Google is rolling out a fully customizable Multiview in YouTube TV and testing new YouTube Live ads

Let’s start with YouTube TV first – the company’s live broadcast TV offering exclusive to the US. Users might know that the platform already has a Multiview feature that allows viewing two, three or even four channels all at once. Why? Well, besides brain-rot optimization, there are actually some practical use cases, like during a busy sports season when you want to keep an eye on multiple matches at once.

Google knew that was the typical case and originally rolled out Multiview through “suggested” Multiview setups that the platform curated automatically for the user. Those are still there, but now users have started seeing a fully customizable version of the feature, where you can just pick and choose the streams yourself. We aren’t sure why this wasn’t the case to begin with. Still, there might be a technical reason behind it, depending on how transmission and decoding/playback of multiple simultaneous streams are actually handled by the server and client behind the scenes. Regardless, the feature is now there and apparently not tied to any particular app version. It is a server-side rollout, and you can expect to see it appear on your devices at some point shortly.

As for the other YouTube-related feature that has been popping up lately, it concerns YouTube live streams and particularly the way they are monetized through ads. If you happen to consume YouTube live streams on TV or desktop, you might have noticed what Google calls “side-by-side” ads. These appear at the bottom of the screen alongside your live stream, and instead of stopping it altogether, just mute its audio for the duration of the ad.

We guess that’s not the worst idea, and depending on what kind of content you are watching, it could allow you to stay “tuned in” to the action in some capacity. Then again, certain scenarios still don’t work, and without audio, you might as well not be watching the stream at all. Well, regardless of your feelings, Google says that it has started experimenting with the “side-by-side” ad format on mobile as well. So, that’s something to look forward to.

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