YouTube has recently started notifying users that their Internet Service Provider could be the reason for awful video streaming playback.
The notifications, first reported by Quartz yesterday, pop up on videos that take an excessive amount of time to load or frequently stop mid-way through playback to buffer. Users are prompted to click a message that reads "Experiencing interruptions?," and takes them to a separate page showing the current service quality of their ISP as well as other available ISPs in the area.
A YouTube spokesperson told Re/code that the new messages aren’t meant to shame ISPs, but rather educated YouTube users about why some videos take forever to load.
This isn’t the first time a big streaming video service has more or less gone after ISPs for crappy streaming performance.
Back in May, Netflix started displaying similar in-player video messages that pointed the finger at a user’s ISP whenever a video had trouble loading quickly or wasn’t able to display the highest quality stream. And while the service ended up yanking those messages the following month, it wasn’t before it grabbed the attention of the Federal Communications Commission.
YouTube, Inc. is a consumer media company for people to watch and share original videos through a Web experience. It allows people to upload, tag, and share personal video clips; browse original videos uploaded by community members; fi... read more »
