14 DAY TRIAL // Unless you’re a big publisher, you probably haven’t heard of YouTube Direct, a tool which enables websites to embed YouTube upload functionality. But you might have spotted it in the wild, in places like The Huffington Post, The Washington Post and so on. The platform is now getting a major revamp and a bunch of new features.
“Last fall, we announced the release of YouTube Direct, a tool that allows media organizations to request, review and rebroadcast YouTube clips directly from YouTube users, and on their own website... There are nearly 400 news partners on YouTube able to use YouTube Direct to generate news content that helps them extend and engage their audience,” YouTube wrote on its business blog.
“Today, we’re rolling out the latest version of YouTube Direct, which includes substantial upgrades that make it easier for news organizations to test and customize the platform. In addition to several back-end changes, we’ve also added new features,” the announcement read.
YouTube Direct, at heart, is a platform which enables websites to create ‘citizen journalism’ features. They can allow users to submit videos and enables website owners to manage existing YouTube videos easier. The new platform comes with a few new features and capabilities.
One feature that was probably requested by publishers is the ability to submit photos as well as video. Photos aren’t exactly YouTube’s specialty, but it makes for a more compelling feature list for this particular tool. Another new feature that should prove pretty popular is support for both iPhone and Android devices. YouTube provides code for mobile apps on both platforms.
Also new is the ability to edit and view YouTube captions, a relatively new feature on the video site which should be right at home at a news outlet. YouTube Direct 2.0 also enables users to submit more than one video at a time. YouTube says plenty of other changes and optimizations have been implemented.