Release notes: five new languages, email alerts, share to Buzz and Blogger

What better way to celebrate the weekend than with these recent adds and enhancements:

Language offering grows: There are five new languages in which YouTube can be experienced: Greek, Hungarian, Finnish, Danish and Norwegian. Simply scroll to the bottom of any page, find where it says "Language" and click on your current language to access the full menu of options, including our five most recent additions:

Email alerts: We're experimenting with a new form of subscription alerts. Now, when you subscribe to a channel (or edit your subscription to an existing channel), you can elect to receive an email the instant the person you're subscribed to uploads a new video. This will appeal to people who check their email more frequently than they log in to YouTube (though we've never heard of such people *wink*) but who also want to know immediately when their favorite content creators upload new work.

Refreshed look for search results page: When you do a search, you'll see we tightened up the typography on the results page. We're using a consistent size and color to establish the basic look, and then we're adding a bit of color and bolding to bring more prominence to certain elements, such as view count. 

New sharing options: Click the "share" button underneath any video and you'll see two new platforms to effortlessly share videos to: Google Buzz and Blogger. Try it!

New upload interface: When you click on the Upload button, you may notice that things look a little different. As with our redesigned video page and as part of our larger "spring cleaning" effort, a main goal was to streamline the look and functionality of the upload page. We toned down some of the colors and moved the Webcam option to a more prominent position next to the upload button. We also made it easier to find information about how to upload directly from your mobile phone.

Player changes: As many of you have noticed, the video player is transforming, too. We've just fully released a new player design for all videos without ads. The goal is for the player to be as subtle as possible so that the video itself shines and doesn't have to compete with the stuff around it. We'll be following this roll-out with player upgrades for videos with ads and then for embedded videos.

Improvements to YouTube-on-iPad: There's a great native YouTube app on the iPad, but we've also made some changes to how the YouTube website functions on the device. Among the improvements: we created a grid layout for the home screen, search results and other video lists, and devised a new layout for the video page, with the video playing right in the page.

The YouTube Team

More about → Release notes: five new languages, email alerts, share to Buzz and Blogger

Nylon produces “YouTube edition” of magazine

Nylon Magazine’s “Young Hollywood” edition, which hit newsstands on Tuesday, marks the first time a printed magazine has so tightly woven itself with YouTube for a special issue. The publication is using its YouTube channel as an extension of the content in the magazine, taking you behind the scenes of photo shoots and offering exclusive videos in which the young stars speak directly to the YouTube community.

Kick-Ass’s Chloe Moretz on her favorite video...



Twilight's Ashley Greene reveals what she’s watching...



Naturally, Nylon didn't just stop at Hollywood. They also gave some major props to some of the top beauty gurus on YouTube: MichellePhan, DulceCandy87, and KandeeJohnson are just some of the beauty experts you'll find in the pages of the magazine and in Nylon's videos:





Nylon will be uploading more videos while the magazine is on shelves. So go pick up the May issue and subscribe to NylonMagazineTV for the latest interviews.

Sadia Harper, HowTo & Style Manager, recently watched “Young Hollywood 2010 - Emma Stone.”

More about → Nylon produces “YouTube edition” of magazine

Make an ad. Spread the word. Go to Cannes. You have 48 hours.

Last year, hundreds of young creatives took part in the inaugural YouTube-Cannes Young Lions 48 Hour Ad Contest, with two of them, Guy Dayan and Adeline Chew, winning a trip to Cannes to represent YouTube in the Young Lions Film Contest.



This week we’re launching the 2010 edition of the contest. The format’s pretty much the same: we’ll announce a brief from a well-known nonprofit at midnight on Friday, May 14 (GMT), and you’ll have just 48 hours to write, film, edit and upload your film to the Cannes Lions channel. You then have a week to get as many votes for your entry on the channel as possible, before a panel of senior creative directors will use the votes to inform their choice of two winners. Those two will get a fully-paid trip to the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival.







As this is the Cannes Young Lions, entrants need to be 18-28 years of age to take part, and -- of course -- very creative. If that sounds like you, head to the channel now and subscribe to keep informed. And remember to keep the weekend of May 15-16 free to create your ad. Good luck!



Tom Pursey, UK Product Marketing Manager, recently watched “Chemistry of Creme Eggs.”

More about → Make an ad. Spread the word. Go to Cannes. You have 48 hours.

Content ID and Fair Use

Over the past decade, the evolution of the Internet has altered the landscape for both traditional media companies and the doctrine of fair use, and the media industry has tried to keep up. The new ways that consumers create and distribute content are not a niche phenomenon. Hundreds of millions of people around the world now use the Web to connect and interact with content online, and a huge percentage of them go even further: they express themselves via parodies, celebrate their favorite videos with mashups, and use music in educational presentations. The people that upload these videos are typically the biggest fans, and are exactly the kinds of consumers rights holders should be embracing.

We listen closely to our partners and we're constantly improving our content identification and management tools ("Content ID") to make sure they have choices in dealing with these different uses of their content on YouTube. Over 1,000 content owners use Content ID, and we've built it in a way that lets them account for fair uses of their content: they can easily create policies depending on the proportion of a claimed video that contains their work, or the absolute length of the clip used. For example, a record label might decide to block videos that contain over one minute of a given song, but leave up videos that contain less than one minute.

Since Content ID can't identify context (like "educational use" or "parody"), we give partners the tools to use length and match proportion as a proxy. Of course, it's not a perfect system. That's why two videos -- one of a baby dancing to one minute of a pop song, and another using the exact same audio clip in a videotaped University lecture about copyright law -- might be treated identically by Content ID and taken down by the rights holder, even though one may be fair use and the other may not. Rights holders are the only ones in a position to know what is and is not an authorized use of their content, and we require them to enforce their policies in a manner that complies with the law.

Still, to make sure that users also have choices when dealing with the content they upload to YouTube, Content ID makes it easy for users to dispute inappropriate claims.

• When you receive a notice in your account via Content ID, we tell you who claimed the content, and direct you to a form that lets you dispute the claim if you so choose.
  
• If you believe your video is fair use, check the box that reads "This video uses copyrighted material in a manner that does not require approval of the copyright holder." If you're not sure if your video qualifies, you can learn more about fair use here.
  
• Once you've filed your dispute, your video immediately goes back up on YouTube.
• From this point, the claimant then makes a decision about whether to file a formal DMCA notification, and remove the content from the site according to the process set forth in the DMCA.

Content ID has helped create an entirely new economic model for rights holders. We are committed to supporting new forms of original creativity, protecting fair use, and providing a seamless user experience -- all while we help rights owners easily manage their content on YouTube.

Posted by Shenaz Zack, Product Manager

UPDATE: To clear up confusion, this is not a new feature. The dispute process has been in place since Content ID first launched in October 2007. We've changed some text to make that clear.

More about → Content ID and Fair Use

Celebrating 40 Years of Earth Day

On April 22, 1970, 22 million people participated in the first-ever Earth Day, which was designed to raise awareness about the environment and inspire citizens to take action to protect it.



Forty years later, Earth Day has become a global phenomenon. Today we’re celebrating its anniversary with a Video Volunteers homepage spotlight that features content from YouTube’s most creative climate crusaders about inspiring organizations. One of the spotlighted videos uses traffic signs as a metaphor for how we can limit carbon usage, and this video advocates for Save the Bay by explaining what would happen if a tidal wave of plastic bags washed up on San Francisco’s shore:







Didn’t have a chance to make a video but still want to volunteer to help the environment? You can hear from President Obama about why taking action to protect our planet is vital and then find service opportunities in your community here.

Ramya Raghavan, Nonprofits & Activism Manager, recently watched "Greenwalking."

More about → Celebrating 40 Years of Earth Day

Message your subscribers with bulletins

Bulletins are a great way to communicate with your subscribers on YouTube. Just go to your channel, type an update, paste a video link, and click "Post Bulletin." Your bulletin will show up on your subscribers' homepage, in their Recent Activity feed.

Think of the possibilities: Want to tell your subscribers about a new musician you just discovered on YouTube? Send a bulletin that describes her music and attach her latest video. Or maybe you just watched a vlog you really liked and want to send it out to your subscribers with a note. You can even send a video link to your other YouTube channel to let your subscribers know about it. Bulletins allow you to put context around any video or simply send your subscribers a written note.

You can send bulletins from the new “Post Bulletins” form on your channel. As you type the update to your subscribers, you’ll see a preview of the bulletin appear to the right of the text field:

After you click "Post Bulletin," subscribers will see your messages in their Recent Activity feed:

If you send a link to one of your own videos, you can see the impact your bulletins have in Insight, our analytics tool. Go to the video, then to “Discovery=>YouTube subscription modules=>Subscriber bulletins” to see how many people clicked the video links in bulletins you sent.

Josh Ross, Product Manager, recently watched “The Muppets: Beaker's Ballad.”

More about → Message your subscribers with bulletins

Five YouTube Reporters win $10,000 journalism grants from Project: Report

They documented college dining hall workers, teens struggling with cancer, and doctors treating the poor. Through Project: Report, a journalism contest produced in partnership with the Pulitzer Center, aspiring journalists from around the country had the chance to tell stories that might not otherwise be told. And after months of reporting, shooting, and editing, the five grand prize winning reporters impressed the panel of judges and the voting community, and we’re showcasing their videos on the YouTube homepage today. Each winner will receive a $10,000 grant from the Pulitzer Center to report on an under-reported story outside of the United States.

Mark Jeevaratnam chose to tell the story of a group addressing prescription drug abuse in an Appalachian coal-mining town in southeast Kentucky:



Paul Franz follows the story of Joseph Dieune, a Haitian migrant worker who sends money to his family back home:



Samantha Danis explored the challenges facing the deaf community in America:



Alex Rozier reported on an organization in Missouri trying to help the world’s immobile people:



And Elan Gepner documented how the Philadelphia Student Union is trying to combat violence through community-building efforts:



The Pulitzer Center also selected "Friends of Mago" as the winner of the Round 2 “Open Submission” Award, and the Project: Report community chose A Day in the Life -- the story of Lauren Edens -- to win the Community Award. Both receive a Sony VAIO notebook with the all new Intel Core Processor and promotion on the YouTube homepage today.

Visit the Project: Report channel (http://youtube.com/projectreport) to watch all of the submissions as well as the video blogs posted by each of the semi-finalists. We hope their work inspires you to think about ways you can use your video camera and YouTube to share important stories with the rest of the world.

Olivia Ma, YouTube News and Politics, recently watched “Doctors Uses Music Therapy With Children".

More about → Five YouTube Reporters win $10,000 journalism grants from Project: Report

Broadcast yourself with YouTube business cards from MOO

UPDATE (5/20/10): This offer has been extended to June 30, 2010.

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We want all video creators and curators to put their YouTube channel URL on their business card. In fact, we'd like to think your YouTube channel deserves a place right next to your email address and cell phone number as necessities in this modern world.

To help make this dream a reality, we're offering you a pack of snazzy YouTube business cards for next to nothing, thanks to a partnership with MOO.com. For just the price of shipping and handling (about $6/£3/€4/your local currency if you choose standard shipping), you can get 50 high-quality "Watch Me on YouTube" business cards that you can design yourself. On the image side, you can put different thumbnails from your videos, your channel profile icon or a variation on your channel's design -- it's totally up to you. On the details side, you can choose which information you'd like to include (in addition to your channel name or URL) and also add a graphic. Here's an example of what they could look like:

We've put together an FAQ which we recommend you read before starting your order. It also contains links to graphics and badges you can use on your cards and other helpful suggestions.

Once you're ready, click here to order your cards. 

Please note: only one pack per person, and this offer is only until supplies last or until May 21, whichever comes first. 

We also ask that if you order cards, please make a video showing us how they turned out, using the tag "ytmoo" so we can find it. We'd love to highlight some of the most creative cards in our Creator's Corner and on the MOO site, and brag about you generally. 

Feel free to leave a comment below with questions; otherwise, to order your pack, click here.

Mia Quagliarello, Community Manager, recently watched "Glimpse of Horizon."

More about → Broadcast yourself with YouTube business cards from MOO

Introducing YouTube Show & Tell

Art Directors Club President Doug Jaeger introduces YouTube Show & Tell, a new program and partnership with the ADC to showcase the best examples of marketing on YouTube.

As president of the Art Directors Club, an organization for creatives and designers in integrated media and the first international creative collective of its kind, it’s my job to continually look for new opportunities to translate the club’s mission: to connect, provoke and elevate advertising initiatives into action. That’s why I’m honored, and totally psyched, that ADC is part of a new initiative launching today, YouTube Show & Tell.

Show & Tell is a new gallery-style brand channel showcasing the best marketing and advertising campaigns on YouTube. YouTube developed the concept and serves as the platform; ADC’s ongoing role is to curate content, drawing on 89 years experience in identifying the most creative marketing ideas and recognizing the work that exhibits exceptional excellence and craft.

Each quarter, ADC will curate a lively and interesting new body of work in four categories: brand channel, home page, viral video and interactive. We will promote the entry process, assemble creative experts to review campaigns that have run on YouTube, and elevate the best work to the forefront. All advertising and marketing work appearing on YouTube is eligible.

Our team of creative reviewers will change each quarter and will be selected based on their ideas, body of work and contributions to the industry to sound off on their favorite examples. These world-renowned creative directors, designers, art directors, digital creatives and copywriters will represent a range of creative thinking and execution, ensuring that the visual voice on YouTube Show & Tell represents a broad cross-section of leading-edge perspectives.

See what Steve Simpson of Goodby, Silverstein, and Partners has to say about marketing on YouTube

For the first curation, we’ve worked together with YouTube to feature some of the most creative campaigns we’ve seen so far, but this is by no means an exhaustive list of great campaigns we’ve seen on the site. So check out the site and check back often. And kudos to the great creative minds behind the examples that are currently on the site.

Doug Jaeger, President, Art Directors Club, recently watched "Augustin Hadelich - DAWN."


Cross-posted in the YouTube Biz Blog.

More about → Introducing YouTube Show & Tell

YouTube to stream IPL semi finals and finals in the U.S.

We started streaming the Indian Premier League cricket season on YouTube with the hope that fans around the world would tune in to follow the action. With only five of 60 matches left in the tournament, we’ve been blown away by the response. We’ve seen views come in from countries around the globe, and the IPL channel on YouTube now has over 40 million views.

We’ve been particularly surprised by the number of cricket fans tuning in from the U.S. Total views from the U.S. for the IPL channel are second only to India. And fans in the U.S. are active, too: they're second only to those in India in terms of subscribing to the IPL channel and rating, commenting and favoriting videos.

With so much enthusiasm coming from U.S., we’re excited to make the semi-final and final matches available on YouTube as they happen. Previously, matches were time-delayed and available 15 minutes after the game ended. Now fans in the U.S. can catch the action as it unfolds in real time as the four top ranking teams progress to the knockout stage of the semi finals.

Top countries by total views of videos on the IPL Channel on YouTube.

US comes in second, behind India.

The first semi-final match starts this Wednesday, April 21, at 8 p.m. IST in Mumbai followed by the second semi-final on April 22 and the third place match on April 24. The winner will be decided at the final match on April 25 in Mumbai. You can see the full schedule on the IPL’s website.

It’s been a great season of IPL on YouTube, and we look forward to some of the best cricket yet as we head into the finals.

Amit Agrawal, Strategic Partner Development Manager


PS: If you have a passion for cricket and the IPL, live in the San Francisco Bay Area and are interested in meeting Google/YouTube engineers, we're holding a picnic on the Google campus this Sunday, April 25 where we’ll be showing the finals on the big screen. The event starts at 12:00 p.m. PT. Please find details and register here if you’re interested.

More about → YouTube to stream IPL semi finals and finals in the U.S.

Fab 5 Freddy Curates YouTube

The legendary hip-hop pioneer and graffiti artist curates our homepage today. He took his Flip into his studio to tell you about his picks and also jotted down some thoughts on them:

Blondies' video for the song "Rapture" was like my coming out party in 1981 and introduced me to a world that really wouldn't know me well until several years later in 1988, when YO! MTV Raps would air weekly coast to coast and in many countries around the world.

I was a part of a very cool underground public access TV show in 1979 called "Glenn O’Brien's TV Party" that aired weekly back then and I was a regular guest and one of one of the show’s camera men. Typically, it was a groovy talk show format but this was a theme show. Bad musically, but a lotta fun. Check Jean Michel Basquiat standing there with a guitar on smiling. And he wrote "mock penis envy" on the wall visible behind Blondie's Chris Stein, also with a guitar and shades on.

This is a mash-up video of scenes from my film Wild Style. Some clever guys in Amsterdam did this, and I love it.

Here's a scene from the first film/documentary to showcase New York subway graffiti, "Stations of the Elevated," released or finished in 1981. Back then I'm sure this film was not seen by too many. I don't recall it ever airing on TV, but these days, thanks to digital tech and sites like this, we can see what it was like when nearly every New York City subway car was touched by graffiti. I love this film!

As a kid growing up in New York City, when I cut school I'd often visit the various museums, like the Metropolitan and look at art. Here I got familiar with painters like Jackson Pollock and I would notice later how New York graffiti writers tagging on the inside of trains would let the ink drip, reminding me of his work.

My dear friend, Academy Award winning director Jonathan Demme, invited me to be in his film, Rachel Getting Married. You can see me in this trailer, minus my hat, and in the film my scene is a toast I give to the about to be bride and groom at the wedding rehearsal dinner.

"Talking All That Jazz" is a clip I directed for Stetsasonic which is the first video to deal with the soon to be large issue of sampling. Also, because I grew up in a jazz-loving house hold and drummer Max Roach was my godfather, I knew I'd be able to do a good job with this one.

Max Roach, the legendary bee bop jazz drummer, grew up with my dad, and he played jazz often in the house. Max was also my godfather and he really embraced rap music and hip-hop culture from the minute he heard about it. If you search the site you can see a bit performance we did together in the early 80's.

Sharissa's “Ain't No Half Steppin" was a video I directed in 2004.

The first music video I directed was this clip, "My Philosophy," for KRS ONE in the spring of 1988. 

Catch Fab's whole playlist here:

More about → Fab 5 Freddy Curates YouTube

The Webby People's Voice Awards on YouTube

The Webby Awards announced its 24 nominees this week, and many of them originated right here on YouTube, including "The Muppets: Bohemian Rhapsody," "David After Dentist" and "The Pizza Slap."

While Academy judges such as Martha Stewart, David Bowie, and Arianna Huffington select the actual Webby Awards winners, millions of people around the world will also help decide who takes home a Webby by voting in The Webby People's Voice Awards. Fans have until April 29 to vote at youtube.com/thewebbyawards. There are a number of categories, from public service and activism to video remixes and viral.

Then, on June 14, we’ll be teaming up with the Webbys once again to create a front-row experience on the Webbys' customized YouTube channel, which will contain the winners' five-word acceptance speeches, celebrity interviews and show highlights. Here’s a sample from last year, an acceptance speech from Jimmy Fallon that elicited loud laughs:



So what what are you waiting for? Vote for your favorites now at youtube.com/thewebbyawards.

Deeksha Hebbar, Product Marketing Manager, recently watched “Old Spice: The Man Your Man Could Smell Like.”

More about → The Webby People's Voice Awards on YouTube

And the Nonprofit Video Awards go to...

Today, YouTube and See3 Communications announced the winners of the YouTube Nonprofit Video Awards, a celebration of the best videos from organizations in the YouTube Nonprofit Program over the past year. The four victorious videos are spotlighted on the YouTube homepage today.

Over 750 videos were submitted to this year’s awards, ranging from quirky narratives about how life on another planet relates to equal rights on Earth to honest testimonials from young dancers. A judging panel of nonprofit and video experts narrowed the field down to sixteen finalists, of which four were selected by YouTube community voting. Over 17,000 votes were cast to determine the winners. Here’s a look at all of the finalist videos:







The four winners will receive a $2500 grant from the Case Foundation to continue their work, as well as be recognized by their peers at the Nonprofit Technology Conference, the largest gathering of its kind, in Atlanta today.



Ramya Raghavan, Nonprofits & Activism, recently watched “Greenwash of the Week”

More about → And the Nonprofit Video Awards go to...

YouTube @ The Streamy Awards in Los Angeles

This Sunday, April 11, a handful of us here at YouTube will head to Los Angeles for the second annual Streamy Awards. The Streamy Awards are presented by the International Academy of Web Television to honor great original Web programming and visionaries in online entertainment.

As part of the ceremony, our CEO and co-founder, Chad Hurley, will be presented with the Streamy Visionary Award that recognizes “leaders and innovators who have made a significant contribution to the digital entertainment community.” On behalf of the whole team at YouTube, we are honored to be part of this event and have you to thank for it.

The greatest honors, however, belong to the creators of content, many of whom we are privileged to have as partners nominated for their own Streamy Awards. NextNewNetworks, Rocketboom, Phil DeFranco, and so many others: YouTube applauds you, your boundless creativity, and your independent drive to move the digital entertainment industry forward. You are all already much more than winners; you are reinventing the game itself.

The costs for filming and sharing original content are lower than ever. Today, anyone can record a video, add complex and sophisticated special effects and share it in 1080p Full HD with translatable subtitles to the world -- all at the fraction of the cost incurred 10 years ago. And as this market matures, the rewards for these original content creators and distributors will increase.

In the future, you will play an even bigger role in inspiring and shaping the world through video. Viewership of original Web content grows larger and stronger every day, and the producers of those videos are ever more successful, as they continually hone and elevate their digital craft. Never before has talent possessed so much creative power and freedom. And never before has there been such an eager audience awaiting your vision.

Thank you and keep creating, uploading and playing.

Kevin Yen, Director of Strategic Partnerships, recently watched ”2010 Streamy Awards Official Nominees Announcement.”

More about → YouTube @ The Streamy Awards in Los Angeles

Celebrating curators: "As seen on" comes to the video page

"As seen on" surfaces videos popular elsewhere on the Web, and now it also lives on the video page. In other words, if a blog or site is responsible for driving a significant amount of a video's views, that site will be credited on the page, as so:

What this means is that you can get recognition for sourcing videos that your readers love and helping those clips become popular on YouTube. It's another way all that hard work you put into building your readership can pay off and generate even more traffic for your blog or site. You might even get your site in front of a whole new audience via people who encounter it for the first time on YouTube.

We're currently experimenting with this functionality on a range of popular videos and plan on making it a permanent feature soon.


Dylan Trotter, Software Engineer, recently watched “Cycles,” and Adam Winkler, Software Engineer, recently watched “Chatroulette Endmost Piano Ode.m4v.”

More about → Celebrating curators: "As seen on" comes to the video page

YouTube team to respond to your questions about...partnerships

We’re launching a new video series on the YouTube channel that brings you closer to the people and processes behind YouTube. It’s part of a larger effort to lift the veil, so you can ensure your voice is heard by the staff here and come to know the friendly faces that are as devoted to YouTube as you are.

This is how it works: each month, we’ll announce a topic of general interest, such as partnerships, ads, the future of YouTube, international, and engineering/innovation. (Feel free to suggest other ideas in the comments below.) We’ll open up a Google Moderator page, where you can submit questions related to the subject at hand and vote on questions asked by others. We’ll give you about a week to submit your questions; then we’ll put one or more employees who can best address them on camera, to respond to you in a video which we’ll then post to the YouTube channel.

First up, we wanted to focus on the YouTube Partnership Program, because we’ve heard from you that there’s some mystique around how it all works. This could include questions about Individual Video Partnership. Please submit your questions about partnerships here and vote on others’ until Tuesday, April 13, at 5 p.m. PT. Then, subscribe to the YouTube channel (if you're not already) to be sure to see the response video uploaded about a week later. We’ll also post it to this blog and send it out on Twitter and Facebook.

Sound good?

Mia Quagliarello, Community Manager, recently watched “Pink Terror.”

More about → YouTube team to respond to your questions about...partnerships

Project: Report takes over the Screening Room, enters final round

Project: Report is an annual contest that celebrates some of the best work being done by aspiring journalists on YouTube.  Journalism, like documentary filmmaking, is about telling the world's untold stories, which is why the Screening Room will be hosting a series of short docs offering a voice to those who might not otherwise be heard, starting with a new film from last year's Project: Report winner, Arturo Perez, Jr.

• "Jerusalem: War in My Land" looks at the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as told through the eyes of a young Jew and a young Muslim.
• "Salim Baba" tells the story of Salim Muhammad, who makes his living using a hand-cranked projector to screen discarded film scraps for the kids in his surrounding neighborhoods. It was nominated for the 2008 Academy Award for Best Documentary Short.
• In "One of the Last", a 78-year-old Italian farmer picks olives, grapes, cherries, and wonders why anybody would want to do anything else.
• After 23 brain surgeries and suffering a debilitating condition called hydrocephalus, 12 year-old Luke Casey has become a survivor who's gentle spirit and mature soul is an inspiration to everyone he meets in "Bob Seger Rocks".

Starting today, you also have the opportunity to watch the Round 2 submissions from each of the 10 Project: Report semi-finalists and vote on your favorites. 

Enjoy the films,

Nate Weinstein, Entertainment Marketing Associate, just watched "Banksy's Exit Through the Gift Shop."

More about → Project: Report takes over the Screening Room, enters final round

The Dirty Dancing viewing party

Did you know that in Dirty Dancing the role of the heartbreaker from the wrong side of the tracks, Johnny Castle, was initially offered to Val Kilmer instead of Patrick Swayze? 

If you love random movie trivia like this, then you will not want to miss tonight's viewing party. Just go to Lionsgate's YouTube channel at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT, hit play, and use the Twitter gadget beneath the video to share your thoughts on Swayze's moves, Jennifer Grey's outfits, and everything else "Dirty Dancing."  We'll be watching and Tweeting from the gadget, too, sharing our own tidbits about the movie and reading your comments.

See you there!

Nate Weinstein, Marketing Associate, recently watched "One of the Last."

More about → The Dirty Dancing viewing party

Curator of the month: Ad Age

We're pleased to have Ad Age curating the YouTube homepage today, in a spotlight that celebrates the creative revolution going on now in the advertising and marketing business. In other words, these are ads you won't want to miss.  Ad Age digital lead Michael Learmonth and Creativity managing editor Ann Diaz explain further in the video and guest post below:



We, in the business press, love to obsess over YouTube's business model, whether it can make money from the world's video through advertising. But today Advertising Age is curating the front page of YouTube to help tell an even bigger story, and that's YouTube's impact on advertising itself.

Once, TV ads were pretty much foisted on the public. Turn on the TV, and they were there. Some were great; most were not. Indeed, in some TV ads the intent is to annoy and grab the attention of a passive public. Enter YouTube. And while all of that is still true, the marketing world now has another powerful, democratic vehicle to reach a TV-sized audience. But there's a catch: the ad has to be something people want to watch.
Each day, YouTube is a global referendum on the world's video, and ads are very much a part of that mix. TV ads have always had the power of sight, sound and motion; now, to reach an audience in an on-demand world, they also have to delight, entertain and tell a story. That has inspired a creative revolution in the advertising and marketing business, just as it has in entertainment and attracted new talent to the industry. It has also refocused the industry away from obsessing over who's skipping the ads to producing ads no one wants to skip. Just like you can buy a 30-second spot on TV, you can also buy media on YouTube, but you can also earn an audience there, and increasingly ads, both made for the web and for TV, attempt to do just that.

Witness the Super Bowl advertisers, on the hook to the tune of $100,000 a second for time in the big game, increasingly gear their campaigns to live on on YouTube after its over. Or, take Evian's "Live Young" aka the "rollerskating babies," which never appeared on TV but have been passed around and watched more than 71 million times over the past year. The beauty of what works on the web is that there are no hard and fast rules. Ad Age picked some of the best of the recent best with a big hat tip to our sister pub, Creativity. It's true that YouTube sells ads. But it's also true YouTube has made advertising better. Take a look.



Michael Learmonth, Advertising Age, and Ann Diaz, Creativity

More about → Curator of the month: Ad Age

Marlee Matlin’s new YouTube show and visit to Google

“The real handicap of deafness lies not in the ear; it lies in the mind.” - Marlee Matlin, March 30 talk at Google

I never expected that working at Google would allow me to meet a cherished idol, Marlee Matlin. Marlee’s acting prowess couldn’t help me with my work as a software engineer, yet we faced a common challenge: being Deaf in a hearing world. Like many other people, I was inspired by the way she succeeded on her own terms.

That’s why it was such an honor for me personally to have Marlee visit Google to discuss online captioning and deliver a talk to employees. As you may know, Marlee is an Academy Award winning actress, author and a national spokesperson for closed captioning access on behalf of the National Association for the Deaf (NAD) and other organizations. She talked about her autobiography, I’ll Scream Later, and accessibility issues facing people who are Deaf or hard of hearing. In addition, she shared a preview of a pilot for her new reality show on YouTube, “My Deaf Family.” We’ve published Marlee’s talk (with captions, of course!) and encourage you to check it out:



Marlee said she chose to publish her show on YouTube, “where I can call the shots and where I can guarantee the show will be broadcast with captions.” Since posting online, she’s already gotten more than 70,000 views and some great feedback and ratings. People from all around the world are checking out the show and sharing with friends. Take a look at the views rising recently:

As we discussed with Marlee and at our event last November, the online population of people who are Deaf or hard of hearing rivals the populations of people speaking many major world languages, such as Italian and Russian. Adding captions to video can help ensure the widest audience possible sees it, and with machine translation, that audience can expand to include people who speak any of 50 languages.

While expanding automatic captions to all users was an important step, we still encourage you to add manual captions to your videos. With our automatic-timing technology it’s easy, and manual captions are generally more accurate. We showed Marlee how to add captions to her new show in just a few minutes -- right before she got up on stage for the premiere.

We want to thank Marlee for taking the time to visit us, and for sharing her talent and vision with the broader YouTube community. We wish her the best of luck with her new show, and look forward to working together to expand online access. Personally, I’m still pinching myself after the visit; it’s not everyday that I get a compliment from a person like Marlee.

Ken Harrenstien, Software Engineer, recently watched “Jason Molenda In the Net.”

More about → Marlee Matlin’s new YouTube show and visit to Google

Al Gore + you(?) = Earth Day's 40th celebration

The success of the film An Inconvenient Truth had several outcomes: it moved the issue of climate change into the spotlight and forced average citizens to think about their consumption; it catapulted former U.S. Vice President Al Gore into the role of global climate champion; and it demonstrated that film has the power to promote social change.

In anticipation of the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, we're building upon these results by partnering with Vice President Al Gore and his organization, the Alliance for Climate Protection, on our next round of Video Volunteers.

This month, as Video Volunteers curator, Gore is asking you to use film to do good by creating a short, inspiring video for your favorite climate change organization. The top three videos will appear on the YouTube homepage alongside a video from Gore himself as part of a very special Earth Day spotlight. Here he is with more details about the program and why it's imperative that you take action:

Earth Day is on April 22, so we're working with an abridged Video Volunteers timeline this month. All entries must be submitted by April 19 to be considered, so get your camera out today. And if you're a nonprofit organization working on issues related to climate change, this could be your chance to make a big impact on the YouTube homepage. You can post an opportunity for a Video Volunteer here.

Visit www.youtube.com/videovolunteers now to get started!

Ramya Raghavan, Nonprofits & Activism Manager, recently watched "Polio is Back in Guinea."

More about → Al Gore + you(?) = Earth Day's 40th celebration