YouTube's UI Update: Confusion and Changes for Users and Creators

The “Elephant in the Room”: YouTube’s Controversial UI Experiment

YouTube has recently revived a design experiment from 2022 that is causing significant discussion among both viewers and creators. In a bold move to alter user behavior, the platform is swapping the traditional positions of key interface elements. Specifically, the title, description, and comments section—which typically reside directly beneath the video player—are being moved to the right-hand side. In their place, the recommended videos list is now appearing below the video.

For many users, this shift disrupts a long-standing habit of checking descriptions or engaging with the community immediately after starting a video. While such changes often trigger initial frustration, it is important to understand that this is a design test conducted by YouTube. Because this is an A/B testing phase, the platform exposes only a specific group of users to the new layout to gather data on engagement and usability.

As a result, there is currently no way for affected users to reverse these changes or opt back into the classic layout. While some may find the new arrangement difficult at first, YouTube’s testing process typically monitors whether users eventually adapt to the change or if it negatively impacts the viewing experience.

Technical Glitches in Live Stream UI

While the UI swap is a strategic experiment, its implementation has not been seamless, particularly regarding live streams. Some creators and viewers have reported critical bugs where essential user interface (UI) elements fail to remain visible.

Reports indicate that elements such as the video title, the “About” button, and the “Join” button—which allows viewers to become channel members—load momentarily but then disappear immediately. This is a significant issue for creators who rely on memberships for financial support and community growth. A bug report has already been submitted to YouTube, with feedback expected in the coming weeks.

Navigating Vertical Live Streaming and YPP Requirements

Beyond interface changes, there are several important updates regarding Vertical Live streaming, particularly concerning how these streams interact with the YouTube Partner Program (YPP) requirements.

For creators striving to meet the monetization thresholds of the YPP, there is good news: Vertical Live Streams do contribute toward these requirements. However, this is subject to specific conditions:

• Public Archives: The stream archive must remain public.
• Processing Limits: The stream must be properly processed, which generally means it must be shorter than eight hours.

If these criteria are met, the playback hours accumulated during the live broadcast, as well as the views generated by the subsequent stream archive, will count toward the total watch time required for YPP eligibility.

Additionally, YouTube is improving the management of these streams on mobile devices. User history for moderators will soon be available on mobile, a feature that is essential for creators who run mobile-first live streams or those designed specifically for a handheld audience.

The Monetization Gap in Vertical Live and Shorts Feeds

While Vertical Live streaming is an excellent tool for growth and reaching YPP milestones, the current monetization landscape for this format is limited.

Reach vs. Revenue

Currently, there are no free memberships available within the Vertical Live program. This is an intentional decision by YouTube, as the platform intends to reintroduce these features once other aspects of the product are more stable and functional.

Furthermore, creators should be aware that there are currently no ads served in the Shorts live stream feed. It is important to distinguish between the two separate feeds: one can access a live stream from the Shorts feed by clicking “Watch Now” or by pausing a Short and selecting “Live” at the top. Because this specific feed lacks advertisements, Vertical Streams are currently more effective for audience acquisition (reach) than for direct monetary gain.

Impact on Shorts Revenue

For creators already enrolled in the Partner Program, it is crucial to note that earnings from Shorts are determined by the number of Shorts views. Views generated via Vertical Live Streams do not count toward the specific Shorts view metrics that determine a creator’s share of the total Shorts revenue pool. In short, while these streams help build a community and increase visibility, they do not currently function as a direct revenue stream in the same way traditional long-form videos or standard Shorts might.

Platform Policies: Eligibility and Multistreaming Risks

YouTube is also refining its “Shorts Live Feed Eligibility.” While this may sound like a technicality, it is essentially a policy shift driven by YouTube’s legal team to ensure platform safety.

By modifying who is eligible to appear in the live feed, YouTube reserves the right to censor or exclude content that could be deemed harmful or inappropriate—specifically targeting the prevention of minors engaging in risky behavior or the promotion of extremist content. While some may view this as restrictive, it is framed as a sensible measure to maintain a safe environment for all users.

The Danger of “Funneling” Traffic

This shift in policy extends to how creators handle their audience across different platforms. Multistreamers—those who broadcast to multiple platforms simultaneously (such as Twitch or YouTube)—need to be particularly cautious.

YouTube is considering modifications to its spam policies regarding how creators direct their viewers. Specifically, it may become a violation of policy to use titles, thumbnails, or the live chat to explicitly state that the creator will not interact with the audience on YouTube and instead urge them to move to another platform.

Best Practices for Community Engagement

The overarching message from YouTube is clear: if you use the platform, you should engage with the community on the platform. Creating content that serves merely as a “funnel” to generate reach on YouTube only to redirect that traffic elsewhere may lead to negative consequences.

To avoid penalties and maintain a healthy channel standing, creators are encouraged to:

1. Interact directly with their community via YouTube’s native tools.
2. Ensure content is created decently and properly within the ecosystem.
3. Avoid using metadata (titles/thumbnails) as redirection tools for other platforms.

Resources for Continued Support

Staying updated on these rapid changes can be challenging. For those seeking more direct information, there are several avenues for support:

• Direct Inquiries: Questions regarding YouTube Studio or the YouTube Analytics team can be forwarded through community channels to reach YouTube employees.
• Community Hubs: The YouTube Discords (gg/YouTube and gg/youtub Gaming) serve as valuable resources for creators to share experiences and find solutions to technical hurdles.

As YouTube continues to experiment with its UI and refine the rules for Vertical Live and Shorts, staying grounded in these policy updates is essential for any creator looking to grow sustainably on the platform.

Original transcript

Transcript

We need to talk about the elephant in the room because YouTube has revived an experiment from 2022: they’re swapping the positions of the title description and comments, which usually appear below the video, with the recommended videos on the right-hand side. I’ve already made a YouTube video about this before. It’s not inherently bad, but some people are complaining that it can’t be reversed. To be fair, yes, that’s correct; it can’t be reversed because it’s a design test by YouTube. YouTube just wants to expose a certain group of people to this new design. Of course, many people will initially say, “This is difficult,” and then later say, “Oh, it’s not that bad.” And we won’t care either way. Let’s see what the feedback is on this. Importantly, this change has also been implemented in some live streams. I’d prefer it if it works well and presents us reasonably. Unfortunately, there are some issues with loading important UI elements. UI elements include the title, the “About” button, or the “Join” button for members. By the way, you can also become a member of this channel to support formats like this one. These elements load but then disappear immediately. We’ve already submitted a bug report to YouTube and are expecting feedback as early as next week.

While we’re on the topic of live streams, let’s move on to Vertical Live. We received some questions from you about this in recent weeks that we were able to answer. For example, there are questions about the YPP requirements (YouTube Partner Program requirements). Vertical Live Streams meet these requirements. That means if your stream archive remains public and the stream is properly processed, i.e., shorter than 8 hours, then the playback hours accumulated during the live stream as well as those from the stream archive will count toward your YouTube Partner Program requirements. The user history for moderators will also soon be available on mobile devices, which is very important when we have mobile live streams or streams designed primarily for mobile devices.

There are currently no free memberships in the Vertical Live program. This is actually correct and intentional. However, it will be reintroduced later when other aspects of this product work better. Currently, there are no ads in the Shorts Vertical Stream, specifically in the Shorts live stream, as these are two separate feeds. You can access a live stream from the Shorts feed by clicking “Watch Now” or pausing a Short and pressing “Live” at the top. There are currently no ads in this feed. This means that with your Vertical Streams, you’re currently only reaching an audience but not making any monetary gains. If you’re already in the Partner Program, your earnings from Shorts depend on the number of Shorts views, and Vertical Live Stream views don’t count toward these Shorts views that determine how much money you receive from the total Shorts revenue. If you’d like a detailed explanation, I made a video about this last year that I’ll either link in the description or include as an info card.

The next point is “Shorts Live Feed Eligibility,” which is essentially the ability for Vertical Streams to appear in the Shorts Live Feed. This is actually a rephrasing by YouTube’s legal team to avoid content like minors going live and possibly doing nonsensical things, or extremists and the like, appearing in the live feed. Anything we don’t want in the live feed, YouTube reserves the right to censor. Of course, this will upset some people, but it’s not censorship; it’s a sensible measure. Multistreamers need to be especially careful now. These are people who stream on multiple platforms simultaneously. YouTube is currently considering modifying its spam policies to make it unacceptable to write in titles, thumbnails, or chat that you won’t interact on YouTube and want to direct viewers to another platform.

Tips for Using YouTube

This is more or less already included in the guidelines from time to time, but it’s being made more explicit: Please interact with your community on YouTube and create your content properly and decently. If you only want to use the platform to generate reach and redirect it to another platform, you can expect the corresponding consequences.

Yesterday, we had a small Q&A stream with a YouTube employee from YouTube Studio and the YouTube Analytics team. If you have any further questions, feel free to ask them in the comments; I’ll forward them. You can also join the YouTube Discords gg/YouTube and gg/youtub Gaming, where you’ll be well taken care of.

Until next week’s patch roundup! Take care and keep coding! [Music]

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