YouTube to roll out a more personalized “new to you” feed to help users on the platform easily discover content. The video streaming platform will be rolling out the feature after reportedly testing it earlier this year.
YouTube Rolls Out Personalized “New To You” Feed
The new feature is now available across desktop, smart TVs, and mobile on the YouTube homepage. The platform says the new feature will help users in discovering new content and creators beyond the normal and usual recommendations they see.
The new tab from YouTube surfaces content that is in alignment with your viewing preferences and even from channels you haven’t encountered before. This new feature is meant to go and mean more than the platforms explore listings feature that also help users find content in specific topics such as sports, or science but doesn’t take the specific interest of users into account.
The streaming platform cites that the “new to you” feature is more personalized to the viewer. The platform is trying to place a balance between content that it thinks users might be interested in along with content that is different from what they usually watch on the platform.
In a blog post, YouTube noted, “you’ve told us that you want to see new creators and new videos after you’ve caught up on your recommendations, so we hope this new option keeps things fresh, while also helping creators connect with new audiences.”
How to Find the YouTube New To You Feature and Tab
The company notes that on mobile devices, users will see the tab when they refresh the homepage of YouTube. The video streaming giant also noted that the new to you tab may be seen as users scroll through their feeds. The company also added that since the feature is a personalized one, it may not be available to users all the time. Users will also need to be signed in to YouTube to be able to see the new to you tab.
Benefits of YouTube’s New Personalized Feature
While many may not see the need for the new feature yet, it holds a lot of potentials. This new feature could help creators on the platform reach new audiences. And this could be done by targeting those users who would be interested more in their content but would not have been able to discover it. The feature also would be able to help users find new content and interests.
The YouTube personalized feature is very similar to TikTok’s for you page, one that uses a recommendation system to display personalized videos suggested to each user on the platform. TikTok’s feature has attributed much to the success of the platform as it continues to help users find more content and also helps creators get discovered.
It seems that YouTube is trying to do the same thing with its “new to you” tab. The launch of the new feature is coming just as lawmakers on the Senate subcommittee on consumer protection, product safety, and data security will scrutinize and question Instagram, YouTube, and Snapchat on the effects of their platforms on vulnerable teens and young users.
