YouTube is the largest streaming platform, providing millions of hours of content to users all around the world. So, when there is a big change, you can bet you’re going to hear about it. The brand has announced through its YouTube Help community channel that a new visual update is rolling out, along with the addition of new features.
A big change for YouTube
Credit: Google
As you can imagine, this is a pretty big deal, considering that we haven’t seen a visual overhaul of the UI quite like this in some time. The video player is getting a new look, with the brand stating that it’s more “immersive”. As far as what this means, well, the UI elements in the video player will have a softer look, with most of the icons looking almost transparent.
If you’ve been using YouTube on any of the aforementioned platforms over the past few months, there’s a pretty good chance you’ve seen this look pop up during testing. Going forward, this visual update will be available on the web, mobile, and even TV devices. So if you have yet to experience it, don’t be surprised when it pops up.
In addition, the brand shares that the “seek” feature has also been updated to be more seamless, and the app design for mobile will be a lot more intuitive and smoother. YouTube’s also adding some more flair to the app with custom “Like” animations, which will change depending on the content that you’re watching.
This change should make folks more curious to see whether the Like button will react in certain ways, which could create more engagement than normal. The brand also shares that there will be new visuals attached with certain actions, like when saving videos to Watch Later or playlists.
It doesn’t go into detail on how these new changes will look, but we imagine that you’ll notice the differences pretty easily if you’re a seasoned YouTube user. And perhaps the most important change is that the comments section will now be getting an overhaul with a threaded layout that will make it easier to see replies.
Again, this new update is going live on pretty much all devices, so if you have yet to see it, you should be able to experience it soon.
