← The Think Media Podcast
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The economy is shifting fast. If you're an entrepreneur or creator serious about scaling with YouTube, this is your moment. October 2nd and 3rd in Las Vegas, we're hosting the Think Media Mastermind. It's exclusive, it's application only, and spots are almost gone. Apply now@thinkmediamastermind.com so YouTube just dropped 22 brand new updates that you need to know about. Right up top. I'm going to be covering my top three and then we're going to dive into the complete list. And this could really reshape how creators and business owners are growing their audiences, getting views, monetizing their content. And there's a lot of opportunities and some strategic insights we need to talk about. Now this happened at YouTube's annual made on YouTube event that was recently celebrating their 20th birthday and really casting vision for the next 20 years of YouTube. But let's talk about the three big updates that I think matter most. First is title AB testing. Now since 2023, thumbnail AB testing has existed. This has allowed you to Update and upload three different thumbnails and let YouTube test it based on which one gets the most watch time and then eventually a winner is chosen. What we've all wanted is title testing. So now you can upload three different titles, three different thumbnails and then YouTube will pick a winner. So no more guessing, no more. This is super exciting. If you don't have it yet, it'll be rolling out to your channel soon. Secondly is collaborations. This gives you the chance for up to five different YouTube channels to co post one video so everyone's channel will share audiences. But keep this in mind, it's only the uploader that keeps the revenue. And so there's some strategic thoughts here. How could you be thinking about collaborations on YouTube going forward? Different channels you could collaborate with and I think about for our content we, we have our main channel, Think Media and then our Think Media podcast channel. Even collaborating between your own channels could be really interesting. Now number three is Ask Studio. The vision for this is essentially AI integrated right into your YouTube channel so that you have a creative partner. You could ask questions like what's my best performing thumbnail? Why did this video flop? And ultimately have AI looking directly at your analytics, looking at your actual channel and, and giving you insights. Tell me what my community is saying about my editing style. Very powerful. So you can make more data driven decisions. And so the vision here is that you have the ultimate creative partner and a trusted companion giving you AI insights right on your channel. Now we got to talk about all 22 updates. But if we're just meeting, my name is Sean Cannell and I've actually been on YouTube since 2007. I have a couple different channels. I've launched three silver play buttons, a gold play button and I think there's a massive opportunity on YouTube right now. In fact, during Made in YouTube, Made on YouTube, they said that YouTube has paid creators more than a hundred billion dollars in the last four years. So yes, competition is fierce, but there's also massive opportunity on YouTube and it's pretty crazy to capture capture vision for the next 20 years of YouTube. So let's talk about the next 19 updates that we need to know. Number four is the inspiration tab. Now this has existed for a while. If you haven't tried it, I encourage you to do so. You could go into your backend YouTube studio, click on inspiration and the big idea here is you now have enhanced brainstorming with nine fresh ideas per prompt. So you enter a topic in the prompt box. This is AI and it's going to give you video ideas based on your channel, based on audience behavior and insights and so something to test and play with. They announced they made some upgrades to this. Now number five is enhanced auto dubbing, dubbing with lip sync. And so right now you can translate your videos into over 20 languages and make your lips match the new language. Pretty crazy. And so as this rolls out, thinking about the international opportunity of just creating content in your native language, but then YouTube basically adding the technology so that you could reach audiences around the world. Now update number six is likeness detection. So all partner program creators can now detect and remove a deep fakes that are using your face. So if that's happening to you or that's a problem or you can imagine that becoming a problem in the future, this is a critical way to safeguard your identity and ensure that your audience isn't misled. Now this next category is really all about AI and YouTube shorts. And so number seven is they have now updated what's called Veil 3. Fast integration. So this is Google's text to video. AI creates backgrounds and clips with sound for free. So it's a video generator on YouTube shorts that is free that is integrated right into the app. So one of the things on a video like this, it's a good time to make sure your YouTube app is updated on your phone, that your YouTube Studio app is updated on your phone and that you go into your backend and explore some of these new features. Now there's a few shorts related things you can add motion now. Number eight, take any photo and make it dance or move using motion from another video. Number nine, you can add objects, insert anything into your videos with AI, like adding a rubber ducky to your coffee. Number 10 is video style style stylization. Transform your videos into different styles like pop art or Orami. Maybe you saw that ChatGPT thing that was happening where you would just take a photo and then turn it into like Sesame street or turn it into anime. And so that's coming to video. And keep in mind these are for YouTube shorts at this time. Now number 11 I'm excited about is edit with AI. So the current scope of this is, is the idea that on the YouTube Creator app you start creating a short and you can now take your raw camera footage and make a compelling first draft. So click all the different clips so you can upload your raw footage or film it on your phone. AI analyzes it and selects the best moments, automatically auto arranges the clips, adds music and transitions to create flow, generates even a voiceover, and then creates a first draft and then you can make tweaks to it. So talk about speed AI video editing. Now, key limitations. This is currently shorts focused vertical short form content, select markets only. And as we talk about all these different updates, again, you might not have got this for your channel yet, it might not be in your market yet, but this is sort of the state of YouTube and the vision going forward over the next couple of months and going into 2026. And so also limited voiceover languages. And while not explicitly stated, the underlying technology could theoretically work for long form content. This is not video editing for long form yet, probably because short content is easier to process. Less complex decision making fits their current AI infrastructure. But I'm excited because this could go to long form in the future, which would be incredible. Number 12 is speech to song. And so imagine you're talking and then AI, you've probably seeing the different people making remixes, even songs that an artist like Drake or Taylor Swift never sang in the first place. But AI is doing it well. This is a feature included in shorts where you could take dialogue from an original video and then using Lyra 2 to help create a song, you can add your own vibe to the song, like chill, danceable or fun. And then the final results are actually attributed to the original creator. This is interesting. Something to experiment may or may not be relevant for you. Now the next big category is the live streaming overhaul. And one of the stats they revealed was that on average over 30% of daily logged in. YouTube viewers watched live content in the second quarter of 2025 alone. So live streaming on YouTube is massive. And one of the things they said was that they want to be prioritizing discoverability. So if you're just starting YouTube or you're trying to think about how do I reach new people? You want to pay attention. Because getting discovered when you're starting from scratch or maybe you're in a plateau, you want to boost your YouTube channel. These are a couple features to pay attention to. So the 13th update is multi aspect streaming. So you could go live horizontally and vertically simultaneously with one unified chat. And so now you could broadcast in two formats. This is going to appear in the regular YouTube feed where it normally shows up and the shorts feed. So that's more discoverability. That means one stream reaches viewers on desktop TV and mobile without you having to choose between formats or even manage separate streams. Now they also added what's called practice mode, which is cool. You can rehearse privately with simulated comments before going live. Get into the vibe before you actually, you know, make it public. And it's going to have AI generated comments and chat interactions. And this will let you get comfortable with live streaming. Get comfortable with the interface, test the setup, practice responding to chat without going live and then crashing and burning. You're like, I've been there, right? You know, you go live and you mess up your hook, you mess up your opening. So practice mode lets you kind of get locked in and then go live for real. Number 15 is playable on Live. Over 75 games can now be played during streams to interact with your audience. And people are already streaming their gameplay. But this would be, you know, integrated right on the platform. And then number 16, I highlighted this one is React Live. So you could start your own vertical live stream reacting to other creators live content. Now if you haven't leaned into this, obviously on YouTube, react is one of the biggest opportunities because you can commentate, bring your own unique point of view to other popular content. Terms that we use at Think Media include influence surfing, where you're essentially surfing on the influence of someone else, or, or trend surfing, where you're riding on the wave of breaking news or something that's a trend. And so this will be interesting to see because the fact if someone's going live, you jump on, you start reacting to it. Something to definitely test out and could be a huge growth booster for you. Now number 17 is AI live highlights. So you can now automatically create YouTube shorts from the best moments of your stream. So when your live stream is over, AI scans the video and then can turn them right on platform, turn the live stream into clips, into YouTube shorts that are ready to share on your channel. I think we have to address the elephant in the room, which there's all these different software platforms out there. We love a lot of them that help you chop up your content, turn it into clips. AI that supports YouTube creators, YouTube continues to add new features, and so they're just bringing this right into the platform itself for free. And so this stuff will be very disruptive and something to play with in terms of making it easy for established creators, but also the everyday creator to multiply your content, potentially let YouTube identify the hot moments and maybe you're one short away from a lot more discoverability on your YouTube channel. Now, number 18 is side by side ads. And so the idea here is that again, when you're going live, if you've got monetization turned on and someone's watching that doesn't have YouTube Premium, you're watching the live, but then, boom, you get hit with an ad that interrupts the stream. Okay, makes sense. Well, the idea here is it doesn't interrupt it. There's a ad side by side playing alongside, so it's less intrusive. But it also helps the creator get paid without pulling the audience away or losing your audience because someone's like, all right, I kind of like the live stream, but the interruption of the ad, I'm out of here. And so that'll be cool to see how that rolls out. Now, number 19 is kind of basic, but it's just the idea that members only live streams are easy to transition between. So do you want to do a live stream to your entire channel or if you have members only paid members that are subscribing to your YouTube channel for exclusive content, you can easily set up a live stream just for them and be able to smoothly switch from public to paid member streams. Now we have a couple more updates to do, but I did want to give you a quick heads up. We recently did a brand new 27 page report here at Think Media. And these new updates are exciting that we've been learning about today. But the reality is there's over 20 million uploads hitting YouTube every single day. You heard me correct, 20 million videos are uploaded to YouTube every single day. So competition is fierce. And so I recently did a free training. You could get access to that as well as this free 27 page strategy guide. I cover the 12 biggest threats to your growth in 2026 and the strategic shifts you must make. Now, it's entirely free and all of these updates are cool, but if you don't have a dialed in strategy, if you're not aware of some of the changes on the platform, then these new features aren't going to help much. And so definitely take advantage of that if you're interested. If you're listening to this on audio, you could go to ytreport.com to get it for free, or you could scan the QR code or use the link in the description. Let's talk about the monetization revolution with a few more updates out of the 22 things they announced. So there's also some new ways for creators to earn more money. And they did say that over a hundred billion dollars has been paid to creators over the last couple years. And so YouTube is an incredible platform. In fact, they call it it's its own economy. And that's true. It's its own economy. So here's a couple updates. Number 20 is dynamic brand segments. So here's what this is. You will be able to swap out sponsor reads after a brand deal expires, and you could potentially resell those slots. Now, this has existed on audio podcasts for a while. So imagine you just record your video, you record your content, and then what you're able to do is record a separate, call it an ad read a brand deal spot where a sponsor's paying you and for a minute or two you talk about the sponsor of the video. Well, on audio, you know, five minutes into your podcast you're talking and then boom, a dynamic ad hits. But maybe you want to take that out. Well, you can do that. You just turn it off or you could change it. And a lot of audio podcasters have loved this because you could actually, if you're, if you're getting evergreen views, your content keeps getting views. You can resell the impressions and the listen listens your content is getting. But the big problem on YouTube is the fact that you bake in sponsor spots. And so maybe you get a brand deal on your channel, you edit that right into the video, and then it's going to exist there forever. So, so this is pretty significant because now you can negotiate with a brand or add a brand deal even to a past video that's getting views. That's actually a question for me. Can you go back? Is this only the new videos? Could you go back to your past library and sell sponsor spots? If you got a ranked video, a video that keeps getting views, and so ultimately when the sponsorship ends, you could remove it, sell the same spot to a new brand and, and you know, the way they said it is making your old videos keep earning money. This is a pretty big deal. And so that's a massive update. Number 21 is brand links in shorts. So when you do sponsored content on YouTube Shorts, you can now add a direct clickable link that takes viewers straight to the brand's website. This makes it easier for the viewers to buy products, gives you better data, shows sponsors how many sales you're actually driving. And then 22 is AI product tagging. So YouTube will automatically detect when you mention or show a product in your video and will add shopping tags at exactly the right moment that viewers are interested in. So instead of manually tagging products yourself, the system does it for you and it times it perfectly. So this is actually kind of already existed. One of the things you might want to sign up for, for if you qualify is YouTube shopping. And that's like affiliate marketing baked right into YouTube. And you could put YouTube shopping links right under your long form videos and your shorts videos, clickable products that show up right on top to whatever retailer, there's like tens of thousands, but you know, to Walmart or to a skincare brand or to whatever. And so they're just saying that now this is enhanced and AI is going to see the products you're talking about and put that shopping link and you get credit if someone clicks it and goes and makes a purchase. I'm sure you could turn this on and off if you don't want the intrusion or you don't want YouTube to make a mistake. I've seen that happen in the past with YouTube shopping. And sometimes what's kind of funny is DJI, like the DJI pocket camera, I saw them integrated into YouTube shopping and the commission percentage was 0%. And so that was the kind of thing where I was like, they're auto tagging the product. That might have changed. But I've said, and I was like, wait a minute, you know, I talked about the camera in my video. YouTube Shopping added a link. Yes, it's all integrated. What's the commission percentage? 0%. Hmm. I don't know if I want to, you know, use that link. So you want to, you know, mind your business and stay on top of those details. But something to check out for sure. Now something to consider though is right now we are living through a massive shift on YouTube. And while there's so much good news, there's also big challenges. Some of the highlights we've had lately is subscribers don't guarantee views anymore. There's a lot of people that are struggling to get views. AI is separating winners and losers. Those who aren't really leaning into AI strategically are getting left behind. And then also information overload is paralyzing creators. I mean, I don't blame you. There's 22 new updates. How do you stay up with everything? How do you keep growing your skills? And so those are some of the biggest threats and challenges happening on YouTube right now. So this is some good news. But at Think Media, our mission is to equip you with real tactics, real strategies. And so if you want to start to grow a channel or you want to be getting views right now and figure out some of the biggest changes, then I highly recommend grabbing our brand new report we wrote at Think Media called the future of YouTube 12 threats to grow to your growth in 2026 and the strategic shifts that you need to make now. It's totally free and I also did a one hour kind of emergency class on it and it's super tactical. This is no fluff. You could grab it@ytreport.com, scan the QR code or click the link in the description because again, we're here to help you win on YouTube. In fact, if you actually just want to skip straight to that one hour training, you can click or tap the screen to watch that next. My name is Sean Cannell, your guide to building a profitable YouTube channel and I will catch you in a future video.