Great videos deserve a great soundtrack. That’s why we work with artists and music companies around the world to bring great music to YouTube. It’s why we’ve developed Content ID to empower you to feature, curate and celebrate the music you love in your YouTube videos.

But until now there was no way to know what would happen if you used a specific track until after you hit upload. Starting today, you can search the YouTube Audio Library to determine how using a particular track in your video will affect it on YouTube, specifically if it will stay live on YouTube or if any restrictions apply. You can uncross those uploading fingers now!

Let’s say you made a video with the new hit from Charli XCX. Search Boom Clap in the Audio Library and you’ll see the screen below, telling you what will happen if you upload a video with this song.



If you plan to monetize your video, you can download thousands of songs and sound effects from the YouTube Audio Library to use in your videos without restrictions, for free, forever. Need the perfect Morning Walk song for your back to school video, or an Emergency Siren for your action scene? We gotcha covered.

Tim Grow, Product Manager, recently watched “The Bizarre State of Copyright.”

When Tati joined YouTube, her username was GlamLifeGuru, which made her channel’s URL youtube.com/GlamLifeGuru. But as her channel grew, her fans embraced “Tati” as her brand. So her channel web address -- often the quickest way back for her fans to watch more of her content -- didn’t match her channel name and branding.

To make sure creators like Tati and all of you have a consistent place for new and existing fans to find you, we’re introducing an easier way to pick custom URLs that match your channel names and branding.

Starting this week, if you’re a creator with at least 500 subscribers, you may receive emails and in-product notifications if your updated custom URL is ready to claim. You’ll see several options waiting for you that are based on your channel’s description, Google identity and associated websites. When you want to pick your URL, all you have to do is follow these instructions. Once you pick one, the new URL will automatically direct fans to your channel.


Don’t have 500 subscribers yet? Try these tips to spur your growth. And don’t worry, in the meantime your regular URL will continue to connect people to your YouTube channel.

Laura Rapin, Product Specialist, recently watched Lemonade - Alex Boye’

As artists, creators, composers, remixers and directors, you’ve been at the forefront of making YouTube the ultimate home for music.  After nine years of unforgettable music moments you’ve created -- Kutiman, Beliebers, “Gangnam Style” and countless others -- we’re more committed than ever to making the music experience on YouTube better for you and your fans. That’s why today we’re launching new music features that will help your fans discover and enjoy more of your music and rolling out the beta of our new subscription service, YouTube Music Key.

Starting today, all music fans will see a new home just for music on their YouTube app for Android, iOS and on YouTube.com. The music homepage will make it easier for fans to find their favorite music videos (including yours!) and discover new ones through personalized recommendations, trending playlists and playlists to perfectly fit their mood. What’s more, starting in the USA, UK, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Finland and Ireland, we’re launching the beta of our new music subscription service, YouTube Music Key, which gives subscribers access to ad-free music, background play and offline viewing. For artists, we believe the easier it is for fans to find and enjoy your music on YouTube -- anytime, anywhere -- the more opportunity you’ll have to build your fan bases and make money from your music.

If you’re wondering if your music is included in the YouTube Music Key beta, you should talk with your record label or distributor. If you're an artist sharing your music directly through YouTube and you’re interested in being a part of the subscription service, you can let us know with this form. We’re excited about this new music experience on YouTube, and we’re continuing to bring on more artists in the coming months.

With all these new features, all our best practices still apply for growing your audience on YouTube. So keep creating great music, curating awesome playlists and mixtapes, and continue to share your music with the world. Because if we’ve learned anything over the past nine years, it’s that your creativity is limitless.

The YouTube Music team recently watched “Michael Jackson - Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' - YouTube Mix.”

Since we launched The YouTube 15 on SiriusXM’s Hits 1 radio with host Jenna Marbles, millions of you have tuned in to hear your favorite established artists like Ariana Grande and new stars like George Ezra. The YouTube 15 even brought Jimmy Fallon and will.i.am’s Ew! to the radio (which eventually hit the Billboard Hot 100). 

Now we’re picking up the tempo with our second show powered by your YouTube views and programmed by SiriusXM: the YouTube EDM 15 on BPM, SiriusXM’s dance and remix channel.
Screen Shot 2014-11-07 at 3.06.22 PM.png
This weekly show will highlight breakout electronic dance tracks and remixes from emerging DJs and artists around the world, and it’ll all kick off on Friday, November 21. Rising EDM DJ duo The Chainsmokers will host the show, with other notable guest DJs dropping in during the weeks to come.

The YouTube EDM 15 will air each week Fridays at 5 p.m. PT and again Saturday at 9 a.m. PT, Sunday at 5 a.m. PT, Monday at 7 p.m. PT, and Tuesday at 9 a.m. PT on SiriusXM’s BPM/channel 51, the SiriusXM app or online at siriusxm.com.

Michael Kauffman, YouTube Creator Marketing, recently watched “Victory.”

We know you work hard on your awesome YouTube videos—and it’s our job to get you the resources you need to make them even better. Now you can become a creative master of production with exclusive tips from a professional director of photography in just four free workshops. Join your fellow creators and tune in to a live series on the YouTube Creator Academy channel from 10am-12pm PST where we’ll cover these topics:

  • 11/13: Technical camera and sound—camera basics and sound recording principles
  • 11/20: Lighting fundamentals—an introduction to lighting sets and subjects
  • 11/27: Cinematography—a more advanced side of shooting beautiful looking films
  • 12/4: Shoestring production—how to create studio quality films on a tight budget

If you attend all of the sessions, you'll not only be a production expert in no time, but you’ll also receive a shiny letter of completion.

Register now, and we'll let you know all the details.

Anna Gradil recently watched Wheel of Impressions with Kevin Spacey

So many of you have turned the video description into your collaborator credit reel, sharing the love of all the other creators that helped make your video awesome. The shout-out is cool, but what if that shout-out was a direct link to your collaborator’s channel and made it easy for new fans to subscribe?

At VidCon, we told you how we’re working on areas like this to help you build fan bases and make even better videos, one of the ways being announcing Creator Credits. These allow you to recognize contributions and collaborators on your YouTube videos, and today, we're expanding this feature to all channels with at least 10,000 subscribers.

With Creator Credits, you’ll have the ability to feature collaborators -- such as your co-star, your video editor, or your boom mic operator -- on your video page. There are dozens of roles to choose from, and you can feature as many contributors as you like. These credits link back to collaborators’ channels and have a one-click subscribe option to both channels.

Adding Creator Credits to a video is easy. When editing your video title, description, and other details, you’ll find a Video Credits section where you can select the roles of your collaborators and include their channels. Creator Credits will appear below your video’s description after clicking “Show more.” Visit our Help Center to learn more.

Don’t have 10,000 subscribers? We're working to make this feature available to more of you soon.

Cheng Lee, Software Engineer, recently watched Cats Can't Resist Sitting In Circles

Brazilians form one of the world’s most vibrant YouTube communities. They produce content for passionate audiences in a country where online consumption is amongst the highest in the world. To support this incredible community of YouTube creators and foster the next generation of Brazilian talent, the YouTube Space team has partnered with Instituto Criar to bring a YouTube Space to São Paulo.

Instituto Criar is an incredible non profit organization founded ten years ago by Luciano Huck that educates young students from low income families in film production. Through this partnership, all of the NGO’s students, as well as Brazil’s most talented YouTube creators, will have free access to high end audio, visual and editing equipment, in addition to training programs, workshops and courses.


This collaboration follows in the footsteps of our YouTube Spaces in Los Angeles, London, Tokyo and most recently, New York City. Since the first Space was launched in 2012, more than 30,000 people around the world have attended over 450 workshops and over 6,000 videos have been created; garnering over 750 million views.

Like all of our production facilities, YouTube Space @ Instituto Criar will be a place where creators can collaborate, innovate and experiment with new content for audiences around the world to watch and love. It’ll also offer opportunities to:
  • Learn: From training programs and workshops to master classes, there are opportunities to get hands-on experience from industry leaders, and learn to use high end production equipment, production techniques, and YouTube best practices.
  • Connect: Attend events, meet fellow creators, spark new ideas and share experiences on how to succeed on YouTube. 
  • Create: This is a space for creators to bring stories to life. They’ll have access, for free, to a studio and all the latest audio, visual and editing equipment that will enable them to experiment and create great videos that fans will love. 
Along with Google’s Engineering Center in Belo Horizonte and the upcoming Campus in São Paulo, YouTube Space @ Instituto Criar is another way for Google to help foster creativity, entrepreneurship and partnership with top organizations in the country. It’s amazing to see what creators have already been producing and we are excited to see what is coming next.

Posted by Alvaro Paes de Barros, Director of Content Partnerships for YouTube, recently watched A Question of Time - Instituto Criar e Vacheron Constantin

Whether you’re starting from scratch on YouTube, or you’re looking to take an existing channel even further, the ever-growing YouTube Creator Academy is full of ways to polish your YouTube channel and build your audience. And now, we’re offering lessons in more than 20 languages:

Arabic
Chinese
Dutch
English
French
German
Greek
Indonesian
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Polish
Portuguese
Romanian
Russian
Spanish
Swedish
Thai
Turkish
Vietnamese

At the Creator Academy, you’ll find tips and lessons on topics like making great thumbnails and building your online community, as well as deep dives on music, gaming and family entertainment. Whether you learn by listening, watching or interacting with other creators, we’ve got it all for you at the YouTube Creator Academy.

If you’re new to the YouTube Creator Academy, subscribe to our YouTube channel where we get the scoop from other creators on how they get ahead; new videos are posted every Tuesday. You can also connect with fellow Creator Academy participants in our Creator Academy Google+ community.



We also hold regular events to help you grow your channel. We’re accepting signups now for our next one, Grow Your Audience Boot Camp, on October 20-31, 2014. Click on your language to register for the Polish, Russian, German, or French version of the course. Boot camps in Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese and Arabic are coming soon!

Wendy Leicht, Instructional Designer, recently watched “Types of People on the Dance Floor - IISuperwomanII.”

Cross-posted from the YouTube Blog

Over the past four years, YouTube has gone through a dramatic transformation. We’ve seen the fidelity of our videos evolve from the grainy footage of webcams to the crystal clear beauty of 4K. We’ve seen teenagers who began by vlogging in their bedrooms emerge as media heavyweights, with passionate followings and shows that draw more fans than similar shows on cable TV. And we’ve seen partner revenue continue to grow at a healthy pace, giving our creators the chance to do what they love by finding their fanbase on YouTube. Today, more than 1 billion viewers visit YouTube every month to follow their favorite shows and channels and our daily watchtime continues to grow at 50 percent annually.

Throughout that time, we’ve made a number of key decisions to accelerate this transformation. We first made a series of investments in channels to jumpstart our creator ecosystem. Eighty-six of those channels are now among the top 1 percent of YouTube’s most popular, but the real sign of success was the massive global fan base our creators built.

Then, to ensure our creators had the production support they needed, we created the YouTube Spaces in L.A., Tokyo, London and soon New York. The Spaces offer creators free access to the latest and greatest equipment, sets and support to facilitate creativity and content innovation.

This year, we’ve expanded our support to full-scale marketing and advertising campaigns, helping turn successful creators with large fan bases like Bethany Mota and Epic Rap Battles of History into household names, broadening their appeal to new audiences. These campaigns started in the U.S. but we’re now extending them to places like the U.K., France, Germany and Brazil to ensure that creators around the world can continue to serve as beacons for the creator community at large.

Now, we feel the time is right to make another important investment in our creators. That’s why we’ve decided to fund new content from some of our top creators, helping them not only fulfill their creative ambitions but also deliver new material to their millions of fans on YouTube.

As any creator will tell you, making compelling new content isn’t easy, and we expect to learn a lot through this process. We’ll experiment with new formats and ideas. We’ll get our hands dirty. We’ll make some mistakes. Together, we’ll (hopefully) create some fantastic new content on YouTube. But one thing is certain: there’s no one we’d rather go on this adventure with than our creators.

It’s been an incredible few years for YouTube. And with YouTube stars jumping from their bedrooms to billboards in Times Square, we think there’s never been a better time to be a creator.

Alex Carloss, Head of YouTube Originals, recently watched, “Kutiman - Thru You Too - GIVE IT UP.”

An Epic Rap Battle of History looks even more epic on the big screen, but finding the battle you want on your TV can take longer than it took Wallace to layeth the smackdown on Washington because of all the clicking around you have to do. That’s why you’ll soon be able to find videos you want more easily with the updated YouTube app for TV designed for the big screen, which will also bring you all the videos and playlists from channels. This update already started with Xbox One, and we’ll roll out the updated app to other streaming devices in the following weeks.

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Find it all more easily with the guide

The channels you subscribe to and videos you care about will be a click away with a guide on the left side that’s just like the guide you see on YouTube on your computer, phone, and tablet. When you sign in, you can jump to all the latest videos from your subscriptions and recommendations in the What to Watch section, or pop on a playlist you’ve liked such as Blogilates’ Cardio AB Attack and turn your TV into a workout buddy.

See all the videos and playlists from channels

Your favorite creators are making new playlists every day, and with the updated YouTube app for TV you’ll be able to see all of them. With new channel pages, you’ll see everything they’ve curated for you, helping you find even more to watch from your favorite creators.



Tyler Breisch, software engineer, recently watched, “"No Diggity" - The Hangover Brigade covers Blackstreet.”

Film aficionados, take note: YouTube is proud to be a part of Sundance Next Fest for a second year, celebrating the renegade spirit of independent artists in film and music.

Last year, Sundance became the first major film festival to curate and screen a short film program exclusively featuring videos on YouTube at their Next Weekend summer festival. At this year’s Sundance Film Festival in Park City, we also brought the YouTube experience offline, hosting panels, musical performances, parties, and even morning yoga.



Now, we want to help even more filmmakers succeed online. If you’re in Los Angeles, join us on Saturday August 9, at 2 p.m. at the Ace Hotel to hear about how you can can find and build your audience on YouTube. We’ll share tips on how to engage your fans and foster grassroots movements that help you raise money and spread your message. RSVPs welcome. And if you’d like to attend Next Fest screenings, you can purchase tickets on the Sundance website.

On YouTube, there are no limits to creative freedom. You can experiment and push the boundaries of distribution. With 1 billion unique users visiting YouTube every month, creators have an incredible opportunity to share their creative vision with the world. Check out the YouTube Creator Academy for tips on how to showcase your story to a global community.

Lucy Zhao, YouTube Creator Marketing, recently watched “The Beyoncelogues: Single Ladies.”

Whether it’s Earth Hour, the World Cup, going back to school, or presidential elections - leveraging the excitement around events can help to grow your channel. But it's not as simple as you'd think to create a really great topical video. Here are four tips—from starting your research to optimizing for—to get you started.

1. Make it timely

Bad Lip Reading is always at the forefront of trending topics and breaking news. To most effectively capture search traffic they upload their topical content as close to events as possible.



2. Plan ahead

One of Bethany Mota’s strategies is to program seasonally around big events that are relevant to her audience. Last year her 5 back-to-school videos gained over 14.3 million views combined.



3. Make trending topics suit you

Make-up artist and body-paint guru Alexys Fleming cleverly captures viewers searching for trending topics that aren’t usually associated with beauty, such as the Super Bowl and movie releases. But she makes sure that the content is relevant to her loyal viewers by still focusing on special effects make-up.



4. Use playlists to repackage content

Laura Vitale combines old and new content in playlists for her most important events of the year. By doing so, she creates new ways for her freshest videos to be discovered, but also makes it easy to watch her back-catalogue to viewers who may be seeing them for the first time.



Jo-Roxy Vaegan-Lloyd, Creative Strategy, recently watched #sorrynotsorry - #hotmessmoves

VidCon is the place where thousands of creators and fans come together every year to share their passion for YouTube and online video. We came to Anaheim today to offer them a sneak preview of new features and updates we’re releasing in the coming months. Here’s a look at the things we’ve been working on to help you make more your videos even more awesome, to reach global audiences and grow your businesses on YouTube.
  • YouTube Creator Studio: Did you know that after Rebecca Black uploaded “Friday,” she went on a school trip, not knowing for several days the video was going viral? To help you manage your videos on the go, the new YouTube Creator Studio app lets you see analytics, manage your videos and more. The app is available now on Android and launching on iOS in coming weeks and you’ll see some redesign of the Creator Studio on desktop too.
  • Audio Library, now with sound effects: You’ve used the hundreds of free songs in the Audio Library on millions of your videos. But until now, you’ve had to go through extreme lengths to make your own zombie screams and fighter plane sounds. To make your lives easier and videos better, from today you now have thousands of royalty-free sound effects at your disposal. We’ve also added more tracks to the Audio Library.
  • 60 (yeah, six-zero) frames per second: Your video game footage with crazy high frame rates will soon look as awesome on YouTube as it does when you’re playing, when we launch support for 48 and even 60 frames per second in the coming months. Take a look at some preview videos on the YT Creator Channel. Make sure you’re watching in HD!
  • Creator Credits: Collaboration is a key to great videos on YouTube. You’re already giving your collaborators shout outs in your video descriptions. But what if those text-based shout outs were tags that let viewers click through to their channels, or let you search for a collaborator based on their work and location? That’s our vision for Creator Credits, stay tuned for more. 
  • Subtitles contributed from fans: More than a billion people watch YouTube each month, but not all of them speak the same language and some are deaf or hard of hearing. Automatic speech recognition and automatic translation on YouTube can help, but your fans can do an even better job. In the coming months, your fans will be able to submit translations in any language based on the subtitles or captions you’ve created, helping you reach even more viewers. You can try this out now on Barely Political, Fine Art-Tips, Got Talent Global and Unicoos. 
  • Info Cards: Annotations are useful, but not as ridiculously good looking as say, Blue Steel. In the near future, you’ll see our new interactive information cards with a clean look, which you’ll beable to program once to work across desktop, phones and tablets.
  • SiriusXM & YouTube: We love supporting artists, and so do our friends at SiriusXM. That’s why we teamed up to launch “The YouTube 15,” a weekly show on SiriusXM’s Hits 1 hosted by Jenna Marbles and featuring the biggest names and rising stars in music from YouTube. 
  • More ways to playlist: Along with playlists analytics we recently added to analytics, expect to see more ways to create playlists, so that all the time you spend building them translates into easier discovery for viewers and better results for you.
We take your feedback seriously, which is why we’re focusing on these areas that you’ve told us are most important for you. So keep your comments coming on Google+ or Twitter. We’ll be working closely with you to bring these features and more to the creator community in the future.

Matthew Glotzbach, Director of Product Management for Creators, and Oliver Heckmann, Vice President of Engineering for Creators, recently watched “VGHS Season 2 Trailer - HFR Version”

Whether you’re Epic Rap Battles of History and swimming in feedback from fans, or you’re just starting up your channel, you can now connect with your fans faster and more easily through new messaging and commenting features rolling out this week. It’s part of our goal to give you everything you need to connect with fans around the world, and here’s an overview of what you’ll find:

Improved messaging
  • Get context faster: Threaded conversations to make it easier to follow ongoing conversations you’re having.
  • Help fans quickly contact you: It’s easier to send a message to any creator on YouTube. Just go to the channel’s “about” tab, click the “Send message” button and compose your message.
  • More awesome, less junk: Your new messages section includes spam detection to filter out unwanted messages. Laterz trolls. 
These new messaging features will replace the old inbox, which will go into read-only mode starting next week. Don’t worry, you’ll still be able to read and download all of your inbox messages, along with your contacts, for the next few months, but you won’t be able to send or receive anything new.

Improved commenting
  • Fine-tune filtering: You can choose to view just comments from your subscribers, check for popular comments across your channel, or review comments for a specific video. 
  • Easier comment review: Want to review comments that need approval? Find and check them all from one place on the comments page. 
  • Search and ye shall find: Looking for comments on a specific topic? There’s now a search box to help you find comments that include the keywords or hashtags you’re looking for.
We’re aiming to create tools that help you connect with your fans faster and easier, then get back to making awesome videos. Let us know how they’re working for you by using the “Send feedback” link in your dashboard, or hit us up on Google+ or Twitter.

Jeffrey Lee-Chan, Software Engineer, recently watched Game of Thrones: Learning the Moves

People can choose to watch anything, anytime on YouTube—so what can you do to keep them watching your videos? The first few seconds of any video are critical to getting your viewers' attention and convincing them that they want to watch your content. Here’s how some of YouTube’s top creators do it, and how you can do it too:

1. Start with a question
CGP Grey starts his video with a question—“how many countries are there?”—to get the viewer thinking. The human brain will always want an answer to a question posed. By asking an intriguing question at the top of his video, he makes sure the viewer will stick around to find out what the answer is.


2. Brand with a bang
Epic Rap Battles start every episode with high powered music, a shouting narrator, and their name bursting out of the screen. Their branding is strong and engaging, and the intro feels integrated into the content itself. New viewers immediately know what the show is about, and are primed to watch some high-energy fun.


3. Tell them what they’re going to see
Within the first five seconds the viewer knows exactly what this video will be—a detailed run-down on liquid liner. By providing immediate context, Michelle shows people what they’ll get by watching the whole video and why they should stick around.


4. Hit them with a cold opening
Colin jumps right into action, drawing his viewers into his walkthroughs immediately. Rather than starting his walkthrough in a more straightforward manner, Colin’s raw intensity and enthusiasm are a more captivating introduction.


For more tips on developing your creative strategy (and much more), visit the Creator Academy.

Devin McNulty and Jeremy Kaye, Creative Strategy, recently watched Giant Bubbles Popping in Slow Motion

Subscriptions are one of the clearest ways you can see how you’re doing on YouTube. When people subscribe to your channel, it’s a signal they like what you’re doing and want to see more. We know your subscribers are hard-won, and that’s why we recognize big subscriber milestones with things like access to programs at the YouTube Space and our Creator Rewards program.

It’s extremely important to us that these numbers stay meaningful, so that you can be sure that when your sub count grows, it’s because you’re building a community of real fans who are going to keep watching and supporting you.

With that in mind, we’ll soon implement a new process to improve the accuracy of subscriber counts. It’s similar to existing ways we ensure that other site metrics, like views, are free of spam and abuse, and keep YouTube a fair playing field for everyone.

On June 16, we’re going to remove suspended accounts from all channels’ subscriber counts. This means some of you will notice a minor drop in your subscribers. To be clear, these are not active viewers, so you shouldn’t see any impact on your views or watch time.

From there, we’ll have an automated system in place that removes suspended accounts from subscriber counts as they occur. And, we’ve built our system so that if something goes wrong for one of our viewers and their account is suspended in error, these changes are reversible.

You don’t need to do anything to prepare for this change. Just keep being you, and making YouTube great.

Katie Hushion, YouTube Operations Specialist, recently watched Cute Bunny Jumping Competition.

Trololo! YouTube turned 9 this May. And what multitudes are contained in that vast near-decade of video?

To call out just a few highlights in YouTube history, there are more than 120,000 videos inspired by “Let it Go”(based on videos posted with that title), half a million by “Gangnam Style,” and a stunning 1.5 million videos by“Harlem Shake” (that’s a lot of motorcycle helmets). These inspired riffs got us thinking about those magical moments when songs become bona fide trends—and people all over the world start remixing, covering, parodying, dancing, and lip-dubbing.

So to celebrate this year, we pay homage to the music you've made on YouTube. We got a bunch of your favorite performers together to cover some of the most memorable musical moments in YouTube’s history. The result is a mashup called YouTube Birthday Karaoke Night, featuring familiar faces like The Gregory Brothers, Chester See, Cimorelli and more (see if you can spot all 18).
 
Now raise your Cups ... ’cause Here it Goes Again. Call us Maybe?

Claire Stapleton, YouTube Culture & Trends, recently watched (and crooned along to) the playlist Nine Classic Hits Celebrating YouTube’s Ninth Birthday.

Nine-time Grammy Award winner John Legend. Dubstep violinist Lindsey Stirling. The most popular dancers on YouTube, Les Twins. On their own, these artists have topped charts, gone platinum and generated more than a billion combined views on YouTube. This evening, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. will host these artists and more to perform on its iconic stage.

Tune-in today at 7:30 p.m. ET at youtube.com/TheKennedyCenter for “YouTube OnStage Live from the Kennedy Center,” a celebration of art, technology, and culture that unites stars who are building global fan bases worldwide on YouTube.
 
Whether it’s the vintage cover artists Scott Bradlee & Postmodern Jukebox, or the Playing for Change movement that helps connect the world through music, all the performers featured in the event have found a global platform and audience for their creativity on YouTube.

Visit the Kennedy Center’s YouTube channel for the full rundown of the night, artists’ videos, and a replay of the event after it airs live. And if you’re in D.C., head down to the Kennedy Center for free tickets this evening.

Ali Rivera, West Coast Head Artist Label Relations, recently watched "Dude, what? This ramen sucked."

Twice a year in our global satisfaction survey, we ask you how we’re doing on a range of topics. Our most recent survey included a question about the top ways we could do a better job keeping you informed about what’s happening at YouTube.

Your biggest request? You want to hear about the new stuff we’re working on ahead of time, so you can tell us if we’re heading in the right direction. Well, your wish is our command.

We’ve put together our first Creator Preview video, a run-down of what we’re working on to make YouTube better for you. We’ll be doing this regularly, so you can stay informed on where we’re headed.



In the coming months, you’ll hear more from us about:
  • A separate mobile app that puts the creator features you told us were most important to have in the palm of your hand, right when you need them 
  • A feature that allows fans to fund their favorite creators on YouTube 
  • A way to harness the power of the crowd to create captions and subtitles for your videos in 60+ languages
These features will join a few recent updates, including new comment management features, a way for artists to share in revenue from eligible cover song videos, and our ever-expanding Creator Academy.

Now, we want to know what you think of what we’re working on. Share your thoughts with us on Google+ or Twitter—we’ll be reading, responding and using your feedback to help make these upcoming launches even better.

Matt Glotzbach, Director of Creator Product Management, recently watched (what else?!) the Creator Preview.

On YouTube, nothing feels better than creating a hit video. However, turning that hit video into a branded series lets the viewer know that there is "more where that came from," encouraging them to watch more videos and subscribe to not miss future episodes. You recently got a new feature to add intros into videos, and there are many more ways to brand your content, so we wanted to share a few strategies popular YouTube creators tell us about:

1. Use consistent tags and titles

 For their Mythical Show series, Rhett & Link use the naming convention “The Mythical Show - Ep.# (Feat. Guest)” to establish that each video is one episode in a larger series. Viewers can quickly see that all of the videos are related, just by looking at the thumbnails.



2. Use consistent branding to start your videos

 Tastemade starts each episode with the show’s title “Thirsty For...” overlaid onto the drink of the week, and ends with a preview of the following week’s recipe. Every drink is different, so each video has its own unique typeface and music, but the consistent format binds them together into a single branded series.



3. Share your upload schedule

Tati has a weekly segment titled Tip Tuesday, building her weekly upload schedule into the name of her show. At the beginning of each video, she lets viewers know that they can come back every Tuesday for new episodes.



4. Organize your videos to make it easy for your audience

Crash Course lays out their educational shows in ordered playlists on their homepage. Each show occupies its own channel section for easy browsing, and the viewer just has to click “play” to start a series from episode one.


For more tips on developing your creative strategy (and much more), visit the Creator Hub.

Devin McNulty and Jeremy Kaye, Programming Strategy, recently watched The luckiest unlucky man to ever live (Frank Selak)

Everyone knows the power of a good introduction. Imagine watching The Simpsons without its iconic opening sequence. Wouldn’t be the same, would it?

Many of you have asked us for a way to create a distinctive intro for your videos, so you can more easily build a consistent brand your fans will recognize. Well, game on. Starting today you can automatically add an intro video up to three seconds to the start of every video on your channel.

It only takes three easy steps to set up:
  1. Upload the three-second intro video you’d like to use to your channel as an unlisted video.
  2. On your channel's InVideo Programming page, click "Add a channel branding intro" and select the intro from a list of eligible videos.
  3. Select which videos you want the intro to appear on. You can choose whether to add it to all of your videos, or just the ones you’ve uploaded after a certain date. You can always remove or change the intro later.
Note that these intros may not be used as ads, sponsorships, or product placements. We also don't recommend this feature be used by channels using their videos as advertisements.

As always, we want to hear how things work out for you. Send us feedback from your YouTube dashboard, or via Google+ or Twitter.

John Gregg, Software Engineer, who recently watched “Submissions Only.”