YouTube To End Ad-Free ‘Premium Lite’ Subscription Tier

YouTube will end its Premium Lite subscription tier on Oct. 25. Users paying for the Premium Lite subscription tier will be required to subscribe to the platform’s Premium tier if they want to continue an ad-free video-watching experience on the app.

PaleyFest Fall TV Previews Go Live On YouTube

COMMENTARY

YouTube Now Competes With Networks. So Networks Should Cut YouTube

Philip Inghelbrecht: “YouTube is in the midst of an ad fraud scandal. As advertisers and agencies struggle to deal with the fallout, a popular piece of advice has been to treat YouTube as if it were TV. But that reveals another issue: YouTube is now a rival to TV networks.  Yet many networks still post their content to the platform via friendly licensing agreements. In the current war for viewer attention, this is a potentially crippling move.”

Can A Bunch Of Influencers Make The NFL Even More Popular?

YouTube is now home to NFL games every Sunday. Will it bring more young people into the NFL? Or will it hasten the demise of linear TV networks?

YouTube To Remove Ad Controls For Creators

AI That Alters Voice, Imagery In Political Ads Will Require Google, YouTube Disclosure

AI-generated election ads on YouTube and other Google platforms that alter people or events must include a clear disclaimer located somewhere that users are likely to notice, the company said in an update to its political content policy.

Following Elon Musk’s Lead, Big Tech Is Surrendering To Disinformation

Facebook and YouTube are receding from their role as watchdogs against conspiracy theories ahead of the 2024 presidential election.

YouTube Improperly Used Targeted Ads On Children’s Videos, Watchdogs Say

One of the groups said it had used Google’s tools to run a targeted ad campaign this month on children’s channels. Google has said it did not allow such ads on videos made for children.

Teenagers Turn To YouTube Before TV, Precise TV Finds

The youngsters do watch and recall ads, the report also finds.

YouTube Ads May Have Led To Online Tracking Of Children, Research Says

YouTube’s NFL Sunday Ticket Adds Monthly Payment Option, Live Chat, Polls, Real-Time Shorts Highlights And More

Google’s YouTube is tweaking features of NFL Sunday Ticket — less than a month before the football season kicks off — in the hopes of luring more paying customers to the pricey sports package.

YouTube Begins Mass Takedowns Of Videos Promoting ‘Harmful Or Ineffective’ Cancer Cures

YouTube Cracks Down On Fan Channels, Updates Impersonation Policy

Law&Crime To Premiere Newest Addition To YouTube Channel, ‘The Lineup’

Legal and true crime network Law&Crime announces the premiere of its newest YouTube series, The Lineup. Featuring wild, never-before-seen crime fighting moments, The Lineup “is for the network’s millions of […]

Will Advertisers Be Impacted By YouTube’s Reversal Of Political Ad Policies?

Advertisers may wonder how the reversal of YouTube’s decision to take down content that advances false claims that widespread fraud, errors or glitches occurred in the 2020 or other elections will impact ad-placement decisions. The change, which YouTube announced Friday, will not impact its advertising policies or YouTube monetization policies.

Parents Can Sue YouTube Over Children’s Privacy, FTC Says

The federal children’s privacy law doesn’t prevent parents from suing YouTube for allegedly violating California laws by tracking young children, the Federal Trade Commission is telling an appeals court. The federal Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act overrides claims rooted in inconsistent state laws, but doesn’t override state-law claims that parallel the federal law, the agency wrote in a friend-of-the-court brief filed over the weekend with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell Says Sunday Ticket Move To YouTube Is ‘Only The Beginning’ As League And Tech Giant Deepen Ties

Upfronts: YouTube Adopts Non-Skippable 30-Second CTV Commercials

YouTube, competing for TV ad dollars with TV companies that are shifting to streaming, announced that it is bringing 30-second commercials that can’t be skipped to YouTube Select on connected TVs. At its annual Brandcast presentation to advertisers during upfront week, YouTube also said it was introducing the ability to pause ads to CTVs.

QUARTERLY REPORT

YouTube Ad Revenue Down For Third Straight Quarter, Off 2.6% In 1Q

The world’s biggest free ad-supported streaming service saw ad revenue decline for a third straight quarter, with Alphabet reporting a 2.6% year-over-year ad sales drop for YouTube in 1Q to $6.69 billion. YouTube still narrowly outperformed equity analysts forecasts of $6.6 billion. It reported a 7.8% year-over-year revenue drop in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2022 and a 1.9% decline in 3Q.

YouTube Launches Discounted NFL Sunday Ticket Pricing Plans As Part Of New Google Partnership

YouTube revealed the highly anticipated details of its new streaming plan for NFL Sunday Ticket on Tuesday, providing a win for fans who were shut out of the programming when it was aired by DirectTV by making the service available to anyone with web access. But it’s a win that comes at a hefty cost: The price for the out-of-market football game service is rising, the Google-owned YouTube said in a blog post. Fast-acting fans can get a $100 discount if they sign up for the service before June 6.

Law&Crime Expanding YouTube Presence With True Crime Channel Acquisitions

Legal and true crime network Law&Crime plans to expand its YouTube presence through a series of acquisitions and partnerships with other channels in the true crime genre. These acquisitions are […]

VAB Takes On YouTube In Battle Over Whether Video Quality Matters In Measurement

As the TV industry tries to set new standards for cross-platform measurement, YouTube, the streaming leader, wants in and the VAB, representing programmers, is pushing back.

‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’ Dominates At SAG Awards

The SAG Awards, often an Oscar preview, threw some curve balls into the Oscars race in a ceremony streamed live on Netflix’s YouTube page from Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles. Above: Stephanie Hsu, center, and members of the cast of Everything Everywhere All at Once, accept the award for outstanding performance by a cast in a motion picture at the 29th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards on Sunday, Feb. 26, at the Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles. (Chris Pizzello/AP)

Susan Wojcicki Steps Down As YouTube CEO

In a tweet, Wojcicki said she sent an email to YouTube employees announcing her plans to step back from her role as head of YouTube to start a new chapter focused on her family, health and personal projects she is passionate about. She will be succeeded by Neal Mohan, who is chief product officer at YouTube, a division of Alphabet.

YouTube Will Livestream Coachella Through 2026 In Renewed Deal

YouTube Returns To Mid-May TV Upfronts Slot In New York With Annual Brandcast Event For Advertisers

For a second straight year, YouTube will host its annual Brandcast pitch to video ad buyers during the heart of what had been a week dominated by traditional TV network upfronts in New York. The digital video giant, which had been an anchor tenant of the more digitally focused NewFronts ad showcase held earlier in the spring, made its mid-May debut last year with a show in the Broadway theater district. This year, on May 17, Brandcast is heading uptown to Lincoln Center’s recently renovated David Geffen Hall. The evening show will be followed by an after-party, YouTube said in a blog post.

Move To YouTube Could Boost Number Of Sunday Ticket Subscribers

The potential loss of 1.5 million Sunday Ticket customers presents a challenge to DirecTV.

 

YouTube’s Pricey Deal For NFL Sunday Ticket: What’s The Monthly Consumer Price Now?

Now that Google’s YouTube has inked a massive multi-year deal for NFL Sunday Ticket — for $2 billion-plus a year, according to reports — one major question is how much the price will rise for consumers.

NFL And YouTube Punch Sunday Ticket, Finalizing Deal For Package After Drawn-Out Negotiations With Multiple Bidders

The NFL and Google have sealed a multi-year agreement giving YouTube TV and YouTube Primetime Channels exclusive rights to the NFL Sunday Ticket package in the U.S. The pact, which takes effect in 2023, replaces a partnership between the league and DirecTV since the introduction of the Sunday Ticket package — which delivers out-of-market games to subscribers — in 1994. The NFL had held talks for months with multiple bidders, indicating last summer that it would likely head to a streaming service.

Google’s YouTube In Talks For Rights To NFL Sunday Ticket

The National Football League is in advanced talks to give Google’s YouTube exclusive rights to NFL Sunday Ticket, a subscription-only package that allows football fans to watch most Sunday afternoon games, people familiar with the matter said. An agreement could be reached as early as Wednesday, following a meeting of NFL owners, who approve rights deals.

YouTube Leads All OTT Platforms, Including Netflix, In Monthly Average Viewers

YouTube Launches Primetime Channels, A Third-Party Hub For Streaming Subscriptions

YouTube is getting into the third-party streaming subscription game, launching Primetime Channels, a hub where consumers can sign up for Showtime, Starz, Paramount+ and more than 30 other services. The initiative is starting in the U.S., the company confirmed in a blog post. Visitors to YouTube can access Primetime Channels via the Movies & TV area of YouTube. NBA League Pass and other services are coming soon, the blog post indicated.

YouTube Announces Interface Makeover

YouTube is rolling out a new look and additional features to all users that began on Monday, including a pinch-to-zoom feature, new button options, ambient mode, an “even darker” dark mode, and more-precise seeking. The company’s new pinch-to-zoom feature, which became available as a test to Premium subscribers in August, allows iOS and Android users to zoom in on videos for heightened clarity on specific details. 

YouTube To Expand Ways To Reach CTV Viewers, Audio Listeners

People have become dependent on content from YouTube to help them do everything from learning how to fix a flat tire on a car, to how to bake a loaf of sourdough bread. These are moments that matter, so to help advertisers reach engaged viewers, YouTube will launch a feature it calls Moment Blast, designed for brands looking to raise awareness in key moments in a day, such as during major sporting events, movie releases or product launches.

YouTube Is Introducing Handles, With Unique Human-Readable URLs For Every Channel

YouTube is finally going to give @uniquenames — that are comprehensible to human beings — to every single channel on the platform. On Monday, the video giant announced that it is introducing handles, which it described as “a new way for people to easily find and engage with creators and each other on YouTube.” The YouTube handles will appear on channel pages and Shorts, which will make it “simpler and faster to mention each other in comments, community posts, video descriptions and more,” the service explained.

Nielsen Adds ‘Always On’ Measurement To Digital Ad Ratings For YouTube Campaigns

SCOTUS To Hear Challenge To Section 230 Protections

The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear a case that challenges tech companies’ broad immunity to lawsuits over content hosted on their platforms. The case marks a new focus for the highest court to weigh in on Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act that protects platforms from being sued over most third-party content on their sites. The court will decide in the case of Gonzalez v. Google LLC whether those protections are too far-reaching when it comes to Google’s recommendations of terrorist videos.

YouTube Adds Revenue Sharing To Shorts Videos

YouTube has spent years building YouTube Shorts and its creator program. Now it will give creators an option to monetize content earlier. Executives at the company’s Made on YouTube event, live and virtual, on Tuesday announced updates to its YouTube Partner Program, which now includes monetizing Shorts. In early 2023, YouTube creators can apply to become part of the platform’s revenue-sharing program if they have at least 1,000 subscribers and 10 million Shorts views in 90 days.

Google, YouTube Outline Plans For Handling Misinformation During Midterm Election Cycle

When users search for election content on either Google or YouTube, recommendation systems are in place to highlight journalism or video content from authoritative national and local news sources such as The Wall Street Journal, Univision, PBS NewsHour and local ABC, CBS and NBC affiliates.

New Book Details YouTube’s Struggles With Extremist Speech

Bloomberg: “YouTube went to war against terrorists, just not white nationalists.”