YouTube is preparing to give viewers greater control over what appears on their homepages, with CEO Neal Mohan announcing a new feature called Custom Feeds that will allow users to create personalised video feeds using simple conversational prompts.
The announcement was made on September 23, 2026, as part of YouTube’s Made on YouTube event, where the company unveiled more than 30 new features and products for viewers, creators and artists. Mohan described the initiative as putting the “keys to your homepage” in users’ hands, signalling a shift towards a more customisable viewing experience.
The feature is designed to help users move beyond relying entirely on YouTube’s recommendation algorithm. Instead of receiving one main stream of suggested videos based on their viewing activity, users will be able to create dedicated feeds for particular interests, moods and routines.
The change could appeal to viewers who use YouTube for different purposes throughout the day, from watching educational videos and following news to listening to podcasts or relaxing with entertainment.
How YouTube Custom Feeds will work
Custom Feeds will allow users to describe the type of content they want to watch in ordinary language. YouTube will then use those prompts to create a dedicated feed tailored to the request.
For example, a user could ask for witty podcasts suitable for a 30-minute commute, long documentaries for the evening or videos featuring new do-it-yourself creators. These are among the types of prompts described in YouTube’s official announcement.
Rather than searching for the same topics repeatedly, viewers will be able to save multiple custom feeds to their home screens. The feeds are designed to update automatically with fresh recommendations, giving users a more convenient way to return to their preferred content categories.
A person could maintain separate feeds for technology updates, fitness, cooking, learning a language and entertainment. This would allow different interests to be organised into distinct viewing experiences rather than mixed together in a single stream.
YouTube has presented Custom Feeds as an upcoming feature. The announcement does not mean that every user already has access to it, and availability may depend on the rollout schedule and supported experience.
Why YouTube is changing its recommendation experience
YouTube’s homepage has traditionally relied heavily on automated recommendations informed by users’ viewing histories, subscriptions, searches and interactions. The system helps people discover content across a platform that receives millions of new uploads.
However, recommendations can sometimes become repetitive or fail to reflect what a user wants to watch at a particular moment. Someone who watches a single video about a topic may subsequently see more videos on the same subject, even when their interests have changed.
Custom Feeds could help address this problem by allowing users to express their current interests more directly. A viewer who usually watches entertainment might create a separate feed for professional learning, while someone who follows daily news could create another for long-form analysis.
The feature also acknowledges that viewing habits are not static. People may want educational content during working hours, music while exercising and documentaries at night. A single recommendation stream does not always accommodate these different needs equally well.
By allowing multiple feeds, YouTube aims to make discovery more intentional while retaining the convenience of automated recommendations.
What the change means for YouTube’s algorithm
The announcement represents a change in how users may interact with YouTube’s recommendation system, but it does not mean the algorithm is being removed.
Instead, Custom Feeds are intended to give viewers another way to guide recommendations. The platform will still need to select videos that match the prompts and keep the feeds updated with relevant content.
The feature therefore combines user direction with algorithmic personalisation. Viewers specify what they want to explore, while YouTube’s systems help identify suitable videos.
The extent of control users will have over individual recommendations remains an important consideration. A custom feed based on a broad prompt may still include content that does not perfectly match a viewer’s expectations. The quality of the experience will depend on how effectively YouTube interprets requests and adjusts its recommendations over time.
The change also raises questions about whether users will be able to fine-tune feeds, remove unwanted topics or adjust recommendations after creating them. YouTube’s announcement outlines the core concept, but not every operational detail of the final experience.
Other YouTube features announced alongside Custom Feeds
Custom Feeds formed part of a broader set of changes announced at Made on YouTube 2026.
The company also introduced updates intended to improve content discovery, music listening and the organisation of short-form videos.
One of the announcements was Shorts Series, which allows creators to organise their Shorts into seasons and episodes. The feature is designed to make episodic storytelling and microdramas easier to follow, rather than presenting each short video as an unrelated item.
YouTube also announced Ask YouTube, an AI-powered discovery experience intended to help users explore content and obtain recommendations through conversational interactions. The company is expanding ways for viewers to discover podcasts and music, including Ask Music, a conversational tool for customising music queues.
These developments reflect YouTube’s wider effort to make its platform more responsive to what users want to watch, hear and discover.
What the changes mean for creators
The introduction of Custom Feeds could also influence how creators reach audiences.
If viewers begin creating feeds around specific subjects or activities, creators may benefit from producing content that clearly matches those interests. Educational videos, specialist tutorials, niche podcasts and episodic series could become easier for viewers to organise and revisit.
However, the feature does not guarantee increased visibility or views for any particular channel. Recommendations will continue to depend on the relevance of videos to users’ interests and the platform’s systems for selecting content.
Creators may also need to consider how their videos fit into different viewing situations. A tutorial that is useful for a dedicated learning feed may serve a different purpose from an entertainment video designed for casual browsing.
For audiences, the potential benefit is a more organised way to discover content. For creators, the opportunity lies in serving clearly defined interests while continuing to produce useful, engaging and original videos.
A more personalised future for YouTube
Neal Mohan’s announcement points towards a YouTube experience in which viewers have a greater say in shaping their homepages. Custom Feeds could make it easier to separate interests, discover new channels and find content suited to particular moments of the day.
The feature will not eliminate the recommendation algorithm, nor does it promise complete manual control over every video shown. Its significance lies in allowing users to guide recommendations more directly through natural-language requests and saved feeds.
The success of the change will ultimately depend on how accurately the platform interprets users’ prompts, how useful the resulting recommendations are and how widely the feature becomes available.
If implemented effectively, Custom Feeds could make YouTube feel less like a single algorithm-driven stream and more like a collection of viewing spaces shaped around each user’s interests.