YouTube has been streaming for 20 years, but it was only in the last couple that it came to dominate TV streaming. Google’s video platform attracts more TV viewers than Netflix, Disney+, and all the other apps, and Google is looking to further beef up its big-screen appeal with a new raft of features, including shopping, immersive channel surfing, and an official version of the AI upscaling that had creators miffed a few months back.
According to Google, YouTube’s growth has translated into higher payouts. The number of channels earning more than $100,000 annually is up 45 percent in 2025 versus 2024. YouTube is now giving creators some tools to boost their appeal (and hopefully their income) on TV screens. Those elaborate video thumbnails featuring surprised, angry, smiley hosts are about to get even prettier with the new 50MB file size limit. That’s up from a measly 2MB.
Video upscaling is also coming to YouTube, and creators will be opted in automatically. To start, YouTube will be upscaling lower-quality videos to 1080p. In the near future, Google plans to support “super resolution” up to 4K.
The site stresses that it’s not modifying original files—creators will have access to both the original and upscaled files, and they can opt out of upscaling. In addition, super resolution videos will be clearly labeled on the user side, allowing viewers to select the original upload if they prefer. The lack of transparency was a sticking point for creators, some of whom complained about the sudden artificial look of their videos during YouTube’s testing earlier this year.
Browsing videos on TV screens will also change with the new YouTube feature drop. The YouTube homepage will embrace a traditional channel surfing vibe, featuring immersive previews of popular channels that you can flip through to get snippets of the content. Google says this interface will also respect the new Shows design, which allows creators to package content together into collections that encourage binging. When you land on a creator’s page, the TV search interface will also prioritize content from that channel instead of mixing in everything on YouTube.
Lastly, the age of buying tchotchkes on late-night TV may be coming back courtesy of YouTube. Google says YouTube users have watched an impressive (and alarming) 35 billion hours of shopping content in the last year. However, reading off shortened URLs or directing people to links in the description doesn’t work well for a TV setup. Google has a solution. Is it AI? Thankfully, no—it’s QR codes.
Google will soon give creators of such content the option to include shopping QR codes in properly tagged videos. Users will be able to scan these codes with a mobile device to open product pages. YouTube will include tools to surface the codes at specific timecodes in the video, simplifying the YouTube shopping experience.
The new features will begin appearing in YouTube Studio today, but it may take a while for everyone to see the new options. Creators who want no part of Google’s AI upscaling should make sure to check the Advanced Settings to opt out before all their videos are processed and become the default version for TVs.
WindTre lancia la prima offerta mobile con 5G standalone, ma solo per le aziende