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YouTube Shows Creators How They Can Optimize Their Content for Connected TV in 2023

YouTubers can now take their content to the big screen! Here’s how.

YouTube Shows Creators How They Can Optimize Their Content for Connected TV in 2023

More and more people are now consuming YouTube content through TV, making connected TV the fastest-growing Youtube viewer segment.

This means that advertisers and creators can benefit from optimizing their content to be consumed on bigger screen formats by aligning with more traditional, and more embedded viewer engagement processes. In order to do that, you must consider how your content appears to TV viewers. That’s where Youtube‘s tips come in.

This week, YouTube has published a blog post containing some new tips on exactly how you can make your content tailored for the big screen, with YouTube’s Creator Insider channel outlining five keynotes to consider when creating content with Connected TV viewing in mind.

Upload in 4K

First off, you should be looking to upload your content in 4k. “TVs are a great way to show every pixel of your best content. YouTube is the only platform that can ingest the latest high-end production quality sources and TVs are often the only surfaces that can reliably play them accurately.” Youtube said.

The latest TVs are able to stream in 4k, 8k, and HDR, so you should consider tapping into these features. You can use Youtube Studio’s advanced analytics to see how many people are watching your videos on TV.

High-Resolution Thumbnail

Creators should upload high-resolution thumbnails for their videos, as thumbnails will appear much larger on larger TV screens.

Catch Attention Early

YouTube also advises creators to aim to hook viewers within the first 10 to 30 seconds of their video. Doing this will allow them to capitalize on inline preview (the autoplay preview when a user hovers over the thumbnail), which will help to maximize interest.

Organize Content

Youtube recommends creators make their content more episodic, marking their episodes within the playlist settings.

“Video titles should lead with the episode title and the series name as a suffix – for example, ‘video title’ [series name]” said Youtube.

This helps users understand that each episode is part of a bigger series, that they can consume in the app, leaning into more traditional TV viewing behavior.

Comprehensible Thumbnail

Finally, YouTube also advises that thumbnails should have consistent look while also communicating with each specific episode is about. Making them similar to a TV show or movie poster.

This all links back to embedded, habitual viewing behaviors on TV, with YouTube looking to better align creators with these processes, in order to drive more interest.

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