YouTube Blog

YouTube creators can help make Mother's Day a piece of cake

2012-05-13T03:44:00.001-07:00

Remember the days when you could give your mom a macaroni necklace, a crayon drawing of her face, or a clay imprint of your hand and her Mother’s Day was complete? Well, those days are over, but that doesn’t mean Mother’s Day can’t still be simple. Great YouTube creators are here to help make this special day as easy as possible with wonderful ideas for food, gifts, and entertainment for moms. Treat your mom’s taste buds to some home cooked grub this holiday with great tips and recipe ideas. Channels like Food. Farmer. Earth. and Kin Community are offering recipes that moms everywhere will love.

Forgot to get a card or a gift? Or are you looking to make something memorable, but higher quality than a pipe cleaner tiara? Look no further. Channels like ClevverStyle have great last minute gifts ideas you can go out and buy, while other channels like Digs will teach you how to whip up a DIY gift, like an indoor herb garden.

Finally, they say a picture is worth a thousand words. Well then a video must be worth about a trillion. Show your mom how much you love her a trillion times over by building her entertaining video playlists that she will love. There are great videos for moms all over YouTube. Check out channels like CafeMom Studios, ModernMom, or The Mom’s View. Or turn to ForMom, our online survival guide for moms, with Tide and Downy that curates videos on a wide range of topics your mom might be interested in. There's everything from styling tutorials by CuteGirlsHairstyles, to budget-conscious gourmet recipes from the wcfoodies channel, to provocative conversation starters from momversation.

Happy Mother’s Day!

Jessica Mason, communications associate, recently watched "HELP! MOM'S MAKING A MESS!"

Obama supports marriage equality, Double explosion in Damascus, Supermoon occurs worldwide

2012-05-11T14:34:00.001-07:00

Everyday on the CitizenTube channel (and @CitizenTube on Twitter), along with our curation partners @storyful, we look at how the top news stories are covered on YouTube. Each week we post a weekly recap of the top news stories of the week, as seen through the lens of both citizen-reported footage and professional news coverage.

We saw marriage equality activists celebrate as Barack Obama became the first sitting US President to announce his support for same-sex marriage.
We witnessed a double bombing at rush hour in Damascus just days after Syria held its first parliamentary election for half a century.
We watched people worldwide turning their eyes to the sky for the supermoon phenomenon.
We viewed a political shift in France as socialist candidate Francois Hollande emerged the victor of France's presidential election.
We followed the presidential candidates on the US campaign trail, with the divisive Barack Obama choosing this week to officially launch his bid for re-election.
We monitored clashes between anti-Putin protesters and police in Moscow in the hours leading up to Vladimir Putin's inauguration as president.
We saw the Olympics torch lighting ceremony and over 175,000 people visit London's Olympic park to mark 2012 hours to go until the Games.
We observed scenes that looked to come straight from a science fiction movie as twisters were spotted in different locations all over the world.
We said a sad goodbye to author and illustrator Maurice Sendak, creator of children's favorite 'Where the Wild Things Are'.

Olivia Ma, YouTube News & Politics Manager, recently watched "President Obama - Gay Marriage".

70 Korean cinema classics come to YouTube

2012-05-10T11:00:00.000-07:00

In the last few decades, South Korea has emerged as a powerhouse of cinema, with both Korean-made films winning global accolades and Hollywood remaking Korean mega-hits like My Sassy Girl, and, if industry gossip is true, Oldboy. Many of the all-time classic Korean films, however, have been hard for global audiences to get their hands on.

Working together with the Korean Film Archive, we now have 70 classic Korean films available globally for free on YouTube—complete with English and other translated subtitles. The films are all available at youtube.com/koreanfilm, organized in playlists by decade as well as by director.

Movies include A Hometown in Heart, made in the early years of Korean Independence; debut film of noted auteur Sang-soo Hong The day a pig fell into a well; A Coachman, the first Korean film to win awards internationally; and more. Many other titles like Aimless Bullet and The Barefooted Young are available in HD.

We hope this archive will keep Korean cinephiles busy for a while with films that have been too hard to find outside of Korea for too long.

Jae Hoon Jung, YouTube contents partnership manager, Google Korea, recently watched Woman of Fire.

Meet our May “On The Rise” nominees

2012-05-10T09:00:00.000-07:00

Each month, we identify four YouTube partners whose channels have recently experienced significant growth but haven’t yet reached the 100,000 subscriber count for our On The Rise program. This month’s featured partners still have a ways to go to hit that mark, but we’re excited about how they’re exploring their passions on YouTube. Our May 2012 nominees have each tailored their channel to provide instruction to their viewers, so you can learn how to play blues guitar, about astronomy concepts, how to cook new recipes, or about gardening and sustainable living.

And not only can you learn from these partners, but you can help them grow their YouTube presence, starting with the opportunity for one of these partners to be featured on the YouTube homepage. Check out the videos below and vote for your favorite in the top right corner of this blog. In addition to your votes, each channel will be evaluated (by YouTube) on criteria such as viewer engagement and channel optimization techniques to decide which partner will be featured on the homepage, Google+, Facebook and Twitter at the end of the month.

In past months On The Rise nominees, partners like AnyoneButMeWebSeries and STRskillschool have gained many subscribers thanks to your support. The poll will be open until May 17 at 5pm PT, so don’t forget to vote for your favorite channel. Check back to see who secured the homepage feature on May 29th.

gr8bluesgtr
Anthony Stauffer has made a full-time job out of his music hobby: he was inspired by the music of Stevie Ray Vaughan, and now provides his own Texas-style blues guitar lessons online. Check out Anthony’s channel for free tutorials, premium tutorial previews, and gear reviews, and start learning how to play the blues!

tdarnell
Are you interested in astronomy concepts and news, or do you wonder how astronomy impacts our lives on a daily basis? Whether you have specific questions or are just curious, Tony Darnell’s Deep Astronomy channel will give you insight to and appreciation for the cosmos.

jakatak69
Jack Scalfani prefers “food guy” over the word “chef.” With no formal training, he fell into cooking and focuses his videos on no-fuss, easy-to-make recipes. Check out his Cooking with Jack channel which hosts a library of recipes, cooking tips, and honest product reviews.

GardenGirlTV
Patty Moreno, the Garden Girl, has a variety of videos on sustainable living, cooking, and gardening. Check out her channel to learn everything from pruning a tree and growing your own organic vegetable garden to making a rosemary infused martini and homemade jam.

If you’re interested in checking out more rising YouTube Partners, visit our On The Rise Channel, which features nominees, trending partners and monthly blog winners.

Devon Storbeck and Christine Wang, YouTube Partner Support, recently watched “Lion tries to eat baby PART 1.”

YouTube Presents K-Pop stars in Mountain View, California

2012-05-09T22:30:00.000-07:00

Update: Tickets for the concert have all been reserved, but you can watch the concert live on the YouTube Presents channel.

Last December, we added Korean pop style K-Pop to our genres on the Music page, making it easier for the growing number of K-Pop fans in and out of Korea to find the latest videos from the top Korean artists and music labels. Now we’re bringing K-Pop to you live on YouTube!

We’ve teamed up with Korean broadcaster MBC to host a concert in the U.S. on Monday, May 21 featuring some of the top K-Pop acts. The concert, YouTube Presents MBC K-Pop Concert, will be held at Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, CA and will start at 7pm PT. If you want to attend, you can reserve free tickets from this website. You can also tune into the livestream on the YouTube Presents channel during the concert on May 21.

The line-up includes several star-studded groups such as Girls’ Generation, Wonder Girls, TVXQ, Super Junior, f(x), BEAST, KARA, MBLAQ, and Sistar. This is the first time we’ve featured musical artists from Korea on YouTube Presents.

We hope to see K-Pop fans in the U.S. at Shoreline, and we hope the rest of you will tune in wherever you are. For those who are totally new to the genre, we recommend that you check out a few episodes of Simon and Martina’s YouTube show K-Pop Music Mondays.

Seon-Jeong (Sun) Lee, YouTube marketing manager for Asia-Pacific, recently watched “Girls’ Generation - The Boys.”

You asked for it! Here are your 16 Next Vloggers...

2012-05-08T11:00:00.000-07:00

Since launching, YouTube Next Creator has helped chefs cook up better videos, trainers get more people into shape and non-profits extend the reach of their causes. So figuring out which category to tackle, well, next, was a bit of a challenge. Rather than deciding ourselves, we asked you to make the tough decision for us. With a resounding cry, you told us, “BRING US NEXT VLOGGER!”

Not only is vlogging one of the most popular forms of expression on YouTube, but selecting Next Vlogger also resulted in more applications than we’ve received for any previous Next Creator program. Bravo! Although, that still left us with some tough decisions...

After much debate and many sleepless nights, we’re excited to introduce you to the 16 Next Vloggers:

From sports recaps to music parodies, book reviews to space lions, gaming tips to Smurf collecting, advice and self-empowerment to Pokemon mastery, and even some stuff that can’t be categorized, these vloggers--like the art of vlogging--literally touch on every content category.

Fun bunch, huh? In total, they’ve racked up more than 125 million views. Not a shabby start, but like most YouTube creators, they’re eager to reach even more people. To help them get there, the Next Vloggers will participate in three months of trainings via Google+ Hangouts, including mentoring from top YouTube vloggers and content creators, iJustine and Natalie Tran from communitychannel, and receive $5,000 worth of video equipment and $10,000 worth of promotion on and off YouTube. Subscribe to their channels to follow them on their journey over the next few months and beyond.

Not a vlogger but still want to gain some skills to help you go from zero to hero...views? You’re in luck because we’re kicking off some rad YouTube Creator Workshops that cover a wide range of topics from “Introduction to Cinematography” to “Improving Your Channel with YouTube Analytics.” You can check out the YouTube Creator Events site to see the calendar of workshops that you can attend via Google+ Hangouts on Air from the YouTube Creators page.

Vlog on!

Austin Lau & Bing Chen, Global YouTube Creator program managers, recently watched “YouTube's Next Vlogger!”.

Take a virtual trip to Jazz Fest New Orleans this weekend

2012-05-04T14:06:00.000-07:00

New Orleans is always alive with music, from the bars of Bourbon Street to the jazz clubs of Frenchmen Street. The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival—“Jazz Fest” to its friends—is an annual celebration of the unique music and culture of New Orleans, taking over the Fair Grounds Race Course each Spring.

For the first time Jazz Fest will be live streaming the festival, presented by DELL and in partnership with YouTube Presents! The broadcast will combine live music from across the next three days with pre-recorded highlights from last weekend.

It may be Jazz Fest by name, but it’s not entirely jazz by nature. The diverse lineup this weekend includes Bon Iver, Tom Petty, Trombone Shorty, Grace Potter & The Nocturnals, My Morning Jacket and many more. We’re adding artists all the time, so check-out the official Jazz Fest channel for the latest schedule.

The stream begins at 12pm PT today and runs through 6pm this Sunday. Enjoy!

Tim Partridge, music marketing manager, recently watched The Beastie Boys - No Sleep Till Brooklyn

Kabul explosion, Cairo sit-in protest attack, Giant hail storm in Maryland

2012-05-04T12:00:00.000-07:00

We watched President Obama make a short trip to Afghanistan on the anniversary of Bin Laden's death, only for seven to be killed in a Kabul explosion just hours after he left.
We saw a sit-in protest in Cairo come under attack by unknown assailants, leading to nine deaths.
We monitored labour groups hold marches across the world to mark May Day, or International Workers' Day.
We viewed a shining beacon of light in the United Arab Emirates, but not in the way anyone would have liked, as a fire enveloped the Al Tayer Tower.
We followed the GOP candidates on another memorable day on the US campaign trail, as Newt Gingrich released a YouTube video announcing his withdrawal.
We observed police in Malaysia use tear gas and water-cannons to confront protesters calling for reform.
We saw shock in the French city of Toulouse as an F1 tornado landed nearby, damaging roofs and uprooting trees.
We witnessed a tragic death in St. Louis as the city endured a powerful storm that brought baseball-sized hail.
We watched Edward Munch's world famous painting, "The Scream", break records with a $119 million sale at a Sotheby's auction.

Come back to watch the news unfold on YouTube.

Olivia Ma, YouTube News & Politics, recently watched "Large Hail Hits Maryland Heights 04/28/12".

Finding and following new channels you love

2012-05-04T09:00:00.000-07:00

If you’re interested in aerial silk or Rubik’s Cubes or anything in between, we want YouTube to have a channel ready and always updating for you.

In our goal to help you find great channels and videos you care about, we created Topics on Search to narrow your search results using commonly-used phrases. We took this a step further by auto-generating whole channels of topics in the ‘Top YouTube Collections’ tab, giving you constantly updated and uniquely-focused channels. Now, you’ll start seeing these channels more broadly available around YouTube, like in ‘Recommended for You’ section of our channels page and on a video watch page.

So if you’re into surfing, you could find the Big wave surfing channel, get introduced and subscribe to the NetworkA channel, and then enjoy this video of Garret McNamara surfing one of Poseidon’s finest. Here’s what the channel looks like:

Lots of complex algorithms are working behind the scenes to give you the channel you’re looking for, for example, being able to tell when the word ‘Chicago’ means the music band and when it means the movie/musical. We’re still tweaking everything to make sure it works just right for you, so let us know what you think of the channels or learn more in our help center.

So when you see a channel “auto generated by YouTube” around the site, give it a browse to find whole collections of channels and videos you might like, updated everyday with the freshest and finest videos you’re sharing on YouTube.

Mur Viswanathan, product manager, recently subscribed to the Parkour channel and Palash Nandy, software engineer, recently subscribed to the Brickfilm channel.

See what happens when Gary Oldman directs Jack White’s live show

2012-04-27T15:55:00.000-07:00

The American Express Unstaged series, in partnership with Vevo and YouTube, matches a musical act with a visionary director to create a unique online experience. Previous match-ups have included Duran Duran directed by David Lynch, Arcade Fire directed by Terry Gilliam, and My Morning Jacket directed by Todd Haynes.

Tonight at 6pm PT, Gary Oldman will direct the live stream of a very special performance from Jack White. At a time when White is embarking on a brand new solo project, with his album Blunderbuss performing well both critically and commercially, we're excited to see what he brings to the stage of New York City's Webster Hall!

Watch the show unfold on Jack White's official channel.

Tim Partridge, music marketing manager, recently watched "Metronomy - The Bay."

Bahrain Grand Prix, France goes to run-off ballot, Plane crash in Pakistan

2012-04-27T10:03:00.000-07:00

We saw the controversial Bahrain F1 Grand Prix proceed on Sunday, despite continuing anti-government protests.
We monitored the presidential elections in France as Nicolas Sarkozy and François Hollande geared up their campaign efforts ahead of the May 6 French presidential run-off ballot.
We were shocked at scenes of devastation in Pakistan after a plane crash caused the deaths of over 100 people.
We watched George Zimmerman secure bail from Seminole County jail after posting 10 percent of his $150,000 bond.
We followed the GOP candidates as the race for the Republican nomination all but concluded with Mitt Romney's latest primary victories.
We observed students clash with police in Montreal as a protest over tuition hikes turned ugly.
We were saddened at the deaths of seven as flash floods swept away a church youth group in Kenya.
We viewed fading optimism that the presence of UN observers in Syria would decrease violence after 70 people were reported killed in a bomb blast in Hama.
Finally, we marked Earth Day with a selection of YouTube films uploaded to create awareness of the occasion.

Come back to see the news unfold on YouTube.

Olivia Ma, YouTube News & Politics, recently watched "War and Terror in Liberia: VICE Presents 007."

STRskillSchool is April’s YouTube Partner On The Rise!

2012-04-26T06:00:00.000-07:00

Please join us in congratulating Steve Roberts from STRskillSchool! He is YouTube’s “On The Rise” spotlight partner for April and is featured today on the YouTube homepage.

Based in Suffolk, England, Steve has 14 years of coaching experience in a variety of sports, but is most passionate about soccer (football). He runs a sports coaching company along with Senior Coach Tommy Marsden, and brings coaching advice and knowledge of the sport to millions of people across the world via his YouTube channel. Regardless of your age or skill level, STRskillSchool has step-by-step tutorials for any player. Check out Steve’s instruction for the Ronaldinho/Neymar step over, knuckle balls and free kicks, how to do a hard flick over your head!

Here are a few words from the Steve:

My name is Steve Roberts and I am a UEFA qualified football coach. STRskillSchool is me and pretty much all the videos are filmed, edited and performed by myself and I am self taught in film making. I have loved football (soccer!) from a very young age. I always dreamt of being a Pro Footballer but sadly didn't make it. Two years ago I thought I would make tutorials to share with players, as the content I found was incorrect or frustrating to watch. I now have over 100 videos teaching many parts of the game, which players, coaches and parents can enjoy. I have been so overwhelmed from the worldwide support shown on my Youtube channel. I would like to thank everyone who has supported me in the past and thank you those who rallied round to help with the voting. My fans are the people who keep me motivated to create new fresh content. There are lots of new videos to come from me, so please subscribe and see what the future has to offer! Thanks again!

If you’ve enjoyed this monthly On The Rise blog series and want to see more rising YouTube partners, check out our On The Rise channel. Keep an eye out for next month’s blog post, as your channel may be the next one On The Rise!

Christine Wang and Devon Storbeck, YouTube Content Partnerships, recently watched “Birth to 12 years in 2 min. 45 sec. Time Lapse Lotte.”

America’s Got Talent YouTube auditions are back!

2012-04-25T08:00:00.000-07:00

People discover amazing talent on YouTube every day, and our friends at NBC’s America’s Got Talent are back for a third year to celebrate that. Starting today if you’re in the US, you’re invited to submit an audition video for a spot on America’s Got Talent to compete for the million dollar grand prize.

You have until June 1 at 11:59pm ET to show what you can do, and the folks from NBC will post the top 20 finalists to America’s Got Talent’s YouTube Channel. Like before, everyone around the world can then vote from June 25 to July 7 to select The YouTube People’s Choice Winner—earning a guaranteed spot on the show that's sponsored by Snapple. Maybe you’ll be the one to go a step further than opera singer Jackie Evancho, who went from YouTube contestant to second-place in 2010.

Whether you’re the best of the best or can do something the world needs to see, share your video on youtube.com/agt. You can also submit and vote for your favorite videos on your Android devices and iPhone.

Contest Info
NBC representatives will review the submissions and select the top 20 entrants. Those 20 videos will be posted to the AGT YouTube channel, where you can vote for your favorite to become The YouTube People’s Choice Winner, earning a guaranteed spot on the AGT YouTube Special episodes taping August 14 and 15. The grand finale will air on September 11 & 12. More info is available on the channel’s rules.

If you’re looking for inspiration, visit the America’s Got Talent Channel at youtube.com/agt to get an idea of the kind of creativity and talent that makes it to the show.

Sue McCauley, YouTube Entertainment & Film marketing programs manager, recently watched “America's Got Talent YouTube Special - Jackie Evancho.”

Helping every business play big on YouTube

2012-04-22T21:35:00.000-07:00

When Paul Eichen of Rokenbok Toy Company noticed that specialty toy shops were shuttering their doors, he started looking for a new way to introduce customers to his construction toy sets. Paul filmed and uploaded his first video to YouTube, and now it’s become his most effective form of advertising with 50 percent of all customers introduced to his products through YouTube.

With a global audience of 800 million monthly visitors to YouTube, every day can feel like you’re advertising in the Super Bowl, and one video can launch a business. To help even more businesses play big with video, today we’re introducing a number of new products, resources, and tools:

Google AdWords for video is now available to all. Similar to search advertising—where you pay for clicks and set budgets with bids—we created a new model for video advertising. With Google AdWords for video, you only pay when someone chooses to watch your ad, and you can create and manage video campaigns from the same platform as your search and display ads. You can create an account and start promoting your first video in less than 5 minutes. With AdWords for video you can:

Find the right audience: AdWords for video provides a range of options to reach the right audience. For example, you can promote your video by keyword to appear in YouTube search results, or you can choose to show your ad against content your customers are most interested in - such as sports or music. Connect with your audience on YouTube and the Google Display Network, which includes millions of websites. AdWords for video links to your YouTube account so you can easily start a video campaign with your existing videos.
Measure the effectiveness of your spend: On average, we’ve found that YouTube video ads drive a 20 percent increase in traffic to your website and a 5 percent increase in searches for your business (Google Campaign Insights, 2011). With AdWords for video you can find out how viewers are engaging with your brand during and after they watch your ad. You can see how many viewers watched your entire video, visited your website, stayed on your channel to watch another video, or subscribed to your channel, after viewing your ad.
Only pay for engaged views: With TrueView video ads you only pay when viewers choose to watch your ad so you aren’t charged when viewers skip your ad if they aren’t interested or have already seen your video. This means your ad budget is focused on viewers interested in your video. By displaying a call-to-action overlay on your video you can talk about a sale or specific offer to your viewers, share more information about your business, or drive traffic to your website.

$50 million in free advertising. We’re giving away $50 million in free Google AdWords advertising to help 500,000 businesses get into video. If you are new to AdWords, you can receive a $75 credit when you sign up. To put that into context, with $75 your video campaign can reach more than 1,500 of your most valuable customers on YouTube for one month. Request your free credit here.

Advertiser Playbook and support. To share best practices and tips on how video can be a core part of your business toolkit, we created a YouTube Advertiser Playbook. The Playbook covers everything from creating interesting content to promoting your video with ads. If you need help making a video, our My Business Story is a free tool you can use to create your first video. AdWords advertisers can also call our free phone support line, 866-2-GOOGLE, to get started with AdWords for video.

YouTube Ambassador program. To recognize business owners that are already using YouTube to grow their business, we’re naming 9 businesses from across the country to our first ever YouTube Ambassador program. These businesses have seen outstanding success in reaching new customers, building a brand, and engaging their fans with video. Hear their stories and learn more about the YouTube Ambassador program.

If you have a video you want to promote, get started with AdWords for video. And, join our YouTube for Marketers page on Google+ to stay up-to-date on our latest video marketing innovations.

Baljeet Singh, YouTube group product manager, recently watched “Guitar Lesson from Spinal Tap's Nigel Tufnel.”

F1 Bahrain protests intensify, Violence spreads across Syria, Discovery Space Shuttle's last flight

2012-04-20T14:04:00.000-07:00

We monitored the worsening situation in Bahrain, as protests of increasing intensity were held in Manama and protesters were hit by tear gas.
We watched the violence continue across Syria, as the head of the UN observer team described their mission as 'intractable'.
We marked 100 days until the London Olympics by watching the British capital city prepare for the biggest sporting event on Earth.
We witnessed a North Africa and the Middle East endure a week of turbulent weather.
We followed the likely GOP presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, as he showed no signs of slowing down on the US campaign trail.
We viewed NASA's space shuttle Discovery making its final journey, ferried atop a 747 from Florida to Washington DC.
We observed a massive rally in Cairo's Tahrir Square on Friday against the candidacy of a Mubarak-era director of intelligence.
We saw French presidential candidate François Hollande receive a boost in popularity as Nicolas Sarkozy was caught on camera slipping off his watch while shaking hands with supporters.
We bade a sad farewell to Levon Helm, acclaimed drummer and singer with The Band who died this week aged 71, by remembering some of his classic performances.

Come back to see the news unfold on YouTube.

Olivia Ma, YouTube News & Politics, recently watched "FW: video of up close lighting strike".

MGM Titles Roar onto YouTube and Google Play

2012-04-16T07:00:00.000-07:00

If there’s one consistent opening image moviegoers around the world know and equate with great cinema, it’s Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s Roaring Lion (a clip that has over 1 million views on YouTube). For nearly 90 years, MGM has brought some of the best and most memorable films to the silver screen. Today, through a new partnership with MGM, we’ve started adding more than 600 titles for rent to YouTube and Google Play users in the U.S. and Canada. MGM joins five of the six major studios and over ten independent movie studios, currently offering movies for rent on YouTube and Google Play.

According to a recent IHS Screen Digest study, online movie watching in the U.S. will double this year and will make up the majority of people’s home entertainment viewing. Thanks to MGM, you’ll be able to join in this trend and grab its movies online and on the go. From timeless love stories like West Side Story and Moonstruck, to sci-fi action films like The Terminator and Robocop, to modern classics like Rain Man and Rocky, you can now rediscover MGM’s moviemaking magic on Google Play and YouTube.

Thanks to our new partnership, you can now discover, share and watch MGM’s classic films on YouTube and Google Play. And keep checking back as more MGM titles will be added in the weeks ahead.

Jonathan Zepp, Manager of TV/Film Content Partnerships, recently rented "Hoosiers"

Zimmerman charged with murder, Earthquake in Indonesia, F-18 crashes into Virginia Beach apartment

2012-04-13T13:00:00.000-07:00

We watched the world's attention turn to Florida as George Zimmerman was charged with the second-degree murder of Trayvon Martin.
We saw the ground in Indonesia shake as the country was rocked by a powerful earthquake, sparking tsunami fears.
We witnessed dramatic scenes in Virginia Beach as an F-18 fighter jet crashed into an apartment block, starting a large fire.
We observed tension and doubts surrounding the first days of a Syrian ceasefire, especially after attacks on a refugee camp across the Turkish border.
We followed another twist on the US campaign trail as Rick Santorum bowed out of the race.
We were on the edge of our seats as the final day of 76th US Masters golf tournament entered a playoff, with Bubba Watson eventually donning the fabled green jacket.
We viewed Mount Etna, Europe's most active volcano, erupt for the 24th time this year.
We saw unrest in Bahrain as police fired tear gas on crowds during protests, both in support of a hunger-striker, and against the F1 Grand Prix race.
We paid tribute to legendary 60 Minutes journalist Mike Wallace, who died this week aged 93, with a compilation of some of his classic interviews.
We watched the classic London Boat Race between Oxford and Cambridge fall to pieces as a swimmer interrupted the race.

Come back to see the news unfold on YouTube.

Olivia Ma, YouTube News & Politics, recently watched "Sandstorm."

Coachella 2012 - Live on YouTube

2012-04-12T17:21:00.000-07:00

One of the best line-ups in music? Three days of live concerts? In the desert? Say yes to Coachella 2012, coming to you all weekend on YouTube!

Since 2001, the the Coachella Music and Arts festival has brought thousands of fans to southern California to kick off the music festival season in style. For the second year, YouTube will be live streaming the action, with a three day broadcast of the festival, presented by State Farm.

We’re not sure if it’s the promise of a weekend in Palm Springs, but Coachella always manages to pull together one the most impressive and diverse festival line-ups. YouTube will be streaming more than 60 artists over the weekend, including The Black Keys, Swedish House Mafia, Miike Snow, Andrew Bird, Florence + The Machine, and one of this year’s biggest breakthrough acts, Gotye.

It all begins at 3:50pm PT this Friday, and you can check Coachella’s YouTube Channel for the latest schedule.

Tim Partridge, music marketing manager, recently watched "tUnE-yArDs - ‘My Country’."

Siblings on YouTube: Cooler than a polar bear's toenails

2012-04-10T11:22:00.000-07:00

Imagine a world where Charlie did not have his brother Harry’s finger to gnaw on. Or picture a world where twin babies did not have one another to chat with. Well that is what this world would be like without siblings.

Today is National Siblings Day in the United States, a whole day set aside to appreciate, honor, and cherish your brothers and sisters (even if they do occasionally bite your finger). We decided to recognize this special day by sharing some great sibling teams working together on their YouTube Channels.

Brothers John and Hank Green, also known as the Vlogbrothers have been vlogging together for five years. Their brotherly bond runs so deep they’ve even recently launched another Channel together, Crash Course, with fun and interesting biology and history videos.

Nashville natives, and sisters, Elle and Blair Fowler began uploading simple makeup tutorials and haul videos from their bedrooms years ago. Hundreds of millions of views later this sister team is working together even more closely on a new YouTube Channel u look haute and are even hosting a reality series together, training the next generation of beauty vloggers.

Sister and brother Rebecca and Max Lando teamed up to help food lovers feed themselves in a gourmet way while on a budget. Their Channel, Working Class Foodies (part of Hungry Nation), is full of recipes and great food ideas from holiday ideas to great burger tricks.

So, if you’re lucky enough to have one...or even a few, let your siblings know how much you appreciate them today by sharing a video or even making one together.

Jessica Mason, communications associate, recently watched "TEDxAsheville - Jeff Kluger - The hidden power of siblings."

Travel businesses on YouTube make it easier to get outta town

2012-04-07T09:05:00.000-07:00

Planning to get away this spring? Want to see your destination--rather than just read about it? You’re not alone. According to our research, nearly half of all travelers watch a travel video online when planning a trip.

YouTube is full of travel-related information from how to ride the Metro in Paris on the GeoBeats Channel to packing tips from travel guru Rick Steves. For businesses looking to reach future travelers video can help visualize destinations and services. Check out a few travel businesses already turning video views into reservations.

Take, for example, Airbnb, a travel business connecting hosts (property managers and owners willing to open their homes to guests) with travelers looking for a home away from home. Their YouTube Channel has gained a large following and millions of video views. By clearly illustrating what they offer and how their service works through how-to videos, such as "How to Airbnb," they’ve gained credibility and established trust with an active community of intrepid travelers.

As Virgin America announces more U.S. routes they’re using their YouTube Channel to get the word out. Their videos are full of their characteristic quirky humor, like when the infamous Greenman character from “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” made an appearance in their video announcing Virgin America’s new Philadelphia route.

With white sandy beaches and sparkling blue waters, the Nassau Paradise Island Promotion Board seems like an obvious fit for online video. But they use video to do more than tempt dreamers looking to escape winter weather. The board uses ads on YouTube to quickly spread relevant news. For example, when an airline recently added new nonstop flights from New York to Nassau, the board was able to show ads about this route to viewers in the New York area - ensuring that they reached the right people with relevant news.

We hope your business can use some of these tips to make your next video campaign take flight! You can learn more about promoting your business, content or cause with online video by joining our conversation on Google+ and adding the YouTube for marketers Google+ page to your circles.

Baljeet Singh, group product manager on video monetization at Google, recently watched "DollarShaveClub.com - Our Blades Are F***ing Great."

Tornadoes in Texas, Storms in Japan, Final Four riots

2012-04-06T15:20:00.000-07:00

We watched hellish scenes in Texas as a number of tornadoes were recorded tearing through the Dallas area.
We saw the most powerful storms in 50 years claim the lives of two people in Japan, and injure 160.
We were shocked at the behavior of some University of Kentucky Wildcats fans as they rioted on Saturday night after a 'Final Four' victory over Louisville.
We witnessed a plane crash shortly after take off in Siberia, leading to the deaths of 32 passengers.
We followed the GOP candidates on the US campaign trail, as Mitt Romney took another decisive step towards the Republican nomination with a hat-trick of wins on Tuesday.
We marked a historic day in Myanmar as voters celebrated the election of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi into parliament.
We observed riot police and Greek protesters clashing after angry demonstrations that followed a pensioner's public suicide.
We viewed protests and concern for detained Bahraini hunger striker Abdulhadi Al Khawaja as his hunger strike headed towards 60 days.
We felt the sense anticipation build in London as many test events got underway during final preparations for the London 2012 Olympics.
We witnessed the Mega Millions lottery jackpot hitting $640 million, with the first winning ticket confirmed as being sold in Maryland.

Come back to see the news unfold on YouTube.

Olivia Ma, YouTube News & Politics, recently watched "First Video:F-18 Navy Jet Crashes into Virginia Beach Apartment".

Check out the nominees for April’s “On The Rise” spotlight!

2012-04-06T09:00:00.000-07:00

Each month, we identify four YouTube partners whose Channels have experienced significant growth and are on the cusp of really taking off for our On The Rise program. In April, we’re showcasing partners in the performance, beauty, sports and film industries. None of them have hit the 100,000 subscriber mark just yet, but they’ve already built significant followings on YouTube.

You can help them get closer though, starting with the opportunity for one of these partners to be featured on the YouTube homepage. Check out the videos below and vote for your favorite in the top right corner of this blog. In addition to your votes, each Channel will be evaluated (by YouTube) on criteria such as viewer engagement and Channel optimization techniques to decide which partner will be featured on the homepage, Google+, Facebook and Twitter at the end of the month.

In past months On The Rise nominees, partners like marydoodles and AnyoneButMeWebSeries have gained many subscribers thanks to your support. The poll will be open until April 13 at 5pm PT, so don’t forget to vote for your favorite Channel. Check back to see who secured the homepage feature on April 26th.

anaheimballet
The resident ballet company of Anaheim, CA, since 1997, the Anaheim Ballet hosts classical ballet performances and provides dance education. The school and company are non-profit organizations, and they produce weekly videos for their YouTube Channel.

nurberxo
Want makeup and styling inspiration, or advice about how to present yourself effectively? Nur’s beauty channel is worth browsing for both, giving you holistic beauty advice.

strskillschool
Steve Roberts has been coaching sports in the UK for over 12 years. His passion is soccer (or football, if you’d like), and his sports coaching company’s channel provides excellent tips for how to improve your techniques.

ultraslo
The Ultraslo production company and channel were founded by a two-time Emmy Award winner Alan Teitel. As the name suggests, these videos showcase slow-motion subjects ranging from action sports to insects.

If you’re interested in checking out more rising YouTube Partners, visit our On The Rise Channel, which features nominees, trending partners and monthly blog winners.

Devon Storbeck and Christine Wang, YouTube Partner Support, recently watched “Improv Everywhere: Quadruplets.”

How we’re making even more 3D video available on YouTube

2012-04-05T05:00:00.000-07:00

Last year we kicked off a beta feature that let creators convert YouTube videos into 3D with a click, and since then you’ve converted hundreds of thousands of your videos to 3D. Today we’re expanding the beta to all of you by adding automatic 3D conversion for short-form videos uploaded in 1080p. Meaning, you can select 3D viewing in the Quality settings (click on the gear icon) on the YouTube player, then pop on your 3D glasses and see YouTube in another dimension. Here’s one of our favorites:

How it works

To give you more dimension on 3D, here’s some background how the conversion technology works at YouTube. Since last September we’ve been constantly improving the underlying technology, which now uses several techniques:

We use a combination of video characteristics such as color, spatial layout and motion to estimate a depth map for each frame of a monoscopic video sequence
We use machine learning from the growing number of true 3D videos on YouTube to learn video depth characteristics and apply them in depth estimation
The generated depth map and the original monoscopic frame create a stereo 3D left-right pair, that a stereo display system needs to display a video as 3D

With this broader knowledge of 3D conversion, we then apply cloud computing scalability to make conversion possible across even more videos on YouTube. Breaking up a video into tiny chunks of data and processing them in parallel on Google’s cloud infrastructure lets us process these videos, while still producing the quality you expect.

We’d love to hear your feedback and other 3D features you’d like to see. With 4D, 5D and 6D around the corner there’s lots more we can do!

Deb Mukherjee, technical staff, and Chen Wu, software engineer, recently watched "YouTube Rewind 2011" in 3D!

Coming Soon to YouTube and Google Play: Hundreds of Movies from Paramount Pictures

2012-04-04T05:01:00.004-07:00

When it comes to movie rentals, we’ve been focused on adding as many of your favorite movies as possible. Today we’re pleased to announce a new licensing agreement with Paramount Pictures which will bring nearly 500 new movie titles to YouTube and Google Play over the next few weeks to people in the U.S. and Canada.

Whether you're a fan of a five-time Oscar winning movie about a boy’s adventures in Paris, everyday vehicles that change into terrifying robots, a charming high school slacker who takes a day off from school, or the most perfect mafia trilogy ever made, YouTube and Google Play will have what you’re looking for thanks to Paramount.

Celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, Paramount has been responsible for some of the most memorable films in cinema history. With the addition of Paramount, we now have five of the six major studios and over ten independent movie studios offering nearly 9,000 movies for rent to millions of people around the world. It’s still early days for us, and we’ll continue adding new titles and expanding our service to more countries this year.

Many of these movies are available today, and the rest will be added to YouTube and Google Play over the next few months. So grab your popcorn, sit back and press play.

Malik Ducard, Director of Content Partnerships at YouTube, recently rented, “Coming to America”

Introducing MusicBeautyLife, Next Beauty Guru Contest winner

2012-04-02T06:00:00.000-07:00

Back in January, we kicked off The Next Beauty Guru Contest on YouTube Destination Beauty, a chance for one YouTube creator to take the next step in their beauty career.

Today we want to introduce you to Dianna Hampton, MusicBeautyLife on YouTube, who’s the winner of the Next Beauty Guru contest sponsored by L’Oréal USA. Dianna’s technique and easy-to-follow tutorial helped us learn how to go from bare face to glamour and grace. Here’s her video:

While Dianna is off to NYC for pampering at L’Oréal USA and a receiving a year’s supply of L’Oréal Paris products, you can expect to see much more from MusicBeautyLife on YouTube.

Thank you to all of the talented experts who applied to be The Next Beauty Guru, and for more beauty goodness, subscribe to YouTube Destination Beauty.

Jamie Reichstein, lifestyle program manager, recently watched “A Heartwarming Military Reunion."