YouTube's Investment in a Multi-Format News Watching Experience


YouTube, a platform that has long served as a source of information for its vast audience, has consistently shown its commitment to connecting users with credible and timely news. It has a history of developing products to make content from authoritative news sources easily accessible. In a recent blog post, YouTube shared its latest initiatives to enhance the news-watching experience on the platform.

“The digital news landscape is evolving, and YouTube is at the forefront of this transformation.”

Immersive Watch Page Experience

YouTube is introducing an immersive watch page experience for news stories. This feature consolidates content from authoritative sources across various formats, such as video-on-demand, live streams, podcasts, and Shorts. The goal is to enable viewers to explore multiple sources and perspectives on a single watch page. This setup will provide a comprehensive and multifaceted understanding of the news.

To access the watch page for a particular news topic, users can click on a video with a newspaper icon on the homepage or in the search results. This feature is gradually being rolled out for mobile users in approximately 40 countries, with integration for desktop and living room devices planned for the future.

Shorts Innovation Program for News

Alongside the immersive watch page experience, YouTube launched the Shorts Innovation Program for News. This initiative bolsters news organizations’ short-form video capabilities by offering financial grants and specialist support. Initially, YouTube is collaborating with over 20 organizations across 10 countries, with a total of USD 1.6 million invested in the program.

Participants are chosen based on their existing solid long-form video presence on YouTube and their intention to enhance and expand their short-form news content. Over the next year, YouTube specialists will work closely with these organizations, offering guidance on short content strategy and video production best practices.

YouTube’s efforts to encourage news outlets to embrace short-form content stem from recognizing the impact and innovation that can be achieved through such a format. The Shorts Innovation Program allows news publishers to explore this potential, particularly those who previously needed more resources.

A Continued Commitment to News

These initiatives reflect YouTube’s dedication to connecting viewers with substantial news content and supporting publishers experimenting with emerging video news formats. The platform acknowledges its work is far from over and expresses excitement for the future as it strives to make YouTube the best place for discovering, learning about, and engaging with news.



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