YouTube is updating its TV app for better interaction with comments, likes, and more

[midian182]

Something to look forward to: If you like to watch YouTube on your smart TV, you'll know that it isn't as intuitive as the web version. But the streaming giant is changing that with a new update designed to make the TV app more interactive.

People spend more than 1 billion hours per day watching YouTube on TVs, writes the company, yet there's still a desire to add greater engagement while striking a balance between interactivity and immersion.

The solution YouTube has come up with is a new user interface that reduces the size of the video player while placing features such as comments, description, view count, and likes to the right side of the screen.

Most people prefer to use the YouTube TV app just for watching content, leaving everything else for the web or mobile versions. That's why the full-screen-video view will remain the default option on smart TVs. You'll be able to jump to the new interactive view with a click.

YouTube's Joe Hines and Aishwarya Agarwal revealed that a series of prototypes for the update were developed, ranging in complexity based on the number of steps a user would need to take.

Feedback from users showed that the new design works for features that require equal or more attention than the video itself (e.g. comments, description, live chat) but obscuring the video would be detrimental to the viewing experience.

Something else viewers might notice is a section on the right hand side that displays the products in certain videos. This only happens when creators opt for items in their content to appear in this category. If you want to buy something, you can scan the QR code on the app, allowing you to make a purchase on your phone. As noted by The Verge, it's certainly a more awkward process than being able to buy them directly from your TV.

Something else the new UI will enable is for those watching sports games to keep track of the scores on the right side of the screen.

YouTube will be rolling out the updated TV app to users over the next few weeks, so keep an eye out for its arrival.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/102261-youtube-updating-tv-app-better-interaction-comments-likes.html

 

[Uncle Al]

I enjoyed it in the early days, then they started systematically raising the price higher than cable so I dropped them and haven't looked back. Greed does it every time ....

 

[Ean Mogg]

Will you be able to switch to full screen if you don't want to interact like the olden days..lol

 

[Scorpion5679]

I enjoyed it in the early days, then they started systematically raising the price higher than cable so I dropped them and haven't looked back. Greed does it every time ....

I think your are confusing this article's subject with the Youtube TV app. This article is about the Youtube App for TVs...

 

[daffy duck]

I wonder about the mental acuity of someone that would prefer the ad infested garbage TV app. I've just about had it with the ads on Android/ Apple TV. I would rather just cast my browser to the TV with all ads disabled.

 

[ZedRM]

I enjoyed it in the early days, then they started systematically raising the price higher than cable so I dropped them and haven't looked back. Greed does it every time ....

IF you're paying less than $13(Yes, Youtube Premium is $13 per month) for cable TV, I'd like to know where you live, cause I'm calling BS on that statement otherwise.

 

[ZedRM]

Will you be able to switch to full screen if you don't want to interact like the olden days..lol

Don't use the "app". Watch Youtube in a browser and use extensions to shape the experience that way you want it. TADA!