YouTube, the world’s largest video hosting platform, is expanding its circle of content creators with the ability to upload audio tracks in different languages.
The company is testing this feature with a limited number of creators, but it is now available to a wider audience. During the pre-testing phase, YouTube reported that over 3,500 multilingual videos had already been uploaded using over 40 languages.
Creators can add multilingual voice tracks to their videos, which will help them reach a global audience. The platform presents this feature as a tool creators can use to expand their audience. After switching to a preferred language for the first time, YouTube will use it by default every time viewers play a video with subtitles. They will also be able to find content dubbed in their language, even if the main language of the video is different.
With this new feature, creators don’t need to create separate channels for different language audiences. Instead, they can duplicate the soundtrack in the main. YouTube also reports that viewers watched over 2 million hours of dubbed videos daily on its platform in January alone. Initially, the feature will only be supported for long YouTube content, but the company is also testing the feature for short videos.
The feature is available globally on YouTube on the web, mobile devices, tablets, and TVs. With this feature, YouTube users worldwide can now find more videos with audio in their own language. The extended features appeared after the former head of YouTube, Wodzhitsky Susan, recently left her post, although the development of new functionality was carried out long before she left.
