YouTube Testing New Features Around Video Chapters to Help Users Navigate Specific Moments in Videos

YouTube has announced that it is testing two new features that are related to the ‘Video Chapters’ feature that was rolled out to all content creators back in May. In the coming months, YouTube will automatically add a video timestamp to comments, so that other comment readers are aware of which exact moment the original comment publisher is referring to. At the same time, the Google-owned platform is also testing another update that will help creators to automatically generate video chapters via machine learning (ML). Until now, creators have to manually add video chapters to define specific segments of their video via timestamps.

YouTube shared the development in a blog post that further notes that both new updates are currently available to select users. The company is expected to unveil the enhanced video chapter-related features in the coming months, following the testing period. Speaking about the automatic video chapters through ML, the company says, “We want to make it easier for people to navigate videos with video chapters, so we are experimenting with automatically adding video chapters (so creators don’t have to manually add timestamps). We’ll use machine learning to recognise text in order to auto-generate video chapters.” About the other update, the company adds that YouTube comments will add a new icon that can be selected by the original comment publisher to denote the exact moment in the video it is referring.

Meanwhile, YouTube recently updated its ad policy that will allow the Google-owned company to make more money from videos posted on the platform. According to the updated US Terms of Service, YouTube videos made and posted by any user can be monetised by Google. The development means even if you are not a professional creator and have not signed up with the YouTube Partner Program, Google can still place ads around or in your video as long as the content is safe for the general audience to view.

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