- Kyle Chua
YouTube Testing Improved Search, Paid Educational Courses and Multiple Audio Tracks
Google is trying out some new features that can make your YouTube experience better, but they're not available to everyone yet.
The first of which is a feature that can make it easier for you to search through YouTube videos on your smartphones or tablets. When you use the mobile Search app and get video results, you can tap the new Search in Video button that lets you type your query to see if it matches any part of the video's audio transcript. If it does, you can hit the timecode and be taken directly to that part of the video. The feature saves you from having to watch the entire video just to find what you're searching for.
The ability to search through a video's transcript has been available for a while now, though the process is more involved, as The Verge points out. It requires you to manually open the video's transcript and then use the browser's search-in-page function to search for your query. For those unaware, the audio transcripts of videos are auto-generated by YouTube.
The video-sharing platform also debuted Courses, a new feature that lets creators sell educational videos, along with supplemental materials like PDFs or images, which are under the relevant videos. The feature groups videos in a playlist of sorts and features a specialised interface that guides viewers through the materials. Creators can decide whether they want to charge for Courses or make them free. The addition is meant to help YouTube compete with paid educational services like MasterClass or Skillshare. Courses is coming to India in 2023.
Apart from the two, the platform is beta testing multiple audio tracks for videos in India, which could make content more accessible across different languages. The feature lets you choose from language audio tracks the video is available in, the same way you would for captions. YouTube said that, for its tests, it's using a third-party translation and dubbing service powered by artificial intelligence.
The new features were announced during Google for India, an annual event where the tech giant announces its latest innovations and planned initiatives for the country. It's unclear yet whether all the features are eventually going be rolled out internationally, and if so, when.
Google is trying out some new features that can make your YouTube experience better, but they're not available to everyone yet.
The first of which is the ability to search through the contents of a video using the mobile Search app.
The video-sharing platform also debuted Courses, a new feature that lets creators sell educational videos, along with supplemental materials.
Apart from the two, the platform is beta testing multiple audio tracks for videos, which could make content more accessible across different languages.