You must add YouTube annotations to your videos to encourage your viewers to engage with the content. This will quickly get viewers to like and comment on your videos or increase your subscribers. Here’s what you need to know about YouTube annotations to boost your channel’s overall performance.
YouTube Annotations Meaning
YouTube Annotations are additional effects that you could add to your video. This includes a text layer, link, or any highlights you want to add to your video. You can also add interactive boxes linked to your or any other websites and videos.
However, since January 15, 2019, the platform has not supported the YouTube annotations feature. The reason for discontinuing annotations is that usage declined by 70%, and they did not work on mobile devices. Therefore, YouTube replaced the annotations feature with YT end screens.
Though the feature is no longer available, YouTube now encourages creators to use cards and end screens. These features give you similar options to promote your videos and keep things interactive, just like annotations used to! Alternatively, you can buy YouTube subscribers from a reputed YouTube promotion services platform to reach the maximum audience through Google Ads.
Reasons YouTube Annotations Discontinued
Video annotations were an incredible way for YouTube creators to add interactive commentary to their videos. Think pop-ups, notes, and highlights that provided extra background info and kept viewers engaged. However, according to YouTube, annotations seem to gather less viewer interaction, and hence, they were discontinued in 2017.
The other reason behind the failure was the incompatibility of annotation with mobile devices. Many of you wouldn’t know that annotation used to work on desktop versions of YouTube, not mobile. And even now the old videos with annotation are only visible on desktops. This is because there were no Android and iPhones when the annotation was launched in 2008, and creators used to operate YouTube on computers. Later, when technology advanced and mobile devices came into more use than computers, YouTube saw a decline in the usage of video annotation and had to discontinue the feature.
What Are YouTube Cards?
YouTube cards are small boxes that appear on the screen while the video plays. At the top of the screen, the YouTube card symbolizes (i). The main purpose of these cards is to redirect viewers from one video to another or to another website. They show you which video closely matches the one you are currently watching.
What Is A YouTube End Screen?
YouTube’s end screen is a feature creators use to drive traffic to their videos. It appears in the last 10 seconds before the video ends. The end screen displays a maximum of 4 videos related to the video you watched. The difference between the end screen and annotation is that annotation can appear in any form on the screen, whereas the end screen always comes in the last.
Conclusion
As you know, YouTube annotations are no longer available on the platform and are replaced with the end-screen feature. But if you still want to add annotations to your videos, you can use editing apps like Filmora that will add additional effects to your videos. Talking more about apps that help you leverage various features to get more views is to use a title generator for YouTube to ensure that the videos reach the target audience.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1. What are some examples of YT annotations?
Here are some examples of YT Annotations:
- Speech bubble.
- Note.
- Title.
- Spotlight.
- Label.
Q2. Can I use both End Screens and Cards in the same video?
Yes, end screens and cards both serve a similar purpose on YouTube, and you can use both of them together in videos.
Q3. What is the purpose of the annotation?
Annotations in a video help you grab the viewers’ attention and direct them to your call to action, which might include clicking on another video or link. Another great way to do this is to buy YouTube views to attract new viewers to your videos and allow them to discover your content.
Q4. What tool is used for annotating videos?
Here are some annotation tools that you can use:
- VoTT
- CVAT
- Dataloop
- Video Ant