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In a relative sense YouTube is big--it’s ten times more popular than its nearest competitor. But, YouTube isn’t satisfied--the average user spends a mere 15-minutes a day on the service. It looks at TV and laments: “[People] spend about five hours in front of the television.” And that’s action YouTube wants a piece of.
What’s YouTube’s plan? To give users what they want, even if they don’t know what they want. That way, YouTube hopes, users will spend a few more minutes per day at the site. (And, fingers-crossed, generate more ad revenue for YouTube, which is still losing money.)
According to Jamie Davidson, an associate product manager at YouTube, “every 45 seconds, [users] are stuck at a decision point. Any time there is a decision point, people may leave. We don’t want to take out the interactivity, but the default user experience should be a lot easier.” However, the current search-engine paradigm YouTube uses, Davidson concedes, isn’t the right one for discovering video.
The solution seems simple: let the users decide. Problem is YouTube users generally don’t know what they want. YouTube processed some 3.8 billion search queries in November, second only to its overlord Google. But, rather than specific requests, searches tend to be for general things, like “kittens”, or “funny pranks”. YouTube’s answer is to burrow into your soul, using sophisticated data-mining techniques like Netflix and Amazon, to find hits that match either what you’ve shown a preference for in the past, or what others ‘like you’ are watching.
None of YouTube’s efforts at innovation are expected to be rolled-out anytime soon. But, the ideas, as they come up for serious review, are expected to first see light of day at TestTube, where YouTube shows off its experimental efforts.
Image Credit: YouTube
Comments are closed on this article
rr17302
January 04, 2010 at 9:54am
YouTube needs to find a fix to the error "Hello, you either have JavaScript turned off or an old version of Adobe's Flash Player." if they want widespread use. I have 4 PCs in the house and only 2 work with YouTube. I've tried remedies on YouTube Help and Googled for others all to no avail. I refuse to reinstall my OS and all s/w just to watch a YouTube video.
xecutable
January 03, 2010 at 2:02pm
I see a lot of companies paying for such ads so I guess people actualy are clicking on adds that show up for X amount of seconds before the given clip
TheFreeman
January 03, 2010 at 10:01am
Sometimes my friends find something and want to show it to me. they say, "search for... ", if YoutTube changes the way the search works will it mean that it will be harder for me to find the video that my friend would want me to see because my YouTube habits are different than that of my friend?
Not that this would be a huge deal, it just might get confusing at times.
TheFreeman
January 03, 2010 at 10:01am
Sometimes my friends find something and want to show it to me. they say, "search for... ", if YoutTube changes the way the search works will it mean that it will be harder for me to find the video that my friend would want me to see because my YouTube habits are different than that of my friend?
Not that this would be a huge deal, it just might get confusing at times.
Spyfighter
January 02, 2010 at 12:50pm
Youtube would be a lot better if there was a way for viewers to completely disable user comments. Some of the stupid comments prove our schools are failing. For example: "wow that alot","
keep f__king that chicken!", "dude its defensive playing its stupid to just go run out they spawn
randomly u run around a guys going to spawn behind u inventually and
ur dead". Of course I could just not read the comments, but they glare out at you so it is difficult to not read them. That's why I don't stay on the site for more than 15 minutes. I'm sure other adults feel the same. If only Google would listen to me.
reutnes
January 01, 2010 at 1:10pm
I wish they could figure out a different way to deliver ads. Nobody is going to click an ad that appears 12 seconds into the movie-- they're going to watch their damn movie! I do like how it pops up with the name of whatever song is playing and provides buy links, though. That was a great idea.
nekollx
January 04, 2010 at 10:16am
i say just add a extra line below the movie, like a ticker, i watch a lot of Music Vids and i've wanted to get the song used but not WHILE the MV is playing...
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Coming soon to Lulu.com --Tokusatsu Heroes--
Five teenagers, one alien ghost, a robot, and the fate of the world.
fx2006
January 01, 2010 at 4:43am
What’s YouTube’s plan? To give users what they want..
ok. i want old channels back
Sonickid101
December 31, 2009 at 6:29pm
They'd have to allow porn like pornotube, tube8, and youporn. That would get an extra 45 minutes out of me at least :P
