V7N, July 2, 2024 — Google is rolling out three new features for YouTube Shorts, exclusively for its premium users, in response to the growing popularity of short-length videos. The new features—Smart Download, Picture-in-Picture, and Smart Ahead—are designed to enhance user engagement and experience on the platform.

Smart Download Feature:

The Smart Download feature will automatically download videos based on user preferences, allowing users to watch selected videos offline. This feature is expected to improve accessibility and convenience for users who wish to enjoy content without an internet connection.

Picture-in-Picture (PiP) Feature:

The Picture-in-Picture feature enables users to watch Shorts in a small, floating window even after exiting the YouTube app. This window can be dragged to any location on the smartphone screen, ensuring uninterrupted viewing while multitasking. This functionality was previously available for longer videos but has now been extended to Shorts.

Smart Ahead Feature:

The Smart Ahead feature modifies the double-click functionality on videos. Previously, double-clicking on the right or left of a video would skip 10 seconds. Now, double-clicking will start the video from a recommended section, determined by YouTube's artificial intelligence (AI). The AI selects the best parts of the video based on user data, aiming to enhance the viewing experience. This feature was in testing for a few months and is now available to premium users.

In addition to these features, Google is experimenting with a new comment summary feature for YouTube videos and an AI chatbot. The chatbot can answer various questions about video content, initially available to premium users in the US, with plans to extend it to other regions.

YouTube has also updated its user interface (UI), moving the title, description, and comments to the left side of the video, rather than below it. This redesign aims to streamline the viewing experience.

YouTube Premium, which costs Rs 239 per month, allows users to watch videos without ads and offers 1080p video streaming. These new features further add value to the premium subscription, making it an attractive option for frequent users of the platform.