YouTube Blog-Australia

Vivid LIVE from Sydney Opera House puts you in the FRONTROW

2012-05-25T18:12:00.003+10:00

Some of the biggest musicians from around the world will gather over the coming week as part of Vivid LIVE, the annual music event held at Sydney Opera House as part of Vivid Sydney, the city’s annual festival of light, music and ideas.

For the first time, audiences around the globe will be able to watch select performances live on YouTube, and share the experience through a custom camera application called FRONTROW.

During the livestream, not only can you sit back and enjoy the tunes of some renowned musicians, you can also participate right from your desktop! In a world first, you can take photos of the event through the FRONTROW camera app: zoom in and out to change your view, take photos during the live stream, apply filters and immediately share on your social networks.

Oh, and what will you be watching? The line-up of performances includes:

Friday 25 May, from 6:30pm AEST (1:30am PST/9:30am BST): Multi award-winning German design collective URBANSCREEN lighting the sails of Sydney Opera House.

Tuesday 29 May, from 6:00pm AEST (1:00am PST/9:00am BST): Grammy award-winning English singer Imogen Heap, in an intimate recital with a spectacular Sydney Harbour backdrop.

Thursday, 31 May, from 9:50pm AEST (4:50am PST/12:50pm BST): Our very own The Temper Trap, debuting their new album in the Concert Hall, with footage from the event available on YouTube following the performance

Saturday, 2 June, from 9:00pm AEST (4:00am PST/12:00pm BST): Brazilian electronica mastermind Amon Tobin in an audiovisual spectacle taking projection mapping and electronic performance to new heights.

For the full schedule of events and to experience Vivid LIVE on YouTube, visit youtube.com/sohfestival.

Posted by Ernesto Soriano, YouTube Australia, recently watched “Seekae 3.”

It's YouTube's 7th birthday... and you’ve outdone yourselves, again

2012-05-21T14:49:00.001+10:00

This is a cross-post from the Official YouTube blog

In May 2005 we first shared YouTube with the world. Seven years later, you’re the ones doing the sharing! We’re so honored that you’ve used YouTube to share how-to tips, political moments, home videos, comedy, music, and so much more.

Last year to celebrate our birthday, we wrote you, the YouTube Community, a thank you note for making our first 6 years so special. And on that birthday you gave us a great present by reaching a record rate of 48 hours of video uploaded to the site every minute. Well Community, this year, on our 7th birthday, you’ve outdone yourselves once again.

Today 72 hours of video are uploaded to the site every minute. Like many 7 year olds around the world, we’re growing up so fast! In other words, every single minute you now upload three whole days worth of video instead of two. That's 61 Royal Wedding Ceremonies, 841 Bad Romances, and 1,194 Nyan Cats.

We’ve come along way in the past 7 years. What started as a handful of videos shared among friends has transformed into a global platform delivering the next generation of channels to anyone, anywhere, and on any device. This last year was especially big for us. We helped bring more great channels to YouTube and weredesigned the site, making it easier for you to discover, watch and subscribe to the videos you love. And all 800 million of you all over the world have shown us we’re on the right track by increasing subscriptions 50% and watching over 3 billion hours a month.

Behind the tens of millions of channels on YouTube featuring talented filmmakers, home videos, skateboarding tricks, music, and car enthusiasts there has always been one consistent voice: you. Throughout our seven years you’ve made the YouTube community what it is. Thank you!

Posted by The YouTube Team, recently watched “"How to" throw the PERFECT *Princess Birthday Party*”

You Asked For It! Here Are Your 16 Next Vloggers...

2012-05-09T13:36:00.001+10:00

Since launching, YouTube Next Creator has helped chefs cook up better videos, trainers get more people into shape, and non-profits extend the reach of their causes. So figuring out which category to tackle, well, next, was a bit of a challenge. Rather than deciding ourselves, we asked you to make the tough decision for us. With a resounding cry, you told us, “BRING US NEXT VLOGGER!”

Not only is vlogging one of the most popular forms of expression on YouTube, but selecting Next Vlogger also resulted in more applications than we’ve received for any previous Next Creator program. Bravo! Although, that still left us with some tough decisions...

After much debate and many sleepless nights, we’re excited to introduce you to the 16 Next Vloggers:

From sports recaps to music parodies, book reviews to space lions, gaming tips to Smurf collecting, advice and self-empowerment to Pokemon mastery, and even some stuff that can’t be categorised, these vloggers--like the art of vlogging--literally touch on every content category.

We are also happy to also announce that we have a local Aussie in the 16 — Louna Maroun, aka Loopy Lady 11. On top of old-school vlogging, the extremely red-headed Louna also sings quite a few tunes on her channel.

Fun bunch, huh? In total, they’ve racked up over 125 million views. Not a shabby start, but like most YouTube creators, they’re eager to reach even more people. To help them get there, the Next Vloggers will participate in three months of trainings via Google+ Hangouts, including mentoring from one of most successful top YouTube vloggers and content creators, iJustine and Sydney’s own Natalie Tran from communitychannel, and receive $5,000 worth of video equipment and $10,000 worth of promotion on and off YouTube. Subscribe to their channels to follow them on their journey over the next few months and beyond.

Not a vlogger but still want to gain some skills to help you go from zero to hero .....views? Then, you’re in luck because we’re kicking off some rad YouTube Creator Workshops that cover a wide range of topics from “Introduction to Cinematography” to “Improving Your Channel with YouTube Analytics.” You can check out the YouTube Creator Events site to see the calendar of workshops that you can attend via Google+ Hangouts on Air from the YouTube Creators page.

Vlog on!

Posted by Austin Lau & Bing Chen, Global YouTube Creator Program Managers, recently watched “INSERT PLAYLIST”.

Get More Into Music: All year long

2012-04-20T08:34:00.002+10:00

Summer’s ended, but that doesn’t mean we can’t celebrate the music that’s carried us along the way. Today, we’ve got a new doodle on our homepage, and a special collection of videos on youtube.com/music.

With over 60 hours of videos uploaded to YouTube every minute, there’s plenty to help you get into whatever you’re into. Back in December, we thought we’d get more into music, and invited some of our favourite musicians to guide us along the way by creating video playlists showcasing their own musical tastes.

We started in our own backyard with the Australian musicians that would take the stage at the 25th anniversary ARIA awards: Art vs. Science got into the strange & eclectic, Bluejuice found us some hidden gems and we learned what 80s anthems get The Living End Going.

And we followed some of our favourite acts around Australia this summer festival season: From the pumped up kicks, and modern-day lullabies that brought sold out crowds across Australia for Big Day Out, to big-time dream-pop to big-haired rock & roll hanging out at St. Jerome’s Laneway Festival in Sydney.

Today, we hope you’ll enjoy revisiting some of the playlists from these musicians as much as we have. It’s easy to create your own playlists too – just log in to your YouTube account, and hit ‘add to playlist’ from any video on YouTube.

But that’s not all. You’ll notice we’re also featuring a handful of videos from some of the biggest names heading to this year’s Splendour In The Grass, including a special interview with Ladyhawke and with Kele from Bloc Party Tickets have just gone on sale but even if you can’t make it, never fear. For the second year in a row we’ll be live streaming a special collection of performances live from Byron Bay, courtesy of Virgin Mobile.

We’ll be announcing the live lineup soon. For now we hope you find plenty of music to keep you busy!

Posted by Ernesto Soriano, YouTube Australia, just watched SBTRKT Wildfire, Live from Coachella

10 Most Memorable Coachella Moments

2012-04-19T09:08:00.003+10:00

This post first appeared on The Music Network.

One of the world’s most iconic music events, Coachella Festival has a rich and celebrated history spanning 14 years, over 1000 bands and hundreds of thousands of fans passing through the gates of the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California. That adds up to a lot of magic festival moments.

Whether you’ve made the festival pilgrimage or not, you can enjoy it all through our YouTube playlist of the most memorable Coachella moments - the good, the bad and the downright strange...

1. Arcade Fire’s glowing ball drop (2011)

This was certainly one of the most talked about moments in Coachella’s history and something that will be forever ingrained in my memory. An avalanche of light-up, sound activated balls were cascaded into the audience just as the band reached the crescendo of “Wake Up”, their final song for the night. The spectacular, interactive light display that unfolded not only cemented Arcade Fire’s reputation as one of the most formidable live acts, but left fans lucky enough to hold onto the balls (I scored one!) a pretty neat souvenir to take home. NB: my ball did not make it back to Australian shores sadly.

2. You Can’t Stop The Cure (2009)

Thanks (or no thanks) to Coachella’s strict midnight sound curfew and to their three (some may say extravagant) encores, frontman Robert Smith informed the crowd that they'd had been instructed to play only one more song and then they played two more tunes without incident. I remember walking away just as they launched into anthem "Boys Don't Cry”, the festival crew cut the main-stage speakers. Now playing acoustically and with no mics, the band triumphantly pushed on, causing the crowd (myself included) to rush the stage and join in an unprompted sing-along.

3. Ariel Pink’s brilliant meltdown (2011)

Maybe it was the heat. Maybe it was the emotion of finally playing Coachella. Or maybe he was just having a bad day. The eccentric LA artist landed a prime afternoon slot at the festival, only to squander the opportunity by fleeing the stage 15 minutes into his show, moping to the audience "I'm sorry, I know you hate me now." I didn’t hate him, but I was bummed I’d missed Lauren Hill for it.

4. Daft Punk's Pyramid of Lights (2006)

Dance duo Daft Punk closed out day one of 2006 with their first U.S. performance in nine years with what has become a one of the most legendary sets of their even more legendary career. It was the first time many fans has witnessed the spectacle that was a 40-foot, LED-encrusted pyramid staging two robot-masked French men throwing out hits such as “Around The World” like it was no-one’s business.

5. Neil Finn gets hits with a bottle and plays on (2007)

Most blame bad scheduling. Some blame a lacklustre set. Either way, it was a bummer. Our beloved Crowded House played to a very irritable audience who were obviously only there to see Rage Against The Machine. The only thing between the fans and “Killing In The Name Of” was a few more songs from the Kiwi boys... and the only thing between the bottle being thrown and the place it was going to land was Neil Finn’s head. He played on like a trooper and I like to think the jerk who did it got escorted all the way out of there before RATM even started.

6. Roger Waters' Pig Takes Flight (2008)

This was epic. With a set to rival any NYE party, Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters had some surprises in store for the punters of Coachella. Unfortunately, things don’t always go to plan and he was forced to watch in distress as his giant inflatable (and probably expensive) pig that hovered about the crowd during the song "Sheep", floated off into the night sky at the song's conclusion. Coachella organisers offered four free lifetime passes and $10,000 to anyone who found the pig, whose vinyl carcass was recovered in a Palm Springs country club several days later.

7. Paul McCartney and the Hey Jude sing-along (2009)

“Nah, nah, nah, na na na na hey Jude”. What could possibly be better than a Beatle singing one of his finest hits to an overly-appreciative, ecstatic crowd in the middle of the Californian desert? When they all join in and it turns into the festival’s best ever sing-along. I called my dad 5 times during his set. Two generations of Beatles fans united by the moment!

8. Radiohead actually play ‘Creep’ live (2004)
Unprecedented. Radiohead are notorious for skipping over their anthemic smash hit “Creep” while planning their set lists. During the 5th annual Coachella where they followed a reunion set by one of their favourite bands ‘The Pixies’, they took a trip down memory lane and dusted off the hit, much to the delight of jubilant fans.

9. Bon Iver steals the show (2012)

Day 2 Coachella 2012: the lineup reads like a current who’s who of the music world. Up against the likes of Radiohead, The Shins, Feist, Azelia Banks and A$AP Rocky, Justin Vernon and crew still managed to steal the show with their near perfect performance of “Beth/Rest”. Fans reacted to the triumphant set with a flurry of praise and from what I understand, grown men did indeed cry.

10. Flip-flop dude can’t get it together (2010)

Last but not least we bring you... a grown man trying desperately to put his plugger back on. Certainly one of Coachella’s finest and proudest moments. It’s equal parts funny and frustrating to watch, but by the end of it you’ll be cheering for him. Almost there mate!

Posted by Sophie Hirst, YouTube Music Manager.

Coachella live stream on YouTube this weekend!

2012-04-13T14:27:00.002+10:00

Got plans this weekend? Now you do. Settle in for some serious couch time... once again Coachella festival will be streaming live on YouTube bringing you big name acts such as Arctic Monkeys, The Black Keys, The Shins, Bon Iver, Azelia Banks, Florence and The Machine and our very own Gotye (Aussie's represent!).

It all kicks off at 08:50am (AEST) with recent Laneway festival band GIVERS. You've got three channels to choose from including both the main stages and an interview channel with artist chats and behind the scenes footage.

You can be part of all the action live on the Coachella YouTube channel.

Here’s a taste of what to expect with a few videos from last year’s live stream:

We’ve also converted the live streaming times into AEST for you. Happy watching!

Saturday timetable:

08:50am – GIVERS
09:10am – honeyhoney
09:35am – Neon Indian
10:00am – Gary Clark Jr.
10:05am – Grouplove
10:25am – Jimmy Cliff & Tim Armstrong
11:00am – Yuck
11:20am – Dawes
11:30am – Arctic Monkeys
12:10pm – Madness
1:15pm – Frank Ocean
1:50pm – Mazzy Star
2:10pm – The Rapture
2:45pm – The Black Keys
3:05pm – Explosions in the Sky
3:50pm – The Black Angels
4:20pm – Refused
5.10pm – Amon Tobin
5.25pm – Swedish House Mafia

Sunday timetable:

09:00am – We Were Promised Jetpacks
09:00am – Azealia Banks
09:00am – AWOLNATION
09:50am – tUnE-yArDs
10:00am – Destroyer
10:05am – Buzzcocks
10:35am – Kaiser Chiefs
10:55am – Manchester Orchestra
11:05am – Andrew Bird
11:30am – Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds
11:55pm – Laura Marling
12:15pm – Squeeze
1:05pm – St. Vincent
1:10pm – The Shins
1:55pm – Kasabian
2:30pm – Bon Iver
3:20pm – Miike Snow

Monday timetable:

08:20am – Seun Kuti & Egypt 80
08:25am – Wild Beasts
08:30am – Oberhofer
08:30am – Santigold
09:15am – Real Estate
09:35am – The Growlers
09:45am – Fitz and the Tantrums
10:30am – Wild Flag
11:05am – The Hives
11:15am – Beats Antique
12:10pm – The Airplane Boys
12:45pm – Justice
1:30pm – Beirut
2:30pm – Goyte
2:45pm – Modeselektor
2:45pm – Florence and the Machine
All times in AEST

Posted by Sophie Hirst, YouTube Music.

Do You Have What it Takes to be the ‘Next’ great YouTube Vlogger?

2012-03-29T09:08:00.001+11:00

This is a cross-post from the Official YouTube Blog.

Vlogging, or video blogging, videos are some of the most popular on YouTube. And rightfully so--they’re one of the few types of videos that literally anyone can create: all you have to do is sit in front of camera, share words of wisdom (okay, wisdom not always required), and upload the video. From accounts of political struggle in the Middle East to fan reactions of newly-released music videos to testaments of personal discovery, the intimate act of vlogging can take many shapes and resonate with audiences around the world.

A few weeks ago, we asked YouTube creators what form of content we should tackle as part of our Next Creator program, a development initiative to help promising creators find their voices, improve their skills, and build their audiences. You resoundingly responded with calls for YouTube Next Vlogger.

Starting later today through April 18, applications will be open for sixteen promising vloggers to take part in three months of intimate educational workshops held on Google+ Hangouts. Each vlogger will receive $5,000 worth of video equipment and more than $10,000 worth of promotion on and off YouTube. Participants will also receive mentoring from industry experts, such as iJustine, one of the most successful vloggers and content creators on YouTube!

YouTube creators from Australia, Canada, India, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States can learn more and apply to Next Vlogger on the Creator Hub. If previous Next Creator participants are any indication, the Next Vloggers will be an incredibly talented and engaging group. We can’t wait to introduce them to you on April 30, but they need to apply first!

Vlog on!

Austin Lau & Bing Chen, Global YouTube Creator Program Managers, recently watched The Dominic Show’s “Dating Tips: Break Ups”

Get More Into: New Music

2012-03-23T09:08:00.000+11:00

What better way to spend your Friday than by digging into new music to kickstart your weekend?

This week there’s a myriad of the random, trippy and psychadelic manifesting in new music videos from The Horrors, The Shoes, Sam Sparrow and Hot Chip. Our favourite British exports don't disappoint this week with Hot Chip giving us a dizzying glimpse inside the studio in their new video for ''Flutes'...meanwhile their countrymen and cult space-rockers Spiritualized, are back with 'Hey Jane' from their highly anticipated new album. Rounding off our british wave are The Horrors taking us on a psychadelic animated journey in their latest video for 'Changing The Rain'...

Cameos are always popular at Team YouTube and this week is no exception! DZ Deathrays feature comedian Arj Barker in their new video for ''No Sleep', and Lana Del Rey's latest offering 'Blue Jeans' features tattooed model Bradley Soileau. Not to be outdone, home-grown hero Sam Sparrow's latest video 'Happiness' is also bound to get your toes tapping as he unveils some of what's to come from his forthcoming album 'Return To Paradise'. French synth duo The Shoes have teamed up with skate film director and photographer Daniel Wolfe on 'Time To Dance' which zeroes in on Jake Gyllenhall as a hipster-killing psychopath - a must see epic at 8.5 minutes long!

Here’s the full playlist. Enjoy!

Posted by Cat Conroy, YouTube Music.

Improving video awesomeness with one click

2012-03-22T10:38:00.002+11:00

This is a cross-post from the Official YouTube Blog.

Whether you’re perfecting your double backflip at the park, capturing a flash mob on your phone, or enjoying singing in a subway, it’s not easy to get your video quality perfect. Sometimes videos suffer from symptoms like “shaky-camera-itis” or “augmented-darkness-levels” that keep viewers from seeing just how awesome your video really is. We made a big step last year with the YouTube Video Editor, and now we’re adding a feature that does the work of curing these symptoms for you.

If you upload a video that’s shaky or dark, we’ll automatically offer to fix it for you, creating an updated version of your video on YouTube.

When you upload a video that could use a fixup, you’ll see a notification bar on the Upload page and in your Video Manager. Click the button to fix it, and you’ll see a side by side preview to decide if you want to accept the edits.

Select “Okay” if you’d like us to update your video to the preview version (you can always undo this later). Even if you’re uploading a video from your mobile device, the Video Manager on the desktop will give you a notice if this video can be cured as well. Here’s an overview:

This breakthrough in video awesomeness is possible thanks to our research team who expanded on the “I’m Feeling Lucky” button launched last year, automatically detecting if stabilization or color correction would be helpful for you. The result is a one-click option rolling out over the next few days that cures these two symptoms now, and more planned in the future.

So you keep capturing those awesome moments, and we’ll keep on developing ways to help you make those videos even more awesome.

Posted by John Gregg, software engineer, recently watched “Panda,” and then watched “Panda (stabilized).”

Seeing familiar faces on YouTube through Google+

2012-03-15T21:00:00.002+11:00

This is a cross-post from the Official YouTube blog.

As you surf through YouTube's decorative vegetable carvings, wingsuit flying videos and Hindi lessons, you might start to notice some familiar names and faces. That's because today we're adding a feature that lets you sign up for a new YouTube channel using your existing Google+ profile. You can now use your Google+ profile name and photo on a new YouTube channel, giving you one consistent identity across platforms when uploading videos, sharing, commenting and other public activities.

Today’s update gives the more than 100 million of you on Google+, who are already able to watch YouTube in Hangouts and share videos with your Circles, another way to bring the best of Google+ directly into your YouTube experience.

Here’s what you’ll see if you sign up for a new YouTube channel and you already have a Google+ profile. If you want this to be your channel name and photo, just click OK, “I’m ready to continue.”

If you want to create a YouTube channel that’s different from your Google+ profile (e.g. “KatnissForPresident”), click “Create a username,” and you’ll have the option to create a YouTube channel as usual. It looks like this:

This is currently available on the English version of YouTube and we’re looking to roll it out across languages in coming months. Also, if you already have a YouTube channel and want to connect it to your Google+ profile—stay tuned. We’ll be following feedback on this update and hope to add more features that bring the best of Google+ into YouTube.

Posted by Trevor O’Brien, product manager, recently watched “Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run.”

Welcome to your new YouTube channel

2012-03-08T13:08:00.002+11:00

This is a cross-post from The Official YouTube Blog.

Making it easier to connect with the content you love was the aim of the redesigned homepage and channel layouts we launched in December of last year. You can now start with a video you love, discover and follow a whole channel of great content from that creator or curator, and organise all the channels you love in a homepage that's always updated with the new videos you'll want to watch.

Since these updates, the data shows we’re onto something:

Daily unique visits to channels have increased by 60 percent since December 2011
Daily net subscriptions are up 50 percent since December 2011

Today is the next step in the new YouTube look and feel we launched in December, where all channels will be updated to the new layout. What does this mean for you? Well, for starters, you’ll now see every channel organised into one of four channel templates customised to suit different types of creators:

We’ve also built new ways to help you stay more engaged with the channels you love. For example, the Channel Feed shows you all the videos uploaded to a channel, as well as playlists and Liked videos across YouTube. The channel feed makes it clear what you’ll get if you subscribe. When you do, this feed will also be published on your homepage so you can keep up with all the latest activity from your favorite channels.

On the topic of features — a big thank you for all your feedback that we’ve incorporated over the past six months. You’ve helped us learn what works and what needs improvement as we evolved the design over time. Your feedback continues to drive updates and new features, and for all of you creators, here are a few updates to note:

You wanted the ability to feature content prominently so we added a Featured tab and subsequently improved it with more templates and a search feature to help you program it more easily
You told us having Favorites more accessible was important to you, so we turned it into a customisable part of your channel
You wanted to link your +Page or your Google+ Profile to your channel, so we added this option

If you’re a YouTube creator, check out our post from last week with tips on making your channel look awesome, as well as the YouTube Creator Blog for regular updates on ways to improve your channel and connect with other creators.

The YouTube Team

Get More Into: Australia’s Laneway Festival

2012-03-02T13:55:00.000+11:00

Cross-posted from the YouTube Official Blog.

From big-time dream-pop to big-haired rock & roll, there are plenty of reasons to love festival season in the Southern hemisphere. Following the pumped up kicks, rockabilly licks, and modern-day lullabies that brought sold out crowds across Australia for Big Day Out, we spent the day hanging at St. Jerome’s Laneway Festival in Sydney. What began as a packed side-alley show in Melbourne has quickly developed into a national touring event and a favourite summer festival.

Between sets in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide, Auckland, and Singapore, here’s what some of Laneway’s biggest names had to say about touring down under, the Laneway vibe, and their favorite inspirational acts on YouTube:

The Horrors get into psychadelic pop and out-of-this world sounds of Connan Mockasin
Multi-instrumentalist, arranger, producer and vocalist Jonti talks big beats and big sounds of Flying Lotus
Hear what outstanding female vocalist have inspired The Drums to come together as a band
Recorded in their same hometown, Twin Shadows’ At My Heels brings laughs & tears to electronic pop duo Chairlift
M83, known the world over for reverb effects and loud instrumentals, has his first encounter with the electronic music of Jean Michel Jarre

The Laneway crew’s just completed their tour but you can enjoy your own little taste of this iconic Australian festival right here on YouTube.

Ernesto Soriano III, YouTube Australia, recently watched “Toro y Moi ‘Still Sound’.”

Captions for all: more options for your viewing and reading pleasure

2012-02-29T11:32:00.001+11:00

Crossposted from the YouTube Official Blog.

Since we first announced caption support in 2006, YouTube creators have uploaded more than 1.6 million videos with captions, growing steadily each year. We’ve also enabled automatic captions for 135 million videos, more than tripling the number of captioned videos available since July 2011. YouTube and Google’s video accessibility team have been hard at work, and we wanted to let you know about some of our progress over the past few months:

For YouTube viewers

More languages: We now support automatic captions and transcript synchronization in Japanese, Korean, and English. Speech recognition for those languages makes it easier for video owners to create captions from a plain transcript. Video owners can also add captions and subtitles in 155 supported languages and dialects, from Afar to Zulu. In Movies and Shows, you can even find out which subtitle languages are available before deciding to rent.

Search for videos with captions: Looking for that great quote from a video on YouTube? Add ", cc" to any search, or after searching, click Filter > CC to only see results with closed captions.

Caption settings: While watching a video, you can change the way the captions look by clicking on the “CC” icon and then the “Settings...” menu item. This includes changing the font size or colors used, and we’re planning to make this available on other platforms and add more options soon.

Broadcast caption support: If the channel owner provides a video caption file in a broadcast format, we now support its position and style information, just like you’d see on TV. This means the text can appear near the character who is speaking, italicized to indicate an off-camera narrator, or even scrolling if the original captions were generated in a real-time mode. Check out this little demo from CPC to see how it looks, or even watch a rental movie with captions like those available from The Walt Disney Studios.

For YouTube creators

More supported formats: YouTube now supports many of the common caption formats used by broadcasters, such as .SCC, .CAP, EBU-STL, and others. If you have closed captions that you created for TV or DVDs, we'll handle the conversion for you.

MPEG-2 caption import: If you upload an MPEG-2 video file that contains closed captions with CEA-608 encoding, we'll import the captions along with the video and create YouTube captions. For example, the nonprofit organization Public.Resource.Org recently added thousands of public domain videos with closed captions to YouTube, coming from government agencies like the National Archives. Here’s some insight from Carl Malamud, President, Public.Resource.Org:

Many of the DVDs and VHS tapes lying around in our vaults and attics--particularly those that were produced by governments and others that care about accessibility of their videos--already have Closed Captions embedded in them. Pulling that information out automatically and making it visible on YouTube means that these videos will continue to be accessible to new generations of viewers.

Along with the millions of people like myself who rely on captions and subtitles, we were very encouraged when the Federal Communications Commission published rules governing closed captioning requirements for video on the web, whether that’s to your computer, tablet, phone or other device. We hope these new regulations will drive captions closer to becoming ubiquitous for video everywhere, and in the meantime we’ll keep developing more ways for you to enjoy all the great channels on YouTube.

Ken Harrenstien, software engineer, recently rented “Cars 2” and was ecstatic to see its awesome captions.

Get More Into: Big Day Out and the Australian music scene

2012-02-27T13:48:00.005+11:00

Cross-posted from the YouTube Official Blog.

While those in the Northern hemisphere hit the slopes (Shaun White, anyone?) and anxiously await the first signs of spring, the Australian summer is all about the outdoors. Music lovers are flocking to the land down under where summer festival season is alive and rocking, and even more are coming to YouTube to catch all the sights and sounds.

During the Australian Recording Industry Association awards, we asked a few of your favorite Aussie musicianswhat YouTube videos get them pumped up. We rang in the new year with a live streamed sustainable arts & music festival. And here, in the heart of summer 2012, we asked three of your favourite musicians in town for Big Day Outhow they get into music in YouTube

The Vaccines: all from different backgrounds & tastes and less than a year old as a band, see what live gigshelped inspire the boys from West London to record their first album in just under a month late last year:

The Living End: with six albums, each one a milestone, watch legendary Aussie rockers get into their favorite 80s anthems, from big wigs to big gigs:

Foster The People: From relative obscurity to one of the most talked about bands on the globe (to the tune of more than 63 million views on YouTube!) watch what mischievious musicians have inspired these pumped-up kicks through sold-out shows all across Australia:

So if you’re on a ski lift, by a fire, or just waiting around till the snow thaws...we hope you can enjoy a taste of the Aussie music summer, right here on YouTube.

Ernesto Soriano III, YouTube Australia, recently watched “The Vaccines: Wetsuit instagram video.”

Game on: YouTube Creator Playbook Version 2 now available

2012-02-24T11:26:00.002+11:00

This is a cross-post from The Official YouTube Blog.

When we first released the YouTube Creator Playbook with tips for succeeding on YouTube, things were a little different. You didn’t have all the new channel features, the homepage didn’t yet have a guide to help you find and follow to channels you like, and you were uploading 48 hours a minute.

As we work on the site, we want to make sure you’re the first to know every tip and trick to succeed on YouTube, so today we’re launching version two of the YouTube Creator Playbook. In addition to these updates, almost every page includes your feedback (thank you!). Here’s a few of the key things to look for in the new version:

New channel & homepage section
With the launch of our new channel pages and updated homepage, we’ve created a new section on how to organize your videos for different audiences, and how to program your channel to help you make the most of the feed on the YouTube homepage.

Go global
Your channel reaches a global audience, so we’ve added a new section to help creators create, program, and optimize for audiences around the world.

Updates to annotations, playlists, publishing and more
Your feedback and new features helped us update much of the playbook on topics like annotations, playlists & video responses and call to actions.

Glossary
If you’re new to YouTube or the Creator Playbook, we’ve included a glossary to help you quickly learn all the site’s features, and the strategies, terms, and topics used in the playbook.

We hope this update to the YouTube Creator Playbook is a helpful tool if you’re just coming to YouTube for the first time, as well as help YouTube pros quickly learn new features to keep expanding your audience. We’ll be talking more about the new playbook during our Partner Meet-Up Livestream on YouTube.com/youtube at 5pm PT today.

Ryan Nugent, audience development strategist, recently watched “Rodrigo y Gabriela and C.U.B.A. - Area 52 Album Trailer.”

Holy Nyans! 60 hours per minute and 4 billion views a day on YouTube

2012-01-24T13:14:00.001+11:00

This is a cross-post from the Official YouTube blog.

Since the dawn of YouTube we’ve been sharing the hours of video you upload every minute. In 2007 we started at six hours, then in 2010 we were at 24 hours, then 35, then 48, and now...60 hours of video every minute, an increase of more than 30 percent in the last eight months. In other words, you’re uploading one hour of video to YouTube every second. Tick, tock, tick, tock — that’s 4 hours right there!

In the past we’ve made charts and infographics to describe the kind of mind-boggling engagement you’re driving, and this time we let our dataheads run wild. They came back to us with onehourpersecond.com — an interactive collection of what happens in a YouTube second. Here’s a sample:

For all the hours of video you’re uploading—you’re watching more as well; we’ve now exceeded four billion video views globally every day. That’s up 25 percent in the last eight months and the equivalent of more than half the world’s population watching a video every day, the same number as there are US $1 bills in circulation, the same as number of years since there was water on Mars...it’s a big number, and you’re making it bigger every day.

With more original Channels rolling out this year, a new homepage to help you find and follow Channels you love, and new tools for creators always on the horizon, we’re excited to see how many times you’ll grow these numbers this year!

The YouTube Team recently watched “The Joy of Books.”

A global search for the world's best storytellers

2012-01-19T19:50:00.002+11:00

Cross-posted from the Official YouTube Blog

One of the best parts of working at YouTube is helping connect creative voices from around the globe with the audiences they deserve. So, we've teamed up with Ridley Scott and Scott Free London, the Venice Film Festival, and Emirates to create Your Film Festival, a global competition that will provide one deserving entrant with a half million US dollars to work on their next great story. Here’s an overview:

Starting February 2, you can submit your short, story-driven videos (15 minutes or less) on Youtube.com/yourfilmfestival. Entry is free and open to people 18 years of age and above, and all genres and formats are welcome: live action short, animation, documentary, web-series episode, TV pilot — you name it. Your video must be story-driven, and cannot have been publicly shown or distributed prior to January 1, 2010. Full rules are available on the Your Film Festival Channel.

From there, the Scott Free team will select 50 semi-finalists from across the globe by June 2012. YouTube users will then vote for their favorites to select 10 finalists, whose videos will then be screened at the 2012 Venice Film Festival. A jury led by Ridley Scott will crown one grand prize winner, who will receive a $500,000 production grant to work with Scott’s team to create a new story for the world to see.

For more information, check out the Your Film Festival Channel, and get your entries in before March 31 at midnight ET.

We can't wait to see what you've got.

Nate Weinstein, entertainment marketing manager, recently watched “Panic Attack."

Sixty YouTube Space Lab Finalists Announced: Vote Now For Your Favorites

2012-01-18T09:06:00.000+11:00

A few months ago we set 14-18 year olds the bold challenge to design a science experiment that could be performed by NASA aboard the International Space Station, something that has traditionally been the preserve of qualified astronauts and scientists. Coming up with a suitable idea required huge imagination, passion and scientific curiosity, which is why we were thrilled with your response—we received a total of 2,000 video submissions from students in more than 80 countries!

Expert scientists helped us check and rank all of the entries, and today we are very proud to announce the sixty finalists. All of their submissions can now be viewed on the YouTube.com/SpaceLab Channel, and from 17-24 January, you can vote for the ones you want to win. We need your help selecting the six regional winners, and ultimately the two global winners that will have their experiments performed 400 kilometers above Earth and live streamed on YouTube. Start voting today.

Among the finalists for the Asia-Pacific region were three teams of Australian students: Wyatt McCoach and Forrest Gerner and Thomas Gambuti, Francesca Mcgrath, and Ruby Wright in the 14-16 year-old category as well as Luke Ditria and Johnny Udall in the 17-18 year-old category.

And remember, the channel is also a launchpad to some of the best space and science videos on YouTube. We’ve already received more than 39 million combined video views worldwide and we’re adding new videos and playlists regularly, like this new playlist about the mysteries of the Red Planet. Subscribe to the channel to keep up to date with all the latest content.
Didn’t make it to the final round? Check out the newly launched Google Science Fair 2012 for another chance to enter an amazing global science competition. Zahaan Bharmal, YouTube Space Lab lead, recently watched “Living in Space: 225,000 Miles Above Earth.”

Get Ready for a Grand Slam with Live Tennis on YouTube

2012-01-13T09:04:00.001+11:00

The Australian Open Series is in full swing, and tennis fans around the world can catch loads of the action this year on YouTube. Tennis Australia is making the series more accessible than ever before by offering both live action and full-length match replays, as well as loads of training footage and player interviews.

This week we’ve got live streaming from the Australian Open Qualifying Tournament, and today you can also catch the live Australian Open draw featuring tennis legend John McEnroe.

Coming up there will be heaps of on-demand footage from the full Australian Open Series, including the Brisbane International , Sydney International, Hobart International and the Adelaide World Tennis Challenge. This will include match highlights, player press conferences, and perhaps — a few shirtless training sessions.

And if you are feeling nostalgic, you can recap all the Open action from the past decade through the Archive Playlist on the Australian Open YouTube channel.

Last year saw some fun moments like a dead spot in Hisense Arena and John McEnroe with his pants down, so stay tuned to see what this year will bring!

Richard North, YouTube Australia/New Zealand Content Partnerships Manager, recently watched "Shaark!"

Get More Into: Top 50 Music Videos of 2011

2011-12-22T11:26:00.000+11:00

From kitty-cam to kids with nerf guns to Thom York's peculiar dance moves, we bring you 50 of the greatest, weirdest and most innovative music videos of 2011.

Hand-picked by the YouTube Australia music team who have been diligently scouring the depths of the internet, this list is a celebration of all things wonderful and weird in the world of music.

2011 was a year of power females. Who could forget Beyonce's ground-breaking 'Countdown' or Lana Del Rey’s washed out glamour throwback video for ‘Video Games’.

This year we’ve seen a crop of new talent and innovation with Alexander’s breakout video for ‘A Million Years’, featuring makeup landscapes - or ‘manscapes’ - being a notable mention. The Beastie Boys brought us the the Spike Jonze-directed epic masterpiece 'Make Some Noise' featuring more celebrities than the Betty Ford clinic.

A special shout out to the Aussies who made the cut - Children Collide's 'Loveless', directed by award-winning Australian filmmaker David Michôd (Animal Kingdom). It features a one-take shot of their lead singer getting a haircut. Bluejuice's granny-kissing antics, Strange Talk's interactive prize giveaways and last but not least, Gotye’s body-paint experiments also get a mention.

So sit back and raise a glass to the year that was 2011 in music! Watch the full playlist here.

Posted by Sophie Hirst and Cat Conroy, YouTube Team, just watched Bing Crosby & David Bowie - Little Drummer Boy

Opening up a world of educational content with YouTube for Schools

2011-12-12T17:12:00.001+11:00

Cross-posted from the Official YouTube Blog

When I was in school during the 90s, watching videos in the classroom was a highlight of any week. The teacher would roll in a television on a cart, pop in a VHS tape, and then we’d enjoy whatever scratchy science video my teacher had checked out from the school video library that week. Sight, sound and motion have always had the power to engage students and complement classroom instruction by bringing educational topics to life.

We’ve been hearing from teachers that they want to use the vast array of educational videos on YouTube in their classrooms, but are concerned that students will be distracted by the latest music video or cute cat, or a video that wasn’t appropriate for students. While schools that restrict access to YouTube may solve this distraction concern, they also limit access to hundreds of thousands of educational videos on YouTube that could help bring photosynthesis to life, or show what life was like in ancient Greece.

To address this issue, we’ve developed YouTube for Schools, a network setting that school administrators can turn on to grant access only to the educational content from YouTube EDU. Teachers can choose from the hundreds of thousands of videos on YouTube EDU created by more than 600 partners like the Smithsonian, TED, Steve Spangler Science, and Numberphile.

We know how busy teachers are, and that searching through thousands of videos sounds like a daunting visit to the world’s largest library, so we’ve also worked with teachers to put together more than 300 playlists broken out by subject -- Math, Science, Social Studies, and English Language Arts -- and by grade level. Teachers can find them listed out at youtube.com/teachers. Of course, this list wouldn’t be complete without your input -- teachers, what videos do you use in your classroom? Suggest your own education playlist here.

YouTube for Schools is just the latest initiative in our ongoing attempts to make YouTube a truly valuable educational resource, and to inspire learners around the world with programs like YouTube Space Lab. So how do you get started? To join YouTube for Schools or learn more about the program, head on over to www.youtube.com/schools.

Brian Truong, Product Manager, recently watched “The Challenges of Getting to Mars: Transporting a Mars Rover.”

Get more into what you love on YouTube with our new look

2011-12-02T11:58:00.001+11:00

Cross-posted from the Official YouTube Blog.

From your favorite sports highlights and dance competitions to make-up tutorials, science experiments and great movies, there’s a ton of great stuff on YouTube — over three billion views worth per day by last count. More and more, behind every great video is a great Channel, and with our announcement last month that more of them are coming to YouTube, we want to make it easier for you to find and keep tabs of what you want to watch.

So, today we're introducing a new homepage, Channel design and a fresh coat of digital paint. Here are three ways these updates will improve your life on YouTube:

1. A new homepage
The YouTube homepage is your gateway to a vast entertainment universe. To help you get more into YouTube, we’re making it easier to find and follow great Channels when you arrive. On the left side of the homepage you can create your own, personal, customizable YouTube Channel line-up. Sign-in, or create a YouTube account. Then you can browse recommended Channels; customize your homepage’s feed; even link your YouTube account to Google+ and Facebook to see what your friends are sharing. The new homepage feed we launched earlier this year is now front and center on the homepage. You can switch between feeds by clicking on different Channels on the left.

For step by step instructions on using the new YouTube homepage, you can go to our help center.

2. Simpler, customizable Channels
Given the homepage’s new focus on helping you find and organize your favorite Channels, we would be remiss if we didn’t update the look and feel of the Channels themselves. Today we're launching an improved Channel design focused on what matters most: helping users find great videos. As different uploaders have different goals, we've created new Channel templates to meet your needs whether you produce one video a week or have thousands of videos for a fan to browse. Some partners have even uploaded videos talking about the features, or giving tips on how they’re taking advantage of the new design. To learn how to opt-in to and test this new Channel design, check out our help center.

3. A new overall design
To bring the new homepage and Channels designs together we’ve also applied a fresh coat of digital paint across the whole site. In July, we unveiled an experimental design called Cosmic Panda. We’ve used your feedback to improve our overall design, and today, we’re presenting a cleaner and simpler YouTube, with a consistent gray background, bigger video thumbnails and a more streamlined watch page.

Ready to get started? Your new YouTube is already shipped and waiting for you at YouTube.com, and like every new toy, we included an instruction manual (and video) to help.

Our recent Channels expansion, our grants and educational programs, and this new design are all focused on helping you discover a broader range of entertainment on YouTube. We’re always innovating and testing new stuff out to make the experience the best it can be for you. We rely on your feedback to figure out when we've gotten it right and when it needs further tweaks. So let us know what you think.

The YouTube team

Calling all budding scientists: Deadline extended to enter YouTube Space Lab

2011-11-29T12:22:00.002+11:00

This is a cross-post from the Official YouTube Blog.

Last month we challenged you to come up with an idea for an experiment that an astronaut can carry out in space, for the chance to watch NASA astronauts conduct it aboard the International Space Station live on YouTube next year. We know the many registered teams out there are busy preparing their experiments for YouTube Space Lab, so we’re extending the deadline by a week to December 14, 2011 to help get your entry just right.

Here’s YouTube Space Lab Judge, Professor Stephen Hawking, to inspire you to join if you haven’t registered already:

Be sure to read the How to Enter guide on our YouTube channel to learn what you need to do to submit your entry. You can also read about the amazing prizes for the regional and global winners, ranging from ZERO-G flights to an authentic astronaut training experience in Russia.

And if you just want to watch cool space videos? We're regularly adding playlists on the channel from What is space?, to Early Pioneers, and the US vs USSR. There's more to come so make sure you subscribe to the channel to keep up with the latest.

Be sure to read the updated official rules and blast off to YouTube Space Lab today!

Zahaan Bharmal, YouTube Space Lab lead, recently watched "Mars Science Laboratory Lifts Off for Red Planet."

Get More Into: Music

2011-11-22T08:35:00.001+11:00

From huge audiences watching Coldplay live from a bullring in Madrid to two young Nicky Minaj fans, music lovers from all over the world have come to YouTube to dig into the latest musical hits and trends. Here at Google Australia we’ve always got a tune spinning and are constantly looking for breaking new artists to fill our latest playlist.

Today we’re inviting you to embark on a musical journey with some of your favourite acts — from down under and abroad — that will take us on a guided tour of the hot hits, big surprises, inspirational performances and everything in between. We’re Getting More Into Music. And you can too.

Starting today, we’ll be featuring playlists created by music fans — for music fans. Want to hear how DJ Pogo hears sounds in film? What videos Florence + The Machine watch before each gig? We’ve asked these musicians — and several more — to dig into whatever they’re into and share it on YouTube.

With over 48 hours of video uploaded every minute, we’re hoping these playlists make it easy to find out what music fans on YouTube are into, and help you get a little more into your own music passion.

And it’s a big week to get more into Aussie music, too. We’ll be featuring three full length shows from the vaults of The Aria awards and have even created an easy way for you to save your own playlists of top Australian acts. We’ll be profiling a few of your favourite Aria Nominated acts too at youtube.com/music and youtube.com/getmoreintoau, so watch this space!

Posted by Ernesto Soriano III, YouTube Team, just watched Davyd (A.I. Mashup)

Poetic Justice: Impress The Band, Join Them Downunder on 1st Jan, 2012

2011-11-16T17:41:00.001+11:00

This is a cross-post from the YouTube UK Blog.

Dance superstars Justice have laid down a challenge to YouTube: produce a mind-blowing video cover of one the tracks from "Audio, Video, Disco" and win the opportunity to treat yourself and a friend to a similarly mind-blowing New Year's Day at the band's January 1, 2012, concert in Sydney, Australia.

Given that the French duo have a reputation for producing innovative, quirky videos, it's time to get creative: think"D.A.N.C.E" or the epic "Civilisation" (although, naturally, your production can be on a smaller scale). The creators of the top nine entries as decided by Gaspard and Xavier will join them in an exclusive Google+ Hangout at theJustice +Page to review the entries, at which point the winner will be announced.

Submissions should be made at the Justice YouTube channel and don't forget to share your efforts using Google+ and boost your profile by interacting with the band's +page, as comments will be linked directly back to their home on YouTube and will doubtless boost your chances. The competition closes at 3pm, Paris time, on December 10, so get filming if you want to start 2012 with a bang… and more than a few beats.

Posted by Jamie Dolling, YouTube UK, recently watched "Audio, Video, Disco".