Video promotion—specifically on YouTube—is an integral part of many real estate professionals' marketing, and smartphone videos are a quick, easy way to capture shareable content for your business. But vertical videos can look lost in YouTube's player, which is formatted for horizontal shots so it ends up with black bars on the sides. That’s about to change.
YouTube is planning an update that will allow its player to seamlessly change shape to match the video format you've uploaded or want to watch. The player will convert to vertical, square, or the classic horizontal automatically for a better viewing experience.
Last week, YouTube announced several new features in its pipeline, which are expected to roll out in the coming weeks. You may have already noticed a few updates to the user interface. The design is cleaner, with the goal of being more user-friendly across all devices. This means your videos will look better and be more responsive to potential clients. The platform also redesigned its logo, moving the red player icon to the left of the YouTube name.
Many of YouTube’s enhancements revolve around creating a better mobile experience and a consistent look between the desktop and mobile versions. Here are a few more new features on the 12-year-old platform that are either in place now or on their way.
Navigation tabs have moved to the bottom of the app, including new library and account tabs for easy access to your own videos and channel.
You can now double-tap on the left or right side of a video to fast-forward or rewind 10 seconds.
Users can speed up and slow down the playback of a video on mobile the same way it functions on the desktop player by using the red sliding bar.
Browse suggested videos while you’re watching a video in full screen through newly placed thumbnails at the bottom.
You now have more control over embedded videos you use on your blog or website, including the ability to make the video start playing at any time point in the middle of a video.
In the coming months, users will be able to swipe left to watch a previous video or swipe right to watch the next one.
