YouTube Redesign

Posted by: Sean | Posted on: April 2nd, 2009 | 2 Comments

On April 16th there will be a new design released for YouTube.  The reason that they have decided to change YouTube is so that they can better monitize there site and catch up to industy standards.  The major thing that will change on YouTube now will be the menu bar, they are completly changing how you navigate the site, they are doing away with the current menu bar and will be replacing it with one that will closely resemble the Hulu menu bar.

Instead of having Videos, Channels & Community they will now have four tabs: Movies, Music, Shows and Videos. The first threee tabs are going to have premium content , just like hulu, which will offer tv-shows and movies, although YouTube have yet to announce what they will be broadcasting in these sections, they say that they are in the process of setting out new contracts.

Also in the final tab 'Videos' this will house the current YouTube as you know it, they are cramming all there current content into that tab, so all user created content will now be under the video tab away from the main public view, this is YouTube trying to break free from there current trend of amateur and semi-professional videos.

And now the videos will be interrupted for in-video ads, just like hulu. And the video player should be receiving a new design, much like that too of hulu which will offer you the option to 'dim the lights', this is when the background page is darkend and the focus is directed more to the video, YouTube have been experimenting with this over the previous months and it has been popping up on certain videos. Also the video timeline will display little lines to show where the ads will be showing throughout the video.

The release of this was originally scheduled for next week but has been pushed back to April 16th, there was no explanation given on why this was done but it is thought that it is due to ongoing negociations with potential partners.

This new upgrade is considered the "Hulification Of Youtube", very true since most of the changes are coming from design techniques that hulu use. I think it is about time that they are going all out with YouTube now however i think that they might end up neglecting there current customer base more and focus on premium content, now they are really just thinking of there pockets and not there online community. Hopefully the premium videos they add will not be limited to the US, like hulu do, hopefully YouTube will make them available throught the rest of the world.