YouTube rolling out better content controls for the Homepage and Up Next

On Wednesday, the YouTube team officially announced a new set of controls that will help users triage the content they see not only on their Homepage, but also in the Up Next queue.

YouTube says that the new content controls are meant to help users actually reach the content they want to see, while also removing content they don’t. At the same time, helping users find new content they’ll like. The company is announcing three new changes for YouTube, with the majority of changes rolling out to iOS users first, with Android and desktop users getting the new features at a later date.

First, a better way to explore new content both on the Homepage and the in Up Next queue. This will let users explore topics and related videos in an easier way, all based on your own viewing history. YouTube says the options you see will be based on existing personalized suggestions, all designed to help you get to what you want to watch faster.

This new feature can be found on the homepage when you scroll up, and on Up Next when browsing. It will be available for signed-in users in English on the YouTube app for Android and will be available on iOS, desktop and other languages soon.

The second new addition is the ability to remove suggestions from channels you might not want to see. YouTube says it always tries to suggest videos you might enjoy already (which is . . . laughable), it says it “doesn’t always get it right” (which is a nice way of saying the recommended queue is usually bonkers). Users will be able to tap the three dot menu button and choose a new “Don’t recommend channel”. Once you do that, those channels shouldn’t show up any longer.

This new feature is available globally on the YouTube app for Android and iOS today, and will be available on desktop soon.

And, finally, more context. The other new feature is showing more information regarding the reason, or reasons, why the video was suggested in the first place. This should help better elaborate why you’re getting the suggestion in the first place, and then let you make a decision on whether or not you want to watch it in the first place, or block it.

This new feature is available globally on the YouTube app for iOS today, and will be available on Android and desktop soon.

So, these new features are rolling out soon. What do you think? Is this good for YouTube?