YouTube is giving viewers more control over what shows up on their homepage. A new feature called Custom Feeds lets you type what you want to watch in plain language, and Google's Gemini AI builds a feed around it.
How it works
- Open YouTube and tap the option to create a custom feed.
- Describe what you want. You can be specific: what to include, what to skip, and what to prioritize.
- Gemini builds the feed and pins it as a new tab on your homepage.
For example, you could ask for "long-form tech podcasts, no reaction videos" for your commute, or "calm cooking videos under 15 minutes" for winding down at night.
Key details
- You can create multiple feeds for different moods or purposes.
- Custom feeds do not replace your main recommendations. You switch between them like tabs.
- Feeds refresh over time as new videos are uploaded.
- Rollout starts next month on web and mobile.
Why YouTube is doing this
"There's over 20 billion videos in the YouTube corpus, so you're always one search away from a treasure trove of topics," said Emily Moxley, YouTube's VP of Product Management for Viewer AI.
The move follows a wider trend. Bluesky, Threads, Instagram, X, and Spotify have all added tools that let people shape their own feeds instead of relying entirely on a black-box algorithm.
What it means for creators
For creators, this could shift how videos get discovered. Clear titles, descriptions, and topics matter more when an AI is matching videos to a viewer's written request instead of just their watch history. Creators in specific niches could benefit most, since viewers can now ask for those niches directly.
Sources: TechCrunch, Windows Report
