New YouTube ‘Cards’ Can Display On Mobile And Will Eventually Replace Annotations

Annotations have been an important feature on YouTube for a long time now, providing a method for video creators to add clickable text overlays to their videos to boost engagement, provide additional information, or help in navigation. Now, the company is rolling out a new product called “Cards,” which will eventually replace annotations with a new interface that works across screens, including mobile.

Marketers will be pleased that the new product can be displayed on mobile devices, as this was not possible with annotations. YouTube describes cards as “an evolution of annotations,” explaining that they’ll continue to serve the same purpose of the earlier product, but with a card-style user interface that is similar to what is available on services such as Google+ and Google Now. The small, rectangular-shaped cards appear to the right of the video and can be accessed with a click.

The new product provides more flexibility than annotations, and can include customized images, titles and call-to-action text. In its announcement, YouTube explains that cards are available in the following six categories: Merchandise, Fundraising, Video, Playlist, Associated Website and Fan Funding. These cards are applied on a per-video basis and, as previously mentioned, will work on both desktop and mobile devices.

When a video starts playing, the cards will appear as a small teaser for a few seconds, and viewers can choose to click to access the card directly. Additionally, at any other point in the video, a small icon appears when a viewer hovers over the video playing on desktop or when the player controls are being displayed on mobile. Viewers can then click on that icon to scroll through all of the cards that are available on that video. Alternatively, viewers can choose to ignore the teaser that appears and then it will disappear.

Cards can be created and edited from the “Cards” tab in the video editor. The company explains that although cards have not yet replaced annotations, that’s the future plan. However, this won’t happen until cards “can do everything annotations can do today, and more.”

In its help files, YouTube explains that the intent is to not only help creators provide an enriched experience to viewers, but that as the system evolves it will also be optimized to show the most relevant teasers and cards based on performance, viewer behavior and the device that they are using.

Another noteworthy aspect of the new product for marketers is that it will support performance reporting via YouTube Analytics, and will also be available on live streams. As this new product evolves, YouTube is requesting feedback on cards, including seeking information about what functionality video creators would like to see added in the future.