14 DAY TRIAL // YouTube has announced that it will be letting users download videos in their mobile apps for offline viewing. This will make it possible to select a few videos to cache and watch later even if you don't have an active Internet connection.
The idea is to make YouTube less dependent on fickle data connections.
However, it is a rather major change for the company, since YouTube has never allowed video downloads. In fact, the practice goes against its terms of service, even if there are plenty of apps, extensions, and so on that offer the option.
The issue comes back to copyright infringement. YouTube wants to show content owners that it protects their videos, but, more importantly, it comes back to money. The service can't show you any ads on the videos you download.
"Later this year we'll launch a new feature on YouTube’s mobile apps that will help you reach fans -- even when they're not connected to the Internet," YouTube announced.
"This upcoming feature will allow people to add videos to their device to watch for a short period when an Internet connection is unavailable. So your fans' ability to enjoy your videos no longer has to be interrupted by something as commonplace as a morning commute," it explained.
The YouTube mobile apps already make it possible to watch some videos offline. Videos from your subscriptions are pre-cached on mobile devices, but users still need to be online to start them.
The apps also make it possible to pre-download a video and continue to watch it even if the Internet connection dies, but only if users start watching the video online.
This new feature, presumably, will either automatically pre-download videos YouTube believes you're going to watch or lets users choose a few clips to download. Probably a combination of the two, but we'll have to wait and see to know for sure.