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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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.

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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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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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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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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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In mid-2007, six hours of video were uploaded to YouTube every minute. Then it grew to eight hours per minute, then 10, then 13. In January of this year, it became 15 hours of video uploaded every minute, the equivalent of Hollywood releasing over 86,000 new full-length movies into cinemas each week.

Now, 20 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute, and it is a testament to the fact that you've made YouTube your online video home. We couldn't have built this site without your commitment to sharing your thoughts, experiences, and creativity with each other. We have news clips and full-length shows and movies, music videos and how-to content, sports highlights and animation, short films, homegrown videos, and, yes, all the dogs on skateboards you can watch. There's an audience for every type of content on YouTube, and we hope that with all this video, you can find whatever it is you're interested in on the site.

We're still developing new ways to upload videos to YouTube. Today we're launching a feature that allows users to conveniently record a video response immediately after watching a video, making the YouTube experience even more social. When the video you're watching ends, an icon encouraging you to respond will appear in the player. Clicking on the icon will activate your webcam and immediately bring you into the conversation.

So thanks, and let's see if we can get to 24 hours -- a full day's worth of video uploaded every minute.

Ryan Junee
Product Manager
The YouTube Team

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Have you ever wondered how to build an audience on YouTube and then turn that following into a powerful business? Well, Michael Buckley, writer, producer and star of entertainment news show "What the Buck?," has done just that. (Read all about him in the New York Times.)

Now he's offered to share the secrets of his success with you.

To ask Buckley a question, or to vote on questions submitted so far, click on this link. You'll have until Monday, May 18, 10am PT, to have your say. Then, in a couple of weeks, we'll post a video to this blog with his answers to the most popular questions. We hope you'll take advantage of this unique opportunity to learn from one of YouTube's foremost user-experts.

Thanks,
Curtis Lee
Product Marketing Manager
The YouTube Team

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Starting today, signing up for YouTube means signing up for a Google Account that gives you access to YouTube, as well as other Google services such as iGoogle, Reader and Docs. If you already have a Google Account, you can choose to link your new YouTube Account to it, which means one less password to remember.

You can still sign up for YouTube with any email address and you'll still need to confirm whatever email address you enter. You'll also still pick a unique YouTube username that identifies you to the YouTube community.

So why are we doing this? We feel that by jointly connecting accounts, you can take greater advantage of our services both on YouTube and on Google, especially as we start to roll out new features in the future that will be powered by Google technology.

For those of you who already have a YouTube Account, don't worry, you'll still be able to enjoy YouTube with just a YouTube Account. But some of the new features we roll out down the road may require a Google Account. In these cases, we'll be there to help you link your YouTube Account to a Google Account if you want to check the features out.

Cheers,
James Phillips
Software Engineer
The YouTube Team

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We launched YouTube Insight a year ago to help you better understand your viewers and how they engage with your videos. Along the way, we've introduced features like Demographics, Hot Spots and Community to give you sophisticated ways of analysing viewer data. Whether you want to know how old your audience is, how many times your most viewed video was rated last week, or which minute of your clip is most engaging, YouTube Insight can give you the answer. As we add functionality, we're careful to preserve YouTube Insight's clean and easy-to-use look and feel.

Throughout this process, we've realized that there are limitless ways viewing data can tell fascinating stories about your audience. As you continue to post videos, we will continue to make viewing data transparent and accessible for you.

Today, we have added a link that allows you to export your Insight data into CSV files. CSV files are open format files that organize data so it can be moved and analysed using common spreadsheet software such as Google Docs and Microsoft Excel. Now you can view and manipulate your data any way you like.

Looking for ideas? Try comparing the view count for different videos side by side, mapping out where your viewers are coming from over time, or comparing discovery sources by country. As always, tell us about the interesting fun facts you learn in the comments below!

Cheers,
Tracy Chan and Kenny Stoltz
Product Managers
The YouTube Team

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As we alluded to in a post a few weeks ago, you'll notice that our homepage looks a little different today if you're signed out. We've redesigned this page to better reflect what's currently popular on YouTube, as chosen by you. We hope it's more visually appealing now, too. Here's a rundown of what's new:

* We've streamlined "Spotlight Videos" and given it greater prominence on the page. It won't appear every day, but when it does, videos will be organized around a theme, such as today's Earth Day videos, or a community trend. Feel free to suggest themes in the comments below. (Oh, and if you're signed in, whenever we show Spotlight Videos it'll appear wherever it does today, according to your settings.)

* "Videos Being Watched Now" got a makeover; we hope this gives greater emphasis to the videos that are rising up right now, according to what people are watching.

* The new "Most Popular" section features the hottest video in each category at the moment, in addition to the overall Most Viewed and Top Favorited video. This category display should help surface a wider variety of videos.

As always, we'll track page usage so we can make sure you're always able to find interesting videos when you come to YouTube.

Best,
Brian Glick
Product Manager
The YouTube Team

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