube Premium

YouTube Premium is a feature rich version of the traditional YouTube, offering features that weren’t previously available on the platform. Buying a subscription will cost Rs. 129 per month. Pleasantly, there is a three month free trial for the service available at launch. The YouTube Premium subscription has all the benefits of YouTube Music but adds on a background play mode ad-free videos on the platform, more downloadable videos available and access to YouTube Original content.

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Notably, YouTube Premium was originally called YouTube Red which was launched in the year 2015 in the United States. The launch of the service was long overdue and much awaited in India for a while. The YouTube Music will exist as a separate application while the contents and features of YouTube Premium will be available in the regular YouTube app once the user logs in with a paid subscription.

March 13, 2019
YouTube Rolling Out Fact Checking Feature To Combat Fake News

In a bid to eliminate fake news from its platform, YouTube has started rolling out a fact-checking feature in its smartphone application. The feature is currently available for limited users as part of a testing program. While its public rollout is also expected to follow soon. As of now, the feature is only confined to Indian smartphone users, with a worldwide release to follow suit.

YouTube Fact Checker

The fact checks on the YouTube app will be displayed in the search results of queries which are most susceptible to be fake and manipulative. Videos based on the query, explaining the real information will be displayed on the top, inside the information pane. The fact checks will appear as content from YouTube’s partner sites concerning the particular search query. Results are available in the Hindi and English language currently, with more languages to be added soon.

Notably, YouTube will use information from around six verified services in the country to exhibit the aforementioned panels in India. Many of the same services are also working with Facebook to check misinformation on its platform and in apps like WhatsApp and Instagram. YouTube has been trying hard to curb malpractices on its platform. A few weeks ago, it started demonetizing and disabling comments on videos which had objectionable content. This move by the company to curb fake news is seen as a positive step and may prove to help in dispersing true and unadulterated information to the audience via the globally used platform.

Also read: Google To Add More Smartphones To The Android Q Beta List In 2019

Interestingly, YouTube is not looking to ban the objectionable content it is targeting. Fake news has been a problem in the online space particularly in India for the past few years. Previously, WhatsApp also tried to curb the spread of false news on its platform via advertisements cautioning its users. And, as the General Election have also been announced, the spread of misleading information on platforms like YouTube, Whatsapp and Facebook may increase in the following weeks.

March 11, 2019
Twitch VS Youtube: Which Platform Should You Start Streaming On?

Streaming is defined as “playing continuously as sound or moving images are sent in a flow directly from the Internet to a computer” as per the Cambridge Dictionary. In simpler terms, broadcasting your activities from your computer (or from your real life) across the internet so that viewers can interact with you in real time refers to as streaming. Over the past few years, streaming has seen a massive boost in terms of broadcasters and viewer base, thanks to some amazing platforms.

The first platform that comes to our mind when we talk about ‘game streaming’ is undoubtedly Twitch. Launched in 2011, a lot of factors contributed to its success. It had over 100 million unique monthly users by the year 2018. Out of those, 15 million were daily users. The fact that it encourages streamers and broadcasters to stream live, raw content without any sugar-coating was welcomed by viewers. And on top of that, the growing interest in ESports really helped fuel the platform, pushing it to the spot where it is today.

Youtube Gaming is fairly new. Launched in 2015, the platform was intended to break off from the mainstream Youtube ‘video uploading’ scenario and provide an environment where gamers can stream for specifically ‘game-oriented’ audiences. Given the mammoth viewer base of Youtube, the new platform gained popularity quickly, and after almost 3 and a half years later, its emerging as a strong contender to Twitch.

The questions that make their way into this scenario are very clear. If you’re a new streamer, which platform should you opt for? What are the pros of streaming on Twitch or Youtube? What are the cons of the same? See how both the streaming platforms line up against each other.

Content Discovery

If a new viewer heads over to Twitch, a multitude of channels greet him/her. Viewers usually find channels by browsing the games they are interested in. Now, upon reverse engineering this, its clear that if you are playing that specific game, a viewer MAY find you amongst a list of other streamers. And if you are a fairly new streamer, there’s a fair chance that the new visitors won’t even pay attention to your stream. This is because Twitch sorts the channels in descending order, depending on the number of viewers per stream. Established streamers benefit a lot from this, on the other hand, new streamers rarely get any attention.

A lot of Twitch users pointed out a serious flaw in the website: There are no thumbnails for live streams. Twitch picks out random screen captures from your stream and displays them as thumbnails to the viewers. There is literally nothing to set you apart from other channels, bringing forward the serious problem of not getting noticed in the crowd.

Youtube Gaming faces these issues too, but its algorithm helps new streamers get noticed by new viewers. For instance, if you make regular videos, stream regularly and have even a small number of subscribers, your chances of getting new viewers and subscribers are increased. Also, content creators can use standard videos to attract a viewer base. If a user has a couple of videos that have good statistics, he/she can use that video as the highlighted channel video to make that good ‘first impression’ on the new audience. Furthermore, Youtube allows the creation and upload of custom thumbnails, and even though they lead to clickbaits in some cases, its a better way to convey information regarding your stream rather than hoping that more random people join.

Rules And Guidelines

Since Twitch is primarily focused on gaming, they are expected to have strict guidelines because of the audience age range. A lot of streamers (and popular streamers at that) have been banned in the past for petty reasons. You could get banned if someone sends in an inappropriate donation. You could get your channel temporarily suspended if you say something that doesn’t comply with the guidelines.

On the other hand, YouTube lays down almost similar guidelines, but it isn’t as strict as Twitch when it comes to implementing them. Youtube content creators are allowed three copyright strikes on their channel before your channel disappears off YouTube. Demonetization of videos is also possible, if any non-compliant action takes place on the stream.

Earnings

Twitch has a very detailed and distinct monetary system. For every $5 the subscriber pays, 50 percent is claimed by Twitter. So, the streamer ends up getting $2.50 per subscriber. Donations account for the major chunk of the daily income. Streamers get a 100 percent of the donation money, and big streamers can earn insane amounts of money in a day just from donations. Viewers can also donate using Bits, which are Twitch’s built in donation system. Twitter takes a 29% cut per bit. And there are classic advertisements, which might not pay as much but are a steady source of income.

YouTube follows a comparitively simpler structure, where viewers can donate using Super Chats. YouTube charges 30 percent of the total super chat donation amount. Also, YouTube has sponsors where Twitch has subscribers. Again, YouTube takes a cut of 30% from each sponsor. Monetized YouTube channels earn a lot from advertisements too.

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In the end, it’s all about audience and preference. If the majority of your audience loves a specific platform, you may have to stick to that. Or you could just stream as per your preference and let your audience decide the rest. Streamers like Shroud and Ninja are making it big on Twitch, with more than 150,000 users watching them stream daily. It’s a long road, but it may be worth it in the end.

March 2, 2019
YouTube CEO Admits Rewind Was Bad. Promises A Better One in 2019

Last year saw the release of YouTube Rewind. The video quickly became the highest disliked video of all time. As of writing this article, the video sits at over 15 million dislikes. The video was flagged for missing out the key creators and elements that have made YouTube what it is today. There hasn’t been a response from anyone at YouTube about the Rewind. That is until now. YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki in a blog post, admitted that the Rewind was not what they set out to do.

Susan, in her post, seemed to admit that the Rewind didn’t show the year’s key moments. She wrote “Even at home, my kids told me our 2018 Rewind was “cringey.” We hear you that it didn’t accurately show the year’s key moments, nor did it reflect the YouTube you know. We’ll do better to tell our story in 2019.”

YouTube Rewind 2018

The YouTube Rewind is an annual video that is released by YouTube since 2011. The video highlights the trends that were famous on YouTube. The Rewind was flagged last year for not including some major creators like PewDiePie, H3H3 Productions etc. The video also didn’t mention some of the key moments of 2018 like the KSI vs Logan Paul Fight or PewDiePie vs T-Series. The video got so much flak, it became the most disliked video on the platform. It broke the previous record of Justin Bieber’s Baby, with almost 10 million dislikes.

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Many creators then released their own version of the Rewind. Some of them got even more likes than the original video. YouTube seems to finally understand their mistakes and the problems with the video. Let’s hope they don’t repeat the same this year as well.

February 6, 2019
YouTube Will Remind Users To ‘Take A Break’ With New Update

At the Google I/O 2018 conference, the company unveiled a lot of new technological advancements including Google Duplex. One of the most anticipated announcements was that of Android P. The next iteration of the world’s most populat mobile OS will officially roll out later in the year but, Google gave us a glimpse of what’s in store for us. One of the main areas where Google has worked on is the digital well-being. YouTube appears to be a part of that initiative by Google as the new update to YouTube for Android brings a ‘Take A Break’ feature.

The ‘Take A Break’ feature will allow users to keep a check on their YouTube habit and monitor their usage of the app. This is in line with what’s in store for Android P in the future. To start using the new feature, head over to the YouTube app’s setting and then click on general. There on, you can choose different ways to monitor your activity and work on your “Digital Well Being.”

Must Read: Android 9 P: Google I/O 2018 New Features

Users can set a reminder for 15, 30, 60, or 90 minutes. Once a user sets a reminder for a certain time, YouTube will automatically pause the video at those intervals. A user can decide whether continue to watch the video or dismiss the reminder. Another option available in “Disable sounds & vibrations’ for the app. This will essentially stop all notifications from the app to pop up on the screen. The idea here is that the app won’t try to grab your attention, and the user will be able to avoid getting distracted from constant notifications.

The third feature available is the ‘Scheduled Digest’ and will again revolve around notifications. This feature lets users get all of their notifications from the app once a day at a time of their liking. Users can select the time they feel they can devote to YouTube and get all the notifications at that particular time.

The feature is available in the latest version of YouTube app for Android. The version number is 13.17.55 and should be rolled out to all Android devices soon.

May 12, 2018
YouTube Removed 8.3 Million Videos For Violating Guidelines In Q3 Of 2017

YouTube has published its first-ever community guidelines enforcement report. According to the report, YouTube removed 8.3 million videos between October and December 2017. Along with the report, it also launched a Reporting Dashboard that lets users see the status of videos they’ve flagged for review.

This report comes after the video streaming company promised more transparency in terms of how it handles abuse and decides what videos will be removed. In a blog post, the video-streaming giant said:

This regular update will help show the progress we’re making in removing violative content from our platform. By the end of the year, we plan to refine our reporting systems and add additional data, including data on comments, speed or removal and policy removal reasons.

Google-owned YouTube came under the cosh last year when it was reported that a lot of disturbing videos were masquerading as kid-friendly content. Advertisers, in turn, were upset that their commercials had played before videos with violent extremist content. The report also mentions the competence of its bots as 6.7 million of the 8.3 million videos were flagged for review by machines without anyone even viewing them for the first time.

The company’s AI method of flagging off videos has been criticised time and again as many content creators have complained that they are unable to monetize their videos despite abiding the guidelines set by the company. The report by YouTube, however, differs from these claims. In 2017, about 8% videos were removed from the platform before anyone viewed them. After YouTube implemented machine learning, that number has increased to more than 50%.

The report seems like YouTube’s way of appeasing the upset advertisers after the controversy broke out regarding child-exploiting videos. It is, however, an insight of sorts into how YouTube handles offensive content and it should be useful in the long run for everyone.

April 24, 2018
Despacito YouTube Video Deleted By Hackers

Update: The video has been recovered by YouTube and is now live on the video streaming platform.

Luis Fonsi’s song, Despacito became the most-watched video ever on YouTube. Now, after falling victim to a cybercrime, the official video of Despacito has been deleted from YouTube while several accounts of other artists have also been compromised.

At first, the thumbnail for the video was altered. The original image was replaced with a group of masked men holding guns and the description was changed by a group of hackers calling themselves Prosox and Kuro’ish. The hackers also wrote “Free Palestine” in the description of many videos. The image of the masked gang members is from the Netflix show, Casa de Papel.

Apart from Luis Fonsi (creator of Despacito), several other artists’ Vevo accounts including DJ Snake, Shakira, Katy Perry, Taylor Swift and more have been hacked.

Almost all the videos of these artists are available on YouTube as of now. However, the titles, descriptions and thumbnails of many famous videos have been compromised. It is worth noting that all these videos were uploaded to the Vevo accounts of these artists. There is no clarity about the degree of access these hackers have gained. Whether these hackers have gained access to individual accounts or if there was a wider attack on Vevo accounts.

April 10, 2018
Top Free Video Streaming Services

Streaming services like HBO Go, Amazon Prime Video and Netflix offer a lot of exclusive content. However, a user has to pay a certain amount of money to access these services. Here are top three streaming services available, which offer a lot of content, without charging a rupee. However, as these are free services, these apps generate revenue using in-app advertisements.

YouTube

YouTube is our first choice. In most of the smartphones, the application comes pre-installed. The video streaming service has 1,300,000,000+ hours of content to watch, which gets bigger over the time. One can watch the content using YouTube and can also upload the content for the world. Considering our tech-related work, YouTube is a great platform to learn new things, watching movies or your favourite web series. The app is available for Android and iOS devices. Similarly, one can access this platform literally from any device with a browser and a decent internet connection.

Links:

Web

Android

iOS

Voot

Voot, the digital platform is a property of Viacom 18. A user can access the content by signing in to the application or can guest watch as well. The main application has two sections, Voot and Voot KIDS. Entering into the Voot section will offer trending shows and programmes. Based on the viewer’s interest, the recommendation list gets better. One can also lock restrict the general content access for your kids using a parental pin. Shows like Bigg Boss and Roadies are some of the exclusive content available on Voot.

Links:

Web

Android

iOS

Hotstar

If you are planning to stream live cricket or football match, then Hotstar is one of the platforms which does that for free. The app has a lot of western content and regional content as well. One can stream new movies, new television series from star network. Additionally, you can avail paid membership to access shows like Game of Thrones and Modern Family.

Links:

Web

Android

iOS

March 28, 2018
Facebook To Launch Standalone Video Streaming App Called ‘Watch’

Most people’s answer to ‘Where do you watch videos on the internet?’ would ‘YouTube, of course!’. Over the years, it has dominated the video consumption space on the internet because it has artists who create content that is only accessible on YouTube and nowhere else. The visual format of content consumption has become so huge that even Apple is planning to launch a subscription-based video streaming service in the coming years. Thanks to the increased accessibility and relatively cheaper fare of the internet over the world, services like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video have become successful as well.

If you are an avid Facebook user, you come across all kinds of videos on your timeline every few seconds. It can be a funny 15-second 9GAG video or a VICE clip about cooking Christmas dinner in a dumpster. For several years, videos have been a focus for Facebook and the company might be taking an important step towards making videos its one of the most important business aspects.

Facebook will be launching Watch, a standalone video streaming app which will compete with the likes of YouTube and Netflix.

What is Watch?

Facebook Watch is already available as a beta version within the Facebook app in the US and will soon make its global debut. It is a video streaming app which will blend in Facebook’s other services like Messenger and WhatsApp.

According to our sources, Facebook is working on making Watch a standalone app to launch in Q1-Q2 2018

Watch includes features like a “discovery” page that recommends new content, a dedicated feed for comments and reactions to videos, show-specific Facebook groups, and new Watch pages. For creators and publishers, Watch is presented as a platform to help them build an audience of passionate fans and make money from their work.

Any creator that is a part of Facebook Mentions, will be automatically eligible to use the app. Facebook Mentions is a platform that lets all sorts of public personalities to engage with their fans.

The Facebook Watch app will have a new set of tools which is called Live Creative Kit. These tools will essentially help creators produce more professional streams. To create more fun and engaging content, the Watch app will let users add custom video intros and outros to broadcasts. Even the viewers can feel like a part of fandom by using custom stickers.

One-fifth of videos on Facebook are live videos, which is one of the important statistics and around which, a lot of the features of Facebook Watch are created. For example, users can add frames to their broadcasts in order to create a thematic experience that’s consistent with their brand perception.

Why Watch Has The Potential To Surpass YouTube

As of now, YouTube is the largest video streaming platform in the world and has been for a long time. Many services came and couldn’t survive the magnitude of competition that is required the ruffle the feathers of YouTube. Facebook Watch, however, will be different. It is a common term to hear that ‘Facebook is crushing Snapchat by copying features that Snapchat brought to the fore’. It is true, Snapchat has not been able to deal with Facebook’s constant adaption of Snapchat’s own features because at any given point, Facebook has much more active users than Snapchat. Also, Facebook adapts and responds quickly.

Making speed a priority has allowed Facebook to build products and features that allow it to outpace competitors and perfect user experiences. This is part of the reason why Facebook-owned properties like Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp account for 21.8% of the total time that the average consumer spends on their mobile phones.

To become the biggest video content consumption platform, Facebook needs video content, and reports claim that it has taken a drastic step to ensure that creators jump on board as soon as possible and has started paying for original content. According to The Wall Street Journal, Facebook “is taking the risk out of the content-creation endeavour for many publishers, either by paying to offset their production costs or offering to license or buy their content outright.”

This means that Facebook will be able to generate exclusive content quicker by allowing creators to work freely without thinking of the monetary repercussions of content creation. Already, many creators on YouTube have had a fall-out with YouTube due to the monetization guidelines and with the lucrative offer from Facebook, famous content creators might be persuaded into changing their allegiance. Evidently, all the famous creators on YouTube have a strong presence on other social media platforms hence, the transition might not be as hard as people might imagine.

Furthermore, with the creators on board, Facebook will need advertisers to generate the revenue. While Facebook is becoming increasingly profitable, speculators believe YouTube is now barely breaking even on ad revenue. Facebook has even started monetizing videos that are directly uploaded to its platform.

This focus on video has already resulted in native Facebook video uploads getting 10 times more shares than YouTube uploads. Following Facebook’s initial emphasis on video, there has been a 50 percent increase in uploads to Facebook by brands over the past three years.

Lastly, there is no denying that Facebook has the audience for pulling off the unthinkable and surpass YouTube as the biggest video streaming platform. In 2016, Zuckerberg disclosed that the average person spent 50 minutes a day on Facebook’s platforms (not counting WhatsApp). Users in the U.S. spent an average of 35 minutes per day on Facebook, compared to YouTube with 17 minutes. In addition to higher time on site, Facebook has more users than YouTube, with more than two billion users vs YouTube’s 1.5 billion.

Conclusion

Facebook owns entities like Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger. Integrating a video streaming platform with other popular social media outlets would mean that a consumer would never leave the ecosystem created by Facebook. After dominating the social media sphere for so many years, Facebook, an internet organisation, has the resources to replicate the same success in the world of video streaming as well. To believe that YouTube will disappear is incredibly naive. Instead, it will likely become marginalised, much in the same way Snapchat and Twitter now have to deal with the popularity of Facebook and survive in its shadow.

With increasing disdain among creators on YouTube and a lucrative offer from Facebook to all the popular content creators, Facebook has the perfect product to be the biggest video consumption platform in the world.

December 21, 2017
Amazon Is Working On Its Own Version Of YouTube

It is no secret that Google and Amazon are embroiled in a battle of power. It might seem silly to consumers but, it might end up costing the two companies millions of dollars. Amazon has been refusing to sell Google hardware on its platform, and Google has responded by blocking YouTube access on Amazon’s line of Echo and Fire TV products.

Now, it is fair to assume that Google can’t replicate Amazon’s online presence and Amazon, in turn, can’t make a platform as huge as YouTube right now. But, it appears that Amazon is not willing to give up the ambition of having its own YouTube-like platform. Amazon filed trademarks requests with the US Patent and Trademark Office for products called AmazonTube and OpenTube.

Interestingly, this happened the same day Google announced that Amazon devices will lose YouTube access from the 1st of January.

Amazon says Amazon Tube and/or Open Tube would provide “non-downloadable pre-recorded audio, visual and audiovisual works via wireless networks on a variety of topics.”

In the description, Amazon says the new service would also provide “on-line network services that enable users to share content, photos videos, text, data, images and other electronic works relating to entertainment, including, movies, television, audiovisual works, music, audio works, books, theatre, literary works, sporting events, recreational activities, leisure activities, tournaments, art, dance, musicals, exhibitions, sports instruction, clubs, radio, comedy, contests, visual works, games, gaming, festivals, museums, parks, cultural events, concerts, publishing, animation, current events, fashion, multimedia presentations, history, language, liberal arts, math, business, science, technology, hobbies, culture, sports, arts, psychology, and philosophy.”

Apart from that, a report claims that Amazon has been registering new domain names including AlexaOpenTube.com, AmazonAlexaTube.com, and AmazonOpenTube.com.

If these are more than just routine patent filing activities and Amazon goes ahead with its plan of launching a YouTube competitor, it will be interesting to see how the consumers respond and whether it will be available to match up to the vast content that YouTube offers,

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December 21, 2017
YouTube To Launch Music Subscription Service In 2018

YouTube is planning to launch a music streaming service in March next year.

Record label Warner Music Group has already signed up while Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, and Merlin, a consortium of independent labels, are in talks with YouTube as well. According to the report, the service is internally called Remix as of now and it will be interesting if that turns out to be the official name as well.

YouTube hired former Warner Music executive Lyor Cohen last year to help oversee its music operations and serve as a liaison to the record business. Google folded much of the staff for Google Play Music into YouTube earlier this year, and Cohen announced plans to create a new paid service.

The new service could help appease record-industry executives who have pushed for more revenue from YouTube. Warner Music Group, one of the world’s three major record labels, has already signed on, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private talks.

The new service would include Spotify-like on-demand streaming and would incorporate elements from YouTube, such as video clips. YouTube has also reached out to artists to seek their help in promoting the new service.

December 8, 2017
YouTube Starts Rolling Out HDR Support To Select Android Devices

High Dynamic Range (HDR) is not new in the world of tech, but, it is no longer restricted to high-end Televisions anymore. YouTube has started rolling out an update for HDR support to select Android devices.

The feature was made available to HDR televisions last year and now phones like the Google Pixel, Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+, Galaxy Note8, Sony Xperia XZ Premium, and the LG V30 will have HDR support as well. Since YouTube has not officially announced the update yet, there are doubts over other handsets getting the update. The feature was observed to be available in videos starting 144p resolution.

Even though the update is a useful upgrade and will surely bump up the video viewing experience, all doesn’t seem rosy for the users of aforementioned devices, According to SlashGear, Reddit users are reporting stuttering videos and battery-draining brightness levels. Some users have also claimed that the update gets rid of the option to switch to full screen.

HDR videos have a wider colour gamut with the shadows having more details than the usual non-HDR video formats. HDR images are supported a more accurate representation of what a human-eye can see. Netflix has also jumped this ship and the Netflix CEO said, “Starting with the LG G6 phones that support both Dolby Vision and HDR 10 streams, Netflix would be supporting HDR on mobile devices” during the 2017 Mobile World Congress.

A more aggressive push with fixed bugs expected to be rolled out by Google to more devices in the future, but, as of now, if you own any of the devices currently supported, click on the three dots while playing a video and select the desired resolution.

September 9, 2017