YouTube is shaking things up! The video streaming giant, owned by Google, has announced the removal of its general “Trending” page, opting instead for category-specific trending lists. This means the days of a single, unified list showcasing the most popular videos across the platform are over. Now, users will find curated trending content within specific categories.
According to YouTube, this update better reflects how users discover trending content today. Back in 2015, when the “Trending” page was launched, it was easier to compile a single list of viral videos that everyone was talking about. The platform stated that trends are now shaped by a multitude of diverse videos created by different fan groups, resulting in a proliferation of niche trends.
The new category-specific lists will include trending music videos, top weekly podcasts, and popular movie trailers. YouTube plans to add more content categories in the future. The shift aims to provide a more personalized and relevant experience for viewers.
“Alongside highlighting trending content in genre-specific lists, we’ll continue to show videos we think viewers will enjoy through personalized recommendations,” YouTube stated in an online post. “This way, we can showcase a wider range of relevant trending content and make the way viewers find new videos more natural.” This means YouTube’s algorithm will play an even bigger role in surfacing videos for users, based on their viewing history and preferences.
Viewers can still browse non-personalized content through the “Explore” page, creator channels, and their subscribed accounts. YouTube emphasizes that users are finding trending content through various avenues, including recommendations, search, and notifications.
Previously, users primarily discovered trending content through the dedicated “Trending” tab. Now, they are increasingly reliant on algorithm-driven suggestions tailored to their individual preferences. YouTube acknowledges that this shift in user behavior has led to a decline in traffic to the “Trending” page over the past five years. This change reflects YouTube’s ongoing effort to provide a more personalized and engaging user experience, moving away from a one-size-fits-all approach to content discovery. The focus is now on connecting users with videos they are more likely to enjoy, based on their individual interests and viewing habits. This could lead to a more diverse range of content being discovered by users, as the algorithm surfaces videos from smaller creators and niche communities that might not have made it onto the general “Trending” page.
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