YouTube marked 20 years since the first video was uploaded on its website. To commemorate the day, the company unveiled new features, stats and reminded about a set of hidden or lesser-known tools.
Viraj Manesh, Senior Product Manager, revealed that over 20 million videos are uploaded daily. Users posted more than 100 million comments per day in 2024, with creators hearting comments from an average of 10 million viewers.
New features that YouTube is unveiling this year are primarily for TV and Premium users. YouTube TV members can use multiview layouts for non-sports content, including popular networks like ESPN and Food Network.
Creators will be able to voice-reply to comments under their videos, but this feature will be available later in 2025.
Premium and Music subscribers can create a personalized radio station on iOS and Android by explaining their mood, but the feature is only available in English. Also, YouTube Premium users on mobile can get expanded playback speeds – up to 4x.
This is the first time we can see “20 years ago” under a YouTube video
YouTube now offers long-pressing the video player for 2x speed, setting a sleep timer for bedtime viewing, and locking the screen to prevent interruptions by calls or notifications. Android users can hum or sing into Song Search to identify songs, and only today does the progression bar come with a cake icon.
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