YouTube TV, Google’s live streaming TV service, is plotting a significant platform redesign for later this year.
In a blog post, YouTube’s Chief Product Officer Neal Mohan touted 2021 updates to the service including the 4K add-on package and offline viewing while providing a hint of what’s to come.
“I’m delighted to share that this year, we’ll launch a redesign that will further streamline the user interface, including updates to Library and Live, which will give our viewers more control over how they organize and watch their favorite content with an even smoother experience,” he wrote.
Unlike a similar blog post last year when he revealed that YouTube TV had more than 3 million subscribers, Mohan didn’t provide an updated subscriber count for the virtual MVPD. According to a recent estimate from Lightshed Partners, the service now has more than 4 million subscribers, compared to Hulu + Live TV which just hit 4.3 million.
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Mohan also hinted at other connected TV updates coming to YouTube like an upcoming feature that will let viewers use their phones to engage with content their watching on their television.
Google has been putting a lot of effort into positioning YouTube as a connected TV app and it’s resulting in huge viewership numbers outside of mobile. The company said that as of January 2022, on average viewers are watching more than 700 million hours of YouTube content on TV daily.
“And in the year ahead, we want to give these viewers easier navigation and even more interactivity. One of the ways we’ll do this is through a device that you always have within reach: your phone. Soon, we’ll be unveiling a new way for viewers to use their phones while they watch YouTube on their TV to read or leave comments, share videos with a friend, and much more,” Mohan wrote.