Author Archives: John G. Doe

Camila Cabello: ‘Made in Miami.’ A behind-the-scenes look at the ‘Havana’ star conquering the globe

YouTube is proud to present Camila Cabello’s “Made in Miami,” an Artist Spotlight Story created in collaboration with the rising superstar that gives an intimate and personal look at her journey, from arriving in Miami to topping the global charts.

Directed by Tabitha Denholm and released today on YouTube, “Made in Miami” is the story of Camila Cabello's path from arriving in Miami as a kid, carrying nothing but a backpack and a few toys, to becoming a global star with over 2.5 billion combined YouTube views and the biggest record in the world.


Boldy striking out on her own this year to follow her dreams, breakout artist Camila Cabello released a stunning debut solo album and created her iconic music video for “Havana,” a global smash which has garnered well over a billion views across YouTube since its release.

The unstoppable hit has been the #1 song on the YouTube Music Global Top 100 for every week of 2018 and earned massive views in countries including the United States (332 million), Brazil (132 million), the Philippines (120 million), Mexico (100 million), the United Kingdom (91 million) and Germany (72 million). Cabello’s hit is currently the most-viewed track of 2018 on YouTube, both globally and in over 30 individual countries.

“I knew I wanted to make a song called 'Havana' to honor my heritage — it's a love letter to that,” Camila Cabello explains in her Artist Spotlight Story “Made in Miami.” “I’m super proud to represent the Latin community and just super proud of my family and their story, and of who I am.”

Born in Cuba and raised in Miami, Camila gravitated to singing at an early age, eventually turning to YouTube to help build her audience. “Something clicked for me where I was like — this is a way to get into the singing thing, because you don’t need to have money to post a YouTube video.”

Uploads like her rendition of Demi Lovato's “Skyscraper” followed, foreshadowing the singer’s future success on and off the platform. “I would get, like, two comments, and I would be like, 'Oh my God!'” Camila explains of those early videos. “Posting those covers on YouTube definitely gave me a little bit more confidence.”


This led to her audition on Fox's talent competition “The X Factor,” which of course led her to being selected as a member of the vocal group Fifth Harmony. Their brassy single “Worth It” became the first video by a girl group to reach a billion views, while runaway hit “Work from Home” became YouTube's most popular video of 2016.

With the courage and talent to strike out on her own, she left the the group to write and produce her solo debut “Camila.” It is the video for the aforementioned “Havana” that best encapsulates Camila’s transformation to a global superstar.

“She wanted to tell a story,” explains Lyor Cohen, YouTube's Global Head of Music of her video for “Havana.” “She was able to weave that story into her music video, showing how much creativity people can have on YouTube.”


For Camila, it is all part of the ongoing journey. “My family’s attitude of never setting limits on yourself,” the singer explains in “Made in Miami.” “That’s literally the reason there’s a camera here right now.”

“Made in Miami” captures Camila’s story with intimate videos and insights into an artist stepping out onto the world’s stage to tell her story on her own terms, and the world may never be the same.

“Our Artist Spotlight Stories are intimate and personal portraits of artists that give them the unique opportunity to share these special moments with fans,” added Cohen. “‘Made in Miami’ is just that.”

For more on Camila Cabello, stream her Artist Spotlight Story “Made in Miami” on YouTube now and tune into her livestream Q&A about the film with fans at noon ET.

Source: YouTube Blog


Updates to YouTube Live streaming

Together, we've experienced the biggest music, sports, science, culture and gaming events unfold live on YouTube. Now we’re introducing more ways to watch live videos and interact with your community in real time.

Catching up on the latest

Live chat plays a key role in creating connections between creators and their community. Today we are starting to roll out chat replay to YouTube, so you can follow the conversation even after a live stream is over. Live chat replays will show up alongside the video, exactly as it appeared live.


Making live streams more accessible

We launched automatic captions back in 2009, and since then, we’ve auto-captioned a staggering 1 billion videos. We’re now bringing English automatic captions to live streams.


When professionally provided captions aren’t available, our new live automatic captions provide creators a quick and inexpensive way to make live streams accessible to more people. With our live automatic speech recognition (LASR) technology, you’ll get captions with error rates and latency approaching industry standards. We'll roll this out in the coming weeks, and will continue to improve accuracy and latency of automatic captions.

More fun features for live streamers

Creators can now add a location tag to their mobile live streams and video uploads and share all their favorite hot spots with viewers. You can explore other videos with the same location tag by simply clicking on it. You can also use the location filter on the search results page to find other videos from a specific spot.




Last year, we introduced a way for Super Chats to trigger real life events. Now creators can set this up for their channels using IFTTT (If This, Then That). Over 600 internet-connected services and devices (like lights, pet feeders and confetti cannons!) can be connected to Super Chat. Super Chat is already available on desktop and Android devices, with support for iOS devices rolling out starting today.

With live streams, you’ve found more intimate and spontaneous ways to share your thoughts, lives, and creativity. Take these features for a spin and show us your world!

Kurt Wilms, Live Video Product Lead, recently watched "Falcon Heavy Test Flight."

Source: YouTube Blog


It’s time to turn up the music: Watch The BRITs LIVE with Ed Sheeran, Dua Lipa, Stormzy, and Justin Timberlake on YouTube

Do you remember the BRITs, where Ed Sheeran famously brought Stormzy out to perform, Adele showed us that she doesn’t like being rushed, and Ginger Spice unveiled her iconic Union Jack dress? It’s almost time for the action to begin again as the excitement of The BRIT Awards 2018 is almost upon us. What memorable pop culture moments will this year bring?

We’re letting you in on all the fun as we’re streaming the BRITs right here live for the fifth year running. Just tune in at YouTube.com/BRITS on whatever screen you find yourself closest to: mobile, tablet or TV, on February 21 at 11:30 a.m. PT / 2:30 p.m. ET / 7:30 p.m. GMT. (If you’re in the U.K., you can catch up on performances after the show).

YouTube star and music sensation, Conor Maynard is hosting the livestream alongside none other than BBC Radio 1Xtra’s Yasmin Evans. The pair will share all sorts of behind-the-scenes gossip from the show live, so you won’t want to miss it on the night.

This year, nominated stars like Dua Lipa, Stormzy and Ed Sheeran - who got their start on YouTube - are set to grace the main stage, so you’ll want to keep your eyes peeled for brilliant renditions of their hits. And as British hitmakers are not just popular at home, their BRIT performances will be beamed on YouTube to their massive followings abroad. ...


Comedian Jack Whitehall will bring his hilarious antics to the party as host of the BRITs, too, so there’ll be plenty of laughs to go with the great music.

Livestream host Conor Maynard said: “I’m super excited to be hosting The BRITs coverage on YouTube. My career started on YouTube, so it feels great to be doing something on YouTube and the BRITs. Can’t wait to have an awesome night!”

Geoff Taylor, Chief Executive of The BPI & BRIT Awards said: “We are delighted to be streaming The BRITs live to fans all around the world with our partner YouTube, for a fifth successive year. We are thrilled to have such popular and talented hosts.”

After the show, you’ll find performances from the artists on a YouTube playlist for you to relive and rewatch, plus further catch-up content on the BRITs channel. So, tune in at YouTube.com/BRITS on February 21 at 11:30 a.m. PT / 2:30 p.m. ET / 7:30 p.m. GMT for unforgettable performances and must-see shenanigans.

-- The YouTube Music Team

Source: YouTube Blog


YouTube TV’s got game on Valentine’s Day: more channels and markets

Last year we launched YouTube TV, the best way to enjoy cable-free live TV, and we’ve been working hard to make it better every day. Today we are excited to wish all our members an extra Happy Valentine's Day by bringing more of the networks you love to YouTube TV, including TNT, Adult Swim, TBS, CNN, Cartoon Network, truTV, Turner Classic Movies and more!

That’s great news for everyone, from Anderson Cooper addicts to Rick and Morty binge-watchers, and everything in between. Now you can also get breaking news from CNN, watch cable’s #1 new drama series The Alienist on TNT, catch up on TBS’s hit comedy series The Detour, check out the popular kids series Teen Titans Go!, and enjoy the new season of truTV’s Impractical Jokers - all included now with your YouTube TV membership.

For sports lovers in particular, we’ve got you covered: you now have access to March Madness and you can watch nationally televised NBA games, NBA All-Star weekend, NBA Playoff games, MLB Postseason games, the PGA Championship and soccer from the UEFA Champions League.

But wait, there’s more! We’re thrilled to announce that we’re soon adding NBA TV, the league’s 24-hour network, and MLB Network, Major League Baseball’s award-winning 24/7 TV network, to the YouTube TV base package. And in the coming months, you’ll also be able to watch NBA League Pass, the league’s premium out-of-market live game service, or MLB.TV, the longest running sports streaming service in the U.S., for an extra fee. Game on!

It would break our hearts for you to miss out on the action, so in the coming weeks, YouTube TV is also expanding to all top 100 U.S. markets! While we started out in just five markets and expanded to over 80 from there, we’re thrilled to announce that we are taking YouTube TV to over 85 percent of U.S. households, with the most live local broadcast stations in markets where YouTube TV is available. New markets include: Lexington, Dayton, Honolulu, Richmond, Mobile, and Syracuse. Check out here if YouTube TV is available in your city.



We will be increasing our price to $40/month on March 13 for new members. However, if you are already a member or sign up before March 13, we are keeping your original price of $35/month.

YouTube TV offers cable-free live TV through a simple and easy experience that’s built from the ground up for the 21st century. It includes:
  • Over 50 networks, including ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, plus popular cable networks like TNT, TBS, CNN, ESPN, AMC, and FX, and local sports networks from NBC Sports, FOX Sports, and NESN in select markets.
  • Ability to watch on any screen - mobile, tablet or computer - and easily streamed to your TV with apps built for Roku (new!), Apple TV (new!), Xbox One, Android TVs and Samsung and LG 2016 and 2017 smart TVs; and Chromecast, Chromecast built-in TVs, and AirPlay through Apple TV.
  • A cloud DVR, with no storage space limits that travels with you within the United States so you can stream recordings on any device, whenever and wherever you want. It enables you to record live TV and never run out of storage space, plus record shows simultaneously, without using precious data or space on your phone. Your programs are stored for nine months.
  • Six accounts per household, each with its own unique recommendations and personal DVR with no storage space limits.
  • Half the cost of cable with zero commitments. A YouTube TV membership is only $35 a month (if you sign up before March 13) and there are no commitments – you can cancel anytime.
So hop on the couch with us, fire up the TV remote and let’s celebrate the best way to watch cable-free live TV together. Happy Valentine’s Day, YouTube TV members! We’re having so much fun in our new relationship and are committed to making YouTube TV the live TV experience you’ve been waiting for. And if you are not a member, remember to join by March 13 to experience the new live TV service everyone’s talking about for only $35/month.

What can we say, YouTube TV is a cheap date :) Enjoy the game!

Posted by Heather Moosnick, Director of Content Partnerships, YouTube TV, who will be rooting for Team Curry #30 this Sunday in the NBA All-Star Game on TNT live on YouTube TV.

Source: YouTube Blog


Bundle up and tune in: Get inspired for the Winter Olympics with YouTube

The Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, will bring together athletes from all corners to compete in 102 events across 15 sports.

Starting February 8, if you miss a competition, you can watch select Olympic Winter Games video highlights from official Olympic broadcasters on YouTube in more than 80 countries around the world including from NBCUniversal (USA), BBC (UK), NHK (Japan), France TV (France), and Eurosport (Rest of Europe). In the U.S., YouTube TV will also show NBCUniversal’s live coverage of the Olympic Winter Games, and in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Maldives and Nepal, the Winter Games will be for the first time live and free on the Olympic Channel on YouTube.

YouTube holds a treasure trove of content to get you excited for the 2018 games. Learn about the games, go behind the scenes, brush up on your figure skating facts, and get up to speed on the stories to watch.

In fact, in 2017, people tuned in to watch many sports on YouTube, with ice hockey receiving the most views among all Winter Olympics sports, followed by figure skating. In the battle of skiing vs. snowboarding, skiing takes the bronze, overtaking snowboarding for the #3 spot.



While some sports are globally popular, there are some interesting cultural differences when examining each country’s top sport compared to the global average. In host country South Korea, speed skating is 10x more popular than in the rest of the world, while in Norway - which leads the all-time medal table - skiing is king. And does latitude make a difference? Southern Hemisphere countries tend to prefer bobsleigh, luge and curling, while countries up north like Canada and Russia love hockey.



And to get in the spirit, do as the locals and shout “Fighting (화이팅)!” for your home team. ... 

Tomos Grace, Head of Sports for YouTube EMEA, recently watched Wales in the Six Nations.

Source: YouTube Blog


That’s a wrap! See you in Atlanta in 2019

It was a nail biting matchup with the underdogs prevailing in a game that came down to the last second.

Hundreds of thousands of people made their way to the Twin Cities this past Sunday to catch the action live. But for the millions of you that weren’t there in person, you haven’t missed the chance to watch and rewatch the Big Game’s always-entertaining slate of ads on YouTube.

On YouTube, fans engage with the Big Game well before the kickoff and long after the last touchdown. We saw over a 16 percent increase in viewership of ads on YouTube this year, with viewership on Living Room devices increasing by 52 percent.1 In fact, one in every eight ads on YouTube watched on Sunday were watched on Living Room devices.2

For the 11th year, fans turned to YouTube AdBlitz to watch, cheer, and share their favorite ads. This year, we expanded AdBlitz to include even more content beyond ads for fans to enjoy -- like top football content, custom creator videos from ThreadBanger, Wong Fu Productions, devinsupertramp, and more.

The cheers and in-hub views of the ads in AdBlitz have now been counted, and … drumroll … it’s time to reveal the three ads that came out on top. The battle for these top spots was fierce this year with 80+ brands participating in AdBlitz, and more fans visiting the site than ever. In fact, in just two days, AdBlitz site traffic this year exceeded total AdBlitz traffic during the entire Big Game week last year.

The AdBlitz 2018 fan favorites are: Amazon Alexa, Bud Light, and Groupon!

Amazon’s Big Game ad takes the top spot. In this hilarious ad, Alexa loses her voice and counts on a star-studded team including Cardi B and Gordon Ramsay to come to her rescue.



Bud Light’s “The Bud Knight” came in second among AdBlitz fans, bringing their well-known Dilly Dilly creative to the Big Game with the introduction of the “Bud Knight.”



In third, Groupon and Tiffany Haddish join forces to let you know that every time you use Groupon in your neighborhood, you’re supporting local businesses.



The Big Game may be over, but you can visit YouTube AdBlitz at any time to watch and rewatch all the top videos from this year’s event. After you’ve watched the ads, test your knowledge of the Big Game's most popular spots and YouTube trends with Deja:View trivia. Play now!

Meredith Bailey, YouTube Product Marketing Manager, recently watched "Pink Belts Out the National Anthem! | Super Bowl LII NFL Pregame.”

1 YouTube Internal Data, U.S., February, 2018
2 YouTube Internal Data, U.S., February, 2018

Source: YouTube Blog


Greater transparency for users around news broadcasters

A big goal for us in 2018 is to provide greater transparency across the board to our community of creators, advertisers, and viewers. In one small step towards that commitment, today we will start rolling out notices below videos uploaded by news broadcasters that receive some level of government or public funding. Our goal is to equip users with additional information to help them better understand the sources of news content that they choose to watch on YouTube.

We’re rolling out this feature to viewers in the U.S. for now, and we don’t expect it to be perfect. Users and publishers can give us feedback through the “send feedback” form. We plan to improve and expand the feature over time.

The notice will appear below the video, but above the video’s title, and include a link to Wikipedia so viewers can learn more about the news broadcaster.



News is an important and growing vertical for us and we want to be sure to get it right, helping to grow news and support news publishers on YouTube in a responsible way. This work follows a series of changes we made throughout 2017 to better surface authoritative news content. In 2017, we launched a “Breaking News” shelf on the home page to prominently surface news after a major event and a “Top News” shelf in YouTube search results to highlight news from authoritative sources for news-related queries.

This notice on publishers receiving public or government funding, though still in its early stages, not only carries forward our work in this area through 2017, but represents one of many more steps we will take throughout 2018 to improve how we deliver news content on YouTube.

Geoff Samek, Senior Product Manager YouTube News, recently watched "The Oxford comma's unlikely origin."

Source: YouTube Blog


#CreateBlackHistory: Celebrating Black History Month with YouTube.

Over the past year, we’ve seen historic examples of “firsts” in so many different areas of society and Black History literally being made every single day. This month, and every month, I’m inspired by the future faces of Black History on this platform--incredible artists, musicians, beauticians and comedians like Todrick Hall, Ari Fitz, Andrea’s Choice, and TPindell. That’s why, this Black History Month, we are excited to celebrate these awesome creators by having them share who inspires them every day.

To recognize these contemporary history-makers in the making, we asked 28 different YouTube creators to tell us who they believe is creating Black History. Each day this month, we’ll publish one of those videos as a Reel on YouTube Spotlight channel.


In addition to our daily videos, we’ll share a new playlist each week of February, celebrating the luminaries who have been making Black History of late.

Celebrate Black History Month with us by visiting youtube.com/spotlight on your phone and swiping over to the Reels tab. And after watching the Reels, tell us who inspires you with the hashtag #CreateBlackHistory.

Danielle Tiedt, Chief Marketing Officer at YouTube, recently watched #CreateBlackHistory

Source: YouTube Blog


Bringing the power of YouTube to more countries with YouTube Go

Last year, we launched YouTube Go in India, a brand new app built from the ground up to unlock the power of YouTube for the next generation of users. Since then, we've also launched YouTube Go in 14 additional countries, including Indonesia, Nigeria and Thailand, and we've seen firsthand the impact that bringing more people into the world of video can have.

For instance, Mapan — a startup in Indonesia that uses technology to train and empower low-income communities and families in rural Indonesia — is using YouTube Go as part of their regular arisans or community meet-ups to equip entrepreneurial women with financial skills and resources. Each arisans' chairwoman downloads a playlist of videos related to starting and running a small business; they then share these videos with each other using YouTube Go’s nearby sharing function. A teacher who runs a primary school for low-income children in Lagos, Nigeria, says that using YouTube Go has “allowed me to download and watch more videos that help with everything from mathematics lesson plans to how to decorate the classroom.”

We're excited to expand YouTube Go to over 130 countries around the globe starting today. YouTube Go gives access to YouTube regardless of connectivity status and more control over data usage, while being locally and socially relevant. Key features of YouTube Go include:

  • Videos that matter to you: The YouTube Go home screen features trending and popular videos in your area, so that you can find and discover videos that you and your community care about. The entire experience is available in your language, with videos that are relevant to you.
  • Control over your experience: On YouTube Go, we’ll show you a video preview when you tap on a thumbnail, giving you a better sense of what the video is about before you decide if you want to watch it. You can then choose to download the video for viewing later or stream it now. And we also allow you to choose the amount of data you’d like to spend on that video.
  • Share videos with friends nearby: With YouTube Go, you can share videos with friends and family nearby without using any data.


From our previous launches, we've learned that you love those new features, so we made a few design changes to make them even more prominent in the app:
  • Watch in high quality: In response to user feedback, we’ve given you even more control of your experience and added the ability to download, stream, and share videos in High Quality in addition to basic and standard quality resolutions.
  • Discover fresh content you love: We heard that you wanted an even easier way to get the freshest videos recommended to you. Now, you can get new personalized content with a simple pull of the home screen. We also notify you when new videos are uploaded from the channels you love.
  • Share more easily: We know you love sharing videos, so we made design changes to make it even easier to access the share nearby feature right from the home page. We also added a highly requested feature: allowing multiple videos to be shared at once.


We've been working hard to build a YouTube app that works for you, with brand new features designed with your preferences, aspirations and needs in mind. We can't wait to see what you can do with the power of YouTube in the palm of your hand.

Jay Akkad, Product Manager, YouTube, recently downloaded and watched "Diving into 1000 Mousetraps in 4K Slow Motion - The Slow Mo Guys."

Source: YouTube Blog


State of the Union 2018, live on YouTube

From conventions to inaugurations to presidential addresses, YouTube has brought you some of the biggest political moments in recent U.S. History. As President Trump begins his second year in office, YouTube is continuing this tradition.

For the ninth year, YouTube is live streaming coverage of the president’s State of the Union address along with the response from the Democratic Party. This year, you can tune into live streams from more sources than ever before in English and Spanish. Here are the many channels where you can follow the coverage:


Head to YouTube on Tuesday, January 30, at 6 p.m. PT / 9 p.m. ET to watch the action live.

Brandon Feldman, YouTube News and Politics, recently watched ”History of the State of the Union.”

Source: YouTube Blog