YouTube is celebrating its 20th birthday, and to mark the occasion, it’s launching a range of functions and add-ons to help users engage with the broader celebration.
And some of them could end up being valuable, long-term additions to your YouTube consumption process.
First off, YouTube’s also rolling out 4x playback speed for YouTube Premium subscribers, for those who really don’t have time for filler content.
So now, you’ll be able to skim through more videos in less time. Because consuming more content is what we all really need, right?
YouTube’s also adding a new, AI-based option to create your own radio channel.
As per YouTube:
“Describe the type of music you’re in the mood for and create your very own personalized radio station with ‘Ask Music,’ perfect for those who have always dreamed about soundtracking their lives.”
Ask Music will be made available to all YouTube Premium and YouTube Music users.
YouTube’s also expanding its roll-out of voice replies in video comments for creators, which it first launched in testing last December.
That’ll add another way to enhance community engagement, in what can feel like a more personal, special link.
YouTube TV subscribers, meanwhile, are getting a new option to build their own multi-view with select non-sports content.
YouTube says that it’s also upgrading its Connected TV UI, with improved access to comments, while it’s also added some new birthday-themed gifts for live-streams.
Finally, YouTube TV members will be able to access a 48-hour birthday-themed Zen channel. Whatever that may be.
These are some interesting themed activations, though most are smaller tweaks, as opposed to significant functional additions. They’re also not really birthday-themed, and it feels like YouTube is just using the occasion of its birthday to link into its regular feature/upgrade schedule.
But there may be some interesting elements for your YouTube usage, which are coming to the app from this week.
Finally, YouTube’s also provided some updated stats on in-app engagement:
- On average, there are now over 20 million videos uploaded daily to YouTube
- In 2024, YouTube users averaged over 100 million comments on videos on a daily basis, while creators like comments from an average of 10 million viewers every day
- YouTube videos receive over 3.5 billion likes from users per day
The expansion of Shorts has significantly increased the amount of videos uploaded to the app, with a huge scope of content now being published on YouTube every day.
Twenty years. That means that many young adults have grown up with YouTube as a constant presence in their life.
It’s any wonder traditional TV is steadily dying out.
You can read more about YouTube’s birthday updates here.