YouTube will reportedly start experimenting on a new Explore feature for iOS app that will help users easily find new channels and videos on the video-sharing platform while browsing on mobile.
According to YouTube’s director of product management, Tom Leung, the Explore feature will appear as a “tab” at the bottom of the app’s home screen. The test will affect 1% of YouTube’s iOS app viewers. YouTube plans to do the experiment over the next few weeks.
Explore will recommend personalized videos and channels based on what viewers are already watching and what their interests are but with a “broader scope” than its home screen already does.
Leung said,“Explore is designed to help you be exposed to different kinds of topics, videos, or channels that you might not otherwise encounter, but they’re still personalized — so they’re still based on your viewing activity.”
YouTube said in an announcement “With more videos coming to YouTube every minute we’re always experimenting with ways to make it easier for people to find, watch and share the videos that matter most to them.”
YouTube has been adding lots of interesting features to its platform since the start of 2018. In May, the video sharing platform introduced music streaming service YouTube Music. The service has all the Google’s AI-powered search and insights, and a focus on finding new tunes like its bigger sibling YouTube Videos. Previously, an exciting new feature that allows video creators to start a live stream from their webcam without downloading encoding software, which is quite a hassle.
YouTube is also investing millions to combat fake news and spam posts in order to make YouTube a more reliable source of legitimate news from sources they decide are trustworthy. The video platform has also invested $25 million in grants to news organizations that want to grow their video operations which is a part of a larger $300 million program sponsored by YouTube’s sister company Google.
