YouTube releases its 2022 recap for the US, highlighting the most-watched videos, top creators, breakout stars, top songs, and global top ads (Abner Li/9to5Google)

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
YouTube unveils Creator Music in beta, which lets creators browse a catalog and use songs by buying rights or sharing revenue, debuting in the US this fall  —  In addition to the groundbreaking news that YouTube would begin to monetize Shorts videos and revamp its Partner Program …

Ben Schoon / 9to5Google:
Some YouTube viewers say ads on the platform have been expanding greatly in length and quantity recently, with reports of five to 10 unskippable ads per break  —  The experience of watching YouTube has been infiltrated by ads over the years as a means of maintaining the platform and supporting creators financially.

Jem Aswad / Variety:
YouTube says Music and Premium together have 80M+ paying subscribers, up from 50M in September 2021, and payments to creators and others reached $50B since 2019  —  It’s a dramatic leap, especially for a platform where so much can be had for free, and would seem to place YouTube …

Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Google unveils search results with a “Discussions and forums” section, rolling out on mobile in the US, and with machine-translated news coverage, in early 2023  —  At Search On 2022, Google announced that “Discussions and forums” will be getting their own sections in results …

Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Google rolls out support for signing in with passkeys on Android and Chrome to beta testers ahead of a wider launch in 2022  —  Apple, Google, Microsoft, and others in the industry want to replace website/app passwords with “passkeys” that just require you to unlock your device.

Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Google launches Health Connect in beta on the Play Store with partners including Peloton, Oura, Flo, MyFitnessPal, and Samsung, after months in “early access”  —  Google announced Health Connect in May at I/O 2022, and recent months have seen more apps support it.