Official Blog
Broadcast Yourself
Introducing new choices for parents to further customize YouTube Kids
Wednesday, April 25, 2018
When we launched the YouTube Kids app three years ago, our goal was to give kids around the world a place to access videos that were enriching, engaging and allowed them to explore their endless interests.
Since then, our team has continued to work to improve the app experience for kids and families around the world. One area of focus has been building new features that give parents even more control around the content available in the YouTube Kids app so they can make the right choice for their unique family and for each child within their family.
We are excited to announce that throughout the year, we will be rolling out three new options in YouTube Kids:
Collections by trusted partners and YouTube Kids
: Starting this week, our partners and the YouTube Kids team will offer collections of trusted channels on a variety of subjects from arts & crafts and music to sports, learning, and so much more. This makes it easy for parents to select only the channel collections and topics they want their kids to access. Just go into Profile Settings, and select from available collections such as Sesame Workshop and PBS KIDS. We will continue to add more partners over time.
Parent approved content
: Parents know better than anyone what they want their children to watch. For those parents who want even more control over the videos and channels in the YouTube Kids app, we’re rolling out a feature later this year that will allow parents to specifically handpick every video and channel available to their child in the app.
Improved search-off control for an even more contained experience
: Parents have always been able to turn search off within the YouTube Kids app, but starting this week turning search off will limit the YouTube Kids experience to channels that have been verified by the YouTube Kids team. This means that search off will not include recommendations from the broader YouTube Kids corpus.
For parents who like the current version of YouTube Kids and want a wider selection of content, it’s still available. While no system is perfect, we continue to fine-tune, rigorously test and improve our filters for this more open version of our app. And, as always, we encourage parents to block and flag videos for review that they don't think should be in the YouTube Kids app. This makes YouTube Kids better for everyone.
It is our hope that these additional options will allow every family to have the experience they want in the YouTube Kids app.
James Beser, Product Director for YouTube Kids, recently watched "
Photosynthesis for Kids
" on the Kids Learning Tube channel with his 2nd grade daughter.
More information, faster removals, more people - an update on what we’re doing to enforce YouTube’s Community Guidelines
Monday, April 23, 2018
In
December
we shared how we’re expanding our work to remove content that violates our policies. Today, we’re providing an update and giving you additional insight into our work, including the release of the first YouTube Community Guidelines Enforcement Report.
Providing More Information
We are taking an important first step by releasing a
quarterly report
on how we’re enforcing our
Community Guidelines
. This regular update will help show the progress we’re making in removing violative content from our platform. By the end of the year, we plan to refine our reporting systems and add additional data, including data on comments, speed of removal, and policy removal reasons.
We’re also introducing a
Reporting History dashboard
that each YouTube user can individually access to see the status of videos they’ve flagged to us for review against our Community Guidelines.
Machines Helping to Address Violative Content
Machines are allowing us to flag content for review at scale, helping us remove millions of violative videos before they are ever viewed. And our investment in machine learning to help speed up removals is paying off across high-risk, low-volume areas (like violent extremism) and in high-volume areas (like spam).
Highlights from the report -- reflecting data from October - December 2017 -- show:
We
removed over 8 million videos
from YouTube during these months.
1
The majority of these 8 million videos were mostly spam or people attempting to upload adult content - and represent a fraction of a percent of YouTube’s total views during this time period.
2
6.7 million were first flagged for review by machines
rather than humans
Of those 6.7 million videos,
76 percent were removed before they received a single view
.
For example, at the beginning of 2017, 8 percent of the videos flagged and removed for violent extremism were taken down with fewer than 10 views.
3
We introduced machine learning flagging in June 2017. Now more than half of the videos we remove for violent extremism have fewer than 10 views.
The Value of People + Machines
Deploying machine learning actually means more people reviewing content, not fewer. Our systems rely on human review to assess whether content violates our policies. You can learn more about our flagging and human review process in this video:
Last year we committed to bringing the total number of people working to address violative content to 10,000 across Google by the end of 2018. At YouTube, we've staffed the majority of additional roles needed to reach our contribution to meeting that goal. We’ve also hired full-time specialists with expertise in violent extremism, counterterrorism, and human rights, and we’ve expanded regional expert teams.
We continue to invest in the network of over 150 academics, government partners, and NGOs who bring valuable expertise to our enforcement systems, like the
International Center for the Study of Radicalization at King’s College London
,
Anti-Defamation League
, and
Family Online Safety Institute
. This includes adding more child safety focused partners from around the globe, like
Childline South Africa
,
ECPAT Indonesia
, and
South Korea’s Parents’ Union on Net
.
We are committed to making sure that YouTube remains a vibrant community with strong systems to remove violative content and we look forward to providing you with more information on how those systems are performing and improving over time.
-- The YouTube Team
1
This number does not include videos that were removed when an entire channel was removed. Most channel-level removals are due to spam violations and we believe that the percentage of violative content for spam is even higher.
2
Not only do these 8 million videos represent a fraction of a percent of YouTube's overall views, but that fraction of a percent has been steadily decreasing over the last five quarters.
3
This excludes videos that were automatically matched as known violent extremist content at point of upload - which would all have zero views.
'These Things Happened': The story of famed rapper G-Eazy's chart-topping journey
Tuesday, March 20, 2018
YouTube is proud to present G-Eazy’s “These Things Happened” -- a new Artist Spotlight Story that depicts the Bay Area rapper’s journey from the anonymous street corners of Oakland to landing multiple chart-topping records and nearly 5 million YouTube channel subscribers.
Directed by Rob Semmer, Creative Director for FADER, “These Things Happened” takes viewers behind the scenes of G-Eazy’s amazing ascent to chart-topping rapper. The Spotlight Story mixes concert clips, backstage interviews, and documentary footage of the rapper’s hometown, including the street corners where he used to hand out mixtapes more than a decade ago. Today, G-Eazy boasts more than 3 billion views across YouTube, with his recent hit “
No Limit
” reaching as high as #3 on the YouTube Music U.S. Top 100 Tracks chart and #1 on Billboard’s Pop Songs chart.
“It didn't work the traditional route until I got it popping on my own on YouTube,” the rapper says. “I'm forever grateful for the opportunity that was presented to an artist like myself.”
Born Gerald Earl Gillum in 1989, G-Eazy was raised by a working-class family in California's Bay Area. As a teenager, he was inspired by the region's burgeoning hyphy hip-hop sound, producing bedroom mixtapes, which he sold along Berkeley’s Telegraph Ave.
After years of self-released recordings and accompanying tours, including tour diaries posted to YouTube, G-Eazy had his breakthrough with “
Been On
.” The song is pure G-Eazy in that its tight lyrics flow over a hazy beat. The video was instantly iconic: a single slo-mo shot of the rapper smoking in black and white. The clip has tallied over 70 million YouTube views, and its success online helped break G-Eazy to the masses. A follow-up video, “
Me, Myself & I
,” featuring Bebe Rexha, landed a top 10 slot on the Billboard Hot 100.
G-Eazy's latest LP, “The Beautiful & Damned,” reflects on the fame that he's achieved since the album release. “These Things Happened” picks up at present day, staying by the rapper's side as he promotes the album and plays shows in support of it. A record-signing event even takes him back to the Bay Area, where he meets fans at Berkeley's Amoeba Records.
“I remember those shows in Berkeley at La Pena,” G-Eazy recalls. “We sold out La Pena with like 200 people. It's not even a venue. They call it a cultural center. They booked me 'cus no one in the Bay would book me.”
“These Things Happened” captivates in part because even in the La Pena days, G-Eazy was documenting himself, shooting footage, and uploading it to YouTube for his fans.
“If you're not active on YouTube, if you're not visible, if you're not giving that window into your life at all, then you're just disappearing,” he says.
For now, G-Eazy doesn't have to worry. “These Things Happened” ends a few blocks from where it started. Back in New York, with G-Eazy all grown up, a star around the world. This time he gazes up again to see himself—and his
YouTube channel
—advertised in a new billboard high above the street.
“It’s the age of access,” says G-Eazy. “YouTube provides a peek into your life, into your world, into your process. You close that window for too long and you run the risk of losing your audience.”
“It’s an honor to partner with and help tell the story of an artist with such a clear vision,” said Lyor Cohen, Global Head of Music at YouTube. “It’s equally rewarding to work with a label like RCA that is so supportive in collaborating to propel G-Eazy and bring context to his journey.”
--YouTube Music Team
Camila Cabello: 'Made in Miami.' A behind-the-scenes look at the 'Havana' star conquering the globe
Tuesday, February 27, 2018
YouTube is proud to present
Camila Cabello
’s “Made in Miami,” an Artist Spotlight Story created in collaboration with the rising superstar that gives an intimate and personal look at her journey, from arriving in Miami to topping the global charts.
Directed by Tabitha Denholm and released today on YouTube, “Made in Miami” is the story of Camila Cabello's path from arriving in Miami as a kid, carrying nothing but a backpack and a few toys, to becoming a global star with over 2.5 billion combined YouTube views and the biggest record in the world.
Boldy striking out on her own this year to follow her dreams, breakout artist Camila Cabello released a stunning debut solo album and created her iconic music video for “
Havana
,” a global smash which has garnered well over a billion views across YouTube since its release.
The unstoppable hit has been the #1 song on the YouTube Music Global Top 100 for every week of 2018 and earned massive views in countries including the United States (332 million), Brazil (132 million), the Philippines (120 million), Mexico (100 million), the United Kingdom (91 million) and Germany (72 million). Cabello’s hit is currently the most-viewed track of 2018 on YouTube, both globally and in over 30 individual countries.
“I knew I wanted to make a song called 'Havana' to honor my heritage — it's a love letter to that,” Camila Cabello explains in her Artist Spotlight Story “Made in Miami.” “I’m super proud to represent the Latin community and just super proud of my family and their story, and of who I am.”
Born in Cuba and raised in Miami, Camila gravitated to singing at an early age, eventually turning to YouTube to help build her audience. “Something clicked for me where I was like — this is a way to get into the singing thing, because you don’t need to have money to post a YouTube video.”
Uploads like her
rendition of Demi Lovato's
“
Skyscraper”
followed, foreshadowing the singer’s future success on and off the platform. “I would get, like, two comments, and I would be like, 'Oh my God!'” Camila explains of those early videos. “Posting those covers on YouTube definitely gave me a little bit more confidence.”
This led to her audition on Fox's talent competition “The X Factor,” which of course led her to being selected as a member of the vocal group Fifth Harmony. Their brassy single “
Worth It
” became the first video by a girl group to reach a billion views, while runaway hit “
Work from Home
” became YouTube's most popular video of 2016.
With the courage and talent to strike out on her own, she left the the group to write and produce her solo debut “Camila.” It is the video for the aforementioned “Havana” that best encapsulates Camila’s transformation to a global superstar.
“She wanted to tell a story,” explains Lyor Cohen, YouTube's Global Head of Music of her video for “Havana.” “She was able to weave that story into her music video, showing how much creativity people can have on YouTube.”
For Camila, it is all part of the ongoing journey. “My family’s attitude of never setting limits on yourself,” the singer explains in “Made in Miami.” “That’s literally the reason there’s a camera here right now.”
“Made in Miami” captures Camila’s story with intimate videos and insights into an artist stepping out onto the world’s stage to tell her story on her own terms, and the world may never be the same.
“Our Artist Spotlight Stories are intimate and personal portraits of artists that give them the unique opportunity to share these special moments with fans,” added Cohen. “‘Made in Miami’ is just that.”
For more on Camila Cabello, stream her Artist Spotlight Story “
Made in Miami
” on YouTube now and tune into
her livestream Q&A about the film with fans at noon ET
.
Updates to YouTube Live streaming
Monday, February 26, 2018
Together, we've experienced the biggest
music
,
sports
,
science
,
culture
and
gaming
events unfold live on YouTube. Now we’re introducing more ways to watch live videos and interact with your community in real time.
Catching up on the latest
Live chat plays a key role in creating connections between creators and their community. Today we are starting to roll out chat replay to YouTube, so you can follow the conversation even after a live stream is over. Live chat replays will show up alongside the video, exactly as it appeared live.
Making live streams more accessible
We launched automatic captions back in
2009
, and since then, we’ve auto-captioned a staggering
1 billion videos
. We’re now bringing English automatic captions to live streams.
When professionally provided captions aren’t available, our new live automatic captions provide creators a quick and inexpensive way to make live streams accessible to more people. With our live automatic speech recognition (LASR) technology, you’ll get captions with error rates and latency approaching industry standards. We'll roll this out in the coming weeks, and will continue to improve accuracy and latency of automatic captions.
More fun features for live streamers
Creators can now
add a location tag
to their mobile live streams and video uploads and share all their favorite hot spots with viewers. You can explore other videos with the same location tag by simply clicking on it. You can also use the location filter on the search results page to find other videos from a specific spot.
Last year
, we introduced a way for
Super Chats
to trigger real life events. Now creators can set this up for their channels using
IFTTT
(If This, Then That). Over 600 internet-connected services and devices (like lights, pet feeders and confetti cannons!) can be connected to Super Chat. Super Chat is already available on desktop and Android devices, with support for iOS devices rolling out starting today.
With live streams, you’ve found more intimate and spontaneous ways to share your thoughts, lives, and creativity. Take these features for a spin and show us your world!
Kurt Wilms, Live Video Product Lead, recently watched "
Falcon Heavy Test Flight
."
It’s time to turn up the music: Watch The BRITs LIVE with Ed Sheeran, Dua Lipa, Stormzy, and Justin Timberlake on YouTube
Tuesday, February 20, 2018
Do you remember the BRITs, where Ed Sheeran famously
brought Stormzy out to perform
, Adele showed us that she doesn’t like being rushed, and Ginger Spice unveiled her iconic Union Jack dress? It’s almost time for the action to begin again as the excitement of The BRIT Awards 2018 is almost upon us. What memorable pop culture moments will this year bring?
We’re letting you in on all the fun as we’re streaming the BRITs right here live for the fifth year running. Just tune in at
YouTube.com/BRITS
on whatever screen you find yourself closest to: mobile, tablet or TV, on February 21 at 11:30 a.m. PT / 2:30 p.m. ET / 7:30 p.m. GMT. (If you’re in the U.K., you can catch up on performances after the show).
YouTube star and music sensation,
Conor Maynard
is hosting the livestream alongside none other than BBC Radio 1Xtra’s Yasmin Evans. The pair will share all sorts of behind-the-scenes gossip from the show live, so you won’t want to miss it on the night.
This year, nominated stars like
Dua Lipa
,
Stormzy
and
Ed Sheeran
- who got their start on YouTube - are set to grace the main stage, so you’ll want to keep your eyes peeled for brilliant renditions of their hits. And as British hitmakers are not just popular at home, their BRIT performances will be beamed on YouTube to their massive followings abroad. ...
Comedian Jack Whitehall will bring his hilarious antics to the party as host of the BRITs, too, so there’ll be plenty of laughs to go with the great music.
Livestream host Conor Maynard said:
“I’m super excited to be hosting The BRITs coverage on YouTube. My career started on YouTube, so it feels great to be doing something on YouTube and the BRITs. Can’t wait to have an awesome night!”
Geoff Taylor, Chief Executive of The BPI & BRIT Awards said:
“We are delighted to be streaming The BRITs live to fans all around the world with our partner YouTube, for a fifth successive year. We are thrilled to have such popular and talented hosts.”
After the show, you’ll find performances from the artists on a
YouTube playlist
for you to relive and rewatch, plus further catch-up content on the BRITs channel. So, tune in at
YouTube.com/BRITS
on February 21 at 11:30 a.m. PT / 2:30 p.m. ET / 7:30 p.m. GMT for unforgettable performances and must-see shenanigans.
-- The YouTube Music Team
YouTube TV’s got game on Valentine’s Day: more channels and markets
Wednesday, February 14, 2018
Last year we launched YouTube TV, the best way to enjoy cable-free live TV, and we’ve been working hard to make it better every day. Today we are excited to wish all our members an extra Happy Valentine's Day by bringing more of the networks you love to YouTube TV, including TNT, Adult Swim, TBS, CNN, Cartoon Network, truTV, Turner Classic Movies and more!
That’s great news for everyone, from Anderson Cooper addicts to Rick and Morty binge-watchers, and everything in between. Now you can also get breaking news from CNN, watch cable’s #1 new drama series
The Alienist
on TNT, catch up on TBS’s hit comedy series
The Detour
, check out the popular kids series
Teen Titans Go!
, and enjoy the new season of truTV’s
Impractical Jokers
- all included now with your YouTube TV membership.
For sports lovers in particular, we’ve got you covered: you now have access to March Madness and you can watch nationally televised NBA games, NBA All-Star weekend, NBA Playoff games, MLB Postseason games, the PGA Championship and soccer from the UEFA Champions League.
But wait, there’s more! We’re thrilled to announce that we’re soon adding NBA TV, the league’s 24-hour network, and MLB Network, Major League Baseball’s award-winning 24/7 TV network, to the YouTube TV base package. And in the coming months, you’ll also be able to watch NBA League Pass, the league’s premium out-of-market live game service, or MLB.TV, the longest running sports streaming service in the U.S., for an extra fee. Game on!
It would break our hearts for you to miss out on the action, so in the coming weeks, YouTube TV is also expanding to all top 100 U.S. markets! While we started out in just five markets and expanded to over 80 from there, we’re thrilled to announce that we are taking YouTube TV to over 85 percent of U.S. households, with the most live local broadcast stations in markets where YouTube TV is available. New markets include: Lexington, Dayton, Honolulu, Richmond, Mobile, and Syracuse. Check out
here
if YouTube TV is available in your city.
We will be increasing our price to $40/month on March 13 for new members. However, if you are already a member or sign up before March 13, we are keeping your original price of $35/month.
YouTube TV offers cable-free live TV through a simple and easy experience that’s built from the ground up for the 21st century. It includes:
Over 50 networks, including ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, plus popular cable networks like TNT, TBS, CNN, ESPN, AMC, and FX, and local sports networks from NBC Sports, FOX Sports, and NESN in select markets.
Ability to watch on any screen - mobile, tablet or computer - and easily streamed to your TV with apps built for Roku (new!), Apple TV (new!), Xbox One, Android TVs and Samsung and LG 2016 and 2017 smart TVs; and Chromecast, Chromecast built-in TVs, and AirPlay through Apple TV.
A cloud DVR, with no storage space limits that travels with you within the United States so you can stream recordings on any device, whenever and wherever you want. It enables you to record live TV and never run out of storage space, plus record shows simultaneously, without using precious data or space on your phone. Your programs are stored for nine months.
Six accounts per household, each with its own unique recommendations and personal DVR with no storage space limits.
Half the cost of cable with zero commitments. A YouTube TV membership is only $35 a month (if you sign up before March 13) and there are no commitments – you can cancel anytime.
So hop on the couch with us, fire up the TV remote and let’s celebrate the best way to watch cable-free live TV together. Happy Valentine’s Day, YouTube TV members! We’re having so much fun in our new relationship and are committed to making YouTube TV the live TV experience you’ve been waiting for. And if you are not a member, remember to join by March 13 to experience the new live TV service everyone’s talking about for only $35/month.
What can we say, YouTube TV is a cheap date :) Enjoy the game!
Posted by Heather Moosnick, Director of Content Partnerships, YouTube TV, who will be rooting for Team Curry #30 this Sunday in the NBA All-Star Game on TNT live on YouTube TV.
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