Author Archives: John G. Doe

#AskJuncker: YouTube creators to interview the European Commission President

Cross-posted from Google Europe Blog

This Wednesday, President Juncker will deliver his State of the Union address at the European Parliament. The next morning, the European Commission — along with partners Debating Europe and Euronews — will turn to YouTube to field questions about the issues that matter most to people across Europe.

YouTube Creators Jonas Ems, Laetitia Birbes, and Łukasz Jakóbiak will travel to Brussels from their homes in Germany, France and Poland to meet with President Juncker at the Commission’s headquarters at the Berlaymont. While Euronews has hosted live Hangouts on Air with European Commissioners in the past, this is the first time that YouTube Creators will have the opportunity to conduct a full interview with the President.

Nineteen-year-old Jonas is already a veteran YouTuber — not only has he built up a large following for his commentaries and comedy, he’s also published a book about his experiences. Laetitia focuses on sharing her values, like ecology and recycling, and she recently participated in YouTube’s Toi-Même Tu Filmes initiative, aimed at fighting hate speech. Łukasz, who conducts interviews from his tiny Warsaw apartment, explained in an inspirational TedX talk last year how he went from dreamer to doer (and how he got to meet Lady Gaga along the way).


It’s up to Laetitia, Jonas, and Łukasz to choose the questions: They’ll focus on the issues that are top of mind for them and their fans. If you want to weigh in, they’ll be looking at suggestions on social media with the hashtag #AskJuncker.

You can watch the whole thing on the European Commission YouTube channel — the live stream will begin at 11 am CET, and the recording will be available afterward.

Posted by Mark Jansen, Senior Communications Manager at Google Brussels

Source: YouTube Blog


An updated Terms of Service and New Developer Policies for the YouTube API Services

Today we are announcing changes to the YouTube API Services Terms of Service and introducing new Developer Policies to guide their implementation. These updated Terms of Service and new Developer Policies will take effect in six months so that you have time to understand and implement them.

The YouTube API Services Terms of Service are developers’ rules of the road, and like any rules of the road, they need to be updated over time as usage evolves. As we've grown, so has an entire ecosystem of companies that support users, creators and advertisers, many of them built on top of YouTube’s API Services. We haven’t had major updates to our API Services Terms of Service in over four years, so during the past several months we've been speaking to developers and studying how our API Services are being used to make sure that our terms make sense for the YouTube of today. We updated the YouTube API Services Terms of Service to keep up with usage growth, strengthen user controls and protections even further, and address misuse. You can find the updated terms here.

In order to provide more guidance to developers, which has been a key ask, we are introducing new Developer Policies. They aim to provide operational guidelines for accessing and using our API Services, covering user privacy and data protection, data storage, interface changes, uploads, comments, and more. You can read the full Developer Policies here.

In addition to the new terms, we're also announcing the upcoming YouTube’s Measurement Program. This new certification program will help participants provide accurate, consistent, and relevant YouTube measurement data to their clients and users, thereby helping them make informed decisions about YouTube. We’ll launch the program with a few initial partners before scaling it more broadly. Please visit the YouTube’s Measurement Program website to learn more.

We developed these updates with a few core principles in mind:
  • Improving the YouTube experience for users and creators. Every month, we update our app and site with dozens of new features for users and creators. We want to make sure that every application or website takes advantage of the latest and greatest YouTube functionalities. That’s why we’re introducing a Requirement of Minimum Functionality, which is designed to ensure users have a set of basic functionality around core parts of their YouTube experience, like video playback, comment management, video upload, and other services.
  • Strengthening user data and privacy. We want to help foster innovative products while giving users even more control around data privacy and security. These updated terms serve to strengthen our existing user controls and protections even further. For example, we now require developers to have a privacy policy that clearly explains to users what user info is accessed, collected and stored.
  • Fostering a healthy YouTube ecosystem. While we want to continue to encourage growth of our ecosystem, we also need to make sure our terms limit misuse. As the YouTube developer ecosystem evolved, we saw some fantastic uses of our API Services. Sadly, with amazing uses, there have also been a handful of applications that have misused our API Services. These updated terms serve to further protect against misuse and protect users, creators, and advertisers.
It's been great to see all the ways developer websites and applications have integrated with YouTube. We are committed to the YouTube API Services and we continue to invest with new features that will improve the product, such as expanding the Reporting API service with Payment reports, and Custom reports, launching later this year.

While we understand these updated terms and new policies may require some adjustment by developers, we believe they’ll help ensure our ecosystem remains strong and poised for growth. Again, to ensure developers have sufficient time to understand and adapt to these changes, the updated YouTube API Services Terms of Service and the new Developer Policies will take effect six months from now, on February 10, 2017. Please do take the time to read and become familiar with them. If you have any questions please get in touch with us via [email protected].

Posted by Shalini GovilPai, Global Head of Technology Solutions

YouTube Kids now works with YouTube Red

Back in October we launched YouTube Red, a paid membership that makes everything you love about YouTube even better, with benefits like videos free of paid ads, offline videos, and background play. Since then we’ve heard from families that they’d love the option of these features in the YouTube Kids app. So today we’re excited to say it’s here - the YouTube Kids app now works with YouTube Red in the U.S., Australia, and New Zealand!

Parents who sign up for YouTube Red enable a whole new set of features for the family to enjoy, including:
  • Ad-free videos: Let your kids learn and laugh along with their favorite characters without paid ads.
  • Offline videos: In the car or on grandma’s couch—automatically have videos when you need ‘em, even if you don’t have a connection.
  • Uninterrupted music: Keep family sing-alongs going while you use other apps on your phone.
To get started, all parents need is the YouTube Kids app and a YouTube Red membership. Then, just sign in to your YouTube Red account from the parental controls section of the YouTube Kids app and follow a few simple steps. Once that’s done, your little one’s ready to sing and play along with Mother Goose Club or go on an adventure with Talking Tom and his gang.


And we’ve got even more updates to YouTube Kids on the way. Over the next few months we’ll be making some changes to the app that’ll give parents more choice on how to customize the content that appears or doesn’t appear in their YouTube Kids experience.

Until then, we hope you and the family enjoy YouTube Kids with YouTube Red benefits in the U.S., Australia, and New Zealand.

If you haven't already, take YouTube Red for a spin with this free 30-day trial.

A.J. Crane, Product Manager, recently watched "Beat the Heat Hacks | LIFE HACKS FOR KIDS" on DreamWorksTV.

Source: YouTube Blog


YouTube’s road to HTTPS

Today we added YouTube to Google's HTTPS transparency report. We're proud to announce that in the last two years, we steadily rolled out encryption using HTTPS to 97 percent of YouTube's traffic.



HTTPS provides critical security and data integrity for the web and for all web users. So what took us so long? As we gradually moved YouTube to HTTPS, we faced several unique challenges:

  • Lots of traffic! Our CDN, the Google Global Cache, serves a massive amount of video, and migrating it all to HTTPS is no small feat. Luckily, hardware acceleration for AES is widespread, so we were able to encrypt virtually all video serving without adding machines. (Yes, HTTPS is fast now.)
  • Lots of devices! You watch YouTube videos on everything from flip phones to smart TVs. We A/B tested HTTPS on every device to ensure that users would not be negatively impacted. We found that HTTPS improved quality of experience on most clients: by ensuring content integrity, we virtually eliminated many types of streaming errors.
  • Lots of requests! Mixed content—any insecure request made in a secure context—poses a challenge for any large website or app. We get an alert when an insecure request is made from any of our clients and will block all mixed content using Content Security Policy on the web, App Transport Security on iOS, and uses CleartextTraffic on Android. Ads on YouTube have used HTTPS since 2014.


We're also proud to be using HTTP Secure Transport Security (HSTS) on youtube.com to cut down on HTTP to HTTPS redirects. This improves both security and latency for end users. Our HSTS lifetime is one year, and we hope to preload this soon in web browsers.

97 percent is pretty good, but why isn't YouTube at 100 percent? In short, some devices do not fully support modern HTTPS. Over time, to keep YouTube users as safe as possible, we will gradually phase out insecure connections.

In the real world, we know that any non-secure HTTP traffic could be vulnerable to attackers. All websites and apps should be protected with HTTPS — if you’re a developer that hasn’t yet migrated, get started today.

Sean Watson, Software Engineer, recently watched "GoPro: Fire Vortex Cannon with the Backyard Scientist."
Jon Levine, Product Manager, recently watched "Sega Saturn CD - Cracked after 20 years."

Rio 2016 celebrations on YouTube

The Olympic Games Rio 2016 have yet to commence, but for sports fans the world over, the excitement is already well underway. In the last 12 months, over 23,000 years of content have been watched on YouTube for the four most popular Olympic Games’ sports alone - athletics, gymnastics, diving and swimming, and volleyball. To put this in perspective, that's the equivalent of watching all 17 days of the Olympic Games, 24 hours a day, not once, but over half a million times. Nearly two thirds of that viewership has happened on mobile devices -- and even more in countries like the U.S., U.K. and Japan.

As the miles continue to rack up on the Olympic torch, viewership on YouTube continues to rack up as well. To help make that viewership experience even richer, we have partnered with broadcasters in more than 60 countries, including the BBC (U.K.), America Movil (Latin America excluding Brazil), NHK (Japan) and many others. These partners will bring official highlights from the Games on YouTube to make sure you can keep up with the most breath-taking moments. We will also link these official broadcasters’ highlights directly into Google Search and YouTube Watch Cards for Rio 2016.

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And if you want to experience Rio and the environment surrounding the Games through the eyes of some of your favorite creators, 15 of them will be on the ground bringing you the best of Rio. Creators such as Liza Koshy, Brodie Smith, Ben Brown, Caeli, Chloe Morello, and Felipe Castanhari will provide an on-the scene view of the celebrations in Rio, everything from their own commentary of the Games’ celebrations, from the first victory to the last defeat, to long days around Rio on bike rides and aerial tours. These creators will take advantage of our brand new mobile live streaming feature to share real-time moments from Brazil as they unfold, as well as 360-degree videos that will make fans feel like they are on the streets of Copacabana.

 

But it’s not just creators and broadcasters getting into the action. Brands are already uploading ads celebrating the athletes, culture, and passion around the Olympic Games–and viewers are taking notice. From April 2016 through June 2016, ads from Worldwide and National Olympic Partners have already received the equivalent of over 400 years worth of watch time. Here’s a look at a few of the top ads so far: “Always #LikeAGirl - Keep Playing,” Minute Maid's "#doinggood | See What U.S. Olympian Missy Franklin Has To Say," Samsung’s “The Chant,” P&G’s “Thank You, Mom - Strong,” and Visa’s “The Carpool To Rio.”

From epic wins to all-star performances, YouTube will bring you the best from Rio, before, during and after the Games through official broadcaster channels and celebration via content creators.

Christoph Heimes, Head of News and Sports Partnerships, EMEA, recently watched “Gillette: Perfect Isn't Pretty.”

Source: YouTube Blog


Watch the Conventions live on YouTube

Since politicians began announcing their candidacies last year, you’ve come to YouTube to stay informed and engage in a conversation on the importance of this year’s election. From inside the White House to the debate stage, you’ve sat front row and watched more than 110 million hours of candidate and issues-related content on YouTube.

And now the YouTube community will have a chance to be front and center for the next phase of the election.

Just like in 2012, beginning next week, YouTube will again be the official live stream provider of both the Republican National Convention, which starts on Monday, July 18 in Cleveland, Ohio, and the Democratic National Convention, kicking off on July 25 in Philadelphia, Pa. Not only will you be able to watch gavel-to-gavel coverage of the conventions wherever you are, but for the first time, we’ll live stream the conventions in 360 degrees, so you’ll feel what it’s like to be in the center of the action.

In addition, to help provide more information about what's going on at the conventions, some of your favorite YouTube creators are getting involved too. Look out for coverage from The Young Turks, Complex News, Seeker Daily, Ingrid Nilsen, Mark Watson, Julie Borowski and more. These creators, along with other news organizations, will report back to their communities using new tools including mobile live streaming and Jump VR cameras, so you will have nonstop coverage from a variety of perspectives.

We believe that access to more information can help everyone participate in the political process and we look forward to the YouTube community’s lively discussion as we prepare to elect our next president.

Tune into the RNC next week at youtube.com/gopconvention and the DNC beginning July 25 at youtube.com/demconvention.

Brandon Feldman, YouTube News, recently watched “Political Campaigns: Crash Course Government and Politics #39.”

Source: YouTube Blog


The Orchestra of Syrian Musicians – with Damon Albarn & guests – play for the world live from London’s Royal Festival Hall on YouTube

Music is a universal language that unites people around the world. It reminds us of who we are, where we come from, and the moments that matter the most.

Tomorrow, the Orchestra of Syrian Musicians, which features former and current members of the Syrian National Orchestra, will take the stage at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall in London for a special performance, presented by Africa Express, that will be live streamed globally on YouTube from 7:30 p.m. BST (11:30 a.m. PST) at youtu.be/aH_FP67cLP0.

As a result of the ongoing conflict, many Syrian musicians, including the orchestra’s conductor Issam Rafea, have been forced to leave their homes. This performance will see musicians who previously worked with Damon Albarn on the Gorillaz track “White Flag,” travelling from both inside and outside Syria to reunite for an orchestral performance of Arabic music with Albarn and other guest performers - including Bashy, Bassekou Kouyaté, Bu Kolthoum, Eslam Jawaad, Faia Younan, Julia Holter, Malikah, Mounir Troudi, Noura Mint Seymali, Paul Weller, Rachid Taha, and Seckou Keita - to highlight and celebrate the remarkable music culture of Syria.

 

Communities around the globe are likewise coming together to host viewings of the performance, including at the YouTube Space in New York and Berlin; at the Bozar Centre for Fine Arts Brussels; and in homes and cultural centers around the world.

The live stream will be hosted by music artist Faia Younan alongside FlyWithHaifa.

Tune in on Saturday, June 25 at 11:30 a.m. PST, 7:30 p.m. BST to watch the concert live alongside viewers around the world, or catch the event afterwards, all at youtube.com/africaexpress. The concert was co-commissioned by 14-18 NOW and Holland Festival.

David Mogendorff, Artist Relations and Music Partnerships for YouTube, recently watched “Saviour by Jacob Collier.”

Source: YouTube Blog


Another great slate of shows and movies coming from top creators to YouTube Red

If we ask our creators, most of them will tell you that there’s a project, an idea, a collaboration, or a vision that they’ve always wanted to bring to life. YouTube has helped them achieve incredible things—build a fanbase, gain exposure, even earn serious money—but sometimes, they dream of something more.

Late last year we launched YouTube Red Originals for exactly that reason. We wanted to help our creators realize their ambitions on the platform where their community already lives.

With nine projects launched so far—including “Scare PewDiePie,” “Foursome” and “MatPat’s Game Lab” —we’re seeing fans sign up, tune in, binge and share their enthusiasm with their friends. Our original series and movies are one of the leading drivers of YouTube Red subscriptions, with viewership that rivals similar cable shows.

We’re also seeing creators featured in YouTube Red Originals get a boost in subscribers and watchtime on their main channels, with most of this watchtime coming from viewers who haven’t watched that creator’s content before. It turns out that there’s a virtuous cycle from YouTube Red that actually supports their existing channel on YouTube.

We’re also seeing fans consume these series and films in unexpected ways. Over half of the time spent watching Red Originals is happening on people’s mobile phones. Maybe that’s why the social buzz around YouTube Red Originals is so large. “A Trip to Unicorn Island” earned more Twitter mentions and impressions at launch than “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,” “House of Cards” and “True Detective” saw when they were released.

Based on the success we’ve seen so far, we’re thrilled to announce our latest slate of YouTube Red Originals.

RENEWALS:
“SCARE PEWDIEPIE” - SEASON 2: Produced by Maker Studios, the creator and executive producers of “The Walking Dead” franchise from Skybound Entertainment, and Felix Kjellberg under the Revelmode banner, the second season of the reality adventure series, “Scare PewDiePie,” promises even more thrills and chills.

“FOURSOME” - SEASON 2: Produced by AwesomenessTV, the second season of “Foursome” returns to YouTube Red following Andie's adventures in the high school dating world. We meet a brand new Andie, a new era of extracurricular hooking up and high school awkwardness.

UNTITLED SMOSH MOVIE: After releasing the episodic series “Part Timers” on YouTube, Smosh is coming back for a feature-length comedy on YouTube Red. Luckless Charlie (Anthony Padilla) moves into a new apartment, only to find he has a roommate: a self-centered ghost named Max (Ian Hecox). Max makes Charlie’s life a living hell, until they learn that the only way Max can get into heaven is by working together.

NEW TO YOUTUBE RED:
“STEP UP” SERIES: “Step Up,” a fan favorite dance film franchise that launched the career of Channing Tatum, transitions to a new series with a heart-pounding, sexy, music-filled and dramatic look at dancers in a contemporary performing arts school. Adam Shankman, Jennifer Gibgot and Meredith Milton, all producers of the original "Step Up" films, will executive produce the series, along with Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan Tatum, who both co-starred in the original "Step Up" film.

“RHETT & LINK’S BUDDY SYSTEM”: In this new scripted comedy series, Rhett & Link must go out of their way to regain control of their internet empire from their mutual co-ex-girlfriend who is now an evil Infomercial Queen holding a very big secret over their heads. The series also features “Saturday Night Live” alums Molly Shannon and Chris Parnell, as well as Leslie Bibb and Page Kennedy.

DAN & PHIL TOUR DOCUMENTARY: Top YouTube comedy stars, Dan Howell and Phil Lester are taking their fans inside their latest world tour, “The Amazing Tour Is Not On Fire.” With hilarious anecdotes, sketches, and lots of surprises for their fans, we’re bringing Dan and Phil’s successful live stage show exclusively to YouTube Red. They’ll also be giving audiences a behind-the-scenes look with a documentary about the making of the tour.

“VLOGUMENTARY”: Executive produced by award-winning filmmaker Morgan Spurlock, Maker Studios, and Shay "ShayCarl" Butler, “Vlogumentary” provides a personal, intimate lens into the world of some of YouTube's biggest creators and demonstrates the power of the platform in shaping the lives of creative voices, their audiences and the media landscape.

UNTITLED ANIMATED SERIES: 3BLACKDOT and its top YouTube creators SeaNanners, TheMrSark and VanossGaming star in an animated comedy series, helmed by Michael Rowe, Emmy Award-winning writer of “Futurama” and “Family Guy,” about a team of ill-equipped paranormal investigators who struggle to unfold the mysteries of the paranormal universe for their desperate clients.

UNTITLED MICHAEL STEVENS PROJECT: In this new educational series, Vsauce creator Michael Stevens will take a deeper look into the human mind, using real subjects, including himself and special guests, to show some of the most mind-blowing, important and least understood aspects of human nature.

Susanne Daniels, Global Head of Original Content, recently watched the first episode of “Escape the Night with Joey Graceffa.”

Source: YouTube Blog


Celebrating the inspiring voices who are #ProudToBe

Over the past 11 years, people around the world have turned to online video as a rich medium to help explore, share, and celebrate who they are. It makes us incredibly proud that over these years, YouTube has also become a platform where the LGBTQ community can express themselves, start new conversations, and create solidarity around the globe.

From commemorating Pride parades to opening up about transitions and explaining the ABCs of LGBT, YouTube is a place where anyone can belong no matter who they are or who they love. That is why today we want to help people honor and celebrate who they’re #ProudToBe:


Now, more than ever, it’s important that we help accept, love, and celebrate one another. In the wake of the tragic events in Orlando, we stand together in support of the LGBTQ community. We stand together with everyone who has the courage to own and share their identity. We stand together to show the power of solidarity, the power of love, the power of pride. To those beautiful and brave voices who continue to make YouTube the vibrant, diverse and empathetic community it is, we are #ProudToBe with you.

The YouTube Team recently watched “LoveExists / We are #OrlandoUnited.”

Source: YouTube Blog


Introducing YouTube Director: A suite of video ad creation products for businesses

Whether it’s for entertainment, indulging a passion, or discovering something new, more people are turning to YouTube to watch video. In fact, growth in watch time on YouTube is up at least 50 percent year-over-year.1 Now, more than ever, businesses can connect with their customers through video advertising on YouTube.

But we know that creating a video ad can be challenging. To make it easier for every business— from a dog walker to a barber shop owner—to get started with advertising on YouTube, we’re launching the YouTube Director suite of products. Three products that make video ads more accessible to businesses.

Make a video ad right from your phone

With the free YouTube Director for business app (available for iPhone today in the U.S. and Canada) anyone can create a video ad for their business quickly and easily—right from their phone. No editing experience required. People like Woody Lovell Jr., owner of the The Barber Shop Club in Los Angeles, are already seeing positive results with YouTube Director.

Woody shot and edited a video ad by himself, uploaded it to YouTube, and worked with an AdWords expert to run a campaign. As a result, Woody’s business saw a significant increase in potential customers being able to remember and recognize his ad.2

We challenged five business owners—including Woody—to create a video ad in 20 minutes or less. Watch what happened and download the app to give it a try.



Get a professional to make your video ad

In select U.S. cities, we’re also offering YouTube Director onsite, a service that sends a professional filmmaker to shoot and edit a video ad for free whenever a business spends at least $150 to advertise on YouTube. YouTube Director onsite is available in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington D.C.—and coming to more cities soon.

Is your business an app? We can create a video ad for you too

YouTube Director automated video creates a video ad automatically from existing assets like logos and app screenshots in the App Store or Google Play Store, and is available globally. Reach out to a Google expert (1-855-500-2756) for more information.

No matter what kind of business you’re in, getting started with advertising on YouTube just became a whole lot easier. We can’t wait to see what you make. Happy filming.

Max Goldman, Product Manager, YouTube Director, recently watched "YouTube Director Video Challenge."


1 Google Data, 2016

2 Woody's YouTube Director video ad for The Barber Shop Club drove a 73 percent increase in ad recall among target customers on YouTube, and a 56 percent lift in brand awareness (AdWords Brand Lift Study, June 2016)

Source: YouTube Blog