QR codes, AI upscaling: What's new in YouTube's TV app
What's the story
YouTube has announced a series of updates to enhance its TV user interface. The new features include QR codes for shopping, artificial intelligence (AI)-powered upscaling, and improved search capabilities. The move comes as the platform looks to strengthen its foothold in the living room space. According to a Nielsen report in April, YouTube accounted for 12.4% of total audience time spent watching television, outperforming media giants like Disney+ and Netflix.
Shopping feature
QR codes for in-video shopping
YouTube is expanding its shopping capabilities by introducing QR codes in videos. This will allow creators to tag specific products in their content, which viewers can then scan with their phones to access product pages directly. The feature is expected to boost revenue, especially for shopping-related content that has already racked up a whopping 35 billion hours of watch time last year.
User experience
Enhancements for video quality
The latest updates also focus on enhancing the overall TV-watching experience. YouTube is increasing the thumbnail file limit from 2MB to 50MB for supporting 4K-resolution thumbnails. The platform is also testing larger video uploads with select creators for higher-quality videos. An AI-powered feature will automatically upscale lower-resolution videos to full HD, with plans to extend support for upscaling to 4K resolution in the future.
Discovery tools
Improved content discovery
YouTube is introducing immersive previews for easier video navigation and improved content discovery through contextual search. This means when a user searches directly from a creator's channel page, videos from that channel will be prioritized at the top of search results instead of showing results from across YouTube. These updates are part of YouTube's ongoing efforts to improve user experience on its platform.