YouTube is introducing new features to enhance the way users interact with news content and support journalists. Two initiatives aim to create a more dynamic news-watching journey on YouTube.
Immersive News Watch Page
YouTube is introducing an immersive watch page dedicated to news stories. This page will aggregate content from credible sources, including video on demand, live streams, podcasts, and Shorts.
This means viewers can explore various perspectives on a news topic in one place, with access to long-form videos, live coverage, and Shorts. To access the watch page for a specific news topic, simply click on a video with a newspaper icon in the homepage or search results.
Shorts Innovation Program for News
YouTube is launching the Shorts Innovation Program for News, designed to enhance news organizations’ short-form video capabilities. This initiative provides financial grants and expert support to over 20 organizations across 10 countries, with a total grant of $1.6 million USD.
Partnering with News Organizations
Selected organizations, like Univision in the U.S., AFP in France, and Mediacorp in Singapore, are part of this program. YouTube specialists will collaborate with these news organizations over the next year to develop short-form news content strategies and video production best practices.
YouTube aims to encourage innovative news publishers to embrace short-form news content creation by offering resources they may lack. The goal is to nurture a thriving short-form news ecosystem and gather feedback from publishers on opportunities and challenges in this domain.
Availability
YouTube announced that the News Watch Page is initially available for mobile users in about 40 countries. It will later expand to desktop and living room platforms.
Announcing the updates, YouTube posted:
In our ongoing efforts, these updates demonstrate YouTube’s commitment to connecting viewers with reliable, current, and meaningful news content, along with our unwavering dedication to assisting news publishers in exploring new video news formats.
Our journey is ongoing, and we look forward to persistently pursuing our mission, striving to make YouTube the prime platform for discovering, learning, and engaging with news.