It’s happening. YouTube creators can turn playlists into real shows.
Announced on Thursday. If you are part of the YouTube Partner Program. You can now organize video playlists into seasons. Or create a new show from scratch using their tool.
So what defines a show? YouTube’s support site has an answer. “A collection of high-quality episodes with clear connections across them.” Simple enough. The platform dropped some best practices too. Stick to one story. One topic. Keep the hosts consistent if you can. Make sure the look matches. Intro art should be uniform. Audio quality needs to be higher than your last vlog about pizza.
There is one rule though. No audio only. It has to be visual. The shows don’t need a strict chronology. You can be random about it if you want. YouTube sorts things by publish date by default. You can fix that in YouTube Studio later.
Why bother? Visibility. The platform says shows might show up in search results. Or under “Recommended shows.” Even “Continue watching” spots. Is that not enough reason? Probably.
Want to convert existing videos? Easy.
How to actually build one
If you are starting fresh. Click “Create New show” in the top right of YouTube Studio. Fill in the details. Upload your art. Save it. Add new episodes from the “Content” menu later. Click “Add content”. Done.
Messy episode order? Happens to the best of us. YouTube defaults to publish date again. You want to change it. Go to “Episodes” inside your show. Hover over the season or episode. Tap the arrow pointing down. Move it around.
Still stuck? Not sure where to begin. Maybe look at Mashable’s In My Bag series for gear ideas. Check out the VidCon hub. Or meet the Mashable 101 creators. They are shaping digital culture right now while we watch.
