The next time you search for images on Google via your mobile device, don’t be surprised if you find YouTube video snippets playing at the top of it. This was recently discovered by Google Operating System in which it seems that that at the top of the image search results, a YouTube video snippet was being played on a loop.The good news is that according to the report, there is no sound which means that you won’t suddenly be shocked by a video playing on your phone out of the blue. At the moment it doesn’t seem to be too widespread which has us thinking that this is probably a new feature that Google is testing out at the moment.
It is also possible that this could be some kind of new ad format that Google could be thinking of introducing to its image search. It is presumed that when you click on the video, it will take you to YouTube where the entire video can be viewed. At the moment there is no way of hiding or closing the video, so we guess users will just have to keep scrolling if they want to get past it.
It is unclear if this is something Google plans to roll out in earnest or if they’re just trying out an idea. That being said we’re not sure how much data these videos will consume, which we reckon many users will be annoyed by if it ends up eating a lot into their data. Either way we’ll keep our eyes peeled if and when it does become a reality.
Image credit – Google Operating System