In a long blog post, YouTube product manager Neal Mohan detailed the big trends for 2022 and teased what’s coming to the platform. Here is a summary of the announcements that were made.
YouTube wants to capitalize on the success of live-shopping
One of the main points on which YouTube wants to develop during this year is e-commerce, and more particularly live-shopping, which the firm has also tested in 2021 with a handful of creators. Indeed, ” daily live viewing time more than tripled between January 2020 and December 2021 », and YouTube intends to capitalize on this trend.
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The platform organized a live-shopping event last November with, in particular, chef Gordon Ramsay; this one generated more than 2 million views and 1.4 million posts. This demonstrates the full potential of live shopping that TikTok, YouTube’s great rival, is also seeking to develop on its side. Neal Mohan explains:
“One of the most anticipated opportunities we will bring to our brands this year is Shopping. This new experience builds on the deep trust creators have built with their communities to help our partners thrive in the growing world of e-commerce. We’re thinking shopping videos, live shopping, and more generally how purchases appear in-app. With shoppable videos – like this Black-owned Friday partnership – users can purchase items tagged in videos from their favorite creators.
Live Shopping provides viewers with an interactive setting in which to engage with creators as they showcase new products, reveal exclusive offers, or discuss their latest purchases.”
The Shorts will acquire new features
YouTube also wants to continue to evolve Shorts, its short video format launched to compete with TikTok. The Shorts now have 5 trillion views, which proves that their popularity continues to climb; the company will thus set up new tools so that creators can further monetize Shorts, with in particular the arrival of Super Chat for the format as well as shopping options integrated into short videos.
Incidentally, YouTube will “introduce new features that will allow creators to express themselves even more: new video effects, editing tools, etc. “, explains Neal Mohan. ” And to help Shorts creators engage more personally with their audience, we’ll also be introducing the ability to respond to individual comments by creating a Shorts. “, he continues. Once again, we feel the influence of TikTok in this choice of functionality, since it is a very prominent practice on the made in China application.
YouTube wants to help its creators
After announcing, last year, having spent more than 30 billion dollars in three years for its creators, YouTube assures that they represent ” the heart and soul of the platform “. In order to support them even more, the firm will introduce several features that will help creators generate new content. For example, new information will be added to YouTube Studio, which will help them understand how viewers interact with their contacts and come up with ideas for new videos.
Moreover, and once is not custom, the spectrum of TikTok is present, YouTube will allow creators to be able to live simultaneously together. This will offer them the opportunity to enhance interactivity: ” The ability to “live together” should hopefully open up streams to more informal conversations and interactions with other creators, making going live easier and more fun. Creators will also be able to expand their network and reach, and their communities will have the opportunity to interact and bond. “.
YouTube wants to do even more for its creators. Photography: Nubelson Fernandes / Unsplash
YouTube bets on television support
For users, YouTube reveals the ability to sort comments by the exact time they watch a video will be rolling out this year. This will allow them, for example, to place the comments in their context as they read them.
The platform also wants to develop television support. As she explains, ” TV was once again the fastest growing screen in 2021. As of January 2022, viewers watch an average of over 700 million hours of YouTube content per day on TV “. In this context, she wants engagement to be more present on this medium and for this, will allow users to use their phone to read and leave comments, or even share videos with a friend while they are watching. YouTube on their TV.
NFT and metaverse
Finally, YouTube will integrate recent and very fashionable technologies into its platform. This is particularly the case of NFTs, which the firm considers to be an excellent means for the creators of ” build deeper relationships with their fans “. ” For example, giving fans a verifiable way to own videos, photos, artwork, and even unique experiences from their favorite creators could be an attractive prospect for creators and their audiences. There’s a lot to consider to make sure we approach these new technologies responsibly, but we think there’s also incredible potential. “, details Neal Mohan. This backs up YouTube CEO Susan Wojicki, who said in January that she expects new content to ” be an integral part of the creators’ business model in the coming months “.
The product manager also briefly mentioned the metaverse, a future iteration of the Internet that will allow users to immerse themselves in platforms through virtual reality and augmented reality. He declares :
“We are thinking about how to make the display more immersive. The first area where you can expect to see an impact is in games, where we will be working to bring more interactions to games and make them feel more alive. We’re just getting started, but we’re excited to see how we can make these virtual worlds a reality for viewers.”
While YouTube remains the largest video streaming platform in the world, it faces tough competition from TikTok, which has become the most downloaded app in the world. This is reflected in the new features that will be integrated into the platform: in addition to wanting to increase the loyalty of its creators, YouTube also intends to exploit new technologies to stay in the game. Finally, the platform intends to use new trends to generate ever more revenue.