YouTube's 'pesky annotations' will now be replaced by 'less obtrusive cards system'

Washington: YouTube has said that it is doing away with annotations and replacing them with a new "cards" system that would across both desktop and mobile.

Uploaders will now be able to insert "overlaying text and images in a Google Now-like format" that YouTube said was "as beautiful as your videos," reported Tech Crunch.

Content creators will be able to insert cards for merchandise sales, fundraising efforts, other videos, YouTube playlists, web links, and so on at any point in a video clip.

The report said that the "card" system will be "a bit more obtrusive" than the old, pesky annotations but looked a bit nicer. They also don't pop up randomly and one has to click the "info" symbol, which will appear every time you hover over a video, to see a card's content.

Users will also be able to turn annotations off completely through YouTube's settings menu.

Will YouTube's new 'cards' help content creators increase engagement with their viewers? in Science & Technology on LockerDome