What to know:

  • Jump Ahead is a new YouTube Premium feature that lets you skip to the most interesting parts of videos.
  • It uses AI and viewership data to identify commonly skipped sections and jump over them.
  • The feature is rolling out now on Android for US Premium subscribers, with iOS support coming soon.
  • Yes, you need YouTube premium subscription for this.

YouTube Premium is leveling up with a new AI-powered feature called Jump Ahead. Here is everything you need to know about the new feature.

What is Jump Ahead in YouTube and how does it work

As the name suggests, it allows you to jump past the boring bits of a video right to the good stuff.

Here’s how it works: when you’re watching a video and double-tap to fast forward, a “Jump Ahead” button will appear in the bottom right corner. Tap it, and YouTube will automatically skip over the parts of the video that people commonly fast forward through, taking you right to the next interesting section.

YouTube says Jump Ahead uses a combination of artificial intelligence and aggregated viewer behavior data to determine what parts of a video are less engaging. So the more people skip a certain part, the more likely Jump Ahead is to zip right over it.

YouTube Jump Ahead requirements

Make sure you have a YouTube Premium subscription and the latest version of the YouTube app installed on your Android device (iOS coming soon).

How to use Jump Ahead in YouTube app

  1. Start playing a video.
  2. Double-tap on the right side of the video player to fast forward.
  3. Look for the “Jump Ahead” button that appears in the bottom right corner.
  4. Tap the “Jump Ahead” button.
  5. YouTube will automatically skip over the commonly fast-forwarded section and resume playing at the next point of interest.

The feature started rolling out recently (June 27, 2024) for YouTube Premium members in the US using the Android app. YouTube says iOS support will be coming in the next few weeks.

Jump Ahead joins a handful of other new Premium perks also announced today, including picture-in-picture support for Shorts on Android and some experimental features like Smart Downloads for automatically saving videos offline.

While it remains to be seen how well Jump Ahead actually works in practice, it’s a clever concept that could make it a lot easier to get to the meat of longer videos. YouTube has been on a tear adding lots of Premium-only features lately to sweeten the deal for subscribers, and Jump Ahead is yet another way the service is aiming to provide more value beyond just an ad-free experience.