Normally, I use YouTube very little (watch a couple videos a month). However, I’ve been in bed with an injury for some time now, which has led me to watch quite a bit of YouTube. The thing is, I subscribe to a small handfull of channels that I enjoy content from, but after a relatively short time I had watched pretty much all the new content from those channels.
Now, I would expect that the YouTube algorithm, which is supposedly designed by competent people to get me to stick around, would be able to suggest some decent content to me based on my subscriptions. However, the past week, I’ve opened YouTube only to find the same old videos being suggested over and over. Even worse: Whenever there’s something interesting-looking from a channel I don’t recognise, it always turns out to be some shitty AI voice over some generic animations or footage.
I know for a fact that thousands of hours of content are created on YouTube daily, but it genuinely feels like there are maybe five creators out there that are making anything worth watching. It’s either that, or the YouTube algorithm is just complete crap at suggesting creators that are in any way similar to what I’m already subscribing to.
What’s going on here? Why does it seem like there’s no real content out there?
As a “funny” side note: What’s with the “aggressively American” AI narrator-voice? I’ve heard it before, but thought it was some dude until I realised it’s the same voice in a bunch of unrelated videos. It reminds me of the Discovery-channel “action-narrator”-voice from back in the day, but now it’s showing up in all kinds of crap videos.
People need to learn to subscribe to channels they like and then actually use the subscription tab.
Don’t just let YT suggest videos to you. be active in your content consumption
You can even find extensions to hide the BS that you don’t want. I am using an extension to only show my subscriptions and hide everything I don’t use or want to see such as shorts and the firehose of slop that is now the explore/trending feed.
That’s what I’ve been doing though, and usually it’s not a problem. The issue now is that I’ve been confined to my bed for long enough that I’ve watched all the new content from the channels I subscribe to, and have been hoping that the recommendations would help me find new channels I would be interested in, but alas…
Do you know the “new to you” feature?
It’s agenuinely neat thing by YT, so of course it’s completely hidden away.
In the browser you can find it at the top below the search bar, where you see all the genres:
You just need to scroll aaalllll the way to to right.
I don’t use it often, but the feature is basically a recommendation feed on steroids. Videos in the same style that you already seem to like, but from creators that you haven’t or rarely watched.
I found some real nice gems in there. As well as small creators that are geninely good and would later explode in popularity
Thanks! I’ll check that out!
That doesn’t work anymore and I say this as a long time user. In the last 5 years their algorithm has gotten worse and worse. I have an extensive subscription list and the junk they push at me these days never matches any of the videos I currently watch. Deleting history and trying to rebuild it doesn’t help. OP’s feelings here is widely held with many users these days.
that’s literally impossible.
The subscriptions tab has been, and still is, only from channels you actively clicked “subscribe” to. If you see trash in there, it’s because you subscribed.
There is 0 algorithm in there.
This is the feed: https://www.youtube.com/feed/subscriptions
It’s not about what you already watch, op wants to find new related videos to watch. YouTube’s algo no longer works that way
Ah, I thought you meant trash stuff showing in your sub feed.
Yes, it has gotten worse, but tbh, it’s not that bad for me. Recommendations still are basically stuff related to what I watch.
There tends to sometimes pop up weird stuff when I click on videos that people send me, but as soon as I remove that video from my history it’s back to normal
People don’t use the subscription tab? Why do they subscribe in the first place?
that was my reaction as well.
I did a non-scientific poll in my friendscircle and fedi followers, and aparently only about a quarter of the people even know that “subscriptions” is an actual tab.
They just assume if they subscribe, that it will show up on the home page / main feed somehow.
It absolutely explains the “youtube unsubbed me from you” comments you always see. They never were subscribed in the first place (always saw releases on the home page when YT felt like it). Or they subbed, but never use the sub tab
I didn’t even “see” the subscription tab because for years the home screen had stuff from my subscription.
Now the subscription tab is my home page, mostly thanks to Technology Connections for pointing it out.
I didn’t know there was a feed. The subscription page is what I have bookmarked, not the home page. People have complained about not getting notified of new videos, but that hasn’t happened to me once in the 15+ years I have been using YouTube.
The latest vids from my subs always show up on my main feed, I sub to give the creator a number boost, let yt know to put these on my feed, and even with notifications off I will see their latest vid near the top of my feed within a short time of release, sometimes I get the vid posted less than 5 mins before I get back.