The YouTube expertise on TVs has at all times felt like an afterthought in comparison with watching it on telephones or the online. But with TV not too long ago gaining popularity than cellular for watching YouTube within the US, the tv expertise is lastly going to get a redesign quickly – and that is nice information, so long as some annoying points are fastened within the course of.
Nearly all of my YouTube watching takes place on my TV by way of the Apple TV app. I believed this made me a streaming dinosaur, however the 2025 stats say completely different, and that is why YouTube has promised to prioritize the massive display this yr in a approach that it by no means has earlier than.
This week, to tie in with YouTube’s twentieth birthday, we heard that the house of short-form video is getting a “TV viewing improve” that can roll out “this summer time”.
Precise particulars of what which means are scarce, however a teaser picture (above) provides us an concept of what to anticipate, together with a couple of promised enhancements.
These embody “simpler navigation” (let’s hope that features an improved search expertise), plus some “high quality tweaks” and a greater playback expertise. YouTube can be promising “streamlined entry to feedback, channel information, and subscribing.”
That final level caught my eye, as a result of a comparatively latest change to subscriptions in YouTube’s Apple TV app has change into a critical ache – and based on Reddit threads, I’m not alone in feeling that approach.
Rather than itemizing your subscriptions in alphabetical order, the TV app on most providers (Google TV, Fire TV, and extra) now jumbles them up confusingly so as of mysterious “relevance” – despite the fact that that is not the case within the cellular app. And it frustrates me nearly each time I watch YouTube on the massive display.
A extra TV-like expertise
Granted, there are larger complaints in regards to the YouTube expertise on TVs – most notably, an more and more painful advert expertise that’s making YouTube Premium necessary, until you get pleasure from urgent the mute button each jiffy.
But I’m hoping YouTube’s promised navigation enhancements embody bringing again alphabetical subscription lists, or a greater technique to expertise them. I beforehand used the subscriptions checklist like an EPG, which helped me rapidly discover the newest sequence I used to be having fun with (my newest obsession being Trash Theory’s wonderful music essays).
Now, the channels are ordered by what YouTube considers “most related”, which is normally completely different from what I feel is related – as a result of YouTube cannot (but) learn my thoughts. This is one thing you possibly can change when watching in a browser (by going to Subscriptions > Manage > then selecting A-Z from the drop-down menu), however not within the many TV apps.
There are workarounds like casting out of your telephone to your TV as a substitute, however I’m a TV native in the case of YouTube – so I hope the massive redesign that is en route additionally restores among the performance that was not too long ago eliminated in basic Google trend.
There is a hazard that these new options will likely be accompanied by ‘upgrades’ like “pause adverts”, which is one thing YouTube has been testing whereas drumming its fingers collectively like Mr Burns. Another characteristic that has been promised is a “second display expertise that allows you to use your telephone to work together with the video you are watching on TV”.
I’m real looking – Google and YouTube not often give us new options with out discovering methods to concurrently print extra advert cash from the one billion hours we spend watching YouTube content material on TVs each day (sure, actually). But so long as the TV expertise lastly feels as polished and user-friendly because the cellular app, I’ll probably proceed to spend extra time on YouTube than the perfect streaming providers.
