YouTube will soon test Ask YouTube inside the Shorts player, letting viewers in the experiment ask questions about the Short on their screen.<\/p>\n
YouTube announced<\/a> on Oct. 12 that viewers \u201cwill soon be able to use Ask YouTube directly from the watch page while watching Shorts and live streams.\u201d A Creator Insider video<\/a> posted the same day describes the Shorts test as a limited, global experiment that\u2019s English only and open to viewers 18 and older. The video\u2019s description also mentions new mobile feeds for finding similar creators and related Shorts.<\/p>\n What YouTube Is Testing<\/p>\n YouTube\u2019s test will put Ask YouTube in the Shorts player on desktop, TV, and mobile. The video\u2019s description reads:<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s English only, 18 and older only, but if you\u2019re part of the experiment, you\u2019ll be able to tap or select the sparkle icon on select Shorts and try out pre-populated prompts or ask questions to get details about the Short on your screen.\u201d<\/p>\n The description states that free-form prompts, which are questions viewers compose themselves, are directed to Ask YouTube.<\/p>\n The description also mentions new feeds on Android and iOS, where viewers will be able to \u201cdiscover similar creators, find related shorts, and explore topics based on your watch history.\u201d<\/p>\n Part Of The Watch-Page Feature<\/p>\n The Shorts test extends the Ask YouTube feature on the watch page, where a button already appears below selected videos.\u00a0Its help page<\/a> lists many languages and countries and explains that the feature is available to signed-in users aged 13 and older, or the applicable age in their country, on Android, iOS, computers, and smart TVs.<\/p>\n The Shorts test sets narrower limits on language and age.<\/p>\n In Alphabet\u2019s Q2 earnings remarks, Sundar Pichai shared<\/a> that over 140 million users engaged with Ask YouTube on the watch page back in June.<\/p>\n