YouTube has rolled out one of the biggest feature request from any YouTube Publisher, weather he is a pro and or a hobbyist video maker. You are now allowed to have a custom watermark for your channel which will be always shown on videos, at any corner, and you can increase visibility of any video by making it appear on all of the video. The best part is you don’t have to edit individual videos to enable it. It automatically appears over all your video.
Feature your channel branding across all of your videos :
This allows you to use your already existing channel or a custom image to be used as watermark across all your video. You are allowed to choose a JPG, non-animated GIF, BMP or PNG file, and as it supports transparency, you need not to worry any part of your video getting marked. However, images which have Non-square corners, will be cropped. The recommended image size is 800px by 800px image with a size limit of 1MB.
In case you do not want the image or logo to appear throughout the video, you can choose to appear it at the end of the video, or at a particular time.
Feature one of your videos across all of your videos :
Now this can be used in two ways. One you can make a small video and use it as an introduction video for your channel or you can promote a video which you think will be of major interest to all your users.
The reason why I am saying it as small video is because this does not run like at the start of the video, but appears as in advertising or a small windows of video that is displayed on any existing video. So its not as perfect as pre roll video, but its a good way to introduce your channel.
Where to find these settings :
This option can be found under Settings Page of your YouTube Channel and is available for all the publisher. In case you don’t see it, it should be rolling out soon.
What I could not find is how one measures the impact of the featured video. I am assuming that it should show up in stats but will it be a separate marker or will be mixed, I am not sure.
Conclusion :
This is an excellent enhancement which not only helps me branding all my YouTube Video but it also gives me a free tool to promote a new video or an already popular video to gain more exposure. Its like an advertising tool which does not cost you anything. Use it Wisely.
