There was more than one reason for Google to hold its Android One event in India. In addition to the new, highly-affordable Android One devices that were announced, Google also announced that most of YouTube will be made available for offline viewing in India.
The logic is simple. If there’s a video we like on YouTube, chances are we’ll be watching it more than once, and often on repeat if it is a music video. And each time we watch it, YouTube more often than not reloads the entire video, eating up precious Internet data in a country where Internet quotas are expensive. Sure, there are apps that help you download videos and store them offline, but as Google states, the use of such apps and desktop software to download these videos are questionable in its legality – not to mention affecting the view count and potential ad revenue for the publishers.
The solution? Make YouTube available for offline viewing. Just like how it works with Google Maps’ offline mode, users need only load the video once, and save it for offline viewing after. A Google spokesperson also confirmed that view count and ads will still work with offline viewers, and that this service will be enabled by default. More importantly, viewers will be able to watch their favourite YouTube videos offline, with little to no data used to load the videos. And, it’s legal too.
Offline viewing for YouTube will roll out “in the coming weeks” in India. Unfortunately, so far there’s been no indication that Google will be expanding the service to other countries, though the likelihood of that happening in other developing nations around the world isn’t that far-fetched.
(Source: The Times of India)
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