YouTube is opening up to software developers, the company said Wednesday. Programmers can create new interfaces to play videos, for example, or let users upload clips to YouTube directly from other sites. And later this year, viewers will be able to watch YouTube videos via TiVo. The open platform won’t create revenue, Technology Review reports, but YouTube hopes it will attract more users.
In turn, more registered users could eventually translate into advertising dollars. Game developer Electronic Arts already has a YouTube feature in the works that will let players quickly record and upload a video of a creature they create in the game Spore. And Animoto, a maker of online photo slideshows, is letting users share their slideshows via YouTube in just one click. (More software developers stories.)