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YouTube’s New Feature Will Mute Notifications from Channels You Don’t Watch Often

Highlights

YouTube is testing a feature that stops push notifications from channels viewers haven’t engaged with recently.
The aim is to minimise notification overload and prevent users from turning off notifications entirely.
This test could affect YouTube creators who rely on push notifications to reach their audience.

Are you tired of too many YouTube notifications? (Photo by Sara Kurfeß on Unsplash)

YouTube is experimenting with turning off notifications from channels that viewers don’t engage with. The idea is to reduce notification overload, especially for those who have opted to receive “All” notifications from a channel.

During this test, notifications will still appear in the notification inbox.

However, as YouTube explains, “Viewers who haven’t recently engaged with a channel despite having been sent recent push notifications will not receive push notifications in the experiment. Notifications will still be available via the notification inbox in the YouTube app. Channels that upload infrequently will not have their notifications affected.”

The goal is to prevent users from disabling notifications entirely just because they’re receiving too many. “When viewers turn off all notifications from YouTube, all creators are unable to reach even their most engaged viewers outside the app. The goal of this experiment is to help us find ways to reduce this problem,” YouTube adds.

Meanwhile, YouTube also makes it clear that “Actively engaged viewers with push notifications enabled on their device will continue to receive them. (No change)”

Many YouTube creators encourage viewers to subscribe and enable notifications so they never miss a new upload. But when you choose “All” notifications, you also get alerts for things beyond new videos, which can quickly become overwhelming.

While there are ways to manage notifications, YouTube says many users end up turning them off at the app level instead of cutting off notifications for every channel they follow. That’s a big issue for creators who rely on push notifications to bring in viewers.

YouTube deciding which notifications to send or not send feels like a drastic approach.

The company says this is a “small” test, but it raises the question. Is there a better way to filter out unwanted notifications without limiting engagement for creators?

FAQs

Q1. Why is YouTube testing this new feature to mute notifications?

Answer. YouTube aims to reduce notification overload for users, particularly those who have opted to receive “All” notifications from channels they don’t engage with recently. This move seeks to prevent users from disabling notifications entirely.

Q2. How will muting notifications impact YouTube creators?

Answer. The feature could negatively affect creators who rely on push notifications to bring in viewers, as it filters notifications for less-engaged viewers automatically.