You are producing your own content on YouTube. You have built up a decent audience. What next? Well, how about following in the footsteps of Hot For Words and Panacea81 and signing up for the YouTube Partner Programme?

Since January 2008, YouTube users in the UK have been able to apply for partner status, which – once awarded – qualifies them for a share in the revenues generated by advertising laid against their videos. As you have probably noticed, we have developed a number of new advertising formats in the year-and-a-half since the programme was launched and partners can pick and choose which they would like to see appear against their content.

If you are still not sure about applying, maybe these bullet points from the YouTube Partnership Team will change your mind:
• As the No.1 video site on the Internet and the No.2 search engine in the world, YouTube will break new boundaries for your video content and open new frontiers for your brand, whatever that may be. With millions of unique viewers each month, this represents potentially enormous exposure for you and your work.
• You will have the opportunity of generating revenue from your videos through different types of ads, such as InVideo ads and banner ads.
• You will have unique tools available only to partners like the "Partner Interactive Banner" which will make your channel unique as well as access to various tools that YouTube offers to protect copyright holders.
• Through our unique Analytics tool you will be able to create content that will enhance the targeting of viewers and advertisers, by analysing general demographics of your audience, your competitors and much more.
• Finally, YouTube tries to offer the best viewing experience to its viewers and users, and you can now upload your videos in HD quality, using a 16:9 aspect ratio.

Remember: In order to qualify for the YouTube Partner Programme, you must meet some minimum criteria, chief among which are owning the copyright and distribution rights for all audio and video content that you upload. That said, head here to apply. If this has inspired you to create an account on YouTube and lay the groundwork for your new show, head here. And if you’re still not sold on the idea of joining the programme, you can browse the list of individuals, organisations and businesses that have already taken the plunge here.

We look forward to welcoming you onboard. Have fun,
Jamie and The YouTube UK Partnerships Team

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Many of you have been asking for an increase in the size limit of your uploads. We're happy to announce that the size of standard uploads has doubled from 1GB to 2GB. The increase means you can upload longer videos at a higher resolution as well as large HD files directly from your camera.

In addition, the team has implemented some new features to make it easier for you to show these videos off to the world. The changes allow you to share links directly to the HD version of your video, as well as embed the HD version on your blog or website. Here's how:

* To share a link to the HD version of your video, simply append &hd=1 to the end of the URL. This means the video will start playing in HD as soon as someone follows the link. Cool, huh?

* To embed the HD version of a video on a website or blog, click the 'customise' button to the right of the embed box on the video page. Some options will appear; simply check 'play in HD'. The embed code that's generated will cause the video to start playing in HD as soon as a viewer clicks play. We recommend embedding HD videos at the largest size (853x505) for maximum enjoyment.

If you haven't yet started uploading your content in HD, see our Help Centre article for more information on how to do so. You can also browse some popular HD videos here.

Enjoy!
Ryan Junee
Product Manager
The YouTube Team

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You may remember the inaugural edition of Adopt a Feature, for which you made videos about AudioSwap, Country Pulldown, Insight, Playlists, Quick Capture, and Subscriptions. These videos generated 818,698 views (they're all collected here) and a number of them even got featured on our homepage. At the end of the two month run, thecomputernerd01 was crowned the Adopt a Feature king, thanks to his zany explanation of how the country/language pulldown menus work -- a video that accounted for a third of all of the programme's views. He also got this awesome T-shirt.

Josh took a break from ribbing his grandpa to tell you why you should get involved with Adopt a Feature v2.



In case you're still buzzing from Josh's high-energy onslaught, here's what you need to know: Make a video about any or all of the features on the list below (click on the name of the feature to get more information about it). Include the name of the feature and "adoptafeature" in the tags -- this is important; it's how we'll locate your video for inclusion on our channel and possibly on the YouTube homepage.

* Annotations
* Customise Your Homepage
* Tags
* Quicklist
* Mobile Upload

(By the way, for folks waiting to hear more about the roll-out of new channels, we should have an update in a few days.)

Best,
Hunter Walk
Director, Product Management
The YouTube Team

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UPDATE (6/27): We've heard all your comments about the channel re-design these last few days. One reminder we'd like to throw out there is that we're still in development, and now is your chance to give feedback on things you'd like to see in the new version of channels. We're listening. You've already helped -- and will continue to help -- us shape and grow this product by commenting in this blog, in our beta blog and on our announcement video.

+++

A few months ago, we launched our YouTube channels redesign in beta (first via a secret opt-in URL that many of you discovered, then as a visible opt-in link). Hundreds of thousands of you are now using the new version, have contributed a lot of useful feedback, and have helped make the new channels beta stronger and faster. Here are a few cool examples of great new channel designs: IceflowStudios, Vlogbrothers, nalts, LisaNova, sxephil, ThadewGrum, The White House, and University of Phoenix.

We're now ready to start rolling out the new channels design to more users. Starting today, all new accounts will automatically have the new version of channels. Here's a video introducing the new channels, the benefits, and how you can get started:



Finally, we'd like to give you advance warning that all existing channels will change over to the new design on July 15. (Partners, watch for separate communications about your changeover date).

Want to try it out or start getting ready before July 15? Just click on the "Upgrade my channel!" link on your Channel Design page (and note that you can switch back anytime until July 15). Keep in mind that new channels are still in beta for now, so there may be a few elements missing here and there. If you have questions, please visit our Help Centre. Also we've been sharing our progress and gathering feedback from users on a dedicated channels beta blog. Join in if you're interested in learning more and want more frequent updates on our beta progress -- and let us know if there's anything that you'd like to see added to the new version of channels, too.

Thanks!
Brian Glick
Product Manager
The YouTube Team

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Has The Hangover inspired you to go wild in Las Vegas? Or maybe “I Am… Sasha Fierce” has made you yearn to meet the woman behind the Beyonce brand? If so, YouTube UK may be able to help.

If it’s Vegas that’s on your mind, then you should head over to the Hangover channel, where walking through the sordid detail of your finest nights out or sharing your remedies for the morning after could win you and a friend four nights in Caesar’s Palace complete with a trip in a LVPD Police cruiser, the chance to witness a live Taser demonstration (!) and – provided you are of age – a private poker lesson.



Next up: Beyonce. In short, if you want to meet the diva who launched a thousand derrieres, you’ll need to prove to the good people at Trident Unwrapped why you should be considered worthy. But bear in mind that you’ll have to get past robsonfersantos first…



Good luck to everyone who enters. Just imagine: if you won both competitions, you could even end up escorting Sasha Fierce to Vegas. That’s the stuff dreams are made of, people.

Have fun,
The YouTube Team

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Lately, the team has been pushing out features and fixes as they're ready in "mini-pushes" rather than waiting for the big, numbered releases that occur once a month. Here's what has gone out in the last few weeks:

* The Wonder of "Wonder Wheel": Next time you search for a video on YouTube you may notice a link on the right-hand side of the page labelled "Wonder Wheel." This is a new beta search option from Google.com, which we think has great potential as a way to navigate the vast range of videos on YouTube. You may have seen "also try" suggestions at the top of search results. Now we are enabling you to navigate across those suggestions graphically. Wonder Wheel displays searches related to the one you are searching like spokes on a wheel, allowing you to explore different search suggestions quickly. You can click on any of the wheel's spokes to see a new wheel with more related topics and browse new relevant video results to the right. Give it a try and let us know what you think!

* Improved Advanced Search: Let's say you want to narrow down your search for a video and be more precise about what you're looking for. Advanced Search allows you to specify many more details than our normal search, including when a video was uploaded, the location it came from, and its length. We've reworked Advanced Search to be easier to use and to better reflect the range of content on YouTube (lots of new stuff!).

* Remaining Time Display on Upload Progress Bar: In April, we launched the new progress bar with our Flash uploader. We added a small enhancement to the UI to show the estimated remaining time based on your file size and internet bandwidth. We hope this will give you a bit more info about the status of your upload.

* Download MP4 Files of Your Own Videos: Oh no! Your computer just crashed and you lost the original files of videos uploaded to YouTube. Don't panic. Find the video you want in "My Videos" and hit the "Download MP4" button to save the MP4 file of the video to your computer. You can download videos recorded with your webcam, too.

* A More TV-Like Experience: We recently launched a feature that hides the player control bar when you are in full screen for a more immersive, TV-like experience. (Speaking of which, read our blog post about YouTube XL for more about optimising YouTube on large screens.) You can also "pop out" any video by clicking on the button in the top right corner, right above the video. The video will open in a new window, without any of the surrounding features or videos, for the simplest possible experience. (Please note: this feature won't work when embedding has been disabled by the uploader.)

* Mobile App in Six New Languages: A few months ago, we launched an all-new YouTube Mobile Application for fast, high-quality video streaming on Windows Mobile and Symbian Series 60 phones. Just two days ago, we released the App in French, UK English, Italian, Spanish, German and Dutch. To install it in your language, please visit m.youtube.com/app.

To comment on any of these features, leave a note below or head over to the Help Forum feedback and suggestions page.

Until next time,
The YouTube Team

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A few months ago, we launched an all-new YouTube Mobile Application for fast, high-quality video streaming on Windows Mobile and Symbian Series 60 phones. Today, we're excited to release the application in French, UK English, Italian, Spanish, German and Dutch.

To install the YouTube Mobile Application in your language please visit m.youtube.com/app and enjoy YouTube in your own language (as well as on the move).

Have fun,
The YouTube Team

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Today, we're proud to celebrate the 37th annual World Environment Day with the world premiere of "Home," a documentary about the survival of our planet, from award-winning filmmaker Luc Besson and photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand.

Not only does this film give us a glimpse of our planet from never-before-seen perspectives that demonstrate the urgency for more sustainable living, but it also marks the first time a global audience can watch a movie online, in movie theatres, on TV stations, and on outdoor screens around the world at the exact same time - a fitting debut for a film that asks us all to work together for the benefit of our planet.

"Home" will be available on YouTube in French, English, Spanish, German, Russian and Portuguese through June 14, which means you have 10 days to watch, discuss and share on YouTube. We hope the experience inspires you to action.

Sustainably yours,
The YouTube Team

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We are now only a year away from the 19th FIFA World Cup, which is due to be held in South Africa. As the most viewed sporting event in the world, people's attentions will inevitably be directed towards Africa as a whole -- which hosts the tournament for the very first time. But will the World Cup have a positive effect on the continent overall?

This is the latest question to be posed by the World Economic Forum in their Davos Debates series, ahead of the Forum's Africa Summit in Cape Town next month.



Vote and post your video response to the Davos Debates channel - the most insightful will be shown to political leaders attending the summit, who will also be sharing their reactions.

Looking forward to hearing your responses,
Tom Pursey, Product Marketing, YouTube UK

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Today marks an exciting change for the Community Help Forum: We'll be transitioning from the Google Groups platform to a new support platform which we believe will make it even easier for you to find help and share knowledge with one another. In addition to an updated look and feel, the new Help Forum has some useful features geared toward better serving your needs.

So what's new?

* Particularly great answers can now be marked as a "Best Answer,” so users with a similar problem can find the solution quickly and easily.
* The new Help Forum keeps track of user reputation. You can immediately tell which posters are YouTube employees, top contributors, seasoned posters, or new posters. As users make positive contributions to the Forum, their reputation will increase, and so will their capabilities.
* Other benefits of the new Help Forum include the ability for you to link to Help Center content, blogs, websites, YouTube videos, and images in your posts.

What about the content from the old Help Forum?

The content from the Google Help Groups will not disappear, but we are closing the Help Groups from additional new posts. You can post all your questions and answers in the new Google Help Forum. Don't worry -- you'll still be able to search and read previously posted Google Help Groups content through the Help Center.

Definitely stop by the new Help Forum, give us feedback on what you like or don't like, and make yourself at home...

See you soon!
The YouTube Team

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