A bunch of new features are coming to YouTube to transform the way we watch as well as hints of new plans coming soon.

Get ready for an enhanced watching experience! In an exciting new announcement, YouTube have revealed their upcoming features as well as some experimental new tools being tested. In addition, they hint that new YouTube plans are on the way.

New Premium features on YouTube

No more waiting for the part of a video you clicked for. When you double tap to skip ahead on mobile, you’ll be given a ‘jump ahead‘ option to take you to the segment of the video that you’re looking for.

The options to skip ahead are powered both by AI and where viewers watch most. The feature is now available for US Premium subscribers on Android and will launch on iOS in the coming weeks.

For a better experience with YouTube Shorts, Android users can now use the picture-in-picture feature on the vertical shorts. Offering more ways to stay entertained when browsing your phone, picture-in-picture keeps YouTube Shorts playing in a minimised window.

Everything you need to know to use YouTube Shorts as an artist

Experimental new features for YouTube

On top of the confirmed features above, YouTube are testing some exciting new potential. Premium subscribers can try them out at youtube.com/new and opt-on to get the newest features being tested.

First up, YouTube are testing expanding their smart downloads feature to encompass Shorts. This feature automatically downloads content to your device that YouTube thinks you’ll like so that even when you go offline you have new content to watch.

Conversational AI is an experience available to Android devices in the US. This AI answers questions and suggests content all whilst you watch videos. Access the AI by tapping ‘Ask’ under certain videos to find out more about the content you’re watching.

An experimental new watch page on the website aims to make browsing easier. They want to enhance the way that viewers find related content and engage with other comments.

New plans coming to YouTube?

Alongside the announcement, YouTube made some interesting suggestions in a community post. They promised that they are “committed to bringing members more plan options”, going on to say that they are “introducing new plans and exploring ways for you to share your benefits with friends”.

We don’t know what that looks like yet but it seems we’ll have more from YouTube soon!

Artists can upload their music to YouTube Music and get heard all around the world. Distribute unlimited release to YouTube and beyond for free at www.routenote.com.