YouTube TV Updates: Remote Buttons, New Insights, and Cobalt 27

Name: 2026 Product Innovations
Uploaded: 2026-04-29T14:00:29+00:00
Duration: 14 min 26 s
Channel: YouTube Device Partner Summit
Description: Summary and key takeaways on 2026 Product Innovations: Summary & Key Takeaways, covering User Experience & Discovery YouTube is building new entry points on TV

YouTube Device Partner Summit

Apr 29, 2026

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14 min video

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1 min read

YouTube video ID: M1wPfWli-X8

Source: YouTube video by YouTube Device Partner Summit — Watch original video

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YouTube is building new entry points on TV through direct collaboration with hardware partners, adding dedicated remote buttons that launch the app instantly. Personalized home‑screen recommendations are expanding via a new API, ensuring each user sees content that matches their interests. Family groups simplify login on shared devices, while four‑digit account lock codes and parent codes protect guest profiles and manage communal TV access.

Content Consumption & Engagement

The platform is moving from a library of isolated videos to an episodic “shows” format, offering immersive full‑screen browsing for series and collections. Creators are encouraged to upload 4K videos and high‑resolution thumbnails, and YouTube Studio now surfaces TV‑specific watch‑time data to guide production decisions. Shorts appear in dedicated home‑screen rows on TV, with a restricted playback mode for kids that removes comments, product placements, and external links. The “Watch With” experience lets users view live events—such as NFL games—while hearing creator commentary in a synchronized multiview layout. Metadata‑driven deep linking replaces simple URLs, delivering visual, content‑forward navigation.

Mobile‑to‑TV Integration

A new mobile companion feature lets users control playback, like, comment, and share from their phones while the video plays on the TV. This shared sign‑in state bridges the TV app and mobile app, turning the phone into an engagement controller and solving the difficulty of performing actions with a standard remote.

Technical Infrastructure

Cobalt 27 (internally “Crobalt”) launches this year to unlock higher‑end hardware performance on modern TVs. The framework provides access to next‑generation APIs, enabling fluid UI navigation, WebGL‑based gaming, and advanced CSS capabilities that tap the raw horsepower of the device. Samsung and LG are early‑access partners for C27. AI‑driven voice search is being rolled out, requiring certification for voice routing to maintain quality and consistency across devices.

Takeaways

YouTube is adding dedicated remote buttons and family‑group login options to make TV entry points faster and shared‑device management easier.
A new personalized recommendation API powers home‑screen suggestions, while account lock codes and parent codes secure communal TV usage.
Content is shifting to an episodic “shows” format with 4K uploads and TV‑specific analytics in YouTube Studio, helping creators tailor production for large screens.
Shorts now appear in TV home rows with a kid‑safe playback mode, and the “Watch With” feature synchronizes live events with creator commentary in a multiview experience.
The Cobalt 27 framework unlocks higher‑end hardware performance, enabling fluid UI navigation, WebGL gaming, and advanced CSS, with Samsung and LG as early access partners, while AI‑driven voice search adds certified voice routing.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Cobalt 27 and how does it improve YouTube’s TV performance?

Cobalt 27 is the new framework that gives the YouTube app access to next‑generation APIs and the raw horsepower of modern TV hardware. It enables fluid UI navigation, WebGL‑based gaming, and modern CSS capabilities, delivering smoother interactions and richer visual experiences on compatible Samsung and LG devices.

How does the “Watch With” feature work for live events on YouTube TV?

“Watch With” synchronizes a live event stream with creator commentary and multiview layouts on the TV, using a server‑side experience that merges the broadcast feed with additional video layers. Users can watch NFL games or similar events while hearing real‑time insights from creators in a shared viewing window.

Who is YouTube Device Partner Summit on YouTube?

YouTube Device Partner Summit is a YouTube channel that publishes videos on a range of topics. Browse more summaries from this channel below.

Does this page include the full transcript of the video?

Yes, the full transcript for this video is available on this page. Click 'Show transcript' in the sidebar to read it.

Helpful resources related to this video

If you want to practice or explore the concepts discussed in the video, these commonly used tools may help.

Universal Smart Tv Remote Control Recommended

Provides a more ergonomic way to navigate YouTube's TV interface and utilize dedicated buttons for faster content discovery.

Amazon →

4k Streaming Media Player

Ensures the hardware can handle high-resolution 4K content and the fluid UI navigation required by modern YouTube features.

Amazon →

Adjustable Smartphone Stand For Desk

Holds the phone steady while using it as a companion device to interact with, comment on, or control YouTube content on the TV.

Amazon →

Links may be affiliate links. We only include resources that are genuinely relevant to the topic.

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Full Transcript YouTube

All
right. Thanks, Kurt. Um, excited to be
here today and see many of you again.
Um, as I look up at that picture, I'm
reminded how much more hair I had and
how much less gray it was. Um, so as I
look through the room, I think I
recognize quite a few faces, but there's
also quite a few new ones. um while I
get to present here for about 15
minutes. I'm here all day and at the
socials. So, particularly if I haven't
met you, come reach out, talk to me. You
know, we can we can uh exchange ideas uh
and just talk through what might be
coming up next. Perhaps there's an
integration opportunity, a collaboration
opportunity we haven't conceived of yet.
So, I'm pretty excited uh about that.
Um, the diversity of content on YouTube
is exploding and users engaging more
than ever. Uh, Kurt pointed that out,
showed it pretty clearly. There's a lot
we've been working on over the past 12
months uh, to bring all that to life on
the TV side. And I'm excited to walk you
through all of this. It feels like this
last year has been an acceleration
compared to previous years. We're
innovating throughout the entire user
journey from the moment you turn on your
TV through the discovery of content,
your favorite content on the OS home
screen um through to your entire watch
experience and how you engage with our
creators on the TV. These features take
full advantage of the gorgeous large
screens on on TV and the capabilities
your hardware and OS provide. So very
appreciative of the work that you do.
So let's start with um you know easy
access to YouTube content. Uh people
want easy access to discovery of the
content uh when they turn on their TVs
to watch. Uh we've been working very
closely with many of you to create new
entry points uh and build capabilities
that haven't existed previously. Uh
let's start with remote buttons. Uh
we've collaborated with many of you to
introduce remote buttons uh over the
last 12 months uh with several more
coming out this year. Our mutual
experience mutual users will love this
experience. I I'm just showing you a few
of the collaborations we've had um and
this is expanding uh beyond that in the
coming months. We were the first to
introduce shorts on TV and it has seen
phenomenal growth. We're now
collaborating with several of you to
introduce another first. Shorts rose on
the home screen. So, it's it's a mixture
of VOD, live shorts. Um, and last but
not least, uh, our mutual users expect
to see personalized content on modern
home screens, uh, tailored to their
specific interests. Without that, the
experience feels broken. Uh, several
partners have already introduced
personalized YouTube content. A more
expected to be launching this year
utilizing a new personalized
recommendations API. So, I'm looking
forward to talking to many of you uh,
particularly at this conference.
So, when you first open YouTube, you'll
see the familiar screens that help make
YouTube tailored to your interest by
making it easier for you to log in. The
percentage of logged in users uh
continues to rise significantly and we
continue to invest in this area. While I
don't have time to cover everything
we've done, um I want to highlight a few
things. Uh family groups are a unique
Google feature uh where you can tell
Google overall uh who who are the
members of your family. And we're using
this capability to help family members
log into their shared family TVs more
easily. So that's the screen on the
left. Um on your right, we've also
introduced account lock. Um while TVs
are generally communal devices, uh you
don't always want everyone have access
to your TV to watch uh on TV on your
YouTube account. So you can now
introduce a four-digit code to limit
access to your YouTube account by
roommates and kids. In addition, we've
also introduced a similar feature uh
which is about having a parent code that
locks accounts for older users and guest
profile so kids only have access to
their kids content. Um so we've been
listening to a lot of our users and
their requests and this was actually uh
one of the uh most requested features uh
for families with kids.
So now you've gone from the home screen,
you're in the YouTube app, uh you've
gone through the signin. Uh because of
YouTube's massive content library, 20
billion videos with 20 million uploaded
daily, search and discovery are a huge
part of the YouTube experience. We
invest a great deal in our
recommendations algorithm and also to in
in how our content is surfaced to users.
While YouTube started life uh with
lowquality cat videos, it now has a
large number of content creators with
rich, highly productionized episodic
content.
We're making this content much easier to
find and giving it the full TV treatment
they deserve. We now have shows on
YouTube, but content is organized
episodically with lush, immersive, full
screen experience of browsing this
content.
So, as we do this, um, we're also making
it much easier for content creators to
understand the value of TV for their
audience and lean into shows. So, one of
my favorite things was before some of
this work was done, Kurt's favorite
question to creators was, "Do you have
any idea what your watch time is on TV
relative to mobile?" And almost all of
them had no idea even though
significant fraction if not the majority
of their watch time was on TV. And so
they weren't tackling strategies to
invest in their TV content, longer form
content, higher production value
content, uh content with higher uh
resolution thumbnails.
So um as watch time has been migrating
from mobile to TV, uh we starting to
make users and creators more aware of
how much of their watch time is directly
on TV. And there's a significant
fraction with the majority of their
watch time on TV. So with that, we're
making it easier for creators through
our YouTube studio product uh to see how
much people time spent on TV and we're
also encouraging creators to upload rich
4K content and lush high resolution
thumbnails um and allowing creators to
organize their content into episodic
shows. This leads into some of the work
we do in certification where as there's
more 4K videos, there's a lot more
demand on the hardware. Uh, and so we
want to work closer with you to make
sure our 4K content works very well
across the board. And I know that's a
challenging task.
As Kurt mentioned earlier, YouTube has a
wide diversity of content types. Music,
playlists, movies,
shows, and kids content. All of these
deserve to be presented in the best
light. So, we're making uh these uh
discoverable in a much more dynamic way.
We have more inline previews. Uh we've
had them for certain types of content
before. We're now expanding the types of
content that have this. Um we have
immersive headers to bring the content
alive and provide people with much
richer browsing experience on the big
screen.
the watch page. Uh once you've browsed
your content, you found what you want,
you go to the watch page, you're
watching your video, it's where people
spend the vast majority of their time on
YouTube, as they should. Um we've
invested in a full redesign of this page
based on years of UX research. We made
the player controllers easier to access,
made engagement features much more
accessible, and made it more intuitive
to deep dive into the content through
things like descriptions and additional
features that uh give additional
metadata for the for the content itself.
Shorts continues to be a big hit on the
TV and we continue to invest heavily in
shorts uh with improvements and new
features across the board. Uh I want to
talk specifically about uh some of the
work we've been doing for shorts for
kids. Uh we're now making shorts more
accessible to kids. Uh while doing this
responsibly, there's a new playback
experience uh for kids. There are no
comments, no product placements, no
links, just a pure focus on the
playback. In addition, we're introducing
some well-being features into the flow.
So we constantly ask kids, is it time
for a pause? So that they're not
endlessly doom scrolling through this
experience. Shorts playback in general
is challenging relative to VOD uh
particularly during the transitions from
one short to another whether it's kids
or whether it's adult content. Um we've
introduced requirements in ourert uh
this year and we continue to work with
many of you on improving the experience
particularly during these transitions
and we'd love to collaborate with you
further uh to ensure that shorts works
as well on TV as it does on mobile
phones. So we appreciate the
collaboration here.
Watch with um is an exciting new
experience uh and brings a very YouTube
centric flavor to your favorite TV
sports experiences and live events. Um
the example uh shown uh on the screen is
an NFL game where you can watch with
commentary from your favorite uh
creators and you have quite a few of
them to choose from in a multiv- view
experience. Uh this experience is server
side uh but there's lots of work being
done to take advantage of the hardware
that's accessible uh to YouTube. We're
making easier to discover creators to
watch with. Uh and also making this
experience available well beyond sports.
So when you have concerts and other live
events, we're making this a much more
broadly accessible experience.
Um, as you're watching, one of the
things that YouTube users love to do is
to dig into experiences. Uh, it's a core
part of any vid, YouTube videos
metadata. It allows the creator to
provide a lot more context to the user
about what they're watching.
Traditionally,
creators have put a lot of time and
effort in curating the links that they
add so people continue to into deep
dives into a particular topic. We're now
bringing these stayed links uh to life
by creating a more visual content
forward experience to keep for deep
linking to other videos particularly in
YouTube. So what you're seeing on the
right traditionally would have been just
a URL that you see. So now uh we're
using the metadata we have to to to make
it a far richer visual experience and
we'll continue this type of work.
Using your phone to engage with the TV
uh has traditionally been restricted to
the casting experience where you use
your phone to send the playback uh to
the TV uh and remain connected. Uh this
is a phone to TV journey where you start
on your phone. However, close to 95% of
people start their journeys on the TV uh
with a remote control. We want to make
it much easier for uh those users to
access what's playing on the TV and
engage with those creators. It's hard to
have traditional YouTube engagements,
comments, shares, likes, dislikes on TV
with a remote control. So, we find that
people creators as their watch time
moves from mobile to TV, uh they tell us
that they're worried that the engagement
with their videos, the comments, the
shares and all of those are much lower
than they are on mobile. So as a result,
we are working very hard to enable new
capabilities so that users can engage uh
with the content they're watching on TV
as they've done with the mobile phone.
So we're now experimenting with a new
mobile TV companion feature uh that
makes it super easy to access TV
playback if you're signed in on both the
TV and the phone. So if you open up your
phone uh you'll start to see this
experience uh where uh you see what's
playing on TV and you can usually you
can uh engage with it, you can control
it, you can like comment, share through
directly with your mobile phone while
sitting back and watching what's playing
on the screen without interruption.
Um I talked a lot of things so far
without mentioning AI. Um, but we do
have some exciting features uh that are
launched and that are on the way. Uh,
Dan Sprass will go into depth next. Um,
so I'll be brief here. Uh, you can now
use voice uh to ask YouTube anything you
want while watching a video. For users
to have an amazing experience, it's
really important to get the voice the
voice routing correct. Uh, this is hard
and we have certification requirements
to help us land these exciting new voice
journeys. uh well for our mutual users.
I know we're having discussions with
many of you on this topic and this will
continue.
And I want to end uh with the work we've
been doing on Cobalt um Cobalt 27 uh
internally code named Crobalt. Um Cobalt
27 unlocks user experiences by taking
full advantage of the raw horsepower of
your TVs with full support for next
generation APIs. um we know you build
excellent hardware and to date we've
only been taking advantage of a fraction
of that and so with Cobalt 27 we're
leaning in and really uh trying to make
our experiences uh much better on on um
really high-end hardware. Uh, this will
enable highly fluid UI navigation, the
ability to introduce games on TV with
WebGL and gorgeous new CSS capabilities
for a much richer and much more modern
UI on TVs. It also makes YouTube easier
to develop and maintain, which is of
course uh a big benefit to us. This is
coming this year and I want to take the
time to thank uh our early access
partners and in particular Samsung and
LG who've been leaning in and will be
the first in the ecosystem with C26. Uh
we're also delighted to be working with
many of our SOC partners to ensure the
ecosystem will be ready for for Cobalt
27.
So with that uh I want to thank you
again and I I I genuinely want to make
the offer uh come talk to me during the
breaks uh or during the social. I'd love
to hear from you and talk to you more
about opportunities that you see or that
we may be able to collaborate on
together. Thanks.

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Content Consumption & Engagement

Mobile‑to‑TV Integration

Technical Infrastructure

Takeaways

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Cobalt 27 and how does it improve YouTube’s TV performance?

How does the “Watch With” feature work for live events on YouTube TV?

Who is YouTube Device Partner Summit on YouTube?

Does this page include the full transcript of the video?

Helpful resources related to this video

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What is Cobalt 27 and how does it improve YouTube’s TV performance?