YouTube Unveils Five New Features for Premium Subscribers
The free version of YouTube works great ( despite the current ad blocker issue ), but if you use it frequently, the Premium subscription is actually a pretty good deal . Not only will you be able to skip most ads, download videos for offline playback, and access YouTube Music Premium, but you’ll also be able to try new features before other YouTube users.
YouTube today added five new features for YouTube Premium subscribers: two that are now widely available, and three that are experimental features that you can enable if you want. Here’s what’s new.
Jump forward
After a series of tests, YouTube continues to work on Jump Ahead. The new feature uses artificial intelligence to analyze the “best” parts of a video based on where most users move while watching. When you double-tap the player window to skip ahead 10 seconds, you will now have the option to “Skip Forward” to that “best” spot.
YouTube says the feature will first be available on YouTube for Android, but will soon be available on the iOS app for Premium subscribers.
Picture in Picture for short videos on YouTube
Picture-in-Picture is a convenient way to watch videos on platforms like YouTube while switching to other apps. Premium subscribers on Android will now be able to use PIP for TikTok-style YouTube Shorts as well. I imagine this feature would be useful for short videos that aren’t too short, but I don’t see a compelling case for using 15-30 second videos in PIP when doing things in other apps.
Smart downloads for short videos (experimental)
If you opt in to this experimental feature, YouTube will automatically download new shorts to your smartphone so you can watch them with or without a connection. The company didn’t specify, but I’m guessing these shorts will also work in PIP mode.
Conversational AI (experimental)
YouTube also announced that it is bringing its conversational AI back to Android devices. When available, YouTube’s AI will appear below the video with an “Ask” button. You can ask the bot questions and request content similar to the videos you’re watching, even while the video is playing. I doubt this AI will be a game changer in any way, but it’s an interesting experiment nonetheless.
New view page interface (experimental)
The only change to the YouTube web app for Premium subscribers is a new experimental watch page. YouTube hasn’t said much about it, but said the new watch page will make it easier to find new videos and interact with comments.
How to sign up for experimental YouTube features
If you’d like to try out these three new experimental features, as well as any other experimental features YouTube is currently testing, go to the “New” YouTube webpage and sign up.