YouTube wants to keep its content creators happy and is planning to release a new mobile app that will help them make the most of the video-sharing network's services, with features for crowdfunding and crowdsourcing captions.
In a video titled Creator Preview, the first in a series of training videos that YouTube is slated to roll out in the coming months to inform creators what it is up to, YouTube announced that it is planning to release a mobile app intended for content creators to help them manage their videos right from their mobile devices. The app will include a crowdfunding feature, which will also be available on the web app. The new feature will allow viewers to directly pay their favorite content creators and help viewers diversify their revenue stream that currently depends entirely on advertising.
"I've seen how creators have tapped into that to get funds from their fans, contributions and things to go off and make even more amazing things, but the problem is a lot of this funding happens off YouTube. So I've been thinking about how we can do this directly on YouTube, allowing fans to fund the creators that they really love," says (video) Jehan Ratnatunga, product manager at YouTube. Ratnatunga, an independent creator for YouTube himself says he understands the relationship between the creators and their fans.
Although YouTube has been working with crowdfunding website Kickstarter for a while, the Google-owned video-sharing website has been under fire for failing to help its content creators, the lifeblood of its business, make the most out of its advertising efforts. Some creators believe that ad revenue from YouTube falls below expectations and have looked to other sites to publish their content. Others, as Ratnatunga says, set up crowdfunding campaigns on websites like Kickstarter and Patreon, a crowdfunding startup meant for content creators.
The mobile app will also include a feature for crowdsourcing captions, subtitles and translations into more than 60 languages, which will help creators reach out to a wider global audience. Around 80% of YouTube's 1 billion users live outside the United States.
Matt Glotzbach, YouTube director of creator product management, promises that YouTube will from now keep its creators informed about its latest news and updates.
"You're not always happy with me and we hear you loud and clear. We want to fix that. We want to give you more transparency in what we're doing. We want to show you the features and products we're building ahead of time so you can tell us if we're on the right track or we need to adjust a little," Glotzbach says.
Among other features that YouTube is getting to ready roll out include improved comment management, revenue collection for popular cover artists and the expansion of Cover Academy, its training program for creators.
