YouTube announced a range of new features for podcast listeners who subscribe to YouTube Premium. The company also rolled out an expansion of its artificial intelligence-powered search option for CTV users, as well as new options within its Effects Maker platform.
First, YouTube added new podcast playback options for Premium subscribers, including auto speed, which will automatically adjust podcast playback speed depending on the content.
As explained by YouTube: “Auto speed intelligently adjusts playback speed during relevant moments, like slower speech or lengthy introductions, and automatically returns to your baseline speed during faster speech segments.”
The idea is that this will help users save time by detecting elements of videos that can be sped up. Users are able to choose the playback speeds when detected, up to 4x speed.
YouTube is also giving Premium subscribers more control over background playback, which will make it easier to toggle between video and audio, jump to a different chapter and skip forward or back in a video, even when the device screen is locked.
Podcast listening has become a much bigger focus for YouTube, with the platform now serving more than a billion monthly active podcast listeners/viewers in the app every month. YouTube has also become the single most frequently used service for podcast listening in the U.S.
With this in mind, it makes sense for YouTube to enhance its Premium offerings with more options to entice podcast listeners.
Both auto speed and the background control updates are available now for YouTube Premium users on Android, with plans to roll out the features on iOS later this year.
On another front, YouTube will also store conversations with its Ask Studio AI tool for 30 days in order to help users refer back to previous answers.
YouTube’s Ask Studio tool provides another means to get guidance on key elements of YouTube channel management, with an AI powered chatbot available anytime within the Studio UI.
This update will make the Ask Studio tool a more valuable resource.
As explained by YouTube Head of Editorial Rene Ritchie: “In the past, closing the Ask Studio window meant your session ended and the conversation was done. But now with this update, conversations are automatically saved for up to 30 days, and that moves Ask Studio from a single session tool into a true creative partner. It also means you can maintain multiple distinct conversation threads so you can manage different creative projects or brainstorming sessions.”
Ritchie also said that all past sessions will be organized into a list view, making it easy to refer back to past discussions and queries.
YouTube is also rolling out its AI-powered search mode to more CTV users.
YouTube has been rolling out its AI chatbot for CTV over the past few months. The feature can be accessed by selecting the “Ask” option within the CTV player. The process then uses the TV remote microphone to enable CTV viewers to ask a query, as opposed to having to type it on a virtual keyboard.
The company is now expanding access to AI search on CTV to more smart TVs, gaming consoles and streaming devices.
“If your TV remote has a microphone button, you can use that button to trigger the new Ask YouTube search from the YouTube home or search page and ask questions using your voice,” YouTube said. “For example, you can say, ‘Catch me up on the Oscars highlights’ or ‘One hour long relaxing cooking videos.’”
Viewers can also ask questions while watching a video, providing more ways to discover content when watching on a TV set.
Finally, YouTube added more AI-powered creative tools to its Effects Maker platform, which enables creators to build their own effects for Shorts clips.
YouTube launched Effects Maker in August 2025, providing another means for creators to build immersive, engaging experiences for Shorts.
In this latest update, YouTube added new effects, powered by Google’s Nano Banana AI model. The additional features will enable Effects Maker users to build more complex effects by using conversational prompts, as opposed to scripting, while it also includes a new Precise Mode, which will create more realistic depictions.
That could help to fuel new creative opportunities within Effects Maker, and spark more users to get involved with Shorts, though it does also feel like one of the exact processes that YouTube is working to negate with its updated AI detection and labeling process.
