November 12th Live Stream: YouTube Product Updates and an Interview with OlgaKay

On Monday, November 12th, the YouTube Partner Support team is hosting a Partner Meet-Up in Los Angeles. The event is at capacity so if you’re not already registered to join us in person, be sure to tune in at youtube.com/partnersupport.

During the meet-up, we'll be live streaming an update from the YouTube Product team on changes to your video management features and YouTube / Google+ identity integration. Additionally, we’ll be livestreaming the next episode of “Partner Support Talks With...” featuring OlgaKay. You can find a schedule for the stream below:

Time	Session
2:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. PST	Updates on YouTube / Google+ Identity Integration
2:30 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. PST	Updates on New & Upcoming Video Management Features
3:00 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. PST	Partner Supports Talks with... OlgaKay

We want to hear from you! Throughout the stream we’ll be taking live questions from viewers around the world via comments on youtube.com/partnersupport.

We’ll also be soliciting questions in advance for our talk show with OlgaKay. Have questions for Olga? Submit your questions and vote for the questions you like here: http://goo.gl/KWn4i

Can’t tune in? Don’t worry - as always, we'll also post the episode on youtube.com/partnersupport after the show.

John Langan and Devon Storbeck, YouTube Partner Support, recently watched "BUYRAL - Professional Clicking."

RSVP for our last 2012 YouTube Partner Meet-Ups

Registration is still open for our remaining 2012 YouTube partner meet-ups! We are excited to meet with more of the YouTube community and facilitate our partners mingling with each other. Each of these meetups will offer you a chance to meet your fellow partners, learn about program and product updates, and take your content creation and audience development techniques to the next level.

Details and registration forms are at these links:

• NYC meet-up Oct. 29: http://goo.gl/WSnWB
• Note: form closes Oct. 8
• Our schedule in NYC includes:
• Another episode of "Partner Support Talks with..." featuring ImprovEverywhere.
• Panels on audience development and Creator Playbook updates.
• Product updates and announcements.
• Opportunities to discuss channel optimization directly with Partner Support.
• LA meet-up Nov. 12: http://goo.gl/QG9aM
• Note: form closes Oct. 12
• Our schedule in LA includes:
• Presentations by well-known partners such as LisBug and RatedRR, who will discuss their experience with audience engagement, production/post-production, and Analytics.
• An episode of "Partner Support Talks with..." featuring OlgaKay.
• Product updates and announcements.
• Group critiques of sample videos and channels, and an opportunity to discuss optimization best practices.

Space is limited, so please take note of the date each form closes and RSVP soon! We'll be sending confirmation emails with details to those we can accommodate.

We look forward to seeing you at these upcoming events!

Devon Storbeck, YouTube Partner Support, recently watched “11 Month Old Twins Dancing to Daddy's Guitar.”

Expanding custom thumbnails to more partners

Over the past few months, we’ve been testing the impact of custom thumbnails on viewer watch time and engagement. Today, we’re expanding access to custom thumbnails for more YouTube partners, and over time, we aim to make them available to all partners in good standing.

Why not just give custom thumbnails to everyone?

As we’ve mentioned before, we focus on watch time when suggesting videos because it improves overall audience engagement on YouTube, and opens up more revenue opportunities for you. We’ll continue to recommend videos whose thumbnails help drive viewers to actually watch them, over videos that are clicked and then quickly abandoned.

When custom thumbnails do not accurately reflect the content they represent, they can annoy and disappoint viewers. These videos perform poorly on watch time, so they will become less prominent on YouTube. We’re continuing to test how partners use this feature to see how they better drive viewership on YouTube.

Over the next few weeks, we'll be granting access in weekly batches to partners. Partners need to have been active for 30 days and in good standing. When you get access, you should only upload images that are representative of your video, ideally featuring prominent stills from your video. Thumbnails must comply with our Community Guidelines, so abuse of this feature can result in strikes against your account and account termination.

Displaying thumbnails that accurately and appealingly represent your content is the best way to ensure long-term growth for your channel.

Andy Stack, YouTube Product Manager, recently watched “Written By A Kid: Scary Smash.”