Will You Use This New YouTube Feature?
By Movieguide® Contributor
YouTube has begun testing a sleep timer feature that would pause users’ videos after a set amount of time has elapsed.
The sleep timer, which is currently being tested, would allow users to select how long they want their video to play — from 10 minutes to 60 minutes or until the video ends — before pausing playback. This would allow users who like to fall asleep to videos from keeping their devices on all night.
Once a sleep timer is set, it remains in effect, pausing the video after the selected amount of time elapsed unless the user interacts with the video.
Though only currently available to YouTube Premium subscribers, who always get to test out new features before they are widely available, a full implementation of the sleep timer will likely be available to non-paying users at some point. Premium subscribers looking to test the feature will be able to do so until Sept. 2 when it will no longer be available.
Those who want to access the feature can do so within the playback menu for desktop users or under the additional setting tab for those on mobile.
Tech Crunch reported, “YouTube has lagged the competition a bit in adding this feature. Spotify has had a sleep timer for a while, and TikTok started testing sleep nudges based on a preset bedtime last year.”
Beyond looking to improve users’ experiences on its site, YouTube may be considering the feature to make advertisers happy. While YouTube already serves as the most effective means of advertising, implementing a sleep timer could make the site even more lucrative for marketers.
The way the site currently works allows for a slight, though unintentional, abuse of the system. When users fall asleep with the platform on and videos play all night, the creators of these videos receive ad revenue for these views even though the user was not awake to receive the ads that rolled. Thus, companies are paying for a primetime ad slot but not all of their ads are reaching viewers.
The sleep timer would limit the amount of time users could have videos play while they are asleep to one hour, greatly reducing the number of “empty ads” rolled out on the site.
Movieguide® recently reported on another change coming to YouTube:
YouTube is testing a new feature called Hype in Taiwan, Turkey and Brazil.
“In a new experiment announced for a handful of eligible users, YouTube has introduced a new Hype option which bears semblance to the Link option already available for videos (via 9to5Google),” Android Police reported last month.
Viewers with access to the Hype button will see it appear underneath videos. When clicked, the button helps boost the video’s rank on the Explore page. This feature is only available on videos whose creator has less than 500,000 subscribers, for the sake of fairness.
The Hype feature will not completely override the normal algorithms, as users can only Hype videos that are posted in the last seven days.
“Moreover, the impact of the hype votes will only help the video rank higher and reach more eyeballs on the Explore page, independent of the categorized Trending section, where the algorithm shows top videos at any time,” Android Police said. “So, it appears YouTube wants us viewers to help smaller creators rank higher in the Explore page. With users themselves hyping videos, YouTube could also combat shady tricks to inflate view counts artificially and enhance Explore page rankings.”
