YouTube Together

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"YouTube Together" is a project designed to allow users to watch videos simultaneously with others, making it versatile for anyone to use, but with a special focus on supporting virtual schooling. By providing features such as synchronized playback, real-time chat, and collaborative video queues, YouTube Together aims to facilitate a shared viewing experience that enhances learning and engagement.

Tools

Figma
Whimsical
Adobe Photoshop

Timeline

Total Time: 2 Weeks
Research: 1 Week
Design & Prototyping: 1 Week

Role

UX Designer
UI Designer

Background

What is YouTube Together?

YouTube Together is an innovative feature that transforms solitary video-watching into a shared, interactive experience. By creating a virtual room, users can invite friends, family, or classmates to synchronize their viewing sessions in real-time.

YouTube Together goes beyond just viewing by incorporating interactive elements like real-time chat and live reactions. Participants can engage in conversations, share thoughts on the videos being watched, and pose questions. YouTube Together offers a seamless blend of entertainment and interaction, making it a versatile tool for both leisure and learning.

YouTube Together caters to a wide range of users, offering a versatile platform for shared experiences across various contexts. It can be used by friends just watching videos together online or families watching movies together on movie night.

Who is it for?

The most impactful application of YouTube Together is virtual education. Educators can leverage this feature to conduct synchronous learning sessions, where they can watch lectures, tutorials, or educational videos in real-time. This setup fosters active engagement as students can ask questions, participate in discussions, and collaborate on projects seamlessly.

Business Impact

Increase time spent on the platform by providing a shared social experience.

1

Goals:

Create a sense of community and connection among users to attract more use over time

2

Increase number of premium subscriptions by adding features that incentivize sign-up.

3

Community Driven User Engagement

YouTube Together has the potential to significantly boost user engagement by transforming passive video consumption into an interactive social experience. By allowing users to create virtual rooms where they can watch videos together in real-time, YouTube Together fosters a sense of community and connection. Ultimately, by integrating social elements into the viewing experience, YouTube Together not only enhances user retention but also cultivates a vibrant ecosystem where content consumption becomes a shared, enriching activity.

Premium Subscription and Account Creation

With the premium subscription model already in plane, hosts can enjoy ad-free viewing sessions when they initiate a YouTube Together room, providing a seamless and uninterrupted experience for all participants under their control. This feature encourages viewers to consider upgrading to premium accounts to enjoy a more immersive and enjoyable viewing experience.

Moreover, requiring users to have an account to join a room and receive invitations serves as a catalyst for new account creations. By leveraging the collaborative and social nature of YouTube Together, the platform effectively incentivizes users to create accounts, thereby expanding its user base and fostering a more engaged community of content consumers and creators alike.

Host Has Premium Subscription:

No ads for all videos added by the host

Host Does Not Have Premium Subscription:

All participants must watch ads

All users must create an account to join a room