- What's up, Insiders?
I'm Becca and I'm a product manager on YouTube Discovery.
So I work closely with Todd, and Rachel,
and others you've seen here on the channel.
And today, I'm here to tell you about a new set of features
we're building for the YouTube mobile app homepage.
So they're not features for Studio,
but I hope you'll find them interesting nonetheless.
So the new features help viewers discover creators
or content that is new to them.
And help them explore beyond their typical recommendations.
And the features are called,
yep, you guessed it, new to you.
So today, I wanna cover three things.
One, why we wanna help viewers explore new content.
Two, the features we're building to help do that.
And three, how we think this will help
creators discover new viewers.
So with that, let's get into it.
So why help viewers explore something new?
Well, a message we've heard from lots of YouTube viewers
is that their home feeds feel a little bit stale.
Meaning, they come back to YouTube day-to-day
and they see the same flavor of recommendations
that they've seen before.
As much as I love the current cast members,
I look at my own home feed and I'm like, "There's SNL."
It can be easy to feel stuck in the same
sort of pattern of homepage recommendations.
And we know that as creators,
it's really magical when you can connect
with a new person who really loves your content,
but maybe just hadn't discovered you before.
That's a really magical experience for viewers as well.
So we designed and envisioned a feature
that would help viewers explore outside
their typical recommendations while staying personalized
to that viewer's particular interests.
So what are we actually building?
Well, the first feature is called new to you on refresh.
So the way that it works
is if you open up your YouTube homepage on mobile,
see that bar at the top of the screen with various topics?
You'll see a colorful option animate
to the front of the bar called new to you.
And when you tap on it,
it will show a set of recommendations
that you haven't seen before.
So you can scroll around, and explore,
and hopefully find something to watch
that will take you beyond what you typically see.
The second feature is called the new to you prompt.
Now, this feature exists
because we know that when you pull to refresh,
that's not the only moment you might
be craving a little bit of exploration.
So the way this feature works is it will trigger
after you've scrolled down a ways in your feed,
but maybe you haven't found something to watch yet.
So you'll see an option directly in your feed
to tap into this new to you feed.
And that will take you right
into this set of exploratory recommendations
where you can discover new flavors of videos
and hopefully new creators.
So how will this help creators find new viewers?
Some of you might be thinking,
"This sounds a lot like the Explore page to me.
"What's the difference?"
Well, Explore helps viewers on YouTube discover content
in specific verticals like gaming, or beauty,
or content that is trending worldwide,
but content that is not necessarily personalized to them.
In other words,
it doesn't take their specific interests into account,
but new to you is unique in that it is personalized
to the viewer.
So we try to take a balance
between things we think you might be interested in
plus things that are a bit further afield
of what you typically watch.
So to share a personal example,
I've been really into soundscapes recently.
So when I was trying out the new to you feed,
I discovered a channel that creates these amazing mashups
of vintage, classic songs being played on a record player
while there's a light rainstorm happening outside.
So you're listening to it.
And it sounds like you're hearing
this record being played in another room.
It's absolutely amazing.
And definitely not something I would've discovered
without the help of new to you.
We're super excited about the way
these new to you features will help
viewers discover creators that they haven't met yet.
And for creators to reach new audiences
who will love their content.
So these features will start rolling out in July
with some additions coming in the following month.
So keep an eye out.
Well, that's all I have for you today.
I hope this video was helpful.
If you have suggestions or ideas
for how we can help creators reach new audiences
or viewers discover new content,
please leave your ideas in the comments.
We'd be super pumped to hear from you.
And in the meantime, as I always say,
ABE, always be exploring, peace.
(air whooshing)