YouTube has just pushed out a new update, via a server-side change. And it appears that this one is actually hitting every platform all at the same time. Which is uncommon for YouTube with these changes, that usually happens with small changes and are slowly rolled out. Nevertheless, this new feature adds a new section to the YouTube Feed that is full of “Breaking News”. Now since this just started rolling out shortly after the Barcelona attack on Thursday, most people are just seeing news related to that from various YouTube channels. Of course, as other news breaks, that should appear in this section.
In mobile apps, like on iOS and Android, this section is a bit smaller, so it stands out more. It’s actually a horizontal scrolling section. On YouTube’s website as well as the tablet apps, it just looks like a regular section that you’d see from a specific channel, or something similar. Now, users are able to get rid of this section, if they don’t want to see it. Users are able to click the x and then tap on the “Not Interested” option, and it’ll disappear from the YouTube feed. While some may think this is a bad feature to add in, some people do want to see breaking news, especially cordcutters that can’t just turn on the TV and see what’s happening.
With most news networks putting up short videos on YouTube these days, this is a good way for YouTube to really replace those channels on traditional TV. Especially since many people only want to hear about one or two stories and not spend an hour hearing about the same things over and over again. If you already subscribe to news channels like BBC, CBS News, CNN and others, you’re likely already seeing many of these videos in your feed anyways. This feature does appear to be available on most platforms right now, including those smart TV’s that have YouTube built in. If you aren’t seeing it, simply close the app and reopen it and it should appear. It’s a pretty subtle feature to add to your YouTube experience.