YouTube introduces new features for premium members, mulls more paid plans

Moreover, YouTube is planning to introduce new premium membership plans in addition to those that currently exists

YouTube has announced new features, including AI features, for its premium members. Alongside, Google's video streaming platform has announced that it will soon bring new Premium plans other than the ones that already exist. YouTube also said that the company is exploring ways on how Premium subscribers can share the “benefits with friends.”

Although the company did not detail on the upcoming YouTube Premium plans, it offered insights into the new feature coming for the paid tier users. Here are the details:

YouTube Premium: Jump ahead

YouTube said that it is now adding a new button called the “Jump Ahead” that will allow users to skip the video and move ahead to the best parts. The company said that this feature uses a combination of artificial intelligence and viewership data to determine which is the best and the most viewed section of the video. When the user double-taps on the video player to skip ahead, they will get a new Jump Ahead Button which will take them directly to that selected section of the video.

The feature is currently rolling out to YouTube on Android in the US and will be available for iOS users in the region in coming weeks. The company has not confirmed the availability of this feature in other regions but it is expected to come to more markets in the coming months, including India.

YouTube Premium: Picture-in-picture for Shorts

YouTube Shorts, the short format video content on YouTube, is getting a Picture-in-Picture view (PiP) option similar to standard video content. The feature will allow users to watch YouTube Shorts in a floating minimised window while browsing other apps. The feature is currently only available to YouTube Android app users.

YouTube Premium: Experimental AI features

YouTube said that premium subscribers will now get early access to some of the new experimental features on the platform. Additionally, these features will be on an opt-in basis and the users can anytime choose to stop using these features.

Among the currently available experimental features is the conversational YouTube AI which is available for YouTube Android app in the US. This AI assistant answers user’s questions about the video, suggests related content and more while the video is playing. Premium subscribers in the US can access the AI chatbot by tapping on the “Ask” button beneath select videos.