YouTube Shorts to be launched on television

YouTube has announced that viewers will now be able to watch YouTube Shorts on television screens. Shorts includes videos which are 60 seconds or less.

YouTube Shorts is now available on Television screens. The level of interactivity can be tedious with a remote, but in this case, short-form video is unique, Bryyn Evans, Senior Staff UX Designer and Manager at Google and Melanie Fitzgerald, UX Directors, YouTube, wrote in their blog.

"While expanding Shorts to TV may seem straightforward conceptually, the journey to get here was not as simple as it sounds. That’s why we’re pulling back the curtain to share a behind-the-scenes look at the process of bringing a vertical, mobile-first format to TV", they added.

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YouTube Shorts are short-form vertical videos that give you an opportunity to discover new and interesting content. The YouTube Shorts player allows you to watch and interact with a never-ending stream of videos in the Shorts Feed.

While expanding YouTube Shorts to TV felt like an obvious progression, the design challenge remained.

"We learned that viewers wanted to be in the driver’s seat of the viewing experience and were happy to use the remote to manually advance to the next Short rather than have the feed autoplay. This was unusual. Typically we find that level of interactivity can be tedious with a remote, but in this case, short-form video is unique. Research indicated that people want to take charge of the viewing experience — just like with Shorts on mobile — and even expected it," wrote Evans.

According to the company, the design that has been rolled out is a modified version of that maximal prototype. The modifications include a simplified design of the right side rail. As per the blog, the platform will look to bring additional functionality in future releases.

Here’s how to use your remote to navigate within your system:

1. To start or pause the Short, click directly on it.
2. To find more info about the Short, click right.
3. To advance to the next Short, scroll or click down.
4. To return to the previous Short, scroll or click up.

As per YouTube's blog, the Shorts player may not work on some devices released before 2019.