The change is a long time coming -- videos that heavily used annotations usually offered sub-par experiences to mobile and TV users, and YouTube says their use overhaul has dropped 70-percent since it introduced End Screens and Cards. Still, the solution isn't perfect: cards only display on the right-hand side of a video after being expanded, and end-cards can only add links to videos, playlists and subscription buttons for the last 30 seconds of a video. TV users are still left in the lurch too: none of YouTube's add-on features are available to folks watching on Google TV, Chromecast or other set-top boxes.

Based on the comments on the announcement post, creators are split on the change -- but it's clearly a decision made to benefit users, particularly those who primarily watch YouTube on mobile devices. After all, what good is it to YouTube to support a feature that only works on one of its many platforms?