YouTube to Phase Out Trending Sections in Favor of Personalized Content Discovery

YouTube is preparing to **remove** the «Trending» section, which showcases new viral videos on the platform. The «Trending» pages and the «Trending Now» list will be eliminated within the next few weeks.

The platform will shift its focus to enhancing charts that rank the most popular content. YouTube encourages users to rely on personalized recommendations for discovering new videos.

YouTube charts allow viewers to see the most popular content in specific categories, currently including music videos, podcasts, and movie trailers. Over time, YouTube plans to introduce more content categories, while popular gaming videos can be found on the «Gaming Overview» page.

«When we first launched the ‘Trending’ page in 2015, finding out what was trending was much simpler with a single list of viral videos that everyone was talking about. However, today’s trends consist of numerous videos made by various fandoms, and there are more micro-trends followed by diverse communities,” the company explained its decision. They also noted that users now discover viral video trends from various sources, including short videos, search suggestions, and other platforms like TikTok, which has resulted in a decline in traffic to the «Trending» page, «especially over the past five years.»

Creators had previously criticized YouTube for requiring a significantly higher view count for the «Trending» section compared to branded accounts.

Creators who used the «Trending» page for video inspiration are now encouraged to utilize the «Inspiration» tab in YouTube Studio, which provides AI-generated content recommendations. YouTube also stated that it is developing new ways to increase the visibility of emerging creators on the platform, such as the Hype promotion system, which makes it easier for viewers to help videos reach a desired ranking.

At the same time, YouTube is preparing to **revise** its policy to limit the ability of creators to monetize «inauthentic» content, including videos and other forms of repetitive content that have become easier to produce with AI technology. On July 15, the company will update its monetization policy under the YouTube Partner Program (YPP), adding more detailed guidelines on what type of content can be monetized and what cannot.