YouTube UK Blog
Look Inside a 1,024 Recipe Multivariate Experiment
Thursday, 13 August 2009
Do small changes make a big difference? In the world of landing page
testing, they certainly can. A few weeks ago, we ran one of the largest
multivariate experiments ever: a 1,024 recipe experiment on 100% of our
US-English homepage. Utilising
Google Website Optimizer
,
we made small changes to three sections on our homepage (see below),
with the goal of increasing the number of people who signed up for an
account. The results were impressive: the new page performed
15.7% better
than the original, resulting in thousands more sign-ups and personalised views to the homepage every day.
Below is a screenshot of the homepage before the test and the three sections we focused on:
And here are examples of various fonts, messages, and colors we tested:
Section 1:
(The words "Sign Up" were put in all caps)
Section 2:
(We placed these bubble messages to the left of the word "Sign Up")
Section 3:
(We experimented with these different banners in that area)
Can you guess which combination of elements performed the best?
If you guessed the Original "Sign Up" Font (section 1) + Red Bubble "Sign
Up" (section 2) + White "Don't Just Watch, Participate" box (section
3), you win!
Winning Page:
While we could have hypothesised which elements result in greater conversions
(for example, the colour red is more eye-catching), multivariate testing
reveals and proves the combinatorial impact of different
configurations. Running tests like this also help guide our design
process: instead of relying on our own ideas and intuition, you have a
big part in steering us in the right direction. In fact, we plan on
incorporating many of these elements in future evolutions of our
homepage.
Curtis Lee, Product Marketing Manager, recently watched
"KFC Freestyle Delonte West."
P.S. If you need assistance running tests on your website, there are many Google Website Optimizer
authorised consultants
who can help. Special thanks to
VKI Studios
who assisted on ours.
Masthead Undergoes Redesign
Thursday, 13 August 2009
You may notice something looks a little different about our masthead (top navigational area on the homepage) today, and that's because we've done a bit of housecleaning. We've streamlined and simplified the design to focus on the primary experience of YouTube: watching a video. The left side is dedicated to exploration: finding videos to watch through search and browse. The right side is all about organisation of the videos that matter most to you: your subscriptions, your recent viewing history, and your own uploads.
A few features have been removed from this area, to keep it as clean and functional as possible. Unless you have items in your Quicklist or Inbox, they will not appear on the homepage, and the country and language pulldown menus, once at the very top of the page, are now at the bottom.
Next up, we'll be focusing on giving you the controls to make the masthead more personalised.
What do you think? Let us know in the comments below.
Shiva Rajaraman, Product Manager, recently favourited "
Auto-Tune the News #7
".
Adopt a Feature v2: Who Will Be the New Champ?
Monday, 27 July 2009
Recently,
we announced
that a new set of features was in need of your loving care. Over 50 of you heeded Round One champion thecomputernerd01's
call to help
-- that is, to make a video explaining to the YouTube community how annotations, tags, Quicklist, mobile uploads and/or the customised homepage work. Almost 50% of the group chose to "adopt" Annotations, and Tags and Quicklist also received a decent amount of attention. You even made videos about a few features not on the list, like captions, the new channel design and widescreen viewing. So far, the videos submitted for this round have been viewed over 34K times and already there are some choice tutorials out there, such as...
...
MikeandToneRP
's explanation of tags, starring Megan Fox (um, not):
...
LaughingLeaf
's video on Quicklist, complete with a blooper reel:
...
AJCShow
's fast n' easy overview of sending a video from your phone to YouTube:
We'll be showcasing some of the best submissions on the homepage on Thursday, July 30, so it's not too late for your moment in the sun. Simply make a video about any or all of the features listed at the start of this blog post, and include the name of the feature and "adoptafeature" in the tags. Share your video far and wide -- our
autoshare
feature will help a lot with that -- and try to build views for it. It's one of the factors we'll use to decide who makes it to the homepage and who takes the crown for this edition of the programme.
Anyway, go forth and adopt (a feature)!
Posted by Hunter Walk, Director, Product Management
YouTube -- Now in 3D! Join The Experiment With Us!
Wednesday, 22 July 2009
First there was 1953's 3D thriller "House of Wax," then there was the Michael Jackson adventure "Captain EO," and this summer there are at least three major motion pictures in 3D. The format is exploding in popularity, and already there are countless
3D videos
on YouTube. We wanted to make it easier for you to watch and enjoy them in a variety of formats, since having a 3D experience usually requires special glasses or viewing techniques. Here's a brief
overview video
.
This is a new feature and many of the kinks are still being worked out (for instance, 3D videos cannot be embedded). But as with most things on YouTube, we need your help. We are looking for you to show us the real potential of this feature by making a fascinating, funky 3D video of your own. Tag it with "yt3d:enable=true," and leave the link in a comment on this blog. We'll feature a small selection on the homepage in an upcoming 3D-themed spotlight.
Some basics around shooting 3D videos (this isn't easy, so patience is key):
* Use two cameras arranged like a pair of eyes.
* Start both cameras recording simultaneously.
* In your video editing program, place the footage for the left and right eyes together in the frame side by side, with the right eye on the left and the left eye on the right.
* Upload your video! Edit your videos tags and add yt3d:enable=true. If video is widescreen, add yt3d:aspect=16:9 too.
For user discussions around 3D video, visit the
YouTube forum
.
Have fun!
Peter Bradshaw, Software Engineer
789 Gathering: In Video & Pictures
Friday, 17 July 2009
Those of you with long memories may remember user gatherings stretching as far back as February '07, with the "As One" meet-up in San Francisco. Last weekend, in New York City, the latest generation of vloggers, viewers and playlisters got together for 789, a get-together that took place over several days in the Big Apple. While regulars like Nalts and Zipster were on hand to capture scenes of people getting acquainted, the event seemed like it belonged to first-time gatherers like
BeanerLaRue
, who reels off an impressive list of in-the-flesh meetings:
Also hard to miss were rising stars like Mitchell Davis (a.k.a. LiveLavaLive, seen below in the Apple store with a posse of female vloggers) and the always energetic
Supermac18
:
Photographers StylistBrighton and Bucknik captured some impressive still shots which they've posted
here
and
here
.
A few users, including
Urgo6667
, mattlaw25 and vclamp, joined YouTube's George Strompolos for burgers and a weekend tour of Google's New York office. The group talked about the partner program and, perhaps more importantly, played lots of
Pong
.
Congratulations to MyAnnoyances, PaulThaAsian and DJTLaC who were the driving forces behind the 789 gathering. Watch
MyAnnoyances
express his thanks to you for making it a success:
If you attended the event, tell us what you thought in the comments, and let us know about any upcoming gatherings you're organizing and we'll list them in the sidebar of this blog. We're also aggregating videos showcasing your great organizing efforts on the
user gathering channel
; we've got a good list from 789 there already, and we imagine there will only be more to come.
Posted by Mia Quagliarello, Community Manager
When Coronation Street met Google Maps on YouTube
Thursday, 16 July 2009
YouTube, Coronation Street and Google Maps: how could they possibly come together? The answer lies with the fabled Google Street View Car, which today rolled over the most famous cobbles in Manchester with a view to incorporating shots of the soap's set into the service.
It will take a few months for the images to be processed and carefully stitched together before being incorporated into Street View on Google Maps, but for anyone who can't wait until then the Corrie team filmed the four-wheeled photographer in action:
OK, so this is essentially a video of car driving along a road... but hey: what a road! For more Coronation Street news online, head
here
.
Have fun,
Jamie
Become a Citizen Journalist with Pocket TV
Wednesday, 15 July 2009
Have you ever been sat watching the presenters of a TV show and thought: I could do that? If so,
The Pocket TV Show
wants to hear from you.
As part of its launch on YouTube,
Pocket TV
is asking UK users of YouTube to pitch them feature pieces to be built into their weekly shows, presented by Matt Edmondson and Jameela Jamil. To date they have covered everything from under-18s raves to clothes-swapping nights out, but we believe that you can take this to the next level:
So what are you waiting for? Head over to the channel and get suggesting!
Have fun,
Jamie, YouTube UK
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