YouTube is expanding the reach of its Jump Ahead experimental feature it began testing in March with a limited number of users. 9to5Google reports that the feature is now available to Premium users.
Jump Ahead is designed to skip the video to a point most viewers usually skip ahead to. A pill-shaped button named Jump Ahead appears when you double-tap to go forward "on an eligible segment" in a YouTube video.
As per the publication, an overlay appears on top of the video after you tap on the Jump Ahead button. The overlay includes the YouTube Premium badge and the text, "Jumping over commonly skipped section."
The description of the feature on the YouTube experiments page explains that "Jump Ahead is a Premium-only feature" that uses YouTube"s AI know-how and watch data to figure out "the next best point."
However, there are certain limitations such as it"s only available on the YouTube Android app in the US right now. It can be enabled on the mobile app by going to Settings > Try experimental new features.
Its description further mentions that the Jump Ahead button is not available on every video and only supports English videos at the moment. It will be pulled from the experiments page on June 1 and there is no word on whether YouTube will release the feature to the general public in the future.
The publication reports that when YouTube tested the feature earlier this year, it was not available through the YouTube experiments page, and some users were automatically taken on board for the testing.
YouTube periodically releases experimental features that Premium users can try out on an opt-in basis. Typically, these features are available for a limited time with a chance of getting a public release in a future update. The video-streaming giant has previously tested the ability to prevent accidental taps, Stable Volume, and long press to fast-forward videos.
Source: 9to5Google | Image via Pixabay