Grab your explorer hat
YouTube is rolling out End Screens, new feature available to all creators that enables them to overlay thumbnails of other videos at the end of a video to encourage viewers to explore more content.
If this sounds familiar that’s probably because it is. Many of the big content producers already do something similar. But the way they accomplished it was through Annotations, separate program with several limitations, particularly the inability to click on links when viewing on mobile.
Put me in coach, I’m ready to go mobile
Muli Salem explained on the YouTube Creator blog this new feature would solve those issues:
“Currently, many creators use Annotations, a desktop-only tool that allows you to add clickable links to your videos, to manually create end screens. This will no longer be necessary, as the new End Screens are not only easier to create, but also allow you to reach more viewers on desktop and mobile.”
End Screens continues YouTube’s movement away from desktop exclusive Annotations, making clickable links faster and easier for creators and more engaging for viewers. The End Screens tool is already available to all users, and will allow you to create thumbnails on the last 5 to 20 seconds of your video that can link to other videos, send viewers to collaborator’s channels, or subscribe to yours. Viewers can hover over the cards on desktop or click to expand on mobile for more info on the video.
Come watch with us forever and ever
Although hardly revolutionary, this built-in tool will allow for more video to video and subscription conversions for everyone, from online video moguls like Buzzfeed to the most esoteric Hamilton fan-fiction acapella cat concerts.
As the announcement reads: “Keep ‘em watching.”
