YouTube Thinks You Aren't Watching Enough Video
April 27 2016 - 3:22PM
Dow Jones News
By Nathan Olivarez-Giles
YouTube refreshed its Android and iOS apps with a big-image look
and some new smarts for picking videos you'll actually want to
watch next.
When mobile users now launch YouTube -- the video streaming
service from Alphabet Inc.'s Google -- the first thing they'll see
is a redesigned "home" section. Promo images run nearly as wide as
the phone's display, and their videos start playing automatically
with a tap.
The promo images are so large, only two or three of them fit the
screen, as opposed to the six or more that had been visible.
YouTube is trying to compensate by making those three videos (and
the others that you'll see when you scroll) more desirable. Enter
machine learning. The updated YouTube app will use more of your
viewing data to make suggestions you may not know about.
"The new recommendation system is based on deep neural network
technology, which means it can find patterns automatically and keep
learning and improving as it goes," YouTube product managers Brian
Marquardt and Todd Beaupre co-wrote in a blog post.
Machine learning is often used to power voice search, facial
recognition, email spam filters and apps that can automatically
organize your photos based on who and what are in them. It makes
sense that YouTube would use this technology to get you to stay in
the app longer.
"People who have tried the new system have spent more time
watching fresh videos and content from their subscriptions,"
YouTube's blog post said.
This move comes in the middle of a mobile video boom. Facebook
Inc. is investing big in live video, Snapchat's app-only audience
is growing fast, and Twitter Inc. is set to stream NFL games later
this year. And the boom is expected to keep going. By 2020, 75% of
the world's mobile data usage will be devoted to video, according
to an estimate from Cisco, the networking-equipment maker. YouTube
remains the most popular destination for video at home and on the
go, and these changes are meant to help keep it that way.
Write to Nathan Olivarez-Giles at
Nathan.Olivarez-giles@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 27, 2016 16:07 ET (20:07 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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