YouTube has revealed its Creator’s Insider channel key steps to optimise content for success on their connected TV function. 

Creators are advised to upload in 4K  for the highest possible quality, as YouTube is now a competitive space and visual quality - especially on a bigger screen - is an indication of video quality which matters to viewers. The quality of thumbnails are therefore equally important and should be in high resolution at 1280 x 720.

In terms of the content itself,  YouTube advises that the first 10-30 seconds of a video should be a teaser or hook, as it helps engage people with the autoplay inline video preview.

When making episodic video series, creators should create playlists in the format of ‘ Episode Title [Series Name]’ and the thumbnails for the video series should have a consistent theme and look.

As connected TV is the platform’s fastest growing viewer segment, creators will benefit from YouTube advising how to optimise their content - as it may be an indication of the kind of content that the platform incentivises.

Additionally, as the platform continues to grow, so will the competition for viewership and  production value of videos. Smaller creators risk stunting their growth by neglecting the small details.