YouTube is Redesigning its TV Apps to Improve Engagement

Google has detailed a redesigned YouTube experience on TVs that will put a bigger emphasis on interactivity. As YouTube users now watch more than 1 billion hours of video per day on their TVs, the team settled for a new design that lets users see video descriptions, comments, chapters, and more while keeping videos they’re watching front and center, though in a smaller player.

“We began tinkering with the idea of reducing the size of the video player and simplifying the interactions, so signature features such as comments can live alongside the content rather than obscuring it. This became the foundation for how we could bring the best of YouTube directly to the living room,” the YouTube team explained.

The new YouTube experience on TV, which will roll out to users over the next few weeks, will also allow users to see live sports scores next to the video player. The YouTube team will also bring this experience to the separate YouTube TV app over the coming days.

While this redesigned TV experience app will make YouTube comments and other things easier to read, the team also said that the right column next to the shrunken video player will also be used to suggest shopping items that creators want to promote. But that’s not all.

“We’ll continue to explore how we can extend this to support our growing set of interactive experiences on TVs, such as live chat, fantasy view, and multiview,” the team said yesterday.