YouTube Shorts now generates the same revenue per watch hour as long-form videos in several countries, including the U.S. and even more in some.

At Brandcast 2025. YouTube’s iteration of Upfronts, the platform announced a series of new advertising features and revealed it will be the exclusive streamer for the NFL’s Friday Night game during Kickoff Weekend of the upcoming season.

YouTube added a voting system for collaborative playlists. Signed-in users can now upvote or downvote videos to influence their order in the playlist. Voting is anonymous, and each user gets one vote per video.

YouTube launched a new Weekly Podcast Shows chart.

YouTube announced new tools for creator-brand collaborations:

YouTube is rolling out comment previews for Shorts.

YouTube is testing a YouTube Premium plan for two users.

YouTube is removing the "Revert to original" feature.

YouTube has added new caption features for Shorts. Creators can now auto-generate captions directly within the Shorts editor and customize them with different text styles and colors.

YouTube has been added to Peloton Entertainment. Members with a Peloton Bike, Tread, or Row can watch YouTube videos while working out, with no subscription required.

YouTube is experimenting with AI Overviews in search results.

YouTube is testing blurred thumbnails in search results for mature content.