YouTube may face some challenges as it moves toward the mainstream, but it isn’t standing still on the technological side. Here are eight new tools for video creators YouTube execs Matthew Glotzbach and Oliver Heckmann—the site’s director of product management and VP of engineering, respectively—previewed at the unofficial YouTube convention VidCon last week.
A few are available now, but most are are still coming attractions. Keep your eyes peeled, YouTubers.
1. Sound Effects
YouTube’s Audio Library already featured hundreds of free songs; now it also includes an array of royalty-free sound effects—perfect for the creator who needs a blood-curdling scream or machine gun fire. The company is also adding more music tracks, though it didn’t say how many.
2. 60 FPS Video
Most YouTube videos play at the standard film-projection rate of 24 frames per second—typically just fast enough to trick a viewer’s brain into seeing motion instead of a succession of still images. YouTube will soon be supporting higher frame rates of 48 fps and 60 fps in order to better capture action from video-game footage shot at higher frame rates.
YouTube has uploaded three videos that preview the new HFR (high frame rate) mode; you can check them out here. (Though be careful out there, creators; remember the grief director Peter Jackson took from some critics when he released the first Hobbit movie in 48 fps.)
3. Creator Studio App
A new Creator Studio app gives creators mobile access to their analytics, which help them better understand the audience drawn by each video, as well as video-management functions. The app is available on Android and will be launching on iOS in “coming weeks.”
4. Playlists
Although the execs’ description was a little vague, creators are apparently going to get “new ways” to create video playlists designed to draw in fans.
5. Creator Credits
Lots of creators collaborate in making YouTube videos, but it’s not easy for viewers to track down the video history of individual collaborators in a video. Creator Credits aims to fix that by letting creators tag their collaborator friends on videos so that viewers can click through to discover new channels. Credits will also allow users to search for different creators based on their work and location.
6. Fan-Contributed Subtitles
Viewers will soon be able to submit their own translations of video subtitles or captions for videos that use them.
7. Info Cards
Info cards will help cleanly organize text in video, replacing YouTube’s older annotation format. Creators will be able to program Info cards once to work across desktops, phones, and tablets.
8. Fan Funding
YouTube is adding its own way for fans to support their favorite YouTube celebrities as an alternative to KickStarter, IndieGogo and Patreon. A “Support” button now being tested on channels such as The Young Turks will let viewers donate money directly to video creators via Google Wallet.
YouTube—Now On Satellite Radio
In addition to these new features, the video site is also launching The YouTube 15, a weekly show on SiriusXM Hits 1. Hosted by creatorJenna Marbles, the show will feature YouTube’s rising music stars.
