YouTube Is Testing a New Feature to Help Videos Travel Globally

YouTube is releasing a new feature to help creators spread their content around the world.

The tool, which will be rolling out in the next few days, lets creators upload different thumbnails for each video that’s dubbed into a different language, a company spokesperson confirmed to Business Insider. The aim is to help influencers localize their thumbnails based on a viewer’s language.

The feature is available to a subset of creators who have access to YouTube’s dubbing technology.

“We’re always testing more ways for creators to reach new audiences. In this case, a handful of creators are able to localize their thumbnails for videos with multiple language audio tracks,” the YouTube spokesperson said.

Several of YouTube’s top stars, including MrBeast, are bullish on using AI to dub videos so they can reach global audiences. YouTube began testing multi-language audio dubbing with some creators as early as 2023.

This thumbnail feature opens up an additional opportunity for creators to make their videos feel more native to a viewer’s location, said Nate Stone, cofounder at the AI dubbing platform DittoDub.

DittoDub is offering a tool that uses AI to detect the text in a creator’s thumbnail in order to change its language for each dubbed video. Creators with access to YouTube’s new multi-language thumbnail feature can then upload those custom thumbnails to their YouTube accounts.

DittoDub said its translation tools are reviewed by humans to ensure a high level of confidence that it’s preserving the meaning in any translated audio or visuals. They want to capture the creator’s original tone, no matter the language.

“The emotion that we always strive for is not to recreate something different, but instead to preserve all of the original intentions of the creator,” Stone said.