YouTube announced today that it is updating the look of the site, but perhaps more importantly, it’s putting the guide feature on all devices. A spokesperson for the company tells us this is all rolling out in the next few hours.
“Those of you who use YouTube most have learned the secret to making it even better—find the channels you love and subscribe, subscribe, subscribe,” the company says in a blog post. “Last year we began to make it easier to subscribe to the channels you care about by introducing a Guide on the home page. When you add subscriptions to your Guide, you organize YouTube around what you like, available whenever you watch YouTube. Today, we’re taking the next step by bringing your subscription-filled Guide with you across both the site and all devices, as your best source of what to watch on YouTube.”
As for the new look of YouTube.com, the company says, “You come to YouTube to watch the videos you care about, so it’s important that the videos stand out. In this new layout, you’ll find the most crucial elements are front and center when you watch a video: the video is right at the top of the page and the subscribe button, social actions and video information are all combined directly below the player. Playlists are now available to the right of the video so you can browse through while you watch. You’ll also see this cleaner and simpler design across the entire site.”
YouTube currently has 800 million users per month, watching 4 billion hours of video. Over the last year, the number of users subscribing to channels has more than doubled. The company says experiments show that the new updates add another 30% on top of that. YouTube users are subscribing to 50% more channels overall with the new update, and watch time is up 30%. Subscribing to channels has been around as a feature as far back as 2005.