YouTube Retires Trending Page | Personalized Discovery Takes Over
- Kalyan Bhattacharjee
- Jul 27
- 3 min read
Updated: Jul 31
Overview
YouTube's Trending tab was designed to showcase popular and viral videos across the platform, highlighting what's gaining traction nationally or globally. In contrast, recommendation feeds focus on delivering content tailored to each user's viewing habits, interests, and watch history.
While Trending offered a one-size-fits-all snapshot of popular content, personalized recommendations provide a more relevant and engaging experience for individual users.
YouTube Retires Trending Page
YouTube has overhauled its interface and content strategy by removing the long-standing "Trending" tab in favor of a more tailored content discovery approach. This marks a pivotal shift in how the platform curates and recommends content leaning deeper into its algorithm-driven personalization model.
What Was the Trending Page?
The Trending section was once the go-to place for viewers to find the most popular videos across categories - music, gaming, entertainment, and more in their region. It reflected what was “hot” on YouTube based on view count, velocity, and other engagement metrics. While it offered a broad overview of viral content, it wasn’t personalized and sometimes felt disconnected from users' actual interests.
Why Is YouTube Removing It?
This change reflects evolving user preferences and supports YouTube’s shifting platform objectives. Personalized content is now the norm. Shorts feeds, homepage recommendations, and topic-driven feeds already adapt based on a user’s watch history, location, and engagement.
YouTube believes that tailored content discovery offers a better, more engaging experience.
In a recent blog post, YouTube stated:
"We’ve seen a growing preference for personalized content discovery. Our goal is to help users find videos they’ll love, not just those that are widely popular.”
What’s Replacing the Trending Page?
Instead of a one-size-fits-all “Trending” list, YouTube is expanding and refining its Explore and Home feeds.
These will offer personalized content recommendations based on:
Your watch and search history
Interests and subscribed channels
Current events and timely topics
Regional trends and user behavior
YouTube is also highlighting emerging creators, niche interests, and AI-driven categories like “For You” or “Popular With Viewers Like You.”
How Does This Impact Creators?
The update brings a mix of opportunities and challenges for creators on the platform.
Pros:
More visibility for niche creators whose videos align with a user’s interest.
Increased chances of discovery for newer channels through Shorts and Explore.
Greater engagement, as content reaches more relevant audiences.
Cons:
Fewer viral video opportunities from broad exposure on a single Trending tab.
Greater reliance on algorithms, which can still feel unpredictable for creators.
However, with Shorts, Community Posts, Stories, and newer personalized discovery formats, creators now have multiple surfaces to grow - if they play to the algorithm effectively.
Viewer Experience: What to Expect
Users will likely notice:
More relevant recommendations on the Home and Explore tabs
Dynamic content feeds with categories like Music, Gaming, News, Fashion
Handpicked collections featuring the latest news, popular themes, and category-based videos
Improved Shorts discovery based on interests and user behavior
In short, YouTube wants your experience to feel like “your personal entertainment guide”, not a public billboard of what's going viral.
Key Takeaways
By phasing out the Trending tab, YouTube signals its commitment to an AI-driven, user-focused future. While the nostalgia of a curated list of viral videos will fade, the move could empower users to discover more meaningful and relevant content and give creators a fairer shot at visibility.
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