Google is finally giving its YouTube app for televisions and gaming consoles the attention it deserves. While the mobile and web versions typically receive the majority of updates, the company has announced a comprehensive overhaul of the TV and console experience with numerous new features scheduled to roll out through Q2 2025.
Enhanced Home Feed Organization
The YouTube TV app's homepage is receiving a significant upgrade with the addition of five new content shelf categories designed to improve content discovery. Users will now find a Continue your search shelf displaying their top three recent searches, making it easier to pick up where they left off. Music enthusiasts will appreciate the new Listen again shelf, which surfaces songs previously searched for or played, alongside a dedicated Live performances, remixes, and covers section for discovering alternative versions of favorite tracks.
New YouTube TV App Features (Q2 2025)
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Five new content shelf categories:
- Continue your search
- Listen again
- Live performances, remixes, and covers
- Primetime Channels shelf
- From your top channels
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New functionality:
- Dedicated podcasts tab
- Video looping for all content
- Shorts row in Watch Next feed
- Shorts shelf in subscription tab
- Inline previews for channel/subscription/topic pages
- Immersive channel previews
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Creator improvements:
- TVs as a specific device type in channel analytics
Content Discovery Improvements
For users who subscribe to YouTube's Primetime Channels, a new dedicated shelf will showcase content from recently watched or searched channels. The From your top channels shelf provides quick access to videos from creators users engage with most frequently, without requiring additional navigation. These organizational improvements aim to streamline the viewing experience on larger screens where remote-based navigation can be cumbersome.
Shorts Integration and Podcast Support
Despite some users' reluctance toward short-form content on larger screens, Google continues its platform-wide push for YouTube Shorts with new integration points. The TV app now features a dedicated Shorts row in the Watch Next feed and a Shorts shelf within the subscriptions tab. This approach not only increases Shorts visibility but also helps separate short-form content from traditional longer videos.
New Functionality and Viewing Options
The update brings several quality-of-life improvements that users have long requested. Perhaps most notably, YouTube now supports looping for all content types on TV platforms, not just playlists as was previously the case. This feature is accessible through the playback settings menu. Additionally, a new dedicated podcasts tab has been added, making it significantly easier to discover and consume podcast content on the big screen.
Creator-Focused Enhancements
Content creators will benefit from several new features as well. The rollout includes support for immersive channel previews, allowing creators to add personalized fullscreen background visuals to their channel headers. YouTube has also updated its analytics platform to specifically identify TVs as a device type, giving creators better insight into how their audience consumes content across different platforms.
Preview Functionality
The update introduces inline previews for channel, subscription, and topic pages, making content browsing more intuitive. This visual enhancement provides users with a better sense of what to expect before committing to watching a video, improving the overall navigation experience.
While these updates demonstrate Google's renewed focus on the television viewing experience, some users may still wish for additional customization options, such as the ability to hide Shorts content entirely. Interestingly, Google appears to be working on features to help users manage their Shorts consumption on mobile platforms, but similar controls haven't been announced for the TV app yet.
As streaming on larger screens continues to grow in popularity, these updates position YouTube to better compete with dedicated streaming services while maintaining its unique blend of creator-driven content and professional programming.