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YouTube recommendations have never been good, and they seem to be getting worse
Channel Feedback
Every single time I look at my YT home page the recommendations are so far off what I'm interested in it's staggering. Maybe 3-5% of them are relevant. The rest are so far off it's like they're using someone else's watch history to base them on.
Anyone else notice this?
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I dont have that problem anymore.
Everytime i saw a video or a channel i'm totally not interrested in i click on the "do not recommend this channel"
Now my front page is only filled with videos i am interrested in.
Over time, this can become become a problem too as your recommendations become very redundant, or as soon as you watch something different, say a few Pink Floyd songs, that's it you're a prog rock guy now.
Yeah YouTube has always been shockingly bad about this.
Like... just because I watched a single tutorial on how to fix a very specific issue on my dishwasher does not mean I am now an appliance repairman who is going to watch these types of videos constantly...
It way over corrects for out-of-character viewing.
Yeah, I fixed my brakes on my car last month, and had to look up a video. Huge mistake.
I guess you could try removing that video from your watch history, I've been told that might help.
That’s my problem. There’s a sweet spot after I DNR a couple dozen channels, but if I do too many about 60% of my recommended are mixes of the channels I blocked lol. Then I have to clear my interactions and start again. And I absolutely cannot watch a video shorter than a minute, or every recommended video will be a 30 second shitpost
You must have DNRed a lot of channels because mine is still full of crap.
And much like reddit's homepage lately, refreshing it doesn't change it, it's just the same videos being reloaded.
Have you tried scrolling the category bar (directly under the search bar) all the way to the right to
"New to you"? I know it's a pain in the ass, and not the ideal fix, but it does help me not get the same 12 videos when refreshing over and over and over and over.
Yeah. My "normal" video recommendations are fine for me. I actually find them to be too recent and reactional, as if they are mostly based on my recent activity l, like 1 or 2 days. But I still get enough overall recommendations. I actually use my subscriptions less and less. But overall I constructed my own YouTube-bubble well enough.
Shorts feel very random for me, still. Not sure what matters there.
For me, shorts just plays stuff i've already watched
I find that you have to watch one or two videos you don't quite like so that it recommends the "correct" genre
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Honestly, I have had to do this with reddit more than YouTube. Had to mute dozens upon dozens of subs on the front page.
Same
This is how I got rid of the endless parade of Mr Beast clones who scream in the camera from being recommended.
Feels good.
Doesn't work, I've clicked like 5000 times "not interested" or "block channel" and "I've already seen this video" and the suggestions are still fucked. I've actually started believing they do this on purpose to make people buy YouTube music etc.
For me on my tv app every row just repeats pretty much regardless of the topic of that row
Same. They don't even make sense. Gaming? Subnautica, okay fine. RPG... Subnautica. Action-adventure.. subnautica? Simulation, subnautica
You will watch Subnautica and you will LIKE IT!
Subnautica
I think topic is based off the channel posting it
I watch this one channel that makes both gaming and podcast videos, but all of their videos get put under the podcasts section
For me the suggestion topic is too broad. For example comedy there’s like food videos there. Then the next row is food themed and I see the same video again. Not to mention the same vid was in the main suggestion.
But if I use my phone app the suggestions are slightly better. It just means it’s forcing me to connect my phone to the tv app which isn’t ideal
I've been trying to reduce the issue using the "not [TOPIC]" feature, but it seems to do nothing
I've sometimes selected that a video doesn't match the topic, refreshed the page, gone back to the topic and the same video is suggested
It's the actual search function that pisses me off. I'll get a handful of results relating to my search, but then I'll get a load of stuff from stuff other people have searched for, and then I'll get a load of videos I've watched before! Pile of crap.
It’s getting worse these days. They’re always recommending me the same type of videos from the channel I’ve subscribed so it defeats the purpose of subscribing to channels anyway. You can’t even search for a specific video you want to watch because the results would be paid ads and some videos from popular channels that was posted years ago. You can’t even watch new videos from small creators too unless they’re paid ads
I get Christian/Bible things in my home/short feed. I have no interest in any of these but still shows up for me.
I got one for how to make bootleg alcohol with grape juice and sugar, uploaded 7 years ago
hiccough total rubbish wipes purple drool
And Youtube knows it, last time a survey showed up in my main page asking me if this exact thing happened to me.
I got this too, it says "Have you noticed any of these changes on Youtube lately?" with one of the options specifically being "don't recommend channel doesn't work" and "too many irrelevant recommendations".
Got another one too with the same question but it had "too many videos in another language", "too much mainstream network tv content" and something else. It really does feel like they are taunting me since a week after "too many videos in another language" I keep getting videos with less than 100 views recommended to me, all of which are in another language.
That’s almost taunting lol.
“Hey is this very specific and annoying thing happening to you? Okay good to know, good luck with it!” With no attempt at a solution
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i have history off, so i don't even get recommendations anymore. it just asks me to please enable history, which i refuse to do
Yes, i will do this. I never thought of this. Why did I not think of this. I will also refuse!
I feel like I fall somewhere in the middle. I'll get relevant videos here and there but those are always mixed in with videos that I've already seen, other videos of people I'm subsribed to already, the ocassional way out there video from someone using the default thumbnail with less than 100 views, and videos from my "liked" that I haven't touched in over 5 years.
My biggest problem is the lack of real tracking of activities. I watch a lot of different stuff. I watch long horror videos like Nexpo, that is more than 1 hour of well edited videos. I watch gaming channel, movies channel. But the thing is, when I watch a few videos about any of those niches, they kinda stop recommeding other niches.
If I watched horror videos last day, they stop recommeding the movies and gaming channel which really sucks because sometimes I completely forget a channel exist for months until I accidentally find them.
I feel this.
I often listen to stuff like Nexpo or true crime while I walk my dog. On my PC I tend to watch gameplay vids or shows.
Whenever I have a longer walk with the pupper and I return to PC, my feed is filled with murderers instead of game clips. Like according to Youtube, I can only like one thing at a time, no sense recommending me ANYTHING else because I watched genre X for a full hour instead of 40 minutes.
I completely agree with you.
I have to skim through so much content just to find something worth watching. Aslo I have to use summary tools like AskTube before deciding on a video to watch.
I get recommended videos I’ve already watched constantly. Like brother show me something new
It's horrendous! Agree never been that good, but lately it has been the absolute worst. I wonder if they're diverting all their AI compute to generative AI and turning down the recommendation engine.
Yup, it's either videos with 0 views, videos i've already watched before, or russian fighting videos for some reason. and the occasional 30 videos from the same creator all in a row.
They are worse I can confirm!
Oh you mean how I keep, some how, with only watching my usual Markiplier, Blarg/Soup/TheDooo, or Pirate Software, I keep getting recommended JOE ROGAN, Ben Shapiro, and PragerU bullcrap?
I just get a feed entirely filled with one YouTube channel.
I don't have that problem, though I noticed on my alt school account(I watched less than 10 videos on it) YouTube recommendeds random stuff to me
what i hate the most is that i ALWAYS get recommended video's with below 100 views about subjects i dont care about and are ASS quality. It sucks. Youtube is total ass right now.
Right? And it's always the 5th video without fail every time.
For me its always the third. Its always a video or a livestream with always less then 1k views. And sometimes its in languages i didnt even know existed.
I've been dealing with this problem since Fall 2022. YouTube Premium customer since it was YouTube Red. For me its the third recommendation slot in the side bar that's a problem.
I'd say roughly 70% of the time the third recommended video in the sidebar is just garbage with following properties.
Is anywhere from a couple hours to few days old
Usually has less then 500 views, but on the "high end" can have 10k-15k views
These days, dubious at best connection to my search/viewing history. (initially back in 2022-2023 it at least used to be related to a video I would be actively watching. Not sure which of these variations is worse since the ones that were related to my watch history were the types of videos I'd never watch.)
Most likely to have the type of clickbait, shocked face thumbnail that I've gone out of my way to avoid through years of "Don't recommend videos from this channel" level feedback.
There is virtually no curation for this recommendation slot. Its a part of the reason why I will never watch YouTube videos in a non-incognito session for any game or show I'm actively playing/watching because I'm terrified that in a half-hearted attempt at curation YouTube will just throw a video published in the past hour or two with a major spoiler for a given piece of media I'm actively engaged with. Granted YouTube recommending spoilers was a problem before this, but frequently favoring videos that are only a few hours old makes it even more likely to stumble upon spoilers if it ever went back to being related to my viewing history.
The Improve YouTube extension provided a somewhat viable work around in that I have set the recommended side bar to start out as auto collapsed, making it so I don't have to force myself to not look at the right side of the screen. Still its unfortunate that even as YouTube premium customer for years I have to actively look to third party help for issues like this.
And yes I have frequently sent YouTube feedback on this exact issue.
EXACTLY, i always thought i was the only one with this weird thing. But all the properties you mention apply to me. They always have that "new" tag under them.
Does the improve youtube also fox the hidious new gui they forced to us?
Sad to see that Google doesnt matter a out you or your feedback even if youre a paying customer. Its a shame.
Potentially. Under Appearance -> Sidebar in the "Improve YouTube" extension there's a toggle setting called "Undo the New Sidebar" though I'm not sure how well it works in the new layout on account of not having gotten around to testing it directly.
One of the few small mercies I've been granted is my only exposure to the new Ui has been limited to a handful of random visits to YouTube via incognito mode.
Also excellent point on the "New" tag. Thats basically what the third slot seems to be reserved for these days. Random Videos labeled "New". My theory is it was a half hearted attempt at getting lesser known creators a chance but I can safely say that at least for me it hasn't worked at all.
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Not really most I'm interested in by mutliitimes a day I'll get recommended a random ass video I'm not interested in but a channel with 4 subs and 12 views
Are you logged in?
I literally only get recommended like 15 second meme videos, nothing else
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I've never had this issue, I don't even use the 'Don't recommend' button outside Shorts, and somehow this is foreign to me. How is this even possible?
Try clear up your Google My activity and give permission to change the algorithm based on your search
This is because they never let what you like to get promoted, they insist on forcing what they want to be promoted
The past couple of months I've been recommended so many videos I've already seen, but yt seems to have forgotten I've already seen it.
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I’m signed out, don’t have an account, so my Recomendations are pretty much relevant be also not. Like I got some of the big YouTubers (that I hate) on My fyp
No. The moment I see what YouTube looks like when I'm not signed in, I'm grateful for the recommendations. The videos recommended to me are infinitely more relevant to me than what's shown to the generic person.
LMAO, that's so true. YouTube recommendations for established accounts like mine (10+ years) definitely have their fair share of problems, but as someone who semi frequently views YouTube videos in Incognito mode I am acutely aware of how much worse the recommendations could be.
i have a problem with the next video that plays automatically after the one i'm watching ends, more often then not it is a video that i already watched a couple months before...
Their recomendations seem more agressive these days. I watched one video on a different subject than I normally do and very soon all I got recommended were similar vidoes. Almost all of my "regular" recommended disappeared. I wish the idea that watching one vidoe does not mean I like the subject so much that I want my other like to disapear.
I had to click not interested and removed stuff from my watch history. You watch one Fortnite or minecraft video and it seems to nuke the algorithm thinking that you are interested in kid stuff and start showing you roblox and dumb kid videos. I just searched those games in my history and removed them and fixed it.
It is so garbage on TVs. Have to just use my phone and cast to the TV just for decent recommendations
Useful trick: use the "New to you" filter. I get a lot more interesting recommendations when I use that. I think it's because it shows you videos that are related to content you've watched, while your main home page shows you most of the exact same kind of content you've watched. I think it's actually TOO tailored, just watching one video about chess can ruin your entire home feed.
For example, I was looking about videos about decking vs floating a Stratocaster bridge, and my home page is filled with videos about guitar bridge maintenance. But my "New to you" shows a greater diversity of guitar videos that are a lot more interesting.
I've never really gotten many leads from the NTY tab. I've been fighting with it for over a year and a half and I'm not sure if I ever managed to find a channel to stay subscribed to through it.
Seems to be everything today including spotify
I use a browser extension called "unhook" that just hides everything that isnt the main video. Great for NOT going down rabbit holes.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EBdpv2jcXYQ
Mine works great fortunately
YouTube recommendations are the opposite of what I want to watch.
Lol, yesterday I saw an ad for ad blockers on YT...
I've had the same like 5 videos show up on my home page. They are related to things I'm interested in, but I'm not interested in watching the videos. If I click I'm not interested, that type of video disappears forever until I manually go looking for it again, so I refrain from doing it, but god damn is it frustrating.
The front page shows me absolutely nothing new. "Something new to you" tab does not show me anything new. The random pop up asking me to pick videos I'm interested in does not show me a single video I'm interested in, so I can't customize my feed either.
I don't know how to find new interesting content to watch, because all of it is either videos I've watched, random ass 100 viewer video from 12 years ago or a video somewhat related to my interests, but not something I've interested in - in which case, as stated, after I've actively chosen to not click on that video for a week straight it will STILL BE THERE.
I have a recommendation YouTube Video…what is it?
Then you aren’t liking and subscribing to channels you like…. The algorithm just know a video was played and you stayed and then another one plays. If you like or comment it gives it more weight for you in the categories for that video.
I CONSTANTLY switch hyper fixations and I only like and subscribe to channels after a week of watching them or being interesting in something to avoid changing my recommendations to much. Treat and understand YouTube like a tool. Not entertainment
I DO like videos a decent amount. As far as subscribing? Not so much. It's next to impossible for me to find a channel to actually subscribe to and even if I do, it's next to impossible for me to stay subscribed to them due to one reason or another
That’s subjng is the big thing
It's actually starting to get really good again, especially with the new recommendation of low view channels
80% of my recommendations are videos i already watched...
God, they are horrible. I like using the recommendations when my subs haven't posted anything new and it's become a nightmare. They continuously recommend the same channel ad nauseam. I have had to literally click "Don't Recommend Channel" just to get a different channel recommendation but then it will do it again with another channel! Recently, they have decided to recommend channels that aren't even remotely any topic I watch.
In the last couple of weeks my feed went from topical content, stuff generated in the last few days, to content created a year or more ago. It's been very effective at curing my YouTube addiction.
Dude, I feel you. I was looking for some Warhammer 40k Magic the Gathering decks on Google a little over a year ago, and now YouTube is constantly recommending Warhammer videos to me. I'm not in the slightest bit interested in anything Warhammer, nor have I ever played or even watched a Warhammer video, but god damn does YouTube think that I'm obsessed with it because I bought some decks for a card game 14 months ago.
The worst one: "Not Interested->I've seen this before". The videos come back. They used to not
Stop commenting on and watching things you don't like. 🤦
80% is just videos I have already watched, usually very recently watched that day or the day before.
They are HORRIBLE. Same 10 recommendations over and over and over again
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No matter how many times I use the "Not Interested" or "Don't Recommend Videos From This Channel" function, I can't escape incel content. I only use YouTube for gameplay videos, so apparently gamers by large also watch incel content. Shocker...
I often have to sift through a lot of content to find something worth watching. Additionally, I rely on summary tools like AskTube to decide which videos to watch.
I don’t blame you. Their machine based algorithm sucks to high heaven, not to mention their feedback options which do not listen to the user.
I keep getting the exact same videos on my home feed and reloading doesn't work
"I don't like that the massive company constantly tracking me and trying to keep me watching videos with their algorithm to target advertising to me doesn't know me well enough!".
YouTube not knowing you well enough to be recommending only things you like is actually a good thing.
That's what i thought until just today i was flabbergasted when YouTube actually recommended me a masterpiece song named Angel it's so damn good
once you watch all the new videos in your bubble, the algo tries to find something else you might like.
The algo can't magically make up new videos for you to watch. There is a point where the system just has to throw out something for you to watch.
I don’t have this problem, I always get recommendations for things I’m interested in.
Yes they are god awful. The only thing i get that is kinda interesting is twitch clips and true crime documentaries. But these are just like making lemonade out of lemons. Give me the good shit again pls. Youtube poops and nonsensical CoD montages with Linkin Park playing. The good ol days before somebody started messing with my shit.
If you have the stupid autoplay on scroll on, that's counted towards your watch history.
I turned that off and deleted my YouTube watch history and my recommendations were pretty good for a while.
Nah, they work very good for me. That doesn't sokve your problem but it's indication that it's not so widespread
To me, recommendations are spot on. Except for ball golf, i watch disc golf and YouTube thinks i like traditional golf :D
My home page is exclusively good content I want to watch. I rarely have this issue
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My recommendations are great actually. Click "do not recommend channel" for whatever you know you're never going to be interested in and avoid actually clicking on videos you don't like and it should fix itself.
Been there, done that, wrote the book multiple times over in the last 7.5 years. Still having problems