YouTube Algorithms: What Will Change in 2025?

YouTube’s recommendation systems are designed with one primary goal: to serve viewers, not creators. This means that if you want to promote your videos effectively, your focus must be on creating content that captures and retains your audience’s interest.

However, one constant with YouTube’s algorithms is their tendency to evolve. Every time YouTube introduces a new feature or update, it can shake up the system, leaving creators scrambling to adapt.

And it seems we are in for another round of unpredictable changes  in YouTube’s recommendation systems. Once again, content creators will need to reinvent the wheel—the ever-evolving strategies to promote videos effectively in 2025.

Before we get caught up in overthinking and nitpicking, let’s break it down.  

Over the past few months, YouTube has announced a staggering number of updates, including:  

• Automatic dubbing of videos in different languages

This will enable creators to expand the reach of their target audience across the globe.

• "Hype" button

The goal of which is to help smaller creators gain exposure through viewer votes in a separate ranking of trending videos.

• Vote for videos in playlists

Where viewers can create their own playlists from various videos, invite friends to join them, and vote for their favorite creators' videos.

• New "Communities" on YouTube

Now, each channel will have its own close-knit community where viewers can interact more closely with the creator and engage with one another.

• Distinctions for subscribers

And for the most active users, YouTube has introduced a new "Achievements" tab, where viewers can collect rewards.

• Three-minute Shorts

Thanks to these updates, the possibilities for short-form vertical videos have expanded and are no longer limited to just one minute. Now, creators have a whole three minutes!  

This was announced with the kind of enthusiasm the platform injects into all its innovations: "Guys, it's going to be amazing, absolutely awesome—we're going to make even more money!" Well, by "we," I mean YouTube makes more, and as for you, creators... we'll see how it goes.  

Let’s set aside YouTube’s enthusiastic announcements and dive into why we think all these updates might hide some risks for creators.  

To understand this, we need to take a step back into the past.  

Back in 2020

After a lengthy period of audience preparation, YouTube  introduced a new type of content—Shorts.  

For a while, this feature was only available to creators in the U.S., but by early 2021, short videos were launched worldwide.  

YouTube aggressively promoted this new feature because it had one goal: to outpace TikTok. The thing is, every major platform aims to make as much money as possible, and to do that, you need viewers to spend as much time as possible on your platform.  

At that time, TikTok had become YouTube's most dangerous competitor, so it was crucial to do everything possible to prevent it from stealing the audience.  

One solution? Create a TikTok-like feature within YouTube.  

A lot of money was allocated to this effort, with major creators pulling in hundreds of millions of views on their short videos, and even the popular Korean boy band BTS, helping promote Shorts.  

Creators quickly realized that Shorts could go viral easily, garnering millions of views with little effort, and subscribers flocked to their channels.  

It really was great and promising, until it started breaking down.  

For many creators, the reach of their long-form videos suddenly dropped massively. The recommendation algorithms got confused, leading to the wrong audience, and soon channels began to die off one by one, completely stopping their growth and views altogether.  

Why did this happen?

YouTube's recommendation systems collect and structure information about each viewer and their interests to create the best video suggestions. The platform groups similar viewers together and recommends the most effective videos based on their interests.

It was simple when YouTube only had long-form videos: each viewer had a specific set of topics they were most interested in.  

But with the arrival of short-form videos and their unique characteristics, the algorithms couldn't operate in the usual way anymore.  

Think about the kind of videos you typically encounter in the Shorts feed. It’s a whirlwind experience: first, you’re captivated by adorable kids, then moved to tears by stories of homeless kittens, laughing at outrageous sketches, and finally receiving quick tips from psychologists or even a personalized tarot reading.

And all of that happens in just five minutes.

How do we even begin to describe the interests of a single viewer in this scenario? And how can we logically group these seemingly random interests?

This is precisely why creating an accurate audience profile for the algorithms has become nearly impossible. The result? Chaos. Long-form videos have almost disappeared from viewers’ recommendation feeds, which are now overwhelmingly flooded with Shorts. Many channels have seen dramatic drops in their reach as a result.

Eventually, the platform's leadership had to admit that they had messed up, and the recommendation systems were broken.  

YouTube's main goal is to keep viewers on the platform for as long as possible, because this directly affects ad sales and corporate earnings.  

But if recommendations become a random mess, what's the point in viewers staying on the platform?  

This led to urgent measures, which still affect us today: the algorithms for recommending short and long videos were separated.  

Since then, mixing these two types of content on a single channel remains a risky move, because the recommendations no longer overlap. Viewers who came from Shorts might not even watch your main content.  

And let’s not forget that YouTube needed almost a year to fix the algorithms, and the consequences are something we creators are still dealing with.  

Now, it’s easy to see where our concerns stem from regarding the sheer volume of new features YouTube is planning to roll out—or has already begun implementing.

Each of these features will affect the recommendation systems to some degree. And let’s not even get into the fact that YouTube plans to introduce them one after the other.  

How do YouTube algorithms work?

If you think the new features being introduced aren’t as big as Shorts once were, we need to explain how the algorithms work so that we can objectively assess the situation.  

It’s quite simple:  

• A viewer comes to the platform and wants to watch a specific set of videos.  
• YouTube analyzes all the actions this particular viewer takes: what they search for in the search bar, which videos they watch from start to finish, and which ones they abandon halfway through. It looks at what they asked not to be recommended, what videos they liked, shared, or commented on.  
• This way, YouTube creates a profile for each viewer, containing all the information about their interests. Then, the platform groups viewers with similar preferences together.  
• After that, YouTube takes a batch of videos from different creators that match the interests of these viewer groups, finds the most effective ones, and shows them in recommendations on the homepage and in the "Next Video" section.

It all seems like a simple enough system that shouldn’t break with the introduction of something new on the platform, since the basic principles of operation don’t change.  

But, we have to turn to the platform's help documents, where representatives explain that the algorithms analyze around 80 billion different signals that come from viewers when watching videos.  

Even when a viewer stops watching, this is also an important signal for recommendations.  

80 billion signals don’t just include individual actions like likes, comments, or watch time; they also involve how these actions interact with one another.  

For example, a like is one signal, but a like with 100% watch time is a different signal. And so on.  

So, in total, when creating recommendations for videos, YouTube relies on two key factors:  

• Viewers' interests and preferences
• Efficiency of each individual video

We won’t go into the details of the second factor today because it’s a very broad topic, but let’s clarify a few things about viewer interests.  

It’s easy to assume that all the actions a viewer takes on YouTube are influenced, to some extent, by their personality or the circumstances they find themselves in.  

This is obvious: if the platform is primarily designed to serve viewers, changes in their media consumption habits can affect how YouTube’s algorithms work.  

YouTube’s recommendation systems will continue to evolve to meet the changing preferences of the audience. For us as creators, this means we must stay agile and adapt alongside these shifts.

In fact, it was the change in audience behavior during the introduction of Shorts that led to the algorithms failing and breaking. It also took time and adjustments to the recommendation systems to accommodate these changes in viewer habits on the platform.  

And now, we’ve reached the most important point—  

How will the introduction of new features on YouTube change viewer behavior?

To explain this, let’s go over what YouTube is introducing once again, but this time without the enthusiastic tone the platform uses to accompany each new feature.

• Implementation of three-minute Shorts

The introduction of three-minute Shorts is one of the biggest updates to YouTube’s short-form video content. Beyond that, YouTube has been consistently rolling out minor updates for Shorts almost weekly, signaling their strong push to promote this format. This focus suggests that the returns from Shorts might not yet be meeting YouTube’s expectations—but that’s a discussion for another time.

So, what does this mean for creators?

With three-minute vertical videos now in the mix, it’s hard to predict exactly how the recommendation systems will change, but one thing is certain: the algorithms will need to adjust once again.

Let’s break this down logically. Could longer videos in the Shorts feed impact viewer behavior? Most likely, yes. With the extended length, viewers are bound to spend more time engaging with the Shorts feed.

Previously, the promotion of short videos relied heavily on the number of viewers who watched the video instead of just scrolling past. However, with longer videos, YouTube will likely begin factoring in retention rates for these three-minute Shorts as a key performance metric.

But here’s the critical question: if retention becomes a major factor for Shorts, how will that influence audience behavior? Will they engage more deeply, or will this shift cause fatigue? Only time will tell.

They may start choosing shorter videos more often than longer ones.

The Shorts feed and the long-form video feed will begin to compete with each other, because now both types of content will be roughly similar in length.  

How much this update will change viewer habits, we can’t say for sure just yet. But even YouTube representatives themselves warn: yes, the algorithms will change slightly, and it will take some time to fine-tune everything.  

So far, there are no major changes, but we’ll have to watch how our reach evolves over time, and hopefully, our concerns will turn out to be unfounded.

• The next big update is dubbing videos into different languages.

Let’s not forget that YouTube recently introduced the ability for viewers to translate and dub any video into their language using artificial intelligence.  

And you do remember that YouTube groups viewers based on shared interests, right? Well, one of the primary factors influencing these groupings has always been language. It’s essentially the first filter that eliminates videos irrelevant to a particular viewer.  

But what happens to the algorithms when viewers worldwide start watching videos that were never aligned with their usual interests?  

At the initial stage of building recommendations, things will start to break. The algorithms will need to rebuild their processes to account for the fact that audiences can now watch videos on similar topics, but in entirely different languages.  

For creators, this means YouTube might miss their target audience more often, struggling to find potential viewers among the platform's global community.  

This might not have a massive impact on the recommendation systems if the feature doesn’t gain widespread popularity—after all, the translation is done by AI, and the voiceover will sound synthetic.  

However, when the platform finally rolls out separate audio tracks that allow creators to upload their own dubs, that’s when this feature will undoubtedly affect audience behavior on YouTube.  

Right now, these audio tracks are available to major creators, like MrBeast.  

Oh, and the scariest part isn’t even that. It’s the fact that now every creator will have to compete with *all* creators.  

Previously, it was already tough for newcomers, given the growing competition in the creator space. But now breaking into the global YouTube scene will become a thousand times harder since audiences will no longer be limited to a single language group.

• The next major innovation is the “Hype” button

Let’s recap.  

Now, videos from creators with channels ranging from 500 to 500,000 subscribers will feature a “Hype” button.  

The idea is that fans can now actively participate in promoting their favorite creators, giving budding YouTubers a chance to grow not just through algorithms but also with the help of an active fan base.  

A separate ranking will be created for hyped videos, which will appear alongside trending videos on the "Navigator" tab on your YouTube homepage. This ranking will feature the top 100 videos over 7 days that received the most hype from viewers.  

Each user will only have three Hype votes per week, and each vote will have a different value depending on the size of the channel. For smaller channels, each Hype vote will carry significantly more weight than for channels with a larger subscriber base.  

YouTube emphasizes that Hypes will not affect video recommendations on the Home page, in the "Up Next" section, or in search results.  

But let’s take a moment to recall how the algorithms work.  

They analyze performance signals, which now will include Hypes. It’s unlikely that the recommendation systems will differentiate between Hypes meant only for the “Hype Ranking” and those that influence general recommendations.  

The algorithm evaluates overall performance, and the “Hype” feature will simply become another metric to consider when crafting recommendations for viewers.  

Will Hypes change audience behavior and habits?  

Most likely, since viewers now have a tangible way to evaluate creators. And with only three Hype votes available per week, creators will have to work even harder to build trust and relationships with their audience to earn those Hype votes.  

• Viewers will now have even more influence over the promotion of creators' content, thanks to new features like viewer badges and voting for videos in playlists.

Both announcements are currently lacking in detail, but even at this stage, there’s plenty to think about.  

First, playlists: each viewer can create their own personal playlist from videos by various creators and invite friends to it, where everyone can vote for their favorite videos. The number of votes will determine the ranking of videos in the playlist. However, YouTube emphasizes that creators can also make these playlists on their channels and invite subscribers to participate in building rankings.  

This doesn’t sound like a groundbreaking update that could change audience habits, but YouTube's trend of giving more control to viewers is clear.  

On top of that, here’s another update: rewards for the most active viewers. It’s unclear whether these rewards will offer any tangible perks or simply exist as recognition, but if they gain more significance, they could further encourage viewers to be more active on creators’ channels.  

And what does that mean for us? We’ll have to compete for this active audience.

• Another strong signal that viewers will have an increasing influence on creators' content is the introduction of Communities on YouTube channels.

Let us remind you that this is not the same as the "Community" tab, which has been around for a while. To avoid confusion, we’ll call this new tab “Communities.”  

Previously, interaction between a creator and their audience could only happen under the creator’s videos or posts. In Communities, this interaction will expand: viewers can chat with each other, create posts, attach images and videos, and even run polls.  

Only subscribers to the channel will be able to join, while creators will moderate posts in their Communities and set the rules.  

At first glance, you might wonder—how does this influence audience behavior?  

In the announcement, YouTube stated, “Creators need a way to take a break without losing activity on their channel.” The Communities tab is intended to compensate for the drop in engagement that happens between video releases.  

This means that not only will viewers have a more open way to interact with creators, but the level of activity in these Communities will also influence the promotion of the channel and its content.  

Will this change audience habits?  

There’s a strong chance it will. Viewers won’t need to move to platforms like Telegram to interact more closely with their favorite creators, which means they’ll spend more time on YouTube.  

For us, the creators, this means yet another battle for audience attention, requiring us to maintain engagement and activity on yet another new tab on our channel.  

It’s amusing to read in the announcement that this tab is supposed to replace activity generated by video releases. However, YouTube seems to overlook the fact that this new tab also requires time and effort to maintain.  

What’s alarming is that these updates are being introduced one after another, raising concerns about how much they might disrupt the systems we’ve spent the last three years building.  

But that’s all in the near future. For now, what do we already know about content promotion?  

The focus of the algorithms is currently on audience reaction: standard signals of effectiveness like clicks, retention, quality of viewing throughout the video, and how many viewers go on to watch another video still matter.  

Two factors are key:  

1. Retaining viewers on a single video.  

2. Retaining them on the channel overall.  

This doesn’t sound too intimidating; after all, we’ve always aimed to retain viewers and build a loyal audience base. However, we see several challenges here.  

One issue is the new emphasis by algorithms on retaining viewers on the platform by directing traffic from one of your videos to another. This makes life much harder for educational and informative content creators.  

People often search just to find the answer to their question. Once they watch the video, they mentally say “thank you” and leave. YouTube, however, may interpret this behavior as a negative signal: the video was watched, but only one, which suggests the channel isn’t keeping viewers engaged—resulting in fewer impressions for such channels.  

The second issue is that the focus on retaining viewers across the entire channel will only continue to grow. This is evident in features like the Communities tab, where we’ll also have to maintain activity and keep viewers engaged.  

It’s hard to predict exactly how this will work, but there are ways we can start preparing ourselves now. 

The big question: What should I do now?

The very first thing is..

• Start building a community now

You need a fan base—without it, you will lose on all fronts: overall channel retention, creating "Communities" in the new tab, and promotion through "Hype."  

The viewers will vote for your videos in the new ranking, and with a limited number of rewards for creators, they’ll be extremely selective about who to give or not give their hype to.  

Remember that even with unlimited likes, viewers tend to be stingy. So with limited hypes, it’s safe to say they’ll be even more cautious.  

The impact of the "Communities" tab on overall promotion can only be assessed once it’s consistently active on our channels, allowing for detailed analysis.  

But if it significantly increases or decreases promotion efficiency, creators may have to abandon Telegram channels or other social networks to consolidate as much activity as possible on YouTube’s platform.  

If this turns out to be the case, we won’t be surprised. YouTube is known for its relentless efforts to replace other platforms and keep the audience exclusively within its ecosystem.  

• Adapting content for audiences from different countries

Let’s make this clear upfront: you don’t have to cater to a global audience. You can focus on promoting your content to viewers in a single language and avoid the pressure of competing with the entirety of YouTube all at once.

For everyone else, we warn you that your videos and their presentation will need to be adapted for global YouTube, as simply enabling translation won’t be enough for effective promotion.  

There are two key aspects to focus on: the technical side and the creative side of the video.

Technical Aspect:

1. Thumbnails: Using familiar text-heavy titles won’t work anymore, so the trend of simplifying thumbnails to just images will only grow stronger. Creating clickable previews without text, as practice shows, is much more challenging than with it.  

2. Captions Inside Videos: What to do with captions is a big question. You could try duplicating them in two languages or leave them in one, hoping that your voice will be enough.  

3. Slang and Insider Jokes: These will no longer work effectively because neural networks often struggle with them, and translating idiomatic phrases will be difficult. This means the language of narration will likely become more simplified.  

 Creative Aspect:

1. Audience Mentality: The mentality of viewers from different countries varies, and humor from one country may not be perceived at all in another. If you plan to promote your channel to an international audience, you’ll inevitably need to adapt to this.  

Although the idea of expanding your audience sounds appealing, in reality, you’ll still need to earn their attention.

• Incorporate more entertainment, storytelling and your unique value proposition

Remember when we discussed how YouTube evaluates retention not just on individual videos but across your entire channel?

This shift hits educational content the hardest. Creators in this niche face a double challenge: they must maintain their credibility and expertise while also producing emotionally engaging content that keeps viewers hooked on their channel as a whole. 

Usually, this issue is solved through the format in which the content is produced.  

For example, if you make a useful video about how to pour a house foundation and then release another on the same channel about building a roof, it’s obvious that some viewers will find one topic relevant while completely uninterested in the other.  

Meanwhile, on an entertainment channel featuring reactions to trashy shows, viewers tend to watch every video, regardless of the specific topic. Why? Because they’re drawn to the reaction format and the personality behind it.

This highlights an important takeaway for creators: success will depend not only on choosing engaging topics but also on mastering a compelling content format and showcasing a distinctive, relatable persona.

The world is changing, along with people and their interests, as well as the established rules of the platform we’ve chosen to be creators on. To ensure these changes don’t hit you too hard, we recommend thinking ahead and preparing for what might come. Even if all updates go smoothly, you’ll still be helping your content stay a step ahead.  

Here’s to staying adaptable, creative, and ready for whatever changes come our way.