YouTube Updates TV App with Improved Navigation & Recommendations

The app has been redesigned with living room users in mind.  

YouTube is rolling out an update to its TV app. The upgrade offers a new streamlined design with enhanced navigation and recommendations.

The new YouTube TV app features a redesigned interface that highlights specific content categories through separate tabs aligned in a horizontal row across the top of the screen. The content tabs include sections for topics like recommended, trending, sports, news, comedy, music, entertainment, fitness, cartoons, travel, beauty, and gaming -- allowing easy access to a variety of videos. Once selected, each category then offers a series of subcategories and recommendations, providing a mixture of new and old content related to the selected topic. Likewise, YouTube has also added new sections for live streams and 4K, making it easier to find live content and Ultra HD videos.  

The updated YouTube app is now rolling out to various smart TVs, game consoles, and streaming media players like the Roku and Chromecast in the US. With that said, the redesign will not be available on the Apple TV since that device uses its own specific YouTube app with Siri integration.

Outside of the new YouTube TV app, the streaming platform also recently added live 360 degree streaming video support and spatial audio support for on demand videos. With 360 degree videos, users are able to enjoy a fully immersive viewing experience that allows them to shift the perspective around the room, placing them right in the thick of news events, exotic destinations, sports games, and music concerts. Meanwhile, spatial audio allows users to listen to content just as they do in real life, where depth, distance and intensity all play a role.

Sources: Engadget, CNET, Business Insider