Youtube strongly encourages its users to log in to their Google account to take advantage of all the features offered by the platform, starting with video recommendations to watch.
YouTube is today a giant in video on demand on the web. The Google-owned platform is still just as powerful, and now profitable, in particular thanks to its advertising business which allows it to earn several tens of billions of dollars each year. However, the platform needs to know as much as possible the tastes and consumption habits of its users, and connecting to a Google account is essential to capture as much information about viewers as possible.
A blank, empty page with no suggested videos
YouTube is free, and does not require connection to the user account created on Google. The search engine subsidiary, however, seems to want its users at all costs to identify themselves before accessing the platform, and is starting to remove some features, as our colleagues on the site have noticed Tom’s Guide.
If you go to YouTube without signing in to your Google user account, or in private browsing, no video recommendations are displayed on the home page. Instead, a completely empty page is displayed, with a message encouraging you to start searching to find one or more videos, in order to populate the browsing history and train the suggestion engine.
A connection to Google essential for advertising targeting
YouTube wants to encourage its users to stay connected to their account, to find content suggestions related to their latest searches. A blank page can be a fairly effective visual reminder for certain subscribers to identify themselves to find a home page loaded with new videos to discover.
The interest for Google in keeping its users connected is of course the data generated by the different views. Each content watched is an index for YouTube to identify consumers’ passions and interests, and ultimatelyto offer them targeted and more impactful advertising.
However, we may be surprised by this new policy, where YouTube highlighted, and by default, the most viewed or most commented videos on its home page. This new presentation could disconcert a new user who would like to discover Google’s streaming platform.
Source : Tom’s Guide
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