YouTube Custom Feeds and Ask YouTube: What Changes for Creators
YouTube is giving viewers two new ways to find videos: Home tabs they build from a typed prompt, and questions that YouTube answers from inside videos, down to the second.
Both were shown at Made on YouTube on September 23, 2026. Both move the starting point of discovery from what YouTube guesses to what the viewer says. More than 140 million people used Ask YouTube in June, by YouTube's count, so this is not a side feature. This page covers what YouTube showed, what it has not said, and what to change in your videos. It is one entry in our log of every YouTube algorithm update in 2026.
What are YouTube custom feeds?
Custom feeds are tabs a viewer creates on the YouTube home page, each built from a typed prompt. YouTube showed them in the Made on YouTube presentation.
“Custom feeds allows you to create dedicated tabs for any interest, routine, or mood. Just prompt a new feed into existence, and it appears right there on your homepage, constantly updating with hyper relevant creators and content.”
The demo showed three feeds:
- A stationery feed, with creators on bullet journals, pencil cases and fountain pens.
- A “late night coziness” feed, with ambient vinyl, rain soundscapes and ASMR.
- A new one made on stage by typing “inspire me with ideas around fashion and pop culture”.
Two details matter for creators. A custom feed is not a one-time search: it is “a dedicated home that keeps updating every time I return”. And the results are “personalized results based on what I normally like”, so two viewers who type the same prompt will not get the same feed.
The idea is not new. YouTube tested it as “Your Custom Feed” in November 2025. The September announcement is the wider launch, reported by Social Media Today. For how the main Home feed is ranked, see how the YouTube Home feed treats niche creators.
What is Ask YouTube, and what can it do now?
Ask YouTube lets a viewer ask a question in plain language and get an answer drawn from videos. YouTube announced it at Google I/O in spring 2026. At Made on YouTube it showed five new abilities in one demo, a viewer shopping for a camera.
| New ability | What the demo showed |
|---|---|
| Longer, conversational questions | A viewer asks for a small camera to carry around the city, then narrows it to cheaper retro cameras with a flash. |
| Product data in results | The answer includes a table of specs to compare cameras, and a product card to tap. |
| Context that carries into a video | After clicking a review of four cameras, Ask YouTube points to the one camera that fits the earlier question. |
| Seeing what is on screen | Asked whether the creator shows sample photos, it finds them and gives timestamps. |
| Reading the comments | Asked what viewers say about battery life, it sums up the comments. |
YouTube gave usage numbers in a second Made on YouTube segment, and described how it works:
“This past June, more than 140 million people used Ask YouTube to dive deeper into videos. All without ever leaving the video player. That's a jump of over 500% from December.”
“Behind that growth is a custom Gemini model that maps a viewer's most complex questions to the exact second that your video provides the answer.”
What has YouTube not said about custom feeds and Ask YouTube?
YouTube showed the viewer side and said little about the creator side. Five things are missing from both presentations:
- How videos are chosen for a custom feed, beyond "personalized results based on what I normally like".
- Whether custom feed views get their own line in YouTube Analytics.
- Whether a creator can see which questions led Ask YouTube to their video.
- Whether a view that starts from an Ask YouTube timestamp counts any differently.
- A launch date. Custom feeds are "landing on desktop and mobile soon in the US". The Ask YouTube features will be "available very soon".
What do custom feeds and Ask YouTube change for creators?
They change who makes the first move. On the main Home feed, YouTube guesses what a viewer wants. In a custom feed or an Ask YouTube session, the viewer says it in words. A video is then matched to a stated topic or a stated question.
That favors two kinds of video. The first is a video that is plainly about one thing, because it fits a typed topic. The second is a video with a clear answer at a clear moment, because Ask YouTube can send a viewer to that second.
One risk is real and YouTube has not addressed it. A viewer who gets the answer from a timestamp, a spec table or a comment summary may watch less of the video. YouTube frames this as “an instant meaningful connection with your work”. Whether it adds watch time or removes it is not yet known.
What should creators do about custom feeds and Ask YouTube?
Make each video easy to match to a stated topic and a stated question. Five actions, each marked with what it rests on:
| Do this | Why | Rests on |
|---|---|---|
| Say the topic in plain words in the title | A custom feed starts from a typed request like "fountain pens" or "rain soundscapes". A plain title is the easy match. | My reading |
| Answer the question out loud, at a clear moment | YouTube says Ask YouTube maps a question "to the exact second that your video provides the answer". | YouTube's statement |
| Show the thing, do not only describe it | Ask YouTube can now find what is visually happening in a video and link to that timestamp. | YouTube's demo |
| Keep each video to one subject | A review of one camera is one clean answer. A review of four needs Ask YouTube to pick yours out. | My reading |
| Treat comments as part of the video | Ask YouTube sums up what viewers say in the comments. A pinned correction or a useful thread is now part of the answer. | YouTube's demo |
To choose which topics and questions to cover, look at what your audience already picked. The videos in your niche that got several times their channel's usual views show the topics viewers ask for, and their comments show the questions. I build OutlierKit to find those videos across a niche, so your next video answers a question people are already asking. The manual method is in how to find outlier videos.
Frequently asked questions
What are YouTube custom feeds?
Custom feeds are tabs a viewer creates on the YouTube home page for any interest, routine or mood. The viewer types a prompt, YouTube saves it as a tab, and the tab keeps updating with matching creators and videos. YouTube announced the feature at Made on YouTube on September 23, 2026.
When do YouTube custom feeds launch?
YouTube has given no date. At Made on YouTube it said custom feeds are landing on desktop and mobile soon in the United States. YouTube first tested the idea as Your Custom Feed in November 2025.
What is Ask YouTube?
Ask YouTube lets a viewer ask a question in plain language and get an answer drawn from videos, with links to the exact moments. YouTube announced it in spring 2026. In September 2026 it showed new abilities: longer conversational questions, product data, context that carries into a video, finding what is shown on screen, and summing up comments.
How many people use Ask YouTube?
YouTube said more than 140 million people used Ask YouTube in June 2026 to dive deeper into videos, a rise of over 500% from December.
Do custom feeds change the YouTube algorithm?
They add a new place where videos are shown. YouTube has not said how videos are ranked inside a custom feed, beyond that results are personalized to what the viewer normally likes. The main Home feed still exists alongside them.
How do I get my videos into custom feeds?
YouTube has published no method. A custom feed is built from a typed description of a topic or mood, so a video whose title and content state one clear topic is the easy match. That is my reading, not a YouTube statement.
Sources and method
Quotes come from the auto-generated transcripts of the two Creator Insider videos, pulled on October 3, 2026. The table of actions marks which rows rest on a YouTube statement, which on its demo, and which are my reading.
Sources
- Creator Insider: Build Your Own YouTube Home Page: custom feeds and the Ask YouTube demo, Made on YouTube 2026
- Creator Insider: Shorts Series, Ask YouTube and Creator Protection: the 140 million figure and the Gemini model
- Social Media Today: YouTube presents new features at Made On 2026: September 23, 2026
- 9to5Google: YouTube testing new Home page: the Your Custom Feed test, November 26, 2025
- YouTube blog: YouTube news from Google I/O 2026: the first Ask YouTube announcement
Related reading
- How the YouTube Home Feed Treats Niche Creators: How the main Home feed is ranked.
- YouTube Announcements from Google I/O 2026: Where Ask YouTube was first announced.
- YouTube Algorithm Updates 2026: Every confirmed change this year, dated and sourced.
- YouTube SEO: How keyword search on YouTube works.
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