It’s that time again! Here are my top YouTube updates in 2024.
Just about every year since I started my weekly creator recap I have rounded up the biggest changes for YouTube and other Google products.
It turns out 2024 was a big year!
Note that YouTube is constantly running tests. I mention a few in my summary, but I have mostly focused on features that have launched.
- Creator Features
- YouTube Shorts
- Live Streaming
- YouTube on TV
- AI-Powered Features
- Podcasts
- Community Guidelines and Policy Updates
- Monetization
My top updates feed right into the
Creator Trends for 2024
and into 2025.
And Shorts had so many updates, they are covered in a separate section below.
What am I excited about for 2025? Actual community features on the Community tab, rather than just posts. That’s currently being tested by a limited number of channels and should roll out to more creators in 2025.
March 2024: The YouTube Create Android video editing app is available in 14 additional countries. I won’t list all 21 countries, but note that they include Brazil, India, Indonesia, and the US.
June 2024: Community Posts availability expanded to (almost) all channels. Previously there were minimum subscriber requirements.
June 2024: The long-awaited thumbnail test & compare tool is finally available. This lets you test up to three thumbnails simultaneously. YouTube picks a winner based on which generates the most watch time.
June 2024: The YouTube video editor no longer has a video length limit.
June 2024: You can now moderate multiple published comments at once in YouTube Studio.
July 2024: The Erase Song tool can now remove (some) copyright-claimed music.
August 2024: YouTube Creator Music adds 30,000 songs.
September 2024: YouTube Courses can be created by more channels.
October 2024: Improved collaborative playlists.
October 2024: Earn Badges for milestones like getting quizzes right, getting hearts on your comments, being an early Member or a top artist listener.
October 2024: Improved minplayer in the YouTube mobile app, Sleep Timer, and fine tuned playback speeds (in 0.25x increments).
August 2024: The channel customization settings are simplified, to make it easier to modify your Profile and your channel Home tab (combining Branding and Basic Info).
August 2024: Smaller channels may have a simple layout without a Home tab. But they can enable that in their channel settings.
May 2024: YouTube is showing search results with specific segments from long-form videos.
August 2024: You can generate a QR code to promote your YouTube channel. In the YouTube mobile app, view your channel, then tap the 3 dot menu icon at top right. Select Share and a QR code is one of the options.
- The new thumbnail test and compare tool in YouTube Studio. My 2025 wish? Title testing too.
- The Community tab being made available to all channels, and expanded testing of new Community features. Hopefully the new Communities will be more widely available in 2025.
- Features that boost community engagement including interactive stickers on Shorts and vertical live streams, and the new achievement Badges.
- YouTube Shorts are longer, with videos up to 3 minutes. In 2025 I expect to see the YouTube Shorts editor updated to allow creation of longer videos.
- Customizing Shorts thumbnails with text. That’s nice, but only lets you pick an existing video frame to modify. Maybe there will be custom Shorts thumbnail uploads in 2025?
- Vertical live streams in the Shorts feed, monetized by the new Gifts purchased with Jewels. Gifts are brand new, and it will be interesting to see where this goes in 2025.
- The focus on fan funding, including Gifts, Super Chat goals, Membership promotion, and tools for Shopping.
- Promotion of scheduled live streams on your Shorts. I’m probably biased because I live stream and post Shorts, but I’m hoping that it helps attract new viewers.
- The channel and video player redesign for TVs. This seems to be part of the wave of the future.
- I have mixed feelings about all the various generative AI features YouTube is developing: video summaries, chat summaries, comment smart replies with “personality’, Shorts editor tools like Dream Screen image and video generation and Dream Track music generation, and the Inspiration tab in YouTube Studio. Will they get smarter? And will viewers appreciate them? We shall see.
Video Creator Features ▶
The two biggest new features for video creators this year: a built-in thumbnail test and compare tool and the Community Posts tab for all channels.And Shorts had so many updates, they are covered in a separate section below.
What am I excited about for 2025? Actual community features on the Community tab, rather than just posts. That’s currently being tested by a limited number of channels and should roll out to more creators in 2025.
March 2024: The YouTube Create Android video editing app is available in 14 additional countries. I won’t list all 21 countries, but note that they include Brazil, India, Indonesia, and the US.
June 2024: Community Posts availability expanded to (almost) all channels. Previously there were minimum subscriber requirements.
June 2024: The long-awaited thumbnail test & compare tool is finally available. This lets you test up to three thumbnails simultaneously. YouTube picks a winner based on which generates the most watch time.
June 2024: The YouTube video editor no longer has a video length limit.
June 2024: You can now moderate multiple published comments at once in YouTube Studio.
July 2024: The Erase Song tool can now remove (some) copyright-claimed music.
August 2024: YouTube Creator Music adds 30,000 songs.
September 2024: YouTube Courses can be created by more channels.
October 2024: Improved collaborative playlists.
October 2024: Earn Badges for milestones like getting quizzes right, getting hearts on your comments, being an early Member or a top artist listener.
October 2024: Improved minplayer in the YouTube mobile app, Sleep Timer, and fine tuned playback speeds (in 0.25x increments).
Customizing your channel
February 2024: Display “Top Community Clips” from your videos on your YouTube channel. Add that in YouTube Studio on desktop under Customization. Clips of your content and Clips you created from other people’s videos are also available in your YouTube Library.August 2024: The channel customization settings are simplified, to make it easier to modify your Profile and your channel Home tab (combining Branding and Basic Info).
August 2024: Smaller channels may have a simple layout without a Home tab. But they can enable that in their channel settings.
Video Discovery
February 2024: YouTube starts testing a Posts-only feed.May 2024: YouTube is showing search results with specific segments from long-form videos.
August 2024: You can generate a QR code to promote your YouTube channel. In the YouTube mobile app, view your channel, then tap the 3 dot menu icon at top right. Select Share and a QR code is one of the options.
September 2024: YouTube announced Hype, a new way for fans to
promote their favorite creators. Explainer here. Initially this is available in Taiwan, Turkey and Brazil.
October 2024: Just in time for the US Presidential Election, YouTube started including some channels on News shelves that were not registered with Google News.
October 2024: Search from video comments in the YouTube mobile app by tapping automatically linked keywords.
March 2024: You can analyze your video retention graph by audience segment, such as subscribers versus non-subscribers or new versus returning viewers.
April 2024: Filter impressions stats by new versus returning viewers.
April 2024: Filter watchtime and average view duration stats by new versus returning viewers.
October 2024: Filter real-time views by format type (video, Short, live).
November 2024: Upload videos and Shorts to YouTube from a third-party app. You should see YouTube as a sharing option from apps like Google Photos.
November 2024: The YouTube Studio Comments tab is now the Community Hub.In the YouTube Studio mobile app, it highlights your most-engaged audience members.
November 2024: Create a Community Post quiz in the YouTube mobile app and add images.
December 2024: YouTube Studio app Content tab is redesigned, with sections for each content type that can be filtered by visibility, views, monetization status, restrictions, and whether it has Clips.
One big missing element is the ability to use the Shorts editor for those longer videos. Hopefully that becomes available soon.
There were also a number of smaller improvements and new features. My favorite is the option to customize Shorts thumbnails with text.
It’s also notable that YouTube is integrating vertical live streaming with the Shorts feed. This could be a boost for live streamers.
It will be interesting to see what happens if and when TikTok is shut down in the US, which could happen as early as January 19th.
February 2024: Vertical live streams are available in the Shorts feed.
February 2024: Remix music videos into YouTube Shorts.
February 2024: Make remixed “Collabs” in the Android Shorts editor.
March 2024: YouTube Partners can post Member-only Shorts.
April 2024: Create a Remix of a Remix or a Create a Collab of a Collab. I did that here.
May 2024: Remix official music videos into Shorts.
July 2024: YouTube announces coming features for the Shorts editor: auto-layout when you convert a long form video into a Short, auto-generated captions, automatic text to speech, and the Add Yours sticker.
July 2024: Save music from YouTube Shorts for later use.
August 2024: Twitch lets you directly share vertical clips to YouTube Shorts (and TikTok).
September 2024: Use the Add Yours sticker to encourage people to create their own Short based on your Short. (For example, you can do that with my 2025 Commitment Short here).
September 2024: Customize your Shorts thumbnails by selecting a frame, then adding text and effects.
October 2024: There’s a new “See fewer YouTube Shorts” setting, if you hate to see them suggested to you.
October 2024: Shorts Templates and Trends for creative inspiration.
October 2024: Videos up to 3 minutes long that are either vertical or square will be a Short. Previously the limit was 1 minute. It took more than a month for those longer videos to appear as Shorts everywhere.
October 2024: Save multiple YouTube Shorts draft videos in the editor.
October 2024: Add a Poll sticker to your Short, to engage your audience.
November 2024: Upcoming scheduled live streams are promoted on your Shorts.
November 2024: Expanded access to AI-generated Dream Screen image and video clips in the Shorts editor.
November 2024: Expanded access to Dream Track AI-generated music in the YouTube Shorts editor.
And posting Shorts can help promote your live events, with viewers seeing a promo for your upcoming scheduled livestream.
I expect more focus on vertical live streams in the coming year.
What surprised me? No major updates for YouTube Gaming live streams. Maybe that will be a trend in 2025.
February 2024: Vertical live streams are available in the Shorts feed.
February 2024: You can tag affiliate products during a live stream.
April 2024: Live stream in HDR.
April 2024: Get stats for emoji reactions to your live stream.
July 2024: Live streamers can go through policy training for unauthorized 3rd party content (such as copyright) warnings.
November 2024: If you have a scheduled live stream, viewers of your Shorts in the Shorts feed will see a promotion for 24 hours up until the start time.
November 2024: The new monetization default is mid-roll ads are enabled at the “let YouTube Decide - Balanced” frequency. This can be updated in the live stream default settings.
December 2024: If you are monetizing with Supers, you can set Super Chat goals to encourage viewers to give.
December 2024: If you are live streaming from the YouTube mobile app, you can add a Q&A sticker to your stream. Viewers can tap it, then respond in the comments. (Q&A Stickers were added as an option for non-live Shorts in 2023).
This year YouTube improved channels to look better and be easier to navigate on TVs.
What will we see in 2025? In September YouTube announced that “soon” you’ll be able to organize content into Seasons and Episodes (like TV shows) and they are testing a “Watch With” feature that lets creators give live commentary on sport events.
If you want more TV viewers in the new year, check out YouTube’s recent guide to “maximize your success” on TV.
February 2024: YouTube on TVs uses a full 16:9 cover image, rather than the smaller image on desktop and mobile. Make sure your channel is TV ready!
March 2024: YouTube launches a new video player design on TVs, with a simplified video player and better access to interactive features like comments and live chat.
October 2024: Immersive channel pages on TVs, where the video starts playing as soon as the channel is opened.
YouTube was no exception, with new AI features being tested throughout the year. But if you look at the updates it did launch, generative AI played a relatively small role (just look at the rest of this overview!).
There has been a lot of creator negativity about generative AI, especially with AI companies both scraping content without permission for AI training, while at the same time saying their new AI tools will replace creatives.
So YouTube has to tread carefully. On the one hand, there are new AI-powered tools, like the Imagine brainstorming features in YouTube Studio, video and chat summaries, and Dream Screen backgrounds and images.
On the other hand, there are policies around labeling AI-generated content, prohibitions against uploading deepfakes or synthetic nudes, options for creators to give permission for their content to be used for training, and working with and reassuring the music industry that they will work with artists and respect their concerns. To that end, YouTube is working on Content ID-like tools to identify deepfakes of celebrities and simulated signing voices.
It will be interesting to see where YouTube goes in 2025. Many companies, including Google, charge for access to their most advanced AI tools. But YouTube doesn’t charge for anything. It makes me wonder if that is sustainable?
And it’s clear that some of YouTube’s AI features, like the smart comments with “personality”, could use more work before they become widely available.
May 2024: Began testing an AI brainstorming tool in YouTube Studio Analytics.
May 2024: Began testing AI-generated Dream Track instrumental music in the Shorts editor.
July 2024: Began testing AI-generated live chat summaries.
June 2024: Began testing AI-generated summaries of Shorts comments topics. AI summarized comment topics for long form videos began testing in November 2023.
June 2024: Began testing Dream Screen background image generation in the Shorts editor.
August 2024: The comments topic test expanded from English to all languages YouTube supports.
August 2024: Began testing AI-enhanced comment reply suggestions, with “editable suggestions in the creator’s own tone and style.”
September 2024: Expanded access to YouTube’s conversational AI tool, that lets you ask questions about a video.
October 2024: Expanded access to AI-generated video summaries.
November 2024: Began testing AI-“restyled” songs in the YouTube Shorts editor with Dream Track.
November 2024: Expanded access to AI-generated Dream Screen image and video clips in the Shorts editor.
November 2024: Expanded access to Dream Track AI-generated music in the YouTube Shorts editor.
November 2024: YouTube Community Posts now have AI-powered image generation and text-writing tools.
December 2024: The Inspiration brainstorming tab has new features, including thumbnail and title generation, and is now on the Content tab in YouTube Studio.
December 2024: Expanded access to AI-powered auto-dubbing from English into French, German, Hindi, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, and Spanish, and from those languages back into English.
June 2024: YouTube updates its privacy complaint process to include AI-generated content that mimics your face or voice.
October 2024: YouTube adds a “captured with a camera” label to unaltered unedited video content (with the right metadata).
December 2024: There is a new setting that lets you opt in to allow 3rd parties to use your content for AI training. Of course Google can’t control what these other companies do.
In January YouTube updated its harassment and cyberbullying policy to prohibit depicting crime victims describing their own death. This was in response to a rise in “true crime” content that used that (often distressing to the family) method of storytelling.
In March YouTube updated the Harmful & Dangerous content policy, to “better assess the risk of the potential harm of the act portrayed”, including many specific examples. And they note that telling the audience “don’t try this at home” is not sufficient context.
In June they updated the Firearms policy to prohibit content that shows the removal of certain safety devices (example: the so-called bullet button).
None of these was a major update, but if you create content that might be related, be sure to review the current policies.
But podcasts are still available in YouTube Music.
October 2024: Just in time for the US Presidential Election, YouTube started including some channels on News shelves that were not registered with Google News.
October 2024: Search from video comments in the YouTube mobile app by tapping automatically linked keywords.
Analytics Updates
February 2024: See playlist analytics in YouTube Studio.March 2024: You can analyze your video retention graph by audience segment, such as subscribers versus non-subscribers or new versus returning viewers.
April 2024: Filter impressions stats by new versus returning viewers.
April 2024: Filter watchtime and average view duration stats by new versus returning viewers.
October 2024: Filter real-time views by format type (video, Short, live).
Manage your channel on mobile
February 2024: Upload videos and Shorts in the YouTube Studio app.November 2024: Upload videos and Shorts to YouTube from a third-party app. You should see YouTube as a sharing option from apps like Google Photos.
November 2024: The YouTube Studio Comments tab is now the Community Hub.In the YouTube Studio mobile app, it highlights your most-engaged audience members.
November 2024: Create a Community Post quiz in the YouTube mobile app and add images.
December 2024: YouTube Studio app Content tab is redesigned, with sections for each content type that can be filtered by visibility, views, monetization status, restrictions, and whether it has Clips.
YouTube Shorts 🩳
The big news for Shorts? They can now be up to 3 minutes long. This change went into effect in October, and it’s yet to be seen how well those longer Shorts perform.One big missing element is the ability to use the Shorts editor for those longer videos. Hopefully that becomes available soon.
There were also a number of smaller improvements and new features. My favorite is the option to customize Shorts thumbnails with text.
It’s also notable that YouTube is integrating vertical live streaming with the Shorts feed. This could be a boost for live streamers.
It will be interesting to see what happens if and when TikTok is shut down in the US, which could happen as early as January 19th.
February 2024: Vertical live streams are available in the Shorts feed.
February 2024: Remix music videos into YouTube Shorts.
February 2024: Make remixed “Collabs” in the Android Shorts editor.
March 2024: YouTube Partners can post Member-only Shorts.
April 2024: Create a Remix of a Remix or a Create a Collab of a Collab. I did that here.
May 2024: Remix official music videos into Shorts.
July 2024: YouTube announces coming features for the Shorts editor: auto-layout when you convert a long form video into a Short, auto-generated captions, automatic text to speech, and the Add Yours sticker.
July 2024: Save music from YouTube Shorts for later use.
August 2024: Twitch lets you directly share vertical clips to YouTube Shorts (and TikTok).
September 2024: Use the Add Yours sticker to encourage people to create their own Short based on your Short. (For example, you can do that with my 2025 Commitment Short here).
September 2024: Customize your Shorts thumbnails by selecting a frame, then adding text and effects.
October 2024: There’s a new “See fewer YouTube Shorts” setting, if you hate to see them suggested to you.
October 2024: Shorts Templates and Trends for creative inspiration.
October 2024: Videos up to 3 minutes long that are either vertical or square will be a Short. Previously the limit was 1 minute. It took more than a month for those longer videos to appear as Shorts everywhere.
October 2024: Save multiple YouTube Shorts draft videos in the editor.
October 2024: Add a Poll sticker to your Short, to engage your audience.
November 2024: Upcoming scheduled live streams are promoted on your Shorts.
November 2024: Expanded access to AI-generated Dream Screen image and video clips in the Shorts editor.
November 2024: Expanded access to Dream Track AI-generated music in the YouTube Shorts editor.
Live Streaming 🔴
Are you vertical? YouTube added new features to encourage vertical live streams. Vertical streams appear on the Shorts feed, can have an interactive Q&A sticker, and can be monetized with the new Gifts powered by Jewels.And posting Shorts can help promote your live events, with viewers seeing a promo for your upcoming scheduled livestream.
I expect more focus on vertical live streams in the coming year.
What surprised me? No major updates for YouTube Gaming live streams. Maybe that will be a trend in 2025.
February 2024: Vertical live streams are available in the Shorts feed.
February 2024: You can tag affiliate products during a live stream.
April 2024: Live stream in HDR.
April 2024: Get stats for emoji reactions to your live stream.
July 2024: Live streamers can go through policy training for unauthorized 3rd party content (such as copyright) warnings.
November 2024: If you have a scheduled live stream, viewers of your Shorts in the Shorts feed will see a promotion for 24 hours up until the start time.
November 2024: The new monetization default is mid-roll ads are enabled at the “let YouTube Decide - Balanced” frequency. This can be updated in the live stream default settings.
December 2024: If you are monetizing with Supers, you can set Super Chat goals to encourage viewers to give.
December 2024: If you are live streaming from the YouTube mobile app, you can add a Q&A sticker to your stream. Viewers can tap it, then respond in the comments. (Q&A Stickers were added as an option for non-live Shorts in 2023).
YouTube on TV
One of YouTube’s 2024 trends was optimizing for the big screen - the TV in your living room (or wherever you put it).This year YouTube improved channels to look better and be easier to navigate on TVs.
What will we see in 2025? In September YouTube announced that “soon” you’ll be able to organize content into Seasons and Episodes (like TV shows) and they are testing a “Watch With” feature that lets creators give live commentary on sport events.
If you want more TV viewers in the new year, check out YouTube’s recent guide to “maximize your success” on TV.
February 2024: YouTube on TVs uses a full 16:9 cover image, rather than the smaller image on desktop and mobile. Make sure your channel is TV ready!
March 2024: YouTube launches a new video player design on TVs, with a simplified video player and better access to interactive features like comments and live chat.
October 2024: Immersive channel pages on TVs, where the video starts playing as soon as the channel is opened.
AI Tools and Policy ✨
Sometimes it felt like 2024 was nothing but new AI features.YouTube was no exception, with new AI features being tested throughout the year. But if you look at the updates it did launch, generative AI played a relatively small role (just look at the rest of this overview!).
There has been a lot of creator negativity about generative AI, especially with AI companies both scraping content without permission for AI training, while at the same time saying their new AI tools will replace creatives.
So YouTube has to tread carefully. On the one hand, there are new AI-powered tools, like the Imagine brainstorming features in YouTube Studio, video and chat summaries, and Dream Screen backgrounds and images.
On the other hand, there are policies around labeling AI-generated content, prohibitions against uploading deepfakes or synthetic nudes, options for creators to give permission for their content to be used for training, and working with and reassuring the music industry that they will work with artists and respect their concerns. To that end, YouTube is working on Content ID-like tools to identify deepfakes of celebrities and simulated signing voices.
It will be interesting to see where YouTube goes in 2025. Many companies, including Google, charge for access to their most advanced AI tools. But YouTube doesn’t charge for anything. It makes me wonder if that is sustainable?
And it’s clear that some of YouTube’s AI features, like the smart comments with “personality”, could use more work before they become widely available.
AI Tools
Note that the way these features are being launched, they start as an experiment, and then access is gradually expanded. Most are still only available in English, and in selected countries.May 2024: Began testing an AI brainstorming tool in YouTube Studio Analytics.
May 2024: Began testing AI-generated Dream Track instrumental music in the Shorts editor.
July 2024: Began testing AI-generated live chat summaries.
June 2024: Began testing AI-generated summaries of Shorts comments topics. AI summarized comment topics for long form videos began testing in November 2023.
June 2024: Began testing Dream Screen background image generation in the Shorts editor.
August 2024: The comments topic test expanded from English to all languages YouTube supports.
August 2024: Began testing AI-enhanced comment reply suggestions, with “editable suggestions in the creator’s own tone and style.”
September 2024: Expanded access to YouTube’s conversational AI tool, that lets you ask questions about a video.
October 2024: Expanded access to AI-generated video summaries.
November 2024: Began testing AI-“restyled” songs in the YouTube Shorts editor with Dream Track.
November 2024: Expanded access to AI-generated Dream Screen image and video clips in the Shorts editor.
November 2024: Expanded access to Dream Track AI-generated music in the YouTube Shorts editor.
November 2024: YouTube Community Posts now have AI-powered image generation and text-writing tools.
December 2024: The Inspiration brainstorming tab has new features, including thumbnail and title generation, and is now on the Content tab in YouTube Studio.
December 2024: Expanded access to AI-powered auto-dubbing from English into French, German, Hindi, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, and Spanish, and from those languages back into English.
AI Policy
March 2024: YouTube videos with AI-generated content must be labeled with the new “altered or synthetic content” setting.June 2024: YouTube updates its privacy complaint process to include AI-generated content that mimics your face or voice.
October 2024: YouTube adds a “captured with a camera” label to unaltered unedited video content (with the right metadata).
December 2024: There is a new setting that lets you opt in to allow 3rd parties to use your content for AI training. Of course Google can’t control what these other companies do.
Community Guidelines and Policy Updates
There are no major changes to policy this year. What’s coming in 2025? YouTube will start to crack down on what it calls “egregious clickbait”. Enforcing that policy will begin in the next few months in India.Community Guidelines Updates
YouTube hasn’t changed its Community Guidelines significantly in years. Instead it updates the existing policies with new examples in response to trends.In January YouTube updated its harassment and cyberbullying policy to prohibit depicting crime victims describing their own death. This was in response to a rise in “true crime” content that used that (often distressing to the family) method of storytelling.
In March YouTube updated the Harmful & Dangerous content policy, to “better assess the risk of the potential harm of the act portrayed”, including many specific examples. And they note that telling the audience “don’t try this at home” is not sufficient context.
In June they updated the Firearms policy to prohibit content that shows the removal of certain safety devices (example: the so-called bullet button).
None of these was a major update, but if you create content that might be related, be sure to review the current policies.
Advanced Features required for more actions
In addition, YouTube limited some features to channels that have access to Advanced Features (which requires either identity verification or sufficient channel history), including pinning comments on Community Posts, adding clickable links to Community Posts, and higher daily playlist creation limits.Podcasts 🎧
In 2023 Google announced that Google Podcasts would shut down in favor of podcasts in YouTube Music. That process was completed in 2024, and Google Podcasts is fully dead.But podcasts are still available in YouTube Music.
It doesn't seem like it's a great situation for podcasters who don't
also create videos. And YouTube creators who add video podcasts can't
distribute those videos to podcast listening platforms.
September 2023: YouTube announces that podcasts will be in YouTube Music.
December 2023: US users can migrate their podcast subscriptions from Google Podcasts to YouTube Music.
January 2024: Podcasters can upload audio episodes to youTube with their RSS feed. Users can add podcasts to follow by RSS feed as well.
February 2024: Sorting options for podcast episodes.
March 2024: When searching for podcasts, you will no longer see non-podcast content.
April 2024: Users outside the US can migrate their podcast subscriptions. US users can no longer use Google Podcasts.
May 2024: Apple Homepod support.
June 2024: Google Podcasts fully shut down.
June 2024: Improved podcast integration on third party devices (Android Auto, Sonos, Android Clock or Ohana devices, Garmin watches).
July 2024: Manually mark podcasts as “played”.
September 2024: Improved podcast recommendations.
October 2024: Ad-supported listeners (who don’t have YouTube Premium) can listen to podcasts using Android Auto or Apple Car Play.
October 2024: Podcast creators and distributors can create a link that directly opens YouTube Music with a pre-filled “add podcast by URL” box.
Creators who start with fan funding are likely to have a solid revenue stream before they level up to ad revenue sharing.
This year YouTube added new features to Shopping and Memberships.
Fan funding, rather than depending on ad revenue, is one of the big trends of 2024. And I think it’s likely to expand in 2025. For example, Memberships will likely become more appealing when there can be member-only content in updated YouTube Communities.
And YouTube has said that the new Hypes (which are only available in a few countries right now) may become another revenue stream as well.
September 2024: YouTube publishes an Invalid traffic FAQ. Read this!
October 2024: YouTube publishes a Payments Timelines FAQ.
November 2024: The new monetization default is mid-roll ads are enabled at the “let YouTube Decide - Balanced” frequency. This can be updated in the live stream default settings.
November 2024: The Brand Connect tab rolls out to more monetized channels, and brands and advertisers are given more tools to connect with creators.
December 2024: AdSense ad blocking controls (blocking by category or URL) are moved from AdSense to YouTube Studio.
April 2024: There’s a new YouTube Shopping Collections and Affiliate Hub.
July 2024: YouTube Shopping Affiliates can save items with the new YouTube Shopping extension.
August 2024: The YouTube Affiliate shopping program expands partnership with Shopify.
September 2024: YouTube announces Gifts powered by Jewels.
November 2024: YouTube starts rolling out Gifts powered by Jewels. Being gifted a digital Gift includes Rubies, which are good for actual revenue. Gifts require agreeing to a new “Virtual Items” agreement.
December 2024: YouTube Partners can set Super chat goals.
August 2024: The Membership button sparkles when mentioned in a video.
September 2024: Viewers can earn a new YouTube Achievement Badge by being one of the first to join a Membership.
September 2023: YouTube announces that podcasts will be in YouTube Music.
December 2023: US users can migrate their podcast subscriptions from Google Podcasts to YouTube Music.
January 2024: Podcasters can upload audio episodes to youTube with their RSS feed. Users can add podcasts to follow by RSS feed as well.
February 2024: Sorting options for podcast episodes.
March 2024: When searching for podcasts, you will no longer see non-podcast content.
April 2024: Users outside the US can migrate their podcast subscriptions. US users can no longer use Google Podcasts.
May 2024: Apple Homepod support.
June 2024: Google Podcasts fully shut down.
June 2024: Improved podcast integration on third party devices (Android Auto, Sonos, Android Clock or Ohana devices, Garmin watches).
July 2024: Manually mark podcasts as “played”.
September 2024: Improved podcast recommendations.
October 2024: Ad-supported listeners (who don’t have YouTube Premium) can listen to podcasts using Android Auto or Apple Car Play.
October 2024: Podcast creators and distributors can create a link that directly opens YouTube Music with a pre-filled “add podcast by URL” box.
💎 Monetization
In 2023 YouTube opened up the YouTube Partner Program to more creators. The new fan funding tier gives creators access to Memberships, Shopping, Supers, and more recently Gifts.Creators who start with fan funding are likely to have a solid revenue stream before they level up to ad revenue sharing.
This year YouTube added new features to Shopping and Memberships.
Fan funding, rather than depending on ad revenue, is one of the big trends of 2024. And I think it’s likely to expand in 2025. For example, Memberships will likely become more appealing when there can be member-only content in updated YouTube Communities.
And YouTube has said that the new Hypes (which are only available in a few countries right now) may become another revenue stream as well.
General Monetization Updates
February 2024: YouTube Partners can see top earning content by format in YouTube Studio Analytics.September 2024: YouTube publishes an Invalid traffic FAQ. Read this!
October 2024: YouTube publishes a Payments Timelines FAQ.
November 2024: The new monetization default is mid-roll ads are enabled at the “let YouTube Decide - Balanced” frequency. This can be updated in the live stream default settings.
November 2024: The Brand Connect tab rolls out to more monetized channels, and brands and advertisers are given more tools to connect with creators.
December 2024: AdSense ad blocking controls (blocking by category or URL) are moved from AdSense to YouTube Studio.
YouTube Shopping
February 2024: You can now tag affiliate products in a livestream.April 2024: There’s a new YouTube Shopping Collections and Affiliate Hub.
July 2024: YouTube Shopping Affiliates can save items with the new YouTube Shopping extension.
August 2024: The YouTube Affiliate shopping program expands partnership with Shopify.
Supers and Gifts
August 2024: YouTube introduces Super Chat likes and replies.September 2024: YouTube announces Gifts powered by Jewels.
November 2024: YouTube starts rolling out Gifts powered by Jewels. Being gifted a digital Gift includes Rubies, which are good for actual revenue. Gifts require agreeing to a new “Virtual Items” agreement.
December 2024: YouTube Partners can set Super chat goals.
Memberships
March 2024: YouTube Partners can post Member-only Shorts.August 2024: The Membership button sparkles when mentioned in a video.
September 2024: Viewers can earn a new YouTube Achievement Badge by being one of the first to join a Membership.
Monetization Policies
YouTube
updated its advertiser-friendly guidelines to prohibit content that gives instructions or promotes content
about how to create synthetic (such as AI-generated) content
that is sexually explicit or contains nudity.
YouTube also added more detailed examples to the profanity guidelines and clarified that it is not allowed to monetize content that exploits a “sensitive event” (that includes natural disasters, civil or public health emergencies, terrorism, and mass acts of violence).
May 2024: YouTube Partners can get timestamps for parts of their video causing limited ads to display.
August 2024: YouTube will warn Partners seven days before their monetization is suspended. This allows time to appeal before monetization is disabled.
August 2024: Google deactivates AdSense for YouTube Partners based in Russia, which disables monetization. Previously Google had blocked both ads serving in Russia and new YouTube Partner Program signups for creators in Russia.
YouTube also added more detailed examples to the profanity guidelines and clarified that it is not allowed to monetize content that exploits a “sensitive event” (that includes natural disasters, civil or public health emergencies, terrorism, and mass acts of violence).
May 2024: YouTube Partners can get timestamps for parts of their video causing limited ads to display.
August 2024: YouTube will warn Partners seven days before their monetization is suspended. This allows time to appeal before monetization is disabled.
August 2024: Google deactivates AdSense for YouTube Partners based in Russia, which disables monetization. Previously Google had blocked both ads serving in Russia and new YouTube Partner Program signups for creators in Russia.
Previous Recaps
- Year in Review 2023: YouTube monetization expanded, channel redesign and creator features
- Year in Review 2022: Cheers to 2022!
- Year in Review 2020: AdSense, YouTube Partner Program & Monetization and COVID, Communication & Creator Updates
- Year in Review 2019: YouTube Studio, Policy, and Live Streaming
- Year in Review 2018: YouTube Partner Program tougher eligibility, new features for all Creators
- Year in Review 2017: YouTube Creators, Partners and Live Streamers
- Year in Review 2016: YouTube Creator updates - community, creativity, communication
- Year in Review 2015: YouTube
- Year in Review 2014: YouTube and Google+ closer than ever
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