YouTube has had one if its most significant face lifts yet, now sporting a redesigned look built entirely around its popular channels. Sat on the left of the page is a selection of channels that will populate the home page with relevant content.

Say, for example, you want to see everything trending, you can click the section and YouTube will show you current popular videos. Sections range from music to non-profit and activism. YouTube is now looking to take on major television channels with professionally produced content featuring a-list celebrities. There has also been an increasing amount of on demand video content added the site available for rental. 

YouTube is now transforming itself into much more than a simple video sharing platform, instead becoming more of a one stop shop for video on the web. The channels remind us more of the likes of Sky Go and TiVo than YouTube's previous approach to video: it appears to be a nicer place to simply watch content. 

It is a much more streamlined approach and is bolstered by additional social networking functionality. Facebook and Google+ can be embedded directly into the site, so you can see what friends are viewing. Profiles and email have also been much better integrated. 

The use of the Google+ grey colour scheme appears to be an indication that there may be a more unified design approach to Google's products. 

YouTube clearly wants in on some of the ad revenues that TV companies generate and with this redesign, it looks entirely possible. 

What do you think to the new look YouTube? Let us know in the comments below ...