Summary
- YouTube is testing a new video button on its app, allowing users to easily access random Shorts content based on their suggestions.
- Additional features of this play button are currently unknown, but it is likely to pull content based on watch history, subscribed creators, and video likes.
- The feature is being tested with a limited number of people and does not appear to be part of an official YouTube experiment.
We all use YouTube in some form, whether it's to kill some time with informational clips or to check out reviews of some of the best phones in the market. The streaming juggernaut is usually busy testing new features, though it seems like the platform's goals have somewhat changed over the past few months, given the renewed push to curb the use of ad blockers. But in between these controversial changes, YouTube has also added some other features to the web and mobile versions of the app to test the waters. One such change has popped up rather discreetly, wherein a mysterious new video button appears on the bottom right of the screen.
Fellow frequent YouTube user and our colleague here at AP, Zachary Kew-Denniss, spotted this change on the YouTube Android app earlier this week. Tapping this new Play button opens up random Shorts content based on your suggestions. YouTube has been playing around with a dedicated banner in the center of the screen (seen in the video below) that performs a similar function, according to this Reddit thread from May. But this dedicated Play button positioned at the bottom of the screen undoubtedly makes it more accessible.
A button like this could come in handy when you're on YouTube but have run out of things to watch. It's likely that the developers are testing this out to work in tandem with (or in place of) the aforementioned onscreen banner. Not much else is known about this feature since YouTube hasn't officially confirmed its existence. But we suspect the content will be pulled based on your watch history, subscribed creators/channels, and video likes, among other things. I haven't seen this newly added play button on any of my devices yet, which suggests that YouTube is testing it in a limited capacity.
Given the limited visibility of the feature, it doesn't appear to be a part of the official YouTube experiment either. These experiments are designed to give users early access to upcoming features, with the platform detailing a bulk of its experiments and tests on a dedicated support page. While these experiments were initially limited to subscribers of the Premium tier, the streaming platform recently opened it up for everyone, letting practically anyone try out unreleased features.
In one such experiment, YouTube announced AI-generated summaries for creators of select English language videos back in July. Then last month, the streaming site started allowing some creators to "pause" comments at the video level without removing the comments that were already published.
But the biggest talking point from a subscriber's perspective has been YouTube's decision to jack up the cost of its Premium tier in the US, not to mention its anti-ad blocker campaign, which went global recently. The platform didn't spare international customers from a price bump either, with revised prices going into effect in multiple countries earlier this month.
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