What Google has done is taken its extensive video database and tweaked it so people view relevant videos in three simplistic columns. For instance, I have no interest in watching a six year old go crazy with his mum’s lipstick: I’d much rather a TopGear clip.Now using the new left hand pane, which manages TV subscriptions, I can easily subscribe to the relevant channel. What I’ll end up with is a dedicated column to all of my TV channels, which works like a good ol’ fashioned remote control…Although webcentric.
Nominating a channel will see its ‘subscriptions’ displayed in the central column. It’s the equivalent of a TV channel showcasing the shows it airs.
Finally, on the right hand side of the page are videos YouTube believes are relevant to users, generated by their previous video appetite.
The new homepage not only makes it easier to find videos that are relevant, it also bridges the gap between traditional TV broadcasting, IPTV and YouTube’s service.
In an interview with The Australian, YouTube’s product manager Shiva Rajaraman believes the site has the potential to host “thousands of channels,” far exceeding TV’s broadcasting capacity.
Up until the redesign, YouTube has struggled to feed the myriad of channels in a simple way. The redesign breaks down the channel list to those that you actually want to spend your time watching.
The video site has also become a little more social, featuring a Facebook and Google+ channel, which generates the videos currently being shared by your online friends.
The site’s flat colour scheme will see a bit of a shake up too, with the company splashing “a coat of digital paint across the whole site.” In their statement, YouTube said “we’ve used your feedback to improve our overall design, and today, we’re presenting a cleaner and simpler YouTube, with a consistent gray background, bigger video thumbnails and a more streamlined watch page.”
Recently, YouTube has been launching TV appropriated apps of its service, bringing their video channels into the lounge room. Even their mobile apps, which accounts for 10% of their 3 billion daily consumed videos, are believed to undergo a similar redesign in the not-too-distant future.
