The YouTube TV app for Android TV and Google TV is getting some neat new features, including allowing users to watch YouTube Shorts, the company’s copy of Tik Tok’s short-form videos, directly on the TV app, as shared by Protocol.
According to Protocol, YouTube employees shared upcoming plans for the TV app at an internal partner event with hardware manufacturers last month. According to the event, the app is also gaining better support for the company’s music streaming service, YouTube Music, on the TV app, alongside a split-screen view for YouTube Premium users.
Tik Tok shook the video content space when it started gaining popularity in 2019. Other platforms got the ‘if you can’t beat them, join them’ mentality, and eventually had to jump on the short-video bandwagon, with Instagram releasing Reels and YouTube releasing Shorts. Shorts has since amassed billions of viewers, with roughly 30 billion views daily.
Now, according to Protocol, YouTube will roll out a new update “within the coming months,” that will bring YouTube Shorts natively to the Apple TV, albeit with a different interface.
Additionally, the addition of a so-called “Mosaic Mode” will bring split screen functionality to YouTube Premium subscribers on the TV app, with users being able to watch up to four live feeds simultaneously by dividing the TV screen into four sections. While bringing something like a quadrant split screen view to YouTube Premium subscribers on mobile wouldn’t make sense, YouTube might bring the functionality to the YouTube web, though there is currently no indication of it.
The report also suggests that regular stability and performance improvements would come alongside the update, paired with new features for the YouTube Music app on Smart TVs, though we are currently uncertain what the new features entail.
It’s worth noting that YouTube TV is only available in the United States, however, Canadians have a way to access the service via a VPN.
Image credit: Protocol
Source: Protocol
