You, the YouTube partner community, have been telling us for a long time to offer revenue options outside of our ad-supported model. To answer these requests, last week we announced YouTube Rentals, a new, transactional model that we hope will help meet your business needs and bring more great content to our community. We launched this "beta" version of our video rental service for U.S. consumers with a small number of independent filmmakers featured at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. Through this new offering, content owners now have control over the entire lifecycle of their work. They can migrate videos from rental to ad supported; they can set the price and rental duration. In short, they can test and customize their distribution to fit their audience's habits and their business' needs.

We've invited a small number of additional beta partners in other categories to begin offering videos for rent on YouTube, and thousands of such videos are now available. Here are just a few:

• Anime Network - Animated Shows and Movies - example1, example2
• Cerebellum - Education and Business - example1, example2
• Gaiam - Yoga and Fitness - example1, example2
• Rock N’ Learn - Educational - example1, example2
• Bodywisdom Media - Yoga, Pilates, and Fitness - example1, example2
• Taunton Press - Homebuilding, Cooking, Woodworking, and Gardening - example1, example2
• Golflink (Demand Media) - Every Aspect of Golf - example1, example2
• PlaySportsTV - Sports Coaching and Instruction - example1, example2
• Travel Video Store - Travel and Adventure - example1, example2
• Language Tree - Language Instruction - example1, example2

There's no recipe for whether content is best monetized on a rental or ad supported basis, but based on the videos our beta partners are submitting, here are some general guidelines for the type of content that might be a good fit for this new program:

• Topics or genres with small but highly passionate audiences will likely monetize well through a rental model
• Paying users generally expect longer duration videos with high production value and encoding fidelity
  
  

As we improve the product based on feedback from users and partners, we will invite more content creators into the rental program. Eventually, our goal is to make the service available to all content creators who follow our community guidelines and produce videos that appeal to users on a rental basis.

If you are a current or prospective YouTube content partner based in the U.S., you own videos you think will find an audience through rentals, and you're interested in participating in the U.S. consumer beta, please apply here. We'll review your information and reach out to you as soon as we can accommodate your request. If you're based outside the U.S., don't despair. Feel free to apply and we will contact you when the service becomes available in your region.

Posted by The YouTube Team

Here are the upcoming opportunities for our Spotlight Videos module (if you don't see it on your homepage, add it here). Spotlights run a few times per week and showcase interesting and timely videos from our community and partners, all organized around an event or theme. Tag any appropriate and relevant video with the tags below to be considered for these spotlights. Please note that themes and dates are subject to change and spotlights may be added or dropped without notice.

2/5 -- Black History Month: videos spotlighting African-American personalities and achievement (tag: ytbhm)
2/12 -- Winter Sports: videos relating to activities in Vancouver (tag: ytwinter)
2/14 -- Valentine's Day / Year of the Tiger: videos about love and/or the Chinese New Year (tag: ytvaltiger)
2/18 -- Pluto Turns 80: astronomy videos (tag: ytpluto)
2/19 -- Interactive Adventures: videos that use annotations to tell a story in a cool way, like this one from Chadmattandrob (tag: ytinteractive)

Got an idea for a theme we haven't mentioned above? Leave a comment below and we'll consider adding it to our calendar.

Thanks!

Posted by Mia Quagliarello, Product Marketing Manager, Editorial/Community

One of our main goals at YouTube is to help content partners succeed with online video and find an audience and our site -- and news partners are no exception. We've been working with Newsweek to provide videos and commentary in the run up to President Obama's State of the Union address this evening. We asked users to submit their thoughts and questions about important policy issues, and Newsweek convened a panel of experts to provide answers and engage in conversation with the YouTube community. (You can find all these videos today on the YouTube homepage, and a few throughout this post.)

Newsweek has been creating video for their website for some time, and has uploaded hundreds of videos to their YouTube channel on a variety of topics. In this interview, Nick Grudin, Newsweek's Vice President of Strategy and Enterprises, talked to us about the role of video at a newsmagazine, changes in the journalism industry, and how YouTube helps Newsweek bring important news content to a larger audience.

1. Why did you think YouTube would be a good place for Newsweek's experts' discussions?

Newsweek generates some very high quality original video content and we regularly look for cross-promotion opportunities on platforms beyond Newsweek.com. YouTube has proven to be an excellent partner on these initiatives, particularly when we're looking for broader distribution among new audiences.

2. How did you approach these experts and get them to participate in this new, unique format?

This is what Newsweek does best. Our editors opened their contact books to convene some of the top thinkers on the most pressing issues facing Americans today, including our international editor, Fareed Zakaria, who will contribute his point of view on the state of our education system.



3. What demographic does Newsweek hope to reach with this content, and how do you think of that audience compared to those who read the magazine in print and on the web?

This content is appealing to a wide demographic -- not just those interested in politics. There is a slightly different group of folks that engage with our content in print versus online, but the one thing they have in common is an appetite to consume information on what matters most in their lives. That's what we strive to do. By convening the world's leading thinkers on the most pressing topics of the day, Newsweek delivers a broad perspective to a wide and intellectually engaged audience. In a different way, we see this as one of YouTube's great strengths as well.

4. For a news magazine, Newsweek uploads a lot of original content to YouTube. How important is video becoming to Newsweek and print journalism generally?

Video has become critical to our story-telling repertoire, and we're constantly looking to expand our audience and distribution for it. From interview series such as the Newsweek-YouTube State of the Union project and Newsweek's annual Oscar Roundtables, to feature reporting, such as "COMPTON: Gang Wars Take Their Toll," we are committed to applying Newsweek's unique lens to the video format.

5. How is Newsweek positioning itself given recent changes to the news industry?

Newsweek is evolving with the continuous shift in the media landscape. In an age of information overload, we see our role as a filter for what matters most as more important than ever before. We are committed to finding our audience wherever and however they prefer to be reached, from reading Newsweek Magazine in their living room, to following our stories on Twitter or Tumblr, to watching a YouTube video on their smartphone.



Posted by Olivia Ma, YouTube News Manager

From the Queen of England to the queen of your 'hood, from aspiring filmmakers to Hollywood studios, from high school graduation videos to citizen reports of revolutionary moments in Iran, it all has a home on YouTube. This creates a really big challenge: how do we design a site that reflects so many different users, experiences and videos? This is a question we've thought about a lot since we launched in 2005. The result of some of this thinking (some might say over-thinking) is a video page chock-full of features that reflect a lot of different things to a lot of different people, but can feel cluttered and a little overwhelming. We've spent a lot of time over the last 10 months asking ourselves some tough questions about this page and posing some of those questions to you in blog posts, roundtable discussions, one-on-one conversations with the community and even on forums like our Product Ideas for YouTube page.

Today, we're excited to unveil the first major example of our efforts to simplify and streamline the video page to offer the best possible watching experience to you. To check out this new look all you have to do is opt-in. Click on this link to try it out (anyone can opt-in, but for now page elements are only in English). To revert back to the old video page, use the opt-out link at the top of the new video page or opt out here. We'll be making the opt-in more easily accessible soon, but we wanted to give our most passionate users a chance to experiment with it early.

Below are some highlights of some of the things that have changed and why. You can also check out our "Getting Started Guide" in the Help Center.

Streamlined look and functionality -- the video is the star: This concept is at the heart of the redesign. YouTube is about creating and watching the world's biggest video collection; therefore, the design should make the video the star. To that end, the new look is more subdued, stripped down and simple than before. The design should help ease users into advanced features, while providing power users with all the functionality they want.

New "next up" video list: We'll be smarter about queuing up other videos for you to watch on the right side of the page that will take into consideration how you found a video. For example, if you arrived at a video through Search, the rest of the search results will follow you to the playback page so your can continue to browse search results on the video page. The same goes for playlists and recommendations; if that's how you found a video, then that's what will show up on the right side of the page. Again, this is about creating a consistent viewing experience -- and a relevant one when we include context about your viewing intentions.

Description and stats areas united: More specific information about the video you're watching is now in one place on the page: underneath the video. Click on the "Description" snippet or the Views to see more. This new expand capability works on multiple elements of the page so you won't have to learn a new trick to view each piece of data. The result: less clutter, especially on the right side where you look for the next video to watch.

Cleaned up actions bar: Actions like sharing, rating, saving or flagging a video are now all grouped in one place, with a cleaner, simpler "button bar." We thought a lot about practicality here, choosing to expose only the most commonly used actions and language for you. And, "Playlists" can now be built via the "Save to" pulldown menu.

Simplified binary ratings: As we noted in an earlier blog post, the rating system on YouTube doesn't really work that well (e.g. only the 1 and 5 star ratings were ever really used). So we moved towards a simpler "Like / Don't Like" model. Liking a video will also save it to your Favorites to make it easy to find those videos again.

New player sizing and video quality controls: We're adding a new size control into the player that allows you to pick a larger size to watch your video (formally above the player). When you pick the size, we'll serve you the ideal quality. For those of you hungry for more control, you can pick the specific video quality (for example, SD, HD or 1080p) in an associated drop-down menu. We'll warn you when we think there may be a better quality choice, but the control is in your hands.

Search results within the page: Now you can now search while you're watching a video and results will appear on the right side of the video page, without interrupting the viewing experience.

Temporary absence of right-hand "more from..." videos: You'll notice that there is no longer a separate "more from [your channel]" module on the right-side of the page. This space served up the videos of yours that were most relevant to the video currently playing. We fully understand that making your videos accessible here is critical to your success, and thus they will return soon, to the top of the right-side list of videos, during the opt-in experiment.

Channel banner placement change: Branding on the video page moves to a more prominently placed (albeit smaller) banner on top of the video, substituting for the text channel name and link. You can upload an alternate graphic if you'd like -- instructions on how to edit or change your banner can be found here -- but it's not essential as we resize your banner automatically. This banner will continue to link to your channel.

New "see more videos" pane: We've introduced a new "more videos" area on top of the video for seamless exploration of your content; click on the arrow next to the number of uploads to access a grid displaying all of your videos. This makes it easier for users to browse your library without interrupting that video of yours they're watching.

So those are just a few things you'll find in this new video page experience. As with all things on the Web (and in life?), change is hard and can take some time to get used to. That's why we did a lot of research, talked with so many of you and incorporated your thoughts into this latest back-to-basics playback page. So go on and "opt-in" to give it a whirl, and let us know what you think either in comments down below or enter feedback via this survey. Who knows -- you might see some of your own suggestions in future iterations of the page down the road.

Julian Frumar, User Experience Designer, recently watched "WTF Collective," and Igor Kofman, Software Engineer, recently watched "Zion-I featuring K. Flay - "Coastin'" [The Takeover]."

Today's blog post comes from the chilly slopes of Park City, Utah, where we're getting ready to kick-off our sponsorship of the Sundance Film Festival. So, why are we here?

Independent filmmakers have been critical contributors to our platform ever since we launched our site almost five years ago. In that time, we've increasingly come to understand some of the challenges facing these filmmakers: technology has made it easier and cheaper than ever to produce films; more films have led to more competition for audiences; more competition for audiences has led to more films needing massive marketing budgets to cut through the clutter. And these high costs have made it difficult for independent films to compete, leaving too many films going unseen.

While YouTube has offered an easy and economical way for filmmakers -- as well as content creators of all kinds -- to instantaneously connect with fans around the world, many of them have told us that the ad-supported business model doesn't always meet their distribution and monetization needs. And so we are excited today to announce our partnership with the Sundance Film Festival to make five films from the 2010 and 2009 festivals available for rent for U.S. users on YouTube starting this Friday and running through Sunday, January 31. In addition to these health and education, will be made available in the weeks ahead. We're also excited to put out the call for more independent filmmakers to join the rental program as part of our "Filmmakers Wanted" campaign at the festival.

These are early days and in the coming weeks we'll also invite a small group of partners across other industries, in addition to independent film, to participate in this new option. Anything that brings more content to the YouTube community is a good thing. And making content available for rent will give our partners unprecedented control over the distribution of their work -- they can decide the price of their videos and the rental duration; they can decide when and where their content is available; and they can keep 100% of their rights.

But enough talking: you want to watch movies! To prepare for Friday's debut, take a minute to set up your Google Checkout account and watch the trailers below to decide what to rent. On Friday, check out the YouTube blog to learn how to find and start watching some of these independent films.











Posted by the YouTube team

YouTube sales research had a banner year in 2009 – we completed more than 160 studies demonstrating how YouTube paid media can boost users’ brand engagement, change their media consumption habits, and even influence their purchasing habits! Here’s a few highlights from 2009:

• Sparking users’ interest: We showed that advertising on the YouTube homepage increased audience’s engagement with the advertiser brand, making them much more likely than a control group to search on advertisers’ branded terms and visit their sites. Users saw these ads and wanted to learn more! (If you’d also like to learn more, look here for a recording of our webinar with our research partner Compete).
• Brand boosting: Dozens of studies showed that paid media on YouTube not only drives traffic to users’ brand channels and contests, but also directly affects users’ brand awareness and favorability.
• Bottom-line: Custom research projects with advertiser partners showed that YouTube paid media directly influences which television shows users watch, as well as their offline purchasing.

Here’s a preview of what we’ll cover this year:

More industry focus. This year, we’ll expand our homepage research to cover more industries and industry subverticals such as TV shows, video games, and theatrical film releases. We’ll also feature case studies covering a wider range of industries.

More user focus. Because YouTube is the #1 destination for online video, we have a front-row view of how consumers use online video in their daily lives. We’re going to share with you our perspective on how that’s changing, and the new ways consumers are using online video.

Gettin’ funky with research. We want to shake things up this year, exploring different research creatives and new ways to look at campaign performance. Stay tuned for more!

Here’s to 2010!

Posted by Leah Spalding, YouTube Market Insights Manager

The subscription system delivers videos from content creators to eager viewers and has become such an essential part of YouTube that that "subscribe" button is clicked over 1 million times every day. That's a lot -- which is why we're especially focused on improving the reliability, usefulness and transparency of subscriptions.

First off, you've told us that you want ways to message your subscribers. Now, the bulletins you write on your channel will appear on your subscribers' homepages, in their "Recent Activity" module. If you go to your channel -- let's say it's celebrityplaylists -- you should see an area to write a bulletin and attach a video:


...which looks like this when your subscribers see it in their homepage feed:


Note that these bulletins will only show up for people who subscribed to you after September 2009. If you subscribed to someone before September and want to receive their bulletins, simply visit their channel, click the "Edit subscription" link, and choose "Subscribe to all videos uploaded, rated, favorited, and commented on."

We've also heard from many of you that after you upload a video, you'd like to feel more confident that it's actually made its way to your subscribers' homepages. Recently, we rolled out a new indicator that shows the syndication status of your video after it's been uploaded; once it reaches 100% you can rest assured that all your subscribers have received your video. Here's an example of what this looks like:


Please keep in mind that after your upload finishes processing, it starts getting sent out to the people subscribed to you, though it can take up to an hour to reach everyone. (In rare cases, it might take longer than an hour.) This short delay helps us fight spam and preserve the overall integrity of the system.

Finally, you can now delete individual items from your subscription feed. Click "edit" options for the subscriptions module and check "Exclude videos I've already watched" (see below). Once you've done this, hover over videos in the module to see a small "x" that will allow you to remove it from the module, making way for more videos from the people you follow.


We'd love to read comments below about other subscription system improvements you'd like to see.

Brian Glick, Product Manager, recently subscribed to 73368's channel.