YouTube's offline video for mobile & what this means for content creators

AllThingsD recently posted about Here’s How YouTube’s Offline Videos Will Work (Memo) and I thought I’d shed some light on this and how it will affect video content creators.

What we know so far

• The viewer will need to use a YouTube mobile app to watch the videos
• They will contain ads
• Viewers will have up to 48 hours to watch what they take offline, this window refreshes each time the device connects to the internet.
• Offline videos will be enabled by default in the YouTube App.
• Partners of YouTube do have an option to opt-out, this can be done now.

Think podcasting for video

Podcasting already exists for video, since YouTube is the second largest search engine online it makes sense that they would want to allow for videos to be played offline. Many people already download videos using a few different methods, I’ve even shared my method in the past too. I have a feeling that this will change the way that video is consumed just like how iTunes changed the way that recorded content was listen and distributed when they added Podcast support many years ago.

Should you opt-out?

I won’t be, WPwatercooler.. my weekly WordPress show is distributed using iTunes and Stitcher.com for audio, for video I rely on the power of YouTube to get our videos out there. A huge percentage of people that watch the videos are doing so from their mobile devices. Since video podcasts are costly to distribute I love the fact that YouTube is taking this on.

How will this help me with getting more views?

It depends on a few key factors, how long is your video and is it something that people would watch on the go? WPwatercooler is a 30 minute show about WordPress. The 30 minutes is short enough for people to consume yet long enough for us to get our point across. I think if the videos on your channel are short and consumable then you’ll see many more views because of this. Most people that are bored waiting for something are looking for a quick fix, if YouTube downloaded some videos for you for offline viewing and they were short I’d imagine you would watch them if you could. If you commute an hour a day on the train or subway and get bad cell reception I’d imagine you’d be ok with watching an episode or two of WPwatercooler during your trip.