YouTube will finally allow you to hide the pop-up recommendations that appear at the end of videos. The company announced on Wednesday that when you see an end screen, you can tap a new “Hide” button in the top-right corner of the video player to remove the pop-ups from the current video you’re watching. If you want to bring the end screen back, you can tap the “Show” button. This option only hides end screens for the video you are watching at that moment, not for all videos on the platform. The decision to let users hide end screens is a welcome addition to the platform, especially since these recommendations can often cover the last moments of a video, making it difficult to see what is happening.
The company is also removing another interface element: the “Subscribe” button that appears when you hover your cursor over a video’s branded watermark. YouTube says it is doing so because a dedicated Subscribe button is already located directly below the video player, making the watermark feature redundant and unnecessary clutter.
Minimal Impact on Creators
YouTube says it is launching these new features in response to user feedback. Many people expressed a desire to minimize distractions on videos and to be able to focus more easily on the content they are currently watching. As for creators, YouTube notes that they still have the option to add end screens to their videos, and the company expects these changes to have a minimal impact on creators’ performance and view count. In an experiment, YouTube found that giving users the option to hide end screens resulted in a decrease of less than 1.5% in views from those end screens. The company also found that less than 0.05% of all channel subscriptions came from the hover-to-subscribe functionality on the video watermark. These numbers suggest the changes will not significantly disrupt the creator economy.
What The Author Thinks
These changes represent a rare but welcome move by YouTube to prioritize user experience. For years, end-screen pop-ups and the hover-to-subscribe button were a source of frustration for viewers. By giving users the choice to control their viewing experience and by removing redundant features, YouTube is acknowledging that a cleaner, less-intrusive interface can ultimately lead to more loyal and engaged users, which is a win for both the audience and the platform in the long run. This is a subtle but important shift in the company’s philosophy, demonstrating that it is willing to sacrifice a small amount of engagement for a significant improvement in the overall user experience, a move that could pay long-term dividends.
Featured image credit: Souvik Banerjee via Unsplash
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