Google has announced that if the watch history has been toggled off, YouTube will no longer suggest related videos and content on the platform.
The change is all part of a “new viewer experience” Google announced on Tuesday.
“Starting today, if you have YouTube watch history off and have no significant prior watch history, features that require watch history to provide video recommendations will be disabled – like your YouTube home feed,” a YouTube representative said in a blog post.
How the homepage now looks
If the change is enabled, the platform will now show a blank home feed as opposed to suggestions and recommendations that are typically shown on the page.
What used to be your home screen is replaced by a banner that says, “Your watch history is off,” as well as a shortcut to turn it back on if you actually want to see your home screen.
“This means that starting today, your home feed may look a lot different: you’ll be able to see the search bar and the left-hand guide menu, with no feed of recommended videos, thus allowing you to more easily search, browse subscribed channels and explore Topic tabs instead.”
Users can revert to the earlier settings by turning on the watch history anytime using a toggle located in a dedicated section on the My Google Activity settings page.
Watch history and user experience
It argues that watch history is necessary to show you “the latest videos tailored to you.”
The recommendations that show up on the homepage relies on what the user has watched in the past, informing the platform what kind of content the users like.
They make up a big part of the homescreen.
How the change can help
According to YouTube, this change will make it more clear “which YouTube features rely on watch history to provide video recommendations and make it more streamlined for those of you who prefer to search rather than browse recommendations.”
It should also allow the home feed to be more streamlined, showing only the search bar and guide menu along with offering access to a variety of content and topics to explore and choose from.
Feature rollout
It also mentions that the platform will take its time to make this feature live globally.
YouTube says the changes will roll out “slowly, over the next few months.”
However, several users have already started seeing the change.
A notice on a blank homepage reads, “Your watch history is off. You can change your setting at any time to get the latest videos tailored to you.”
