This new design is called the YouTube One Channel, and YouTube has had it in beta for some time now. In that time, over 100 million channels have opted-in to the new look. But for all of you holdouts, your days with the old channel format are numbered. YouTube has just announced that all channels with be automatically and permanently moved to the new One Channel design by June 5th.

“Channels that have already made the switch are experiencing several benefits. Their branding shines through in more places because Channel Art is visible on iOS apps, Android apps and TV. For the channels that have opted in, we’ve seen 20% more page views on their channels because clicks from the YouTube guide go directly to their channel pages instead of to their activity feeds,” says YouTube

Here’s what the new channels look like:

Compare that to the old channels, which will no longer exist come June 5th:

Of course, if you’re a channel owner and you’re just now hearing about this – you can choose to opt-in early here.

And speaking of YouTube and channels, the company just expanded live streaming to any and all channels with 1000+ subscribers.

Starting today, all YouTube channels in good standing (you know, following the YouTube Community Guidelines) with over 1,000 subscribers are eligible for live streaming. If you want to know if you are eligible, simply check your account features page. If you’re eligible, you’ll see an “enable” button and there you’ll be able to sign up. YouTube says that live streaming capabilities will officially come to these channels in the following weeks.

Here’s what YouTube has to say about what content creators will get with the YouTube Live expansion:

YouTube Live allows you to offer your audience a great viewing experience, with great streaming quality and instant scalability and reliability. Here are some key features:

Last month, YouTube for iOS finally got live streaming. And last week, YouTube pulled the curtain back on their long-rumored paid channels. Only a few select partners currently have access to those paid channels at launch, but in the future you can see how expanded live streaming and paid channel subscriptions could prove an interesting match.

In all, Google invested over $100 million into new original channels. Recent reports have suggested that Google is investing even more into original YouTube content.

Now, it looks like Google is looking to offer another incentive for content creators to produce for YouTube, as well as another reason for advertisers to flock.

AdAge is reporting that YouTube is gearing up to launch paid channel subscriptions. They quote multiple sources familiar with the plans who say that the paid subscriptions could debut as early as Q2 of this year.

It’s unknown exactly which channels would launch as part of this new model, but the sources said that users would be asked to pay between $1 and $5 a month to gain access to the paid channels.

According to AdAge, “YouTube is also considering charging for content libraries and access to live events, a la pay-per-view, as well as self-help or financial advice shows.”

This is not the first time we’ve heard talk of new paid channel subscriptions. Back in June of last year, YouTube CEO Salr Kamangar talked paid subscriptions at the Reuters Media and Tech Summit. The main focus was on certain cable channels who could find more success on YouTube with a subscription, but he also discussed other content creators on YouTube being able to charge for their content.

The report indicates that any paid subscription model would most likely be small (25 or less channels) at first.

The big question is whether or not YouTube users think there’s anything on YouTube worth paying for – and if not, who can create that?

YouTube has just launched another tool to help the nonprofit organizations enrolled in their YouTube Nonprofit program. Now, YouTube wants to give channel owners a “digital thermometer” for their videos.

It’s simply called “Campaigns,” and it allows YouTube Nonprofit members to set specific goals and broadcast them to viewers.

“This new feature allows nonprofits to create campaigns with goals like increasing views or subscribers, track their progress, and let people to contribute to their goals,” says the company in a blog post. “A campaign consists of one or more videos…Once a campaign is created, videos in that campaign will show an overlay on them, encouraging viewers to contribute to the campaign.”

Not only will the video itself show an overlay with the progress bar, but the campaign will display front and center on the nonprofit’s channel. The Campaigns box with show the goal progress bar, how many days left in the campaign, as well as the number of new shares of the particular video(s).

According to YouTube, they now have over 18,000 nonprofits enrolled in the program. They recently gave the option to include a more prominent donate button inside videos and also held the Next Cause program, a summit that enables charitable organizations to participate in a summit that gave them information on how to better achieve their goals.

Hawk caught up with Louis C.K. during one of the comedian’s tour’s stops in Detroit and proceed to discuss a wide range of topics including reddit, Louie, Dane Cook, and pushing the limits of comedy.

Tony Hawk obviously thinks quite a bit of Louis C.K., saying that he’s “smart, funny, poignant, crude, inappropriate and innovative; all the qualities of a genius in my opinion.” I’m positive that most of the internet agrees. Check out the entertaining (and a bit awkward) interview below:

The interview was posted to Tony Hawk’s new YouTube channel, RIDE, which debuted earlier this year.

[via UPROXX]

Yes, yes. But, it would have to be with the right producers, and it would have to be a less unfavorable contract. I put my heart and soul into that thing; everybody on the crew did. It was a unique time in TV history. It was exciting to be part of it. Let’s change the world.

A redditor specifically asked him if he would consider doing it on YouTube or independently on the internet, to which Nye replied “Stay tuned [winky face].”

Now, we learn that Bill Nye is bringing a new show to Chris Hardwick’s Nerdist YouTube channel,

“I’m proud to announce you guys, that Bill Nye will be coming to the Nerdist channel on YouTube,” announced Hardwick on his Nerdist podcast.

The announcement was also reiterated in the info line of this video, posted today. Check out how Bill Nye ties a bowtie:

When Bill Nye told reddit to “Stay Tuned,” were not sure that he meant for this announcement. But it is a new Bill Nye show coming to YouTube. The format of which, we can only hope, resembles his classic TV show.

[via reddit]

When you couple that buzz with the giant possibilites offered by the world of online video, you see why it’s not surprising that food television veterans have decided to try their hand at a new YouTube channel dedicated to food.

It’s called HUNGRY, and it will launch on July 2nd.

HUNGRY is a partnership between Electus media and Food Network’s Duff Goldman, which you know from the popular show Ace of Cakes. The CEO of HUNGRY is Bruce Seidel, a former top exec at Food Network. He’s the guy who oversaw the launch of the Food Network-spawned Cooking Channel.

“In the evolution of the food arena, and as original content on digital platforms continues to flourish, HUNGRY marks a new vision and attitude about all things food. Whether you love to eat, cook or drink, our dynamic original series have something for everyone,” said Seidel. “Our mission is to create highly entertaining shows and galvanize the niches that are driving the Internet food conversation forward via the incredible power and social influence of YouTube.”

You can expect to see shows involving all things food on the channel, including “culinary challenges, food pranks, and gastronomic adventures.” The channel’s management hopes that the selection of big personalities attached to do shows will help set it apart from other food-oriented YouTube channels.

As far as Duff Goldman’s part in all of this, he’ll have his own show on HUNGRY called “Duff’s Food World.” He’ll also serve as “a talent and programming consultant for the channel.”

Here’s a snippet of what Duff’s show will be like:

Get inside the head of Duff Goldman, and explore the world of food via Duff’s experiences. Duff’s Food World explores everything from one-of-a-kind dishes and dining experiences like “dining in the dark” and “naked sushi in Vegas,” to tasty and often hilarious “Internet and TV Food Clips of the Week,” to unique food festival field trips like the notorious Spam Festival or Fungus Festival (will he bring his own?). Duff picks his favorite “Food Porn Clip of the Week,” man-on-the-street food pranks and historical re-enactments of great moments in food. Duff’s Food World premieres a new episode on HUNGRY every week beginning this summer.

Along with Duff Goldman, some of the debut programming on HUNGRY will feature chefs Alex Thomopoulos, Laura Vitale, and Chris Cosentino. Popular dining app Urbanspoon is also set to debut a series on the channel.

YouTube has made no secret of the fact that they really want to push “channels.” In the past few months we’ve seen new sports channels, automotive channels, and more – all in an effort to up the original content offerings on the site.

“What once may have been considered too over the top for TV is now funny, fresh programming on HUNGRY,” says Goldman

The announcement came on The Official YouTube blog, where Mur Viswanathan, a Google product manager, outlined the layout changes that have been implemented. From the blog post:

Lots of complex algorithms are working behind the scenes to give you the channel you’re looking for, for example, being able to tell when the word ‘Chicago’ means the music band and when it means the movie/musical. We’re still tweaking everything to make sure it works just right for you, so let us know what you think of the channels or learn more in our help center.

YouTube has been auto-generating channels based on search topics, and putting them in the “Top YouTube Collections” tab, for over a year now. The channels are often based on niche topics such as “Yoga” or “Big Wave Surfing,” as seen in the picture above. The channels function the same as other channels, allowing users to subscribe and follow a topic. To tell if a channel has been auto-generated by YouTube, users should look for the “auto generated by YouTube” message below the channel’s title.

It seems that YouTube is now confident enough in their auto-generating algorithms to begin promoting the feature more publicly. What do you think? Are auto-generated channels useful or annoying? Have you spotted any of these on YouTube yet? Leave a comment below and let us know.

YouTube will cover cost of production for certain channel producers, and the producers themselves will share equally in advertising revenue, once YouTube recoups the original investment. Production costs range from a few hundred thousand to a few million for most channels.

YouTube has struck deals on the new advertising scheme with brands like Toyota, GM, AT&T, and Lowes. As part of the deal, buyers will also be investing in other videos, with their ads appearing in non-channel videos as well. The channel sponsor ads comprise just 20% of the total ad campaign revenue for investors, with the other content being run on the rest of YouTube’s videos.

Unilever will be sponsoring Young Hollywood Network channel for a reported $10 million. Toyota is to sponsor Cafe Mom, Kin Community and Mom’s View for $10 million, and GM will sponsor a package of automotive channels including Red Bull’s action sports channel for $5 million. Chrysler, AT&T, and Lowes also have agreements, but details on those deals have not been released.

YouTube is asking brands to get on board for sponsorship of groups of channels as part of a package deal. According to AdAge, a one year exclusive contract in the music and pop culture categories would cost as much as $62 million a package. Sports would cost $40 million, and automotive would run you about $16 million.

This new advertising model comes after a recent redesign of the channels look for YouTube. As more attention is being shifted from television to online video entertainment, YouTube is trying to stay ahead of the game with improvements to their channels offering, giving a more professional feel to original content and offering new ad opportunities to investors.

On Sunday, April 1, millions of voters in Burma will cast a ballot in the parliamentary by-elections. This year, Burma is opening its doors to media and election observers alike to document the election proceedings in real-time. With support from Google Ideas, our friends at the J-School News Lab, a real-time reporting training program for Burmese journalists, will be curating a Burma Elections news channel on YouTube. Here, they will feature original reporting from J-School journalists on the ground, Burmese media outlets, and international broadcasters.

Google Ideas is Google’s “technology-oriented think/do tank” that deals with technology and its influence/purpose around the world. They back technological projects and research, and hope that these “technological developments our insights fuel will scale to help as many people as possible.”

For a long time, the inner-workings of the country were kept behind a wall, and information had a hard time reaching international ears. In 2011, as part of Burma’s democratic reforms, the pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi was released from house arrest. Her releases was also accompanied by a National Human rights Commission.

The UN’s report of human rights conditions in the country states that strides have been made, but they have a ways to go:

This is a key moment in Myanmar’s history and there are real opportunities for positive and meaningful developments to improve the human rights situation and deepen the transition to democracy. The new Government has taken a number of steps towards these ends. Yet, many serious human rights issues remain and they need to be addressed.

YouTube’s Burma Elections page is up and running, and is already populated with two dozen videos.