YouTube has expanded its range of features for Premium members, unveiling an AI-powered tool that lets users quickly “jump ahead” to the most popular sections of a video. This new feature, previously part of a limited experiment, is now available for a broader range of Premium users through the youtube.com/new experiments page, allowing subscribers to navigate videos more efficiently.
The ‘Jump ahead’ feature is designed to improve user experience by pinpointing sections of a video that are commonly skipped to by viewers. This feature, which appears as a pill-shaped button at the bottom-right corner, pops up after a user double-taps to skip ahead. If tapped, it takes the viewer to the next segment of high interest, identified using a combination of AI and watch data. The feature is currently exclusive to YouTube’s mobile app for Android in the US and only applies to English-language videos with a high number of views.
When initially launched as a “very small experiment” in March, only a select few users had access to the ‘Jump ahead’ feature. Now, Premium subscribers can try it out by enabling it through the mobile app’s “Try experimental new features” section in settings. Once activated, it allows users to skip ahead with ease, bypassing sections that are typically overlooked.
The new feature operates similarly to the existing 10-second skip trick, with a key difference: ‘Jump ahead’ uses AI to determine where most viewers tend to skip. This technology not only saves time but also ensures that users don’t miss critical or engaging parts of a video. The overlay message that appears when using ‘Jump ahead’ is branded with the YouTube Premium badge, indicating its exclusive availability to paying subscribers.
The ‘Jump ahead’ experiment is set to run until June 1, but it could be extended based on user feedback. YouTube is known for conducting experiments to test new features before a wider rollout, so this could be the first step toward a broader AI-powered video navigation system.
For more information, check out the original report on 9to5Google.
