YouTube often allows certain parts of the audience to participate in experiments, giving them the opportunity to try out new features that are not yet available to most. Now Google has announced that a small number of users will be able to see special marks above the progress bar in YouTube videos.
YouTube will automatically highlight the most interesting parts of the video
The experiment data appeared on the YouTube support page. In line with the feature’s description, the service is experimenting with showing users special markings to help them find the most interesting parts of the video.
Participants in the experiment will see a special graph above the classic red progress bar; the higher the graph, the more often this part of the video is viewed by users. The note emphasizes that only a small percentage of smartphone and PC users are in the experiment.
Something similar has long been present on some entertainment sites; but how different the version of Google will be is still unknown; no confirmed testimonies from users have yet been reported. It is possible that if the experiment is successful, the corresponding columns will appear not only for the focus group, but also for other users.
Testing engagement graph above progress bar: We’re experimenting with showing viewers a signal to help them quickly see which parts of a video may be interesting. If you’re in this experiment, you’ll see a graph above the red progress bar while scrubbing – if the graph is high, it means that part of the video has been frequently re-watched. Note: this experiment is only available to a small percentage of viewers on mobile and desktop.
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YouTube now makes it easy to continue watching mobile videos on your computer
Developers at Google continue to make YouTube more attractive to users by adding useful features. This time we are talking about the ability to easily return to watching mobile videos on a computer. Simply put, the user can stop playing any video on the smartphone; and continue watching it from the same place on the computer.
According to the available data, the mentioned function works; when watching videos in the mobile versions of the YouTube app for Android and iOS devices. If the user has stopped playing any video on his mobile; then when he starts YouTube on his computer; in the lower left corner of the screen he will see a player window; with the same video and a proposal to continue watching it. When you press the play button, playback will start in a compact window; which, if necessary, can be expanded to full screen. The new function will allow you to quickly jump to watching a video that was started playing; for example, on the road. The user just needs to click the “Continue Watching” button instead of opening the browsing history and looking for the desired video.
According to the source, the new feature is currently available to a limited number of users. We assume that for its mass distribution it may take several weeks, during which the ability to continue watching mobile videos on a computer will become available to all users of the YouTube service.
