YouTube Smart TV App Adds New Content Shelves, Podcast Tab, and Playback Features

YouTube has announced a significant update to its smart TV app, coinciding with the platform’s 20th anniversary. The update introduces five new ‘shelves’-rows of videos that help users more easily find and resume content. These include: ‘Continue your search,’ which lets users pick up where they left off on their top three searches; ‘Listen again,’ a dedicated music row for top songs; ‘Live performances, remixes and covers,’ offering alternative versions of previously played tracks; ‘Primetime channels,’ highlighting content from recently watched or searched subscription channels; and ‘From your top channels,’ showing the latest videos from frequently viewed channels.

Additionally, a new Podcasts Tab has been added to the TV app, reflecting YouTube’s growing emphasis on podcast content since integrating the Google Podcasts app into YouTube Music. For fans of YouTube Shorts, a new row in the ‘Watch Next Feed’ and a Shorts shelf in the subscriptions tab provide easier access and a cleaner separation from long-form videos.

Other enhancements include expanded looping options, now available for all video-on-demand content, and improved video previews across channel, subscription, and topic pages. Immersive, full-screen channel previews have also been introduced. For content creators, a new ‘Device type’ card in Studio Analytics breaks down watch time by device category. Unlike typical Google rollouts, these features are available immediately.