YouTube is expanding the reach of its experimental Jump Ahead feature that it began testing in March with a limited number of users. 9to5Google reports that the feature is now available to premium users.

Jump Ahead is designed to skip the video to the point most viewers would normally skip to. A pill-shaped button called Jump Ahead appears when you double-click to jump forward “in a qualified section” in a YouTube video.

According to the publication, an overlay appears on top of the video after pressing the skip forward button. The overlay includes the YouTube Premium badge and the text “Skip Skipped Section”.

The description of the feature on YouTube’s experiments page explains that “Jump Ahead is a premium-only feature” that uses AI knowledge and YouTube viewing data to figure out “the next best spot.”

However, there are some limitations, such as it’s only available on the YouTube Android app in the US right now. It can be enabled on the mobile app by going to Settings > Try New Experimental Features.

Its description also mentions that the Jump Ahead button is not available on every video and currently only supports English videos. It will be pulled from the beta page on June 1st and there is no word on whether YouTube will release the feature to the general public in the future.

The publication reports that when YouTube tested the feature earlier this year, it wasn’t available through YouTube’s testing page, and some users were automatically taken into testing.

YouTube periodically releases experimental features that premium users can try on an opt-in basis. Typically, these features are available for a limited time with a chance to get a public release in a future update. The video streaming giant previously tested the ability to prevent accidental keystrokes, stable volume and a long press to fast-forward videos.

source: 9to5Google | Photo via Pixabay