YouTube has spent years learning what people want to watch from signals such as their viewing history, searches, likes, and dislikes. While users could tell the platform when they did not like a recommendation, there has been no simple way to tell YouTube exactly what they want to see on their feed.
That is beginning to change.
The largest online streaming platform has now announced Custom Feeds, a new feature that lets users type what kind of videos they want to see. YouTube then creates a separate feed with recommendations based on that request.
For example, a user could ask for witty podcasts for a 30-minute commute, long documentaries to watch in the evening, or new DIY creators. YouTube will then use that request to recommend relevant videos and continue updating the feed with new suggestions.
How YouTube’s Custom Feeds Work
Announced in late September at the company’s Made on YouTube event, Custom Feeds are placed at the top of the YouTube homepage, where users can enter a prompt describing the videos they want recommended. Behind the feature is Google’s Gemini model, which YouTube uses to understand what the user is asking for and turn that request into a separate feed of recommendations.
According to the company, these feeds can be built around specific interests, routine,s or moods. The company also plans to let users save multiple Custom Feeds so they can move between different sets of recommendations without changing what they normally see on their main homepage.
The current experimental version is available in English to some users in the United States, and users must be signed in and have their watch and search history turned on. YouTube says the wider version will be available in the US across mobile, desktop and TVs.
However, Custom Feeds do not completely replace YouTube’s existing recommendation system. Videos watched through a Custom Feed are still added to a user’s normal watch history, which means those videos could eventually affect what appears on the main Home feed.
YouTube Considered Giving Users Even More Control
YouTube actually tested a more direct approach before settling on Custom Feeds.
According to WIRED, the company experimented with allowing users to directly change their overall recommendation algorithm. However, YouTube Vice President of Product Management Emily Moxley said testers were worried they could damage recommendations that had been built from years of viewing activity.
As such, the company instead chose to keep Custom Feeds separate from the main homepage.
This distinction matters because users are getting more control over what YouTube recommends without having to change the recommendation profile the platform has already built around their account.
YouTube Is Changing How Users Train Its Algorithm
Until now, controlling YouTube recommendations has largely meant responding to what the platform has already shown you. Users could like or dislike videos, remove content from their history, select “Not interested,” or even ask YouTube not to recommend a particular channel.
But Custom Feeds reverse part of that process. Instead of repeatedly watching certain videos and waiting for the recommendation system to recognise a new interest, users can directly describe what they want to see.
YouTube is also joining a broader move towards giving people more say over algorithmic feeds. Meta has reportedly introduced similar controls for Instagram, while Spotify has experimented with prompt-based playlists that allow users to describe the music they want.
While YouTube is still keeping control of the main recommendation engine, Custom Feeds aims to reduce how much users have to rely on that system to guess what they want. And for the first time, viewers can tell YouTube what they are interested in and immediately get a separate feed built around that choice.
