YouTube, continuing to add to its ever-spinning slate of experimental features for Premium subscribers, is looking for even more ways to convince customers that a R72/m subscription is worth it. Rather than hope to entice users with higher quality audio or the likes, it’s now turned its attention to video discovery.
Announced in a recent blog post, the update offers viewers recommended videos right within their current watch queue, negating the need to go back to the home page to find something else to watch. Oh, the horror! As ever, it’s all about YouTube hogging viewers’ eyeballs for a couple seconds longer. And it might just work.
YouTube jumps up the Queue
The feature is currently only available for Android devices, and can be accessed through the video sharing app’s ‘Try experimental new features’ tab by visiting Settings > Try experimental new features. Among the experimental features will be the “Recommended videos in Premium Queue” feature, which should be noted, is only available for Premium subscribers until 7 April, after which it’ll be sent back to the testing floor.
YouTube says to use the feature, users need to simply add a video to the queue, after which they can re-open the queue to see the slew of newly recommended videos. Viewers can tap the three dots beside a video to move it to the beginning or end of the queue.
Read More: YouTube hopes to sway users to Premium with high-quality audio settings
YouTube has long featured the “Recommended downloads” function, which allows the app to automatically suggest videos to download based on viewing habits. This feature brings the same effect to the browsing experience, allowing viewers to travel deeper down virtual rabbit holes, a useful feature when you’ve just discovered an unfamiliar niche.
One thing we have to give YouTube is its willingness to continue improving for its Premium paying subscribers. The lack of ads is incentive enough, but the ability to queue videos, play them with the screen locked, and YouTube Music make the Premium experience more convenient and financially worthwhile. On the other side, though, lies a doomscrolling demon of epic proportions. So, while this new feature will likely contribute a lot to keeping people on the app, those people may later on find kicking the YouTube habit akin to quitting amphetamines.
