One of the reasons for the major change to both style and format is to make navigation simpler and allow users to find their favourite channels quickly. To facilitate this, the new site now features three vertical columns. On the left-hand side, users can access their account and browse videos, including "trending clips" by channel. The middle column is where the videos now appear, all neatly laid-out running vertically down the screen. The right-hand column showcases a handful of TV shows and featured clips.
The overhaul of YouTube is the next part in a long-running plan by Google to rejuvenate the video channel since it took over the site five years ago for a whopping $1.76 billion. With the new change comes better integration with a range of Google’s other products.
“New YouTube pages makes it easy to synch channel updates to subscribers' Twitter, Facebook or Google+ social network accounts,” said YouTube vice president of product development, Shishir Mehrotra
Of course, this new look should also make the site much more appealing for viewing via Google TV, which the company has recently upgraded following a luke-warm reception to the service, which was hampered at launch last year by major Hollywood networks blocking their content from the platform.
The new design also lays things out nicely for the introduction of premium paid-for channels, which are going to be lucrative for Google with such a bold-looking new homepage ripe for advertising. A preview site for a host of premium channels launched a while back, showing the type of content users will be able to access, ranging from lifestyle channels to educational programmes.
Having spent some time browsing YouTube this morning, the site does exude a more vibrant, current feel, and it is much quicker to navigate thanks to the new layout. It also appears to have been speed optimised as we’ve been whizzing around the site and loading clips much faster. Overall, the new site gets the big thumbs-up from us.
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