YouTube now mandates disclosure of AI-manipulated videos by content creators. The new policy is particularly focused on content that presents realistic depictions of individuals, places, or events. Google says the labels will start rolling out across all YouTube surfaces and formats in the weeks ahead.

YouTube is strengthening its enforcement on third-party apps that violate its Terms of Service, specifically ad-blocking apps. It recently made a post on the official YouTube Community Help Forum putting third-party ad-blocking apps on notice. People using these apps may start experiencing buffering issues or errors when trying to watch videos.

YouTube has updated its policies to allow individuals to request the takedown of AI-generated or synthetic content that mimics their voice or likeness.

YouTube has enhanced its partnership with Shopify in response to TikTok's rapid growth in U.S. e-commerce, enabling creators to access a much wider range of brands through its Shopping affiliate program. This expansion is part of YouTube's broader strategy to increase revenue from e-commerce as digital advertising slows, with new tools like a Chrome extension making it easier for creators to incorporate products into their content. By boosting the number of brands available and streamlining the shopping experience, YouTube aims to solidify its position against competitors like TikTok Shop.

YouTube is negotiating with major record labels for licenses to use their music in AI song-generation tools. It is offering substantial upfront payments but facing resistance from artists worried about devaluing their work. The platform, which trialed a generative AI tool called "Dream Track," aims to expand its AI music capabilities, potentially integrating them into YouTube Shorts. Meanwhile, the music industry is pushing back against unlicensed AI usage, with leading companies suing AI startups Suno and Udio for copyright infringement.

YouTube's latest updates include channel-specific QR codes for easier sharing, new user-generated effects for Shorts, and an AI-powered "Jump Ahead" feature that skips to the most popular parts of videos. These features aim to increase engagement and user satisfaction without negatively impacting watch time.

This report summarizes insights from a marketer survey on the challenges, opportunities, and perceptions of YouTube as an advertising platform. YouTube's ad revenues hit $8.1 billion in Q1 2024, a 21% increase from the previous year, fueled partly by 44.7% of marketers noticing improved ad performance post-anti-ad blocker measures. Influencer marketing (25.6%) and organic content marketing (25.1%) are the most common strategies, followed by paid advertising (13.5%) and sponsored content (10.2%). About half of marketers use YouTube primarily for brand awareness.

YouTube's new Hype feature is aimed at growing smaller channels and helping people discover and share new creators. It introduces a new button for hyping a video - the most hyped videos will appear on a platform-wide leaderboard. Leaderboards are specific to each country. YouTube wants to make sure the leaderboard changes a lot and that people feel invested in each thing they type. Users will receive a summary of the videos they hyped and how well they performed every week.

YouTube's new Hype feature is aimed at growing smaller channels and helping people discover and share new creators. It introduces a new button for hyping a video - the most hyped videos will appear on a platform-wide leaderboard. Leaderboards are specific to each country. YouTube wants to make sure the leaderboard changes a lot and that people feel invested in each thing they type. Users will receive a summary of the videos they hyped and how well they performed every week.

Google and Meta secretly collaborated to target Instagram ads at teenagers on YouTube by exploiting a loophole in Google's ad policies. This controversial initiative, aimed at boosting ad revenues and retaining younger users, bypassed restrictions on advertising to minors. The incident raises serious concerns about the ethical handling of data and the protection of vulnerable demographics.

Several major AI companies, including Anthropic, Nvidia, Apple, and Salesforce, used subtitles from 173,536 YouTube videos across 48,000 channels to train AI models, despite YouTube's rules against unauthorized data harvesting. This has sparked backlash from content creators, who argue that their work has been exploited without consent or compensation, raising concerns about AI's impact on the creative industry and the ethics of using such training data.

Vimeo holds 4.1% of the highly competitive video platform market. By focusing on the specific needs of independent creators, it built a loyal user base despite competition from giants like YouTube. Strategic partnerships with companies like Simon Data and Salesforce improved user engagement and retention. Vimeo also invested in business video creation tools, creator tools, and SEO optimization tools to strengthen its value to various user segments.

Vimeo is updating its terms of service to include labeling for AI-generated content. The platform, aiming to boost transparency and trust, will now ask creators to tag videos with 'Includes AI' when content is digitally manipulated. This move highlights the growing need for clarity in distinguishing real from synthetic media amidst increasing AI-related controversies.

Runway's AI text-to-video generator was trained using thousands of YouTube videos and pirated films sourced from significant entertainment channels and news outlets. The broad dataset includes videos from Netflix, Disney, and creators like MKBHD and Linus Tech Tips. YouTube's CEO noted that using its videos for AI training is a policy violation, but other prominent tech firms have also been linked to similar practices.

To succeed in the YouTube Shorts feed, ads should mimic the platform's organic content style. Brands can leverage everyday people and influencer partnerships to create authentic, engaging content that resonates with viewers. Incorporating elements like direct-to-camera addresses and calls to action can encourage interaction.

YouTube is trialing 'Brainstorm with Gemini,' a feature that helps creators generate video ideas and thumbnails using Google's AI. Available to selected creators for testing, this tool could differentiate YouTube from competitors by leveraging AI for content creation. The platform is evaluating creator feedback before deciding on a wider release.

YouTube is currently experimenting with server-side ad injection. It is making ads part of the video being streamed instead of delivering them separately, resulting in them being indistinguishable from videos. The implementation breaks extensions like SponsorBlock, which depend on timestamps to mark video sections. Server-side ad injection is still in testing and not yet widely rolled out.

Juno for YouTube, an app developed by Christian Selig, has been removed from the App Store as of October 1, 2024. The removal followed a complaint from YouTube, which claimed that Juno did not comply with its guidelines and altered the website in ways that were not approved, particularly concerning trademarks and iconography. Selig disagrees with YouTube's assessment, arguing that Juno functions primarily as a web view, akin to a browser extension that modifies the website's appearance to align with the visionOS aesthetic. He emphasizes that the app does not display any logos beyond those already present on the YouTube site and adheres to branding guidelines that allow the use of the "for YouTube" suffix. Additionally, he clarifies that Juno does not block ads, addressing potential concerns from users. Despite his efforts to communicate with YouTube and seek clarification, Selig found that the platform was unyielding in its stance. Consequently, he received notification from Apple about the app's removal after the two parties failed to reach an agreement. Selig reflects on the experience, noting that Juno was a personal project born out of his desire to gain experience with the Vision Pro device and to create an enjoyable way to watch YouTube. He expresses disappointment over the app's termination, especially since he had exciting features planned for future updates. However, he maintains a light-hearted perspective, stating that he does not wish to escalate the situation into a larger conflict, reminiscent of past disputes involving other platforms. For users who already have Juno installed, Selig assures them that the app should continue to function normally unless future updates to the YouTube website disrupt its operation. He expresses gratitude for the positive feedback from Vision Pro users who appreciated the app, highlighting the enjoyable experience he had while developing it.

The latest UI redesign of YouTube's video player, which shifts video details to a narrow right-aligned column, has been criticized by users who find it congested and detracting from community engagement. Despite YouTube's claim that the change aims to facilitate reading comments while watching, the adverse reaction may prompt a reconsideration of the design.

Creators on platforms like YouTube are using a strategy known as “title negging” to spark curiosity amongst viewers. While the titles come off as shocking, the content often ends up empowering viewers, challenging conventional beauty standards and fostering self-acceptance.

Google's new policy on “site reputation abuse”, effective May 5, de-ranks third-party coupon pages on popular sites. It views them as spam meant to manipulate search rankings. This change impacts large news and lifestyle publishers who rely on high-margin revenue from these pages. The decision has sparked debate within the affiliate space, with some supporting Google's move and others defending third-party coupon pages. Despite Google's dominance, new players like Amazon and TikTok are driving innovation and collaboration. The $150B US digital coupon market emphasizes the potential for growth through strategic partnerships.

This interview with MrBeast's thumbnail creator, Chucky Appleby, discusses tactics for increasing and maximizing performance on YouTube. It emphasizes the significance of trust, consistency, visual clarity, and testing to be successful.

YouTube may have decided not to roll out its most recent UI redesign after backlash on Reddit and X, where users questioned the practicality of the overly cluttered new look. The redesigned UI places video recommendations and the Shorts shelf below the video player, taking up space generally used for video details and comments. While most people now see the traditional layout, some have reported still seeing the trial layout.

YouTube embeds are excessively large, consuming 1.3 MB of data and making 32 requests even on an empty page. However, the problem can be fixed by using a lightweight web component like `lite-youtube`, which replicates the appearance and functionality of YouTube embeds while reducing resource usage and improving page speed.

Google’s latest core update targets sites that are mass-producing low-quality content. Marketers can still utilize AI responsibly for tasks such as drafting content and FAQS. It’s unclear if Google can actually detect AI-generated content. However, it can identify content that summarizes existing content and websites creating content at an unreasonable scale. The core update also gives paid search ads a boost.

YouTube has announced a significant integration of Google DeepMind's AI video generation model, Veo, into its platform, specifically targeting YouTube Shorts. This integration was highlighted during YouTube's Made On YouTube event, emphasizing the growing role of artificial intelligence in content creation. Veo, which was introduced at Google’s I/O 2024 developer conference, is designed to compete with other AI video generation tools like OpenAI’s Sora and Runway. It allows creators to produce high-quality 1080p video clips in various cinematic styles, enhancing the creative possibilities for users. The integration of Veo into YouTube Shorts is seen as a major upgrade from the existing "Dream Screen" feature, which was launched in 2023. Dream Screen enabled creators to generate backgrounds using text prompts, but Veo aims to take this a step further by allowing the editing and remixing of previously generated footage. This new capability will enable creators to generate six-second standalone video clips, which can serve as filler scenes to enhance storytelling and provide smoother transitions in their videos. In addition to the Veo integration, YouTube is rolling out several new features. These include "Jewels," a digital item that viewers can send during livestreams, similar to TikTok's gifting system, aimed at increasing viewer interaction. YouTube is also expanding its automatic dubbing tool to support more languages and is testing a feature that captures a creator's tone and intonation in dubbed audio, enhancing the naturalness of the experience. Furthermore, YouTube is enhancing its Community hubs, allowing for better interaction between creators and their followers, and expanding its "hyping" feature to more markets. This feature allows users to express support for their favorite creators, with videos receiving the most hype points being showcased on a leaderboard. Creators will also have access to AI tools for brainstorming video ideas, generating thumbnails, and responding to comments, further streamlining the content creation process. Overall, these updates reflect YouTube's commitment to leveraging AI technology to enhance user experience and empower creators, positioning itself competitively in the evolving landscape of digital content creation.

Multiple YouTube users are reporting that the site is serving them with blank ads or black screens before a video when they are using an ad-blocker extension. The change makes users wait for their content, partially defeating the purpose of using an ad blocker. YouTube began testing server-side ad injection last month to further render ad blockers obsolete. The solution inserts ads directly into the main YouTube video feed so that ad blockers can no longer distinguish the two pieces of media.

YouTube's TV app is set to receive a redesign to enhance user engagement by allowing easy access to comments and introducing new experiences like shopping, focusing on interaction during video playback. The update, which does not address all user requests, will also include features for sports fans to check live scores and improved video chapters. It will roll out over the coming weeks.

Meta and Universal Music Group have renewed their multi-year licensing agreement to expand monetization and evolve creative possibilities for UMG's artists on platforms including Facebook, Instagram, and now WhatsApp, focusing on fair compensation and addressing unauthorized AI content issues.

Generative AI tools are coming to YouTube through Veo, a video generation model from DeepMind that enables creators to generate six-second Shorts clips and backgrounds with text prompts. AI-generated content will be watermarked with SynthID. Other AI updates include tools for titles, thumbnails, and video ideas. Creators persist in their concerns about AI content's impact on originality.