The video-streaming service is getting ready to become more profitable and content-focused. YouTube Gaming will provide a dedicated site for gamers to stream on while Music Key will see YouTube going head to head with Spotify.
In the short term, Google is making some changes to the main YouTube website used by millions each day on desktop devices. After recently axing subscription collections, today a new style of video player is finally being introduced after months of testing.
The alteration consists mainly of cosmetic tweaks, the most noticeable of which being a new transparent control bar to replace the old solid black one. The buttons themselves are slightly bolder than before but still perform the same actions. The play bar is now thinner and takes up less space.
There are new smoother animations for menus but otherwise much is the same. Underneath, the player is powered by HTML5 as YouTube joined the scores of websites that are quickly abandoning Adobe’s aging and insecure Flash back in January.
YouTube now does a better job of automatically choosing the video resolution to stream so content quality will be more accurately matched to your device and Internet connection. Combined with the new, slicker animations and the use of HTML5, this should lead to the site feeling generally more responsive. This will help YouTube retain audiences as people are naturally more attracted to things that look and feel better in use.
Google is hoping people will like YouTube enough to begin spending on the various new subscription services being introduced later this year. The company is also introducing a premium offering that will remove all adverts from all videos in exchange for a monthly fee.
