YouTube Reportedly Piloting Thumbnails That Play Like GIFs On Desktop Site

Last month, YouTube updated its iOS app thumbnails with red progress bars on previously-watched videos in order to make follow-up viewing a cinch. Now, as first spotted by Mashable, the company may be piloting thumbnails that move like GIFs on its desktop site whenever users hover over them with a mouse.

Mashable noticed the GIF thumbnails in the ‘Up Next’ column of videos suggested by YouTube’s algorithms, located to the right of the video that a user is watching. The feature is reportedly only available to select users as of now, and it remains to be seen whether it will roll out wide. (Vimeo, for its part, began testing animated thumbnails in its Staff Picks section all the way back in 2014 — though it was an experiment that doesn’t appear to have stuck).

In a statement, YouTube neither confirmed nor denied the tests, telling Mashable, “With more videos coming to YouTube every minute, we’re always experimenting with ways to help people more easily find, watch, and share the videos that matter most to them. We’ll consider rolling features out more broadly based on feedback on these experiments.”

In addition to the prospective desktop updates, YouTube is also reportedly developing new features for its apps, including a polling feature for live broadcasts, a so-called ‘AutoOffline’ feature, and picture-in-picture support for YouTube on Android TV.