I don’t know WHY it is, but I do know that it is a fact, or was last time I tried, that there is something fundamentally different in the way Apple TV delivers YouTube vs. YouTube on the web, or rather the YouTube content that AppleTV can deliver
I assume it’s licensing, since what I refer to is searching, and how I can search for the precise name of a specific video, including spaces and case and punctuation, and it cannot be found on the Apple TV version of YouTube. Same goes for user accounts.
I have not tested this in the last few months, but prior to that I tested it many times, many ways, and it’s a fact.
Does anyone know exactly what the differences are, though?
Some content producers do not make their content available for mobile (which includes AppleTV even though it’s not really a mobile device.) This may be because of licensing issues or just the preference of the producer.
I don’t know what the cause is, but it’s not an issue of mobile devices. For example, when I was looking for the new Weird Al videos this summer, when I searched YouTube on Apple TV I would get videos with the title of the Werid Al video but they were all some idiot sitting in front of their computer telling me about the Weird Al video. Searching YouTube on my iPad at the same time would get me the video I wanted.
It might not be deliberate. The Apple TV app presumably uses the Youtube API. It’s possible that the API’s search function is less sophisticated than the main web site’s, or that the Apple TV app is not making the best use of it. It’s also possible (even likely) that the web site uses additional search magic to improve its results - it is run by Google after all.
Have you tried adding the video to your Youtube favourites? That’ll show up in your favourites list in the Apple TV app if you’re logged in there. You could also try subscribing to the channel that posted it.
I’m pretty sure different devices have different agreements with youtube. My friend’s appletv doesn’t play any VEVO music videos, I think, but my phone will.