YouTube tests redesign that brings Home feed to the video page

Abner Li | May 2 2023 - 10:16 am PT

After a big redesign last year, YouTube might be embarking on its next visual revamp with changes to the video page, which has mostly stayed the same in recent years.

Currently, on the web, you have a video window with the title and other details/descriptions appearing below it. In the redesign that a handful of people are seeing over the past few weeks, that information appears to the right of the video and is much narrower.

Buttons for un/like, sharing, etc. also appear underneath, while you get five or so recent comments too. This makes for a very mobile-like interface.

Current vs. redesign

As such, Up Next videos and other recommendations no longer appear on the right edge of the screen. Rather, they appear as a grid at the bottom and look like the YouTube homepage. In fact, you might even see a “Latest YouTube posts” section as you scroll.

We’ve now seen two or so instances of this YouTube video page redesign. The experience of watching a video is not too impacted, but having comments and other details on the periphery makes for a big interface change.

Meanwhile, it’s clear that emphasizing other videos to watch, with much larger thumbnails, is the focus of this redesign. It’s a good lean-back experience, but we’re not clear if the right balance between information, comments, and recommendations is being achieved.