YouTube Testing Product Detection in Videos in the US

On Monday, YouTube said it is testing automated list of products detected in videos. The Google-owned platform said that the feature will be visible to users in the US.

YouTube's New Development

The video sharing platform said that it is experimenting with a new feature of showing products. The feature will show a list of all the products which the algorithm detects within a video. Also, the feature will show related products to those products as well.

The placement of this feature is also revealed. The company said that the feature will "appear in between the recommended videos, to viewers scrolling below the video player". The company understands that the aim is to help people look up these products. This will also ensure that people stay longer on the website and watch more videos. Of course, there is an advertising potential to this as well, which will become apparent later on.

People in the US can see this feature at the moment. If any item which is displayed clearly, YouTube will show the same item under the video. The platform will also look up similar products and show them within recommended videos on the same page.

The company's announcement made it obvious that the product is still in beta testing as it is only available for a select group of people.

Potentials and Ramifications

There is significant ad potential in this. Companies might just pay YouTube to get higher up on the product recommendations page. This can be really easy for the platform to implement as they already have access to people's search engine and social media data.

All in all, get ready for some more annoying and creepy recommended products. Thanks, I guess?

There is a potential benefit in here too. This ability to auto-detect products within videos might actually help with those weird algorithm recommendations. That means that you won't receive some absolutely shady recommends in the middle of the night.