BY BRANDON FELDMAN AND GEOFF SAMEK, DIRECTOR, NEWS & CIVICS PARTNERSHIPS AND DIRECTOR OF PRODUCT MANAGEMENT FOR NEWS
We’re announcing new ways to help viewers dive deeper into the latest news stories and support journalists in creating dynamic news content.
YouTube has long been a home for news viewers to learn more about the world and the news industry to reach them through innovative digital formats. Over the years, we’ve focused on developing a suite of products to help people easily find content from authoritative news sources, like our Top News and Breaking News shelves. Now more than ever, we remain committed to connecting people to high-quality information they can trust, particularly in times of elections, unrest, and natural disasters.
In today’s digital news landscape, viewers are increasingly seeking out many different types of content, and we’re seeing newsrooms and journalists evolve to meet that need. Now, we’re sharing two initiatives to further improve the news watching journey on YouTube.
First, we’re introducing an immersive watch page experience for news stories on YouTube. The news watch page will pull together content from authoritative sources across video on demand, live streams, podcasts, and Shorts, allowing viewers to deep dive and explore multiple sources and angles. All on one watch page, people will be able to find relevant long-form video, live coverage, and Shorts to quickly catch up.
To open the watch page for a specific news topic, click on a video with the newspaper icon on the homepage or in search results. This feature is rolling out over time for mobile users in approximately 40 countries, with desktop and living room integration to come. We believe this updated news experience will help viewers access a range of credible and diverse voices when they want to dive into a news topic.
Additionally, we’re launching the Shorts Innovation Program for News – an initiative to strengthen news organizations’ short-form video capabilities through financial grants and specialist support. To start, we’re working with over 20 organizations across 10 countries, providing a total of $1.6 million USD. Participants are selected based on having a strong existing long-form video presence on YouTube, but are looking to improve and expand their Shorts news content creation. Over the next year, YouTube specialists will work with news organizations, including Univision in the U.S., AFP in France, and Mediacorp in Singapore on Shorts content strategy and video production best practices.
We’ve already seen the groundbreaking coverage that can happen when outlets lean into short-form. Our goal with the Shorts Innovation Program is to jumpstart innovative news publishers who are interested in embracing short-form news capabilities, but haven’t had the resources to do so. We look forward to getting feedback from publishers on the opportunities and challenges to short-form content, as we work together to support an innovative news ecosystem.
Together, these updates help underscore YouTube’s commitment to connecting viewers with credible, timely, and substantive news content as well as our dedication to supporting news publishers in experimenting with emerging video news formats.
Our work is far from finished, and we’re excited to continue working towards our mission to ensure YouTube is the best place to discover, learn, and engage with news.
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