YouTube TV App Upgrades: QR Code Shopping & AI Upscaling
▼ Summary
– YouTube introduced new TV interface updates including shoppable QR codes, AI upscaling, and improved search features.
– The platform is focusing on living room dominance, accounting for 12.4% of TV viewing time according to Nielsen data.
– QR codes in videos allow direct product linking to boost creator revenue, with shopping content seeing 35 billion hours of viewership.
– AI-powered upscaling converts lower-resolution videos to full HD while preserving original files and viewer choice.
– Additional updates include 4K thumbnail support, immersive previews, and contextual search prioritizing channel-specific results.
YouTube has rolled out a series of significant updates to its TV app, introducing QR code shopping capabilities and AI-powered video upscaling alongside enhanced search functions. These improvements are part of the platform’s broader strategy to strengthen its presence in the living room, where it already commands a notable share of viewer attention. According to a Nielsen report from April, YouTube accounted for 12.4% of total television watch time, outperforming major streaming services like Disney, Paramount, and Netflix.
One of the standout additions is the integration of shoppable QR codes within videos. Creators can now tag specific products in their content, allowing viewers to scan the codes with their smartphones for instant access to product pages. This feature is designed to drive revenue, particularly for shopping-related videos, which have amassed 35 billion hours of watch time over the past year. The number of channels earning six figures or more from TV screens has surged by over 45% in the same period. While QR code shopping is not entirely new, competitors like Roku and Peacock have similar offerings, YouTube emphasizes that its implementation helps creators sell merchandise more effectively by linking directly to their online stores. The platform is also testing timed product placements that appear at specific moments during playback.
Beyond shopping, YouTube is refining the overall viewing experience. It has increased the thumbnail file size limit from 2MB to 50MB to support 4K-resolution thumbnails and is experimenting with larger video uploads for select creators to facilitate higher-quality content. Another key upgrade involves an AI-driven feature that automatically upscales lower-resolution videos to full HD, with plans to extend this capability to 4K in the future. Creators retain control over their original files, and viewers can opt to watch videos in their native resolution if preferred. This move aligns YouTube with industry competitors, though the effectiveness of AI upscaling remains under scrutiny. Netflix faced criticism for using similar technology on older shows, which sometimes resulted in visual distortions and unsatisfactory outcomes.
Additional enhancements include immersive previews that let users browse through videos more fluidly and improved contextual search. When a search is initiated from a creator’s channel page, the platform now prioritizes that channel’s videos at the top of the results, making content discovery more intuitive and channel-focused.
(Source: TechCrunch)
