Monday, May 20, 2013

Join the Creator Academy to Maximize Your Channel



Want to learn about YouTube straight from the experts? Whether you’re just starting out or you want to take your channel to the next level, the YouTube Creator Academy can help you get there!

The Maximize Your Channel course will dive into the different parts of the new YouTube One Channel, explain how each can help you attract more subscribers and viewers, and give you the opportunity to freshen up your own channel while you learn. The course is free and open to a global audience.

The two week course starts on June 3 and with just a few hours over two weeks, you will learn how to:
  1. Rack up your subscribers. Find out how to draw new viewers to your channel and get them to subscribe.
  2. Make channel a daily destination for viewers. Curate and organize content so viewers will find what they’re looking for and keep coming back for more.
  3. Have your channel look good everywhere. Every channel is unique. You’ll learn how to make your brand pop across every type of screen: TVs, laptops, tablets, mobile, gaming consoles.

Check it out! Reserve your spot in the course today. Registration is ongoing until the course closes on June 16 at 8 pm EDT.

June 3 PDT - June 16, 2013 PDT

The YouTube Creator Academy Crew have been jamming to “What is a MOOC?” 

Thursday, May 16, 2013

YouTube One Channel launching across all channels next month

We’ve been excited to see more than 100 million channels around the world opt in to the new YouTube One Channel during the open beta. We have integrated a lot of your feedback, including improving the What to Watch Next module and making it easier for you to create sections from playlists.

Channels that have already made the switch are experiencing several benefits. Their branding shines through in more places because Channel Art is visible on iOS apps, Android apps and TV. For the channels that have opted in, we’ve seen 20% more page views on their channels because clicks from the YouTube guide go directly to their channel pages instead of to their activity feeds.

Now that YouTube One Channel is ready for prime time, we’ll be launching across all channels on June 5th. If you have not opted in by then, your channel will be automatically and permanently moved to the new design. If you’re ready to make the move today, you can opt in here.

Before the deadline, we’ll make sure to share several reminders so that you won’t be caught off-guard. We’ve also put together tips and tricks from the Creator Playbook to set up your channel in the new design. It only takes a few minutes to migrate, so start upgrading today!

Allison Bransfield, Product Specialist, recently subscribed to Vice.

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

WE’LL DO IT LIVE: YouTube live streaming expanding to more channels

Live streaming can bring great experiences to your viewers, create deeper engagement with your fans and build a hyper-engaged audience for your channel. Over the last year, many YouTube creators have used our live streaming to make their channels a destination for Emmy-winning sports events, amazing music, immersive gaming, engaging talk shows and so much more.

To help even more of you create these great experiences for your viewers, starting today we are expanding access to live streaming. All channels in good standing with over a thousand subscribers are now eligible to apply for live streaming. To see if you’re eligible, check your Account Features page for an “Enable” button to sign up for Live and click it if you're interested. In the following weeks you'll be able to live stream to the world from your channel.



YouTube Live allows you to offer your audience a great viewing experience, with great streaming quality and instant scalability and reliability. Here are some key features:
  • You get real-time transcoding in the cloud, so you only need to send us your highest quality stream and we make it instantly available in all resolutions and device formats
  • You can show multiple camera angles, add closed captions, and insert ads and slates
  • Viewers can watch the live stream from any device, get the best quality constantly adjusting to their Internet connection, and can skip back and forth in the live stream


More information on the live streaming is available in our Help Center, and you can also check out the YouTube Live Streaming API for everything you need to create your own live experience with YouTube. We'll also continue to expand availability to more channels and add more features to YouTube Live over time.

Satyajeet Salgar, Product Manager, can’t stop watching “Doodle for Saul Bass’ 93rd birthday” 

Friday, May 10, 2013

The journey to the Social Star Awards begins now


This year, YouTube is partnering with Starcount to livestream the first-ever Social Star Awards, a 24-hour show that celebrates the most popular in social media with live performances and award presentations, recognizing everything from top actors and athletes to favorite songs and sports teams. The event kicks off on May 23 with a red carpet awards ceremony in Singapore, and fans around the world can tune in to watch the action live at www.youtube.com/starcount.

The journey to the Social Star Awards begins now. What does it take to become a rising YouTube star? Check out this teaser here and sign up to www.youtube.com/starcount to find out how some of our own partners, including Harley Morenstein of Epic Meal Time, Ryan Higa, Jenna Marbles, Shane Dawson, Freddie W and MysteryGuitarMan are training up for this year’s first ever Social Star Awards.

Stay tuned for more to come!

Thursday, May 9, 2013

New ways to support great content on YouTube


We’ve been building a YouTube partner program since 2007 that enables content creators to earn revenue for their creativity. We’ve watched them build amazing channels that have made YouTube into a news, education and entertainment destination one billion people around the world cannot do without.  

Today, there are more than one million channels generating revenue on YouTube, and one of the most frequent requests we hear from these creators behind them is for more flexibility in monetizing and distributing content. We’ve been working on that and wanted to fill you in on what to expect.

Starting today, we’re launching a pilot program for a small group of partners that will offer paid channels on YouTube with subscription fees starting at $0.99 per month. Every channel has a 14-day free trial, and many offer discounted yearly rates. For example, Sesame Street will be offering full episodes on their paid channel when it launches. And UFC fans can see classic fights, like a full version of their first event from UFC’s new channel. You might run into more of these channels across YouTube, or look here for a list of pilot channels. Once you subscribe from a computer, you’ll be able to watch paid channels on your computer, phone, tablet and TV, and soon you’ll be able to subscribe to them from more devices.




This is just the beginning. We’ll be rolling paid channels out more broadly in the coming weeks as a self-service feature for qualifying partners. And as new channels appear, we'll be making sure you can discover them, just as we've been helping you find and subscribe to all the channels you love across YouTube. Just as the partner program empowered creators to take their channels to the next level, we look forward to seeing how this great community of creators moves ahead with a new way to reach the fan communities that made their channels a hit. You’ll be hearing more from us, and them, as we get creator and user feedback and build out this exciting offering.
  
If you’re a YouTube creator interested in building your own paid channel, let us know here.

The YouTube Team

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Meet your May “On The Rise” nominees!

In our monthly On The Rise program, we identify four partners whose channels drive significant YouTube watch time but haven’t yet reached the 100,000 subscriber mark. Thanks to your help, we’re sharing four partners who each drive a lot of watch time on YouTube but still have a ways to go before they hit that milestone. This May, our nominees have had their viewers glued to the screen with videos about paranormal activity, the balance of baking and exercise, reptile behavior, and all kinds of creative crafting.

And they could use your help! You can help these nominees jumpstart their audience development and channel growth. Review their videos below, vote for your favorite here, and one of these candidates will have the opportunity to be featured across YouTube later this month. In addition to your votes, each channel will be evaluated on criteria such as viewer engagement and channel optimization techniques to decide which partner we’ll feature.

In past months, featured On The Rise partners like ManjulasKitchen and PsychoSoprano have gained many subscribers and seen their careers take off, in large part due to your support. This month’s poll will be open until May 15, 5pm PT, so don’t forget to vote for your favorite channel. Check back to see which channel will be featured on May 28.

hauntedsunshinegirl
Sunshine has been documenting paranormal activity at her house for several years, sharing her haunted videos on YouTube. If you’re into mysteries, ghosts, or demons, this is the channel for you.



CupcakesandCardio
You’ll find some cardio tips and hiking trip videos along with baking and cupcake decorating tutorials on Jenn’s channel. She also hosts a Backpack Baking series where she bakes sweet treats in the great outdoors with her backpacking oven.



ojatro
“The hunt is on” over at Heiko Kiera’s YouTube channel, which features all kinds of reptiles. A wildlife videographer both by trade and by passion, Heiko creates videos he hopes will dispel rumors and misunderstanding about fascinating animals like snakes, alligators, and crocodiles.



mommycraftsalot
Linda is a mom of four who has a knack for crafting. You’ll find tutorials on making hair bows for different occasions, jewelry, and other creative projects from everyday items. Her kids even make a guest appearance in a few of her videos!



If you’re interested in participating or have suggestions for partners you think should be featured, you can nominate a YouTube partner to be considered for the “On The Rise” program. You can also check out some of our Google Hangouts with past featured partners on the YouTube Creators channel.

Devon Storbeck and Christine Wang, YouTube Partner Support, recently watched “Maker vs Marker.”

Sunday, May 5, 2013

Improvements to YouTube Uploading

We've heard your feedback about uploading videos being a bit of a drag, so today we're announcing two improvements to make it easier.

Upload Notification Emails

Tired of refreshing the upload page to see if your video is finally done and ready to be watched and shared? Starting this week, we will send you an email to notify you that your video is done uploading and processing. You can then forward that email to friends or family for easy sharing.


Prefer not to receive these emails? You can opt out by visiting your email settings.


More Control Over Publishing and Sharing

Ever had a public video publish to YouTube before you’ve finished filling in its information? You’ll soon be able to decide when your video gets published, giving you as much time as you need to input the title, description, custom message to send to your subscribers, etc.

Until you tell us to publish your video, we'll treat it as private so it’ll be visible only to you. We’ll start rolling out this change next week, so hang tight if you don't see this change just yet-- and don’t forget to press Publish!


As always, if you want to share your feedback about these new features you can post in the YouTube Help forum or use the Send Feedback link at the bottom of any YouTube page.

Balazs Dezso, YouTube engineer, recently watched "Follow me on Twitter."