YouTube is ready to launch, over the coming months and in beta phase, the new experience aimed specifically at pre-teens and teens, an age segment that expects much more than what they have been receiving in Youtube Kids, coming in the form of an option for those parents who want their children to start being on YouTube but under supervised Google accounts.
This option will in turn offer three different content configuration options: Explore, Explore More, and Almost All YouTube, which parents will be able to choose based on their parenting and the ages of their children.
The new YouTube experience for tweens and teens
The Explore option is aimed at those leaving YouTube Kids in search of more content, with content suitable for ages 9+, including “vlogs, tutorials, video game content, music clips, news, educational content, and more.
Explore More is the middle rung where a wider variety of content is offered, with content suitable for ages 13+.
And finally, there is Almost All YouTube, the top rung where almost all YouTube videos are offered except those that are age-restricted, also including sensitive topics appropriate for older teens.
YouTube expects that during the beta of the new experience, the families themselves can provide feedback to improve it, although they will also be vigilant that the systems may present errors when selecting videos, a selection that will be made by “machine learning, user feedback, and manual review,” according to Google’s video platform.
This experience will be very similar to the normal YouTube but some functions will be disabled, where for example, there will be no personalized ads or ads in certain categories. There will also be no in-app purchases, in-app purchases, in-app creation, or in-app commenting features.
It will be possible to combine with Google parental controls
Also, to everything offered in the new experience, YouTube further indicates that:
Parents will be able to manage search and playback histories from their children’s account settings. They can also use Google Family Link controls, such as screen timers. Also, we will be adding other parental controls in the future, such as content blocking.
The new experience between Youtube Kids and regular YouTube, covering specific needs of an age group that has grown up with technologies and feels like exploring more but without compromising their safety.
