YouTube Blog

Tornadoes in the U.S. Midwest, Super Tuesday, Elections in Russia

2012-03-09T09:48:00.005-08:00

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 record flooding in New South Wales and Northern Victoria force the evacuation of thousands from their homes in the region.
We observed a high-ranking defection in the Syrian government, as deputy Oil Minister Abdo Hussameldin quit his post saying he could not go on "serving the crimes of this regime."
We watched Vladimir Putin secure the presidency of Russia for a third time, amid heavy protests at alleged electoral fraud.
We were pummeled by a geomagnetic storm of charged particles after two unusually large solar flares erupted from the sun.
We followed the GOP candidates during one of the high points of the US campaign trail: Super Tuesday. Of the ten states on offer, Mitt Romney took six, Rick Santorum took three and Newt Gingrich took one.
We watched protesters rally against possible military action in Iran, as Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu held talks with in Washington DC with President Barack Obama.
We witnessed fast-moving twisters devastate America's heartland as homes, school buildings and as prison were destroyed by the powerful tornadoes.
We marked International Women's Day with a variety of profiles, messages, and historical facts on women that were uploaded to YouTube for the occasion.
And finally, we waited eagerly with the rest of the world to see what exactly Apple had up their sleeve at the unveiling of the new iPad.

Come back next week to see the news unfold on YouTube.

Olivia Ma, YouTube News and Politics, recently watched "Two massive solar flares erupt from the sun."

Help our March “On The Rise” nominees reach the homepage

2012-03-08T09:00:00.000-08:00

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. This March, our nominees include a chef, an artist, a prankster and producers. We’re excited to bring you some fledgling partners who still have a ways to go to hit the 100,000 subscriber mark - even if you haven’t heard of them yet, we think you’ll enjoy what they bring to the YouTube table.

And you can help them reach their growth goals, starting with the opportunity for one of these partners to be featured on the YouTube homepage. Check out their 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 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, partners like CaliforniaTravelTips and marydoodles have gained many subscribers thanks to your support. The poll will be open until March 15th at 5pm PT, so don’t forget to vote for your favorite Channel. Check back to see who secured the homepage feature on March 29th.

danispies
Dani is a self-proclaimed health conscious foodie who focuses on creating nutritious and flavorful recipes that are simple to make. She’s also a certified nutrition counselor and fitness trainer. Check out her channel to learn how to make baked sweet potato fries, pan-seared tilapia, roasted chickpeas and more!

Banzchan
Banzchan is managed by Robert de Jesus, a long-time anime manga fan who’s spent years perfecting his illustration, animation, and writing skills. His videos feature real-time drawings of your favorite anime (and YouTube partner!) stars.

overboardhumor
Garrett of Overboardhumor is a prankster who has come up with some crazy ways to take people by surprise. He has driven a couch through a drive through and handed out pieces of birthday cake to strangers. Check out his videos for a good laugh.

AnyoneButMeWebSeries
Anyone But Me is an acclaimed web series centered around common teenage concerns like fighting stereotypes and doing the right thing. Though it’s just about to wrap up after three seasons, you can get an introduction to this award-winning drama and even watch the complete series on the ABM YouTube Channel.

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 “'Fresh Guacamole' - PES - YouTube.”

Welcome to your new YouTube channel

2012-03-07T15:00:00.000-08:00

Making it easier to connect with the content you love was the aim of the redesigned homepage and channel layouts we launched in December of last year. You can now start with a video you love, discover and follow a whole channel of great content from that creator or curator, and organize all the channels you love in a homepage that's always updated with the new videos you'll want to watch.

Since these updates, the data shows we’re onto something:

Daily unique visits to channels have increased by 60 percent since December 2011
Daily net subscriptions are up 50 percent since December 2011

Today is the next step in the new YouTube look and feel we launched in December, where all channels will be updated to the new layout. What does this mean for you? Well, for starters, you’ll now see every channel organized into one of four channel templates customized to suit different types of creators:

We’ve also built new ways to help you stay more engaged with the channels you love. For example, the Channel Feed shows you all the videos uploaded to a channel, as well as playlists and Liked videos across YouTube. The channel feed makes it clear what you’ll get if you subscribe. When you do, this feed will also be published on your homepage so you can keep up with all the latest activity from your favorite channels.

On the topic of features — a big thank you for all your feedback that we’ve incorporated over the past six months. You’ve helped us learn what works and what needs improvement as we evolved the design over time. Your feedback continues to drive updates and new features, and for all of you creators, here are a few updates to note:

You wanted the ability to feature content prominently so we added a Featured tab and subsequently improved it with more templates and a search feature to help you program it more easily
You told us having Favorites more accessible was important to you, so we turned it into a customizable part of your channel
You wanted to link your +Page or your Google+ Profile to your channel, so we added this option

If you’re a YouTube creator, check out our post from last week with tips on making your channel look awesome, as well as the YouTube Creator Blog for regular updates on ways to improve your channel and connect with other creators.

The YouTube Team

And the Next Causes are...

2012-03-07T09:06:00.000-08:00

Last month we announced YouTube Next Cause: a new program designed to help nonprofit organizations that are already changing the world better use online video to drive action.

We were honored, inspired and deeply moved by many of the applications we received.

We are proud to introduce you to some members of the first class of YouTube Next Cause: 20 organizations who’ve demonstrated passion and huge potential for using YouTube to further their causes.

The organizations come from big cities and small towns across the country from Illinois to Colorado to Texas to California and many work all over the world. They also work on variety of issues from animal abuse to homelessness to poverty alleviation to children’s health.

Check out these great organizations:

Autism Speaks
Children's Hospital Boston
IFAW - International Fund for Animal Welfare
Sunlight Foundation
BuildOn
American Heart Association
CARE
American Foundation for Equal Rights
Malaria No More
The Humane Society of the United States
The Pablove Foundation
COTS - Committee on the Shelterless
Durango Discovery Museum
Save Mount Diablo
Art Resources in Teaching
breakthrough
Per Scholas
The Supply
Born Free USA
The Lazarex Cancer Foundation

Stay tuned to this blog for more updates from the YouTube Next Cause channels, and learn more about other programs helping partners grow at the YouTube Creator Hub.

Jessica Mason, communications associate, recently watched “The Story of Keep Calm and Carry On”

Looking ahead in the YouTube player

2012-03-06T14:30:00.000-08:00

Pssst! We’ve got a surprise — we want to give you a sneak peek to videos on YouTube.

Years ago we created a way to link to a certain moment on a video, which let you find, share and comment on just your favorite parts. Now we’re expanding that control even more. Over the coming weeks, you’ll be able to see an image preview or a series of thumbnails with three new features on our video player. So whether you’re sneaking a peek ahead, scanning backwards, or using a thumbnail to find where you stopped watching a video, you’ll soon have three options to instantly look through YouTube videos. Here’s how each works:

Taking a sneak peek
So excited (or maybe so scared) that you want to find what happens later in the video? Hover your mouse over the seek bar and a thumbnail of that moment will appear, and you can click to start watching from that moment.

Scanning through thumbnails
Let’s say you started a video but had to come back and finish it later. You thought you were the middle of the video when main character looks dramatically into the camera, or maybe it was the shocking look from the supporting character a few seconds ago. Now you can drag the handle along the seek bar to show a filmstrip of thumbnails of previous and upcoming scenes.

Zooming in on long videos
If you’re watching a video that’s longer than 90 minutes, like one of the growing list of movies on YouTube, you’ll see an added feature that lets you zoom in on the seek bar, one and a half minutes at a time. This second bar that appears gives you more granularity for finding that exact moment you want on a long video. Check out Life in a Day to see how it works.

With an hour of video uploaded to YouTube every second, we’ve got a lot of sneak peeks to get ready on YouTube, and not every video will have this feature available at launch. Let us know what you think as you start seeing these features around the site.

Nundu Janakiram, product manager, recently watched “Brush With Death.”

Super Tuesday Coverage, Live and from the Trail

2012-03-06T06:00:00.001-08:00

The election season heats up today as voters in ten states -- with a total of 419 delegates at stake -- head to the polls to cast a ballot in the GOP primary.

We’ve been following the race closely on YouTube, featuring this cycle’s trending videos, political advertisements and campaign highlights on youtube.com/politics. Tonight, you can watch live coverage from the Wall Street Journal, whose top editors and reporters will be providing commentary and analysis as the results come in.

Tune in to youtube.com/wsj starting at 7pm ET to follow the evening’s returns.

And if you’re in one of the ten states holding a primary or caucus today, we’d love to see your videos! For those on the campaign trail documenting the political process at work, you can upload your videos to YouTube using a new mobile app created by the team at Storyful. Available for both Android and iOS, Storyful Direct is an easy way to share your videos with Storyful, who will be choosing a selection to be featured on YouTube and google.com/elections.

Even if you don’t live in a state that’s holding a primary tomorrow, Storyful Direct can be used to document your experience during the run-up to the Presidential election in November.

Olivia Ma, YouTube News and Politics, recently watched “The Fix: What's at stake on Super Tuesday?"

Motorsports brands kick into high gear on YouTube

2012-03-05T12:03:00.000-08:00

Having spent years living in North Carolina, I witnessed first-hand the passion of NASCAR and motorsports fans. So it’s not surprising that auto and motorcycle racing videos are some of the most searched and viewed on YouTube. Now that racing season is in full swing with the first Daytona 500 kicking off just days ago, fans have plenty to discover on YouTube - making it the ideal arena for marketers to capture consumer attention. Here are a few brands making the most of fan interest online.

Like many businesses, RevZilla, an online retailer of motorcycle riding gear, dove into video production with nothing more than a Flip camera and an idea. While they have a showroom in Philadelphia, they were challenged to reach their online customers' need to “look under the hood” of motorcycle gear. So they turned to video to showcase detailed breakdowns of motorcycle gear -- from helmets to gloves and riding jackets, and share their deep product knowledge and how-to content.

Meanwhile GoPro, the makers of HD video cameras and accessories, use racer’s eye view of tracks like the Infineon Raceway captured by CEO Nicholas Woodman to reach fans. By building a library of videos created by the people using their cameras, GoPro was able to provide the ultimate product demo to their audience.

Even racing greats like Richard Petty of The Richard Petty Driving Experience are on YouTube to give customers a behind-the-wheel look at racing 165 mph in a NASCAR race car. The Richard Petty Driving Experience pushed the sales needle by creating a Summer of Speed package they promoted during slow summer months with YouTube video ads.

With millions of auto enthusiasts and racing fans coming to YouTube for entertainment, try out some of these ways to reach people on YouTube. Happy riding!

Baljeet Singh, group product manager on video monetization at Google, recently watched “Team Hot Wheels - The Yellow Driver's World Record Jump”

Syria approves new constitution, tornadoes ravage Mid-West, Breitbart dies age 43

2012-03-02T14:30:00.000-08:00

We monitored events in Syria, where the populace said a resounding yes to a new constitution and Red Cross continued their attempts to evacuate the wounded from Homs.
We saw a string of tornadoes across the US Midwest claim the lives of at least twelve people, injure hundreds and destroy countless properties.
We were saddened to hear of the death of conservative journalist Andrew Breitbart, who died of unexpected natural causes, aged 43, while walking this week.
We observed thousands in Moscow protest against Vladimir Putin by forming a human chain that encircled the inner city.
We followed the remaining GOP candidates on the US campaign trail as Mitt Romney claimed victories in Arizona and his home state of Michigan.
We were shocked as another US school was plunged into violence with the deaths of three students in a shooting at Chardon High School, Ohio.
We watched the ailing Costa Allegra, sister ship of the Costa Concordia, being towed back to the Seychelles after a serious engine fire.
We witnessed police and bailiffs evict members of Occupy London from their base at St. Paul's Cathedral.
We remembered with a heavy heart some of the greatest music of the 1960's, as Monkees heart-throb Davy Jones passed away, aged 66.
Finally, we saw all the glitz and glamour of Hollywood, as the world's biggest movie stars came together for the 84th Academy Awards.

Come back next week to see the news unfold on YouTube.

Olivia Ma, YouTube News and Politics, recently watched "New Worry on Global Warming: Mass Shrinkage".

Are you a brainiac? Take the YouTube EDU Pop Quiz

2012-03-02T08:02:00.000-08:00

As Chris Anderson, founder of TED, said, “Tomorrow's best teachers will be global stars reaching literally millions of kids”. We believe that the next generation of great teachers will come from all walks of life - they might be popular vloggers, lifelong educators, popular scientists, or journalists - and we’re working hard to get them sharing their knowledge on YouTube EDU. To highlight the breadth and depth of awesome educational content we have on the site today, we worked with some of our newest YouTube EDU partners to put together an interactive game testing your smarts.

At the end of the video you’ll be asked a question which you should answer using the annotations embedded in the video. This will automatically take you on to the answer, and to the next question. The quiz has five questions in total, each from a different YouTube EDU partner, and then at the end you’ll receive your score. Enough description though - go play (and learn)!

Will Houghteling, YouTube EDU, recently watched “How Web Video Powers Global Innovation”.

How to upgrade to the new YouTube channels look

2012-03-01T12:00:00.000-08:00

You work hard on your channel and your videos, so we’re doing the same on making channels look their best on YouTube. That’s why in December, we launched an updated look and new templates for channels, as well as features across the site to keep you better connected with the channels you enjoy.

Like a great symphony, these channels and features work best when everyone is playing on the same page. So that’s why we’re encouraging you to update your channel to the new look, and by March 7 we’ll be updating everyone. If you have a YouTube channel and 15 minutes today, select the “Try the new design” button on the top of your channel page that will give you step-by-step instructions for updating.

The step-by-step was a good start, but I want more info. Whatcha got?

Use this Checklist to make sure you have the main parts of your channel covered
Want to do more? The YouTube Creator Playbook has a special section just for improving your channel, as well as a ton of YouTube tips from the best in the biz
Still have questions? Stop by the Help Center for more answers

Why the change?
We know how hard it is to find great content on YouTube (you’re uploading 60 hours of video per minute), so when viewers find your channel we want to help you keep them there, and keep them coming back. All uploaders are not the same, so now you have four different templates to best suit your needs: Creator, Blogger, Network and Everything. With the old design, it wasn’t always easy for viewers to browse your channel. However, we loved parts of the old channels design too (heck, many hours and Red Bulls were consumed to build it), like your ability to feature content. So we’ve enabled a new Featured Tab that offers you the ability to keep doing that.

I’m freaking out — please don’t change this!
We know change is never easy, especially when it’s something you’ve spent lots of time and effort on. Even more, there are human beings at YouTube who look at every piece of feedback, bucket them into categories, and work with product teams to address them each week. So whenever you see a blue "Send Feedback" link, know that that's not some decorative ornament. It's for real. So give your feedback because we (humans) need it to keep creating ways for YouTube to showcase your channels.

The YouTube team

Watch a star-studded reading of the play '8' live on YouTube this Saturday night

2012-03-01T05:00:00.003-08:00

Editor’s note: From time to time we invite guests to the blog to talk about a topic of interest. We’re thrilled to have Rob Reiner, actor and director, join us today.

I want to invite you to come to YouTube on Saturday, March 3, to watch a reading of a powerful new play, 8, about marriage equality and the Proposition 8 trial.

The play, written by Academy Award winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black (Milk), is an account of the case filed by the American Foundation for Equal Rights (AFER) in the U.S. District Court in 2010 to overturn Proposition 8, a constitutional amendment that eliminated the rights of same-sex couples to marry in the state of California. Framed around the trial's historic closing arguments in June 2010, 8 provides an intimate look at what unfolded when the issue of same-sex marriage was put on trial in the U.S.

At the time of the trial, the Supreme Court ruled against allowing cameras in the courtroom, preventing anyone outside the court from witnessing the proceedings. Today, we’re able to give people around the world a look at what happened behind closed doors via the live stream of this reading of 8 on AFER’s YouTube channel.

I hope you'll join me, George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Martin Sheen, Kevin Bacon, Jane Lynch, Matthew Morrison, Jamie Lee Curtis and others who will be performing in the West Coast premiere this Saturday evening at 7:45pm PT (pre-show begins at 7:30pm PT). Tune in to youtube.com/americanequalrights to watch the event live streamed from the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles, Calif.

Rob Reiner, director of 8 and founding board member of AFER, recently watched “Prop 8 Unconstitutional: The Highlight Reel”.

Versus: liberating opinion with Google+ Hangouts

2012-03-01T03:00:00.000-08:00

Whether enabling voters to interview their President, or connect underwater in a project to photograph the ocean floor, Google+ Hangouts are being used in amazing ways. Not only do Hangouts have the ability to connect people on opposite sides of the planet, they can also connect people on opposing sides of the social and political spectrum. We’re delighted to announce that a new series of global debates, that will be live streamed on YouTube, will do exactly that.

Versus, from Intelligence²—an organization committed to revitalizing the art of live debate—will give you the chance to question people who are close to the decisions being made on topical issues, on both sides of the debate. Real-time voting on the channel will also let the speakers know how their arguments are resonating with viewers.

The first motion to be debated is “It’s time to end the War on Drugs.” The debate will air diverse opinions from the likes of +Richard Branson, +Russell Brand, +Julian Assange, and experts such as the former Presidents from Mexico and Brazil, among others. BBC newsreader and presenter +Emily Maitlis will chair the debate.

The debate will be streamed live on the Versus YouTube channel on March 13 at 7pm GMT. From now until then, we invite you to discuss the issues and join the debate on the Versus page, where you’ll also find out how you could have the chance to secure a place in the live debate hangout.

Anna Bateson, director of YouTube marketing, EMEA, recently watched "Richard Branson: No More Drug War (2011 International Drug Policy Reform Conference)."

Meet marydoodles, our February YouTube Partner On The Rise

2012-02-28T15:13:00.001-08:00

This year’s not-so-short month of February brought us lots of talented YouTube Partners as part of our monthly "On The Rise" program, and in the end, marydoodles, was the partner featured on today's YouTube homepage.

Mary Gutfleisch came to Los Angeles by way of Minnesota and Chicago, and now spends her days making props and costumes for Epic Rap Battles of History. But her true passion is making pictures - her work spans techniques such as watercolor painting, pen and ink, and chalk drawings. And the subjects of Mary’s work are just as varied: she’s covered dragons, teddy bears, zombie-style self portraits, and she’s even captured the elusive narwhal.

Here are a few words from Mary:

First off, I’d love to give a big shout out to every single teacher who caught me drawing in their class but never made me stop. It was very rude of me. I apologize. I’ve always loved creating art and I LOVE movies and making videos! So to be able to combine the two...it feels like the best Christmas ever and it’s not even Christmas. And the most amazing thing is that this is all supported by many many many individuals (like yourself) who watch. So thank YOU! And thanks to the folks at YouTube for recognizing my channel and to all my friends over at Epic Rap Battles of History for letting me ride your coattails (I will dry clean your coat). It’s awesome to be able to connect with other artists and fans alike and I hope to inspire you as much as you’ve inspired me. Art is more accessible now than ever before and I feel lucky to be able to sharedji/kjmOMG! I JUST SPILLED HOT TEA ALL OVER MY ARM!!!

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 Partner Support, recently watched "The Orangutan and the Hound."

TED’s 10 Ads Worth Spreading winners announced today

2012-02-28T15:00:00.001-08:00

Today’s guest blog post comes from Ronda Carnegie, Head of Global Partnerships at TED.

Last October, we at TED set out to recognize the best in advertising with a program called Ads Worth Spreading. We wanted to find and honor clever, engaging ads that clearly communicated a company’s ideas, sparked thoughtful conversation about advertising, and advocated for audiences, who want to be entertained, not interrupted. Agencies and industry luminaries were invited to submit nominations via YouTube.

The winners of the second Ads Worth Spreading initiative were announced moments ago at the TED Conference in Long Beach, CA. This year’s 10 winners were carefully curated to shine a spotlight on ads that break the mold through longer-form, idea-based storytelling; were driven by ideas; value human attention and intelligence, and take the time to tell a thought-provoking story.

Entries ranged from 30-second spots to five-minute mini-documentaries, as well as several custom-made TED Talk-like pieces humanizing companies and causes. The winning work will be showcased at TED2012 as well as on TED.com and you can watch them all here on YouTube. Enjoy the full list of winners below!

The 2011/12 Ads Worth Spreading are:

Chipotle: Back to the Start; Company: Chipotle; Agency: Creative Artists Agency
As he regrets the mass production and artificial methods of his industrial animal factory, a determined farmer opts to return to sustainable farming methods for the future and betterment of society.

Citizen Engagement: The Return of Ben Ali; Brand: Engagement Citoyen; Agency: Memac Ogilvy Tunisia
Although former Dictator of Tunisia President Ben Ali was ousted amidst the chaos of the Tunisian Revolution, many quickly lost interest in politics. In order to galvanize the Tunisian people out of hibernation, La Goulette shocked residents by warning the return of tyranny. 88% turned up for the October 23rd vote.

NTT Docomo Mobile Phone: Xylophone; Brand: NTT Docomo, Inc.; Agency: Drill Inc.
Organic and imaginative, NTT Docomo captures the essence of their new mobile phone to redefine nature and technology.

Microsoft/Xbox: Kinect Effect; Brand: Microsoft / Xbox; Agency: Twofifteenmccann
Pushing the realm of imagination and technology, the Kinect takes a leap into the future of education, gaming and interaction

Sharpie: Start with Sharpie; Brand: Sharpie; Agency: Draftfbc - Chicago
Cheeming Boey, builds a career around drawing on cups with Sharpies. His inspirational story is one of creativity and drive, challenging those who tried to taint his dream.

Mazda: Defy Convention; Brand: Mazda; Agency: Team Cosmos/JWT Germany/Team Mazda Europe     This moving advertisement shows how their heritage helps Mazda to see things differently and overcome adversity.

L'Oreal Paris: Aimee Mullins; Brand: L'Oreal Paris; Agency: R/GA and McCann Erickson
L’Oreal’s new beauty ambassador knows a lot about challenging notions of perceived beauty and achievement, as the wearer of double prosthetic legs.

Rethink Breast Cancer: Your Man Reminder; Brand: Rethink Breast Cancer; Agency: john st.
A tongue-in-cheek assertion that women are more likely to watch a video if it features a ‘hot guy’ underpins the serious message of this video.

Prudential Day One: Linda; Brand: Prudential; Agency: Droga5
Linda Gutherie reveals the thought process and life changes behind retirement as she shares her first day of retirement.

Canal +: The Bear; Brand: Canal+; Agency: BETC Euro RSCG
A bear skin rug that becomes a movie director? Just watch it ;-)

Guest to the YouTube Blog Ronda Carnegie, Head of Global Partnerships at TED, recently watched “Back to the Start”.

Michael Fassbender and Your Film Festival

2012-02-28T12:00:00.000-08:00

On February 2, we opened submissions to Your Film Festival, a competition to find the world's best storytellers and connect them with a global audience. Created in partnership with Ridley Scott and Scott Free London, the Venice Film Festival, and Emirates, Your Film Festival will send 10 finalists, as chosen by you, to the 2012 Venice Film Festival where a grand prize winner will receive $500,000 to work on their next project.

Today, we'd like to introduce the newest member of the Your Film Festival team, award-winning actor Michael Fassbender.

Fassbender joins Ridley Scott as a Your Film Festival juror, as well as co-executive producer on the winner's grand prize project. This means that he and Ridley will work together to produce the winner’s next film project! With credits including Shame, X-Men: First Class, 300 and Inglorious Basterds, Michael brings world-class experience ranging from some of the biggest blockbusters to the most critically acclaimed indies.

If you haven't submitted yet, consider this your 1-month warning. Submissions close on March 31 at midnight ET. For more information, check out the Your Film Festival channel.

Good luck!

Nate Weinstein, entertainment marketing manager, recently watched “Kevin Allocca: Why videos go viral.”

Captions for all: more options for your viewing and reading pleasure

2012-02-28T06:00:00.001-08:00

Since we first announced caption support in 2006, YouTube creators have uploaded more than 1.6 million videos with captions, growing steadily each year. We’ve also enabled automatic captions for 135 million videos, more than tripling the number of captioned videos available since July 2011. YouTube and Google’s video accessibility team have been hard at work, and we wanted to let you know about some of our progress over the past few months:

For YouTube viewers

More languages: We now support automatic captions and transcript synchronization in Japanese, Korean, and English. Speech recognition for those languages makes it easier for video owners to create captions from a plain transcript. Video owners can also add captions and subtitles in 155 supported languages and dialects, from Afar to Zulu. In Movies and Shows, you can even find out which subtitle languages are available before deciding to rent.

Search for videos with captions: Looking for that great quote from a video on YouTube? Add ", cc" to any search, or after searching, click Filter > CC to only see results with closed captions.

Caption settings: While watching a video, you can change the way the captions look by clicking on the “CC” icon and then the “Settings...” menu item. This includes changing the font size or colors used, and we’re planning to make this available on other platforms and add more options soon.

Broadcast caption support: If the channel owner provides a video caption file in a broadcast format, we now support its position and style information, just like you’d see on TV. This means the text can appear near the character who is speaking, italicized to indicate an off-camera narrator, or even scrolling if the original captions were generated in a real-time mode. Check out this little demo from CPC to see how it looks, or even watch a rental movie with captions like those available from The Walt Disney Studios.

For YouTube creators

More supported formats: YouTube now supports many of the common caption formats used by broadcasters, such as .SCC, .CAP, EBU-STL, and others. If you have closed captions that you created for TV or DVDs, we'll handle the conversion for you.

MPEG-2 caption import: If you upload an MPEG-2 video file that contains closed captions with CEA-608 encoding, we'll import the captions along with the video and create YouTube captions. For example, the nonprofit organization Public.Resource.Org recently added thousands of public domain videos with closed captions to YouTube, coming from government agencies like the National Archives. Here’s some insight from Carl Malamud, President, Public.Resource.Org:

Many of the DVDs and VHS tapes lying around in our vaults and attics--particularly those that were produced by governments and others that care about accessibility of their videos--already have Closed Captions embedded in them. Pulling that information out automatically and making it visible on YouTube means that these videos will continue to be accessible to new generations of viewers.

Along with the millions of people like myself who rely on captions and subtitles, we were very encouraged when the Federal Communications Commission published rules governing closed captioning requirements for video on the web, whether that’s to your computer, tablet, phone or other device. We hope these new regulations will drive captions closer to becoming ubiquitous for video everywhere, and in the meantime we’ll keep developing more ways for you to enjoy all the great channels on YouTube.

Ken Harrenstien, software engineer, recently rented “Cars 2” and was ecstatic to see its awesome captions.

This week's top news on YouTube: Journalists killed in Homs, soldiers killed in Afghanistan riots, Buenos Aires train crash

2012-02-24T15:37:00.000-08:00

We were shocked at the deaths of legendary war correspondent Marie Colvin and award-winning photographer Remi Ochlik, as well as citizen journalist Rami al-Sayed, who were killed while working to document what was happening inside Syria.
We heard pleas for help from two injured journalists, Edith Bouvier of Le Figaro and Paul Conroy of the Sunday Times, who are still trapped in Homs.
We witnessed riots in Afghanistan that left two US soldiers dead, sparked by the burning of religious texts by NATO troops.
We followed the GOP candidates engage in what could be their last debate on the US campaign trail, while Mitt Romney continued to be dogged by controversy.
We saw carnage in Buenos Aires as a train slammed into the platform at Once Station, killing dozens and injuring hundreds.
We watched the frozen River Danube, which caused trade along the river to be disrupted, begin to thaw, causing problems of its own.
We observed mixed emotions as Yemenis turned out to vote in their presidential elections, even though there was only one name on the ballot card; vice president Abdurabu Mansur Hadi.
We viewed the skiing world mourn the loss of three of its members, who were killed in a Washington State avalanche.
And finally, we celebrated Carnival in style with Brazil, as cities like Rio de Janeiro were packed with music and revellers.

Will Houghteling, YouTube Marketing, recently watched 'Us Placers'.

Get More Into: Australia’s Laneway Festival

2012-02-24T08:00:00.000-08:00

Since we missed Music Tuesday this week, we wanted to take you back to Australia for another dose of the local music scene. Enjoy!

From big-time dream-pop to big-haired rock & roll, there are plenty of reasons to love festival season in the Southern hemisphere. Following the pumped up kicks, rockabilly licks, and modern-day lullabies that brought sold out crowds across Australia for Big Day Out, we spent the day hanging at St. Jerome’s Laneway Festival in Sydney. What began as a packed side-alley show in Melbourne has quickly developed into a national touring event and a favourite summer festival.

Between sets in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide, Auckland, and Singapore, here’s what some of Laneway’s biggest names had to say about touring down under, the Laneway vibe, and their favorite inspirational acts on YouTube:

The Horrors get into psychadelic pop and out-of-this world sounds of Connan Mockasin
Multi-instrumentalist, arranger, producer and vocalist Jonti talks big beats and big sounds of Flying Lotus
Hear what outstanding female vocalist have inspired The Drums to come together as a band
Recorded in their same hometown, Twin Shadows’ At My Heels brings laughs & tears to electronic pop duo Chairlift
M83, known the world over for reverb effects and loud instrumentals, has his first encounter with the electronic music of Jean Michel Jarre

The Laneway crew’s just completed their tour but you can enjoy your own little taste of this iconic Australian festival right here on YouTube.

Ernesto Soriano III, YouTube Australia, recently watched “Toro y Moi ‘Still Sound’.”

Four new Indian languages on YouTube: Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam and Telugu

2012-02-23T12:00:00.009-08:00

YouTube opened its doors in India in May 2008, and since then we’ve been working to make YouTube accessible for the entire Indian population — and its 30 regional languages. Beyond Hindi and English, we’ve added Urdu, Marathi, Bengali, and Tamil over the years, and today we’re welcoming four more to YouTube.

Now you can navigate the site in Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam and Telugu, which are spoken by almost 200 million Indians. This also brings the total of available languages on YouTube to 58.

For Telugu, we have more than 100 films of Tollywood cinema, as well as partners like vegetarian cooking channel Gayatrivantillu who make videos for the web and have a growing global audience. For Kannada, Shemaroo Kannada and Anand Audio bring you music, drama, comedy and more to your homepage guide. Fans of Malayalam cinema should check out channels like Metro Matinee Videos and Hungama Malayalam. When it comes to news, YouTube’s partners like TV 9 provide news in both Kannada and Gujarati, and TheTimesKerala offers clips in Malayalam.

Gujarati	Kannada

Malayalam	Telugu

We hope this helps even more of you enjoy channels on YouTube in your native language, as we work to make the site accessible around the world.

Aditi Rajwanshi, YouTube India partner manager, recently watched "Chutney for Idli, Dosa, Upma, Vada etc."

Game on: YouTube Creator Playbook Version 2 now available

2012-02-23T09:00:00.000-08:00

When we first released the YouTube Creator Playbook with tips for succeeding on YouTube, things were a little different. You didn’t have all the new channel features, the homepage didn’t yet have a guide to help you find and follow to channels you like, and you were uploading 48 hours a minute.

As we work on the site, we want to make sure you’re the first to know every tip and trick to succeed on YouTube, so today we’re launching version two of the YouTube Creator Playbook. In addition to these updates, almost every page includes your feedback (thank you!). Here’s a few of the key things to look for in the new version:

New channel & homepage section
With the launch of our new channel pages and updated homepage, we’ve created a new section on how to organize your videos for different audiences, and how to program your channel to help you make the most of the feed on the YouTube homepage.

Go global
Your channel reaches a global audience, so we’ve added a new section to help creators create, program, and optimize for audiences around the world.

Updates to annotations, playlists, publishing and more
Your feedback and new features helped us update much of the playbook on topics like annotations, playlists & video responses and call to actions.

Glossary
If you’re new to YouTube or the Creator Playbook, we’ve included a glossary to help you quickly learn all the site’s features, and the strategies, terms, and topics used in the playbook.

We hope this update to the YouTube Creator Playbook is a helpful tool if you’re just coming to YouTube for the first time, as well as help YouTube pros quickly learn new features to keep expanding your audience. We’ll be talking more about the new playbook during our Partner Meet-Up Livestream on YouTube.com/youtube at 5pm PT today.

Ryan Nugent, audience development strategist, recently watched “Rodrigo y Gabriela and C.U.B.A. - Area 52 Album Trailer.”

From snowflakes to surfactants: meet the YouTube Space Lab regional winners

2012-02-22T06:00:00.000-08:00

At the end of January, we invited you to choose your favorite YouTube Space Lab experiment ideas from sixty finalist teams, and today we have our winners! More than 100,000 of you cast your votes that combined with the scores from our panel of judges to decide the regional winners for the final stage of the competition. Find out who won below and you can meet them all on the Space Lab Channel.

14 - 16 year old regional winning teams

Asia Pacific region: Is space too cold for life to exist? by Patrick Zeng & Derek Chan from New Zealand
Europe, Middle East and Africa region: Could weightless liquids be the key to better gadgets? by Laura Calvo & María Vilas from Spain
The Americas region: Could alien superbugs cure disease on Earth? by Dorothy Chen & Sara Ma from U.S.A.

17 - 18 year old regional winning teams:

Asia Pacific region: Could liquid magnets take us deeper into space? by Sachin Kukke from India
Europe, Middle East and Africa region: Can you teach an old spider new tricks? by Amr Mohamed from Egypt
The Americas region: Could a snowflake unlock the mysteries of the universe? by Emerald Bresnahan from U.S.A

The six regional winning teams will travel to Washington, D.C., where we’ll announce the two global winners (one team from each age group). These two winners will have their experiments performed 250 miles above Earth aboard the International Space Station (ISS) and live streamed on YouTube as part of a global event celebrating science and space. While in Washington, all the teams will take part in a series of activities to honor their achievements, including the opportunity to experience weightlessness on a ZERO-G flight.

Space Lab invited budding scientists to submit a YouTube video describing an idea for an experiment that could be carried out aboard the ISS. The channel, which serves as a launch pad for discovering great space and science videos on YouTube, has received more than 50 million views worldwide throughout the course of the competition. This week we’re uploading interviews with the winners in their hometowns, so subscribe to the channel to keep up to date with all the latest from here on Earth!

Zahaan Bharmal, YouTube Space Lab lead, recently watched the “ESA Education (English)” playlist.

Christchurch Earthquake — One Year Later: live streaming the memorial service on YouTube

2012-02-21T13:00:00.000-08:00

Cross posted from the Google New Zealand Blog.

On the one year anniversary of the Christchurch earthquake, the New Zealand Herald is providing full coverage of the city’s memorial services on YouTube, commemorating the lives that were lost and those who are still affected by the tragedy. The live-stream of the memorial services starts today on NZ Herald’s YouTube channel.

On February 22, 2011, Christchurch was rocked by a magnitude 6.3 earthquake, killing 185 people and devastating much of the historic city centre. The state broadcaster’s raw coverage of the immediate aftermath was one of the most-viewed videos on YouTube on that day, as millions of people around the world stopped to watch the tragedy unfold.

Christchurch, is New Zealand’s second-largest city, located on the South Island. The idyllic town is known for its friendly people, abundant gardens, and historic stone buildings. And its convenient location makes an easy gateway to mountains, beaches — and Hobbits.

Quakes have continued in Christchurch over the last year. Despite this hardship, we remain inspired by the great resilience of the city’s residents, who have worked hard toward rebuilding their hometown and keeping alive the memory of the tragedy.

Richard North, a YouTuber from Christchurch, recently watched "John Key on Christchurch anniversary."

And the YouTube Ad Blitz winners are...

2012-02-17T21:00:00.000-08:00

While America’s feelings were divided on the outcome of the game, there’s one aspect of Super Bowl Sunday that crosses team loyalties and brings us together — the commercials. This year’s commercials had something for everyone, from cute dogs to talking babies to Adriana Lima. After a week of intense competition in the YouTube Ad Blitz contest, the votes are in and you voted M&M’S “Just My Shell” commercial as your favorite ad of the Super Bowl!

Rounding out the top five commercials of the big game are spots from Chrysler Group, Bud Light, Chevy Silverado and Doritos:

2. Chrysler Group “Halftime in America”
3. Bud Light “Rescue Dog”
4. Chevy Silverado “2012”
5. Doritos “Man's Best Friend”

Give me the stats!
In its fifth year running, YouTube Ad Blitz has already surpassed previous years with 133M views from fans worldwide, up 43 percent from last year (as of Sunday, 2/12)...and still counting! In fact, during game time roughly 6 percent of all U.S. YouTube traffic came from people watching Super Bowl commercials on Ad Blitz.

The days that saw the highest volume of views were Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, making up 82 percent of total views received over the week. And it wasn’t just fans in the states seeking out the commercials — nearly 18 percent of all views came from outside of the U.S. Other interesting stats include:

The most popular ads drove the majority of views - 65 percent of video views came from the top ten commercials.
Google searches related to [Super Bowl commercials] peaked on Monday, but continued through the rest of the week.
More than 32 percent  of all mobile votes occurred on Tablet devices, our first year running Ad Blitz on a tablet-optimized channel.

Tune into the YouTube homepage today to check out the top five spots!

Mike Yapp, director, YouTube Creative Content, recently watched “The Jeremy Lin Show at MSG!”

Whitney Houston tributes, Athens burns, Syria protests continue - News of the Week

2012-02-17T14:00:00.000-08:00

We paid tribute to the late Whitney Houston by compiling some of her all time classic performances.
We observed Syrian towns such as Daraa, Homs and Hama receive heavy bombardment as fighting between military forces and rebels continued.
We were saddened to hear of the death of New York Times Foreign Correspondent Anthony Shadid, who died this week while working in Syria.
We saw parts of Athens burn as protests over austerity measures in Greece turned violent.
We followed Mitt Romney as he got his campaign back on track by winning both the CPAC straw poll and the Maine caucuses.
We witnessed anger in Israel as two of the country's envoys in India and Turkey were attacked with bombs.
We viewed mourning in Honduras after a large fire claimed the lives of hundreds of inmates in a prison there.
We saw North Korea hold extravagant celebrations to celebrate the 70th birthday of their late leader Kim Jong-il.
We watched Bahrain police use tear gas to disperse large crowds marching towards a historic landmark.
We monitored the progress of Madagascar-bound Cyclone Giovanni with the help of a schoolboy reporter named John.
Finally, we gave into 'Linsanity' as NBA star Jeremy Lin's popularity exploded worldwide after he hit a last-second 3-pointer to win a game for the New York Knicks.

Come back next week to see the news unfold on YouTube.

Olivia Ma, YouTube News and Politics, recently watched "Kobe Bryant, meet Jeremy Lin -- Rough Cuts".

A ‘Next’ step for YouTube nonprofits

2012-02-17T06:00:00.000-08:00

Last year we launched YouTube NextUp to accelerate the growth of the next big YouTube stars. Then in October, we announced YouTube Next Chef and YouTube Next Trainer to turbocharge up-and-coming cooking and fitness channels by great YouTube video creators. We’re excited to share the latest addition to the Next Creator family of programs: YouTube Next Cause for nonprofits.

YouTube Next Cause is designed to help organizations that are already changing the world better use online video to drive action. At a one-day summit in San Francisco on April 2, selected participants will get access to everything from training in YouTube fundamentals, to promotion and community engagement tips, to one-on-one consulting sessions to grow their YouTube presence.

We’ve always sought to make YouTube a platform for nonprofits to broadcast their messages. And we’ve seen amazing things happen when the YouTube community comes together in support of great causes. With 4 billion views a day, we want to make sure nonprofits have the tools they need to reach the global audience on YouTube and turn video views into donations, volunteerism and awareness.

Applications for YouTube Next Cause are due on February 27, 2012 at 11:59PM PT, and the selected nonprofits will be announced on March 5. This program is open to organizations that are part of the YouTube Nonprofit Program (full eligibility requirements). You can apply online at: http://goo.gl/ODbI6.

Check out what nonprofits are doing on YouTube at youtube.com/nonprofits. And tune in around March 5 to learn more about some of the great nonprofit organizations chosen and what they’re doing to change the world!

Hunter Walk, director of product management, recently watched “Using YouTube with a Purpose - Helping Kids in Bangladesh.”