YouTube Custom Feeds: describe the feed you want in your own words and pin it to your homepage — the official timeline says U.S. users, 'soon', TechCrunch's says 'starting next month'

2 sources

The announcement (Wednesday, September 23, 2026 — calendar-verified, at the Made on YouTube event). Per YouTube: "Curate your own front page with Custom Feeds, a new feature that lets you create a dedicated tab for specific moods, routines or your latest interests, easily accessible from the Homepage." Viewers can craft and save multiple feeds tuned to their interests, and per YouTube: "Custom feeds will be available for users in the U.S. on web, mobile, and TVs soon." Per TechCrunch, custom feeds let you "describe, in your own words, the kinds of videos you'd like YouTube to recommend to you", and "The prompt-based feature leverages Google's Gemini AI model to build the feed around your request, and the resulting feed is then pinned to the top of your YouTube home page in its own tab." Two rollout renderings that must not be fused: official — U.S. users, web/mobile/TVs, 'soon'; TechCrunch — "Support for creating multiple custom feeds will roll out across YouTube on web and mobile, starting next month, the company said" (no U.S. qualifier, no TVs). Per TechCrunch the new feeds "will not replace YouTube's main feed, which features all your recommendations." Emily Moxley, VP of Product Management for Viewer AI, said in a pre-brief per TechCrunch: "One of the amazing things about being on YouTube is that the world is always at your fingertips," and "There's over 20 billion videos in the YouTube corpus, so you're always one search away from a treasure trove of topics." The same official post also launches Ask YouTube shopping capabilities ("We're launching new capabilities to Ask YouTube to make your shopping journey easier.", with organized video recommendations such as a comparison table of product attributes) — a separate capability, not part of Custom Feeds. Naming notes: 'build your own algorithm' is TechCrunch's headline framing; the official wording is 'Curate your own front page'; the Gemini sentence is TechCrunch's — the official post read this run does not name the model.

Why now

Distribution is the product here: YouTube is adding a discovery surface that starts from a viewer's described intent — moods, routines, interests — pinned to the top of the home page in its own tab, per TechCrunch. For creators, that is a new placement to think about before it rolls out (U.S. users, per the official post; web and mobile 'starting next month' per TechCrunch's rendering of the company). Second layer: the feed-building wave is now at the biggest platform — per TechCrunch, Bluesky popularized the idea and Meta's Threads, Instagram, X, and Spotify already shipped versions, so commentary about 'describing your own algorithm' now has its largest data point. Third layer: the timing is pre-rollout — nothing is live today, so the creator who explains what Custom Feeds does and does not change (it does not replace the main feed, per TechCrunch) owns the explainer slot before viewers see it. Fourth layer: the two rollout timelines are themselves a story — the official U.S.-scoped 'soon' and TechCrunch's 'starting next month' are the two details a flattened retelling most easily fuses into one global date, so telling them apart is built-in differentiation.

Why it is worth publishing

The broadest-audience card of the day for YouTube-native creators and commentary channels: it is a distribution change on the world's largest video platform, and the differentiation play is scope discipline — name which rollout timeline you are citing (official U.S./web/mobile/TVs/'soon' vs TechCrunch's web-and-mobile/'next month'), keep 'per TechCrunch' on the Gemini mention and the 20-billion figure, and say feed curation rather than 'reprogramming the algorithm'. The prompt-to-feed mechanic is also instantly demoable, which makes the executable-hook bar easy to clear.

Evidence basis

Two sources, both opened with raw HTML fetched this run: YouTube's official blog post (page date label 'Sep 23, 2026'; metadata datePublished 2026-09-23T14:30:00+00:00) and TechCrunch's report (Sarah Perez, byline 7:30 AM PDT · September 23, 2026). Weekday and date pairs are calendar-verified: September 23 = Wednesday, today = Thursday, September 24. No unopened sources this run — both sources carry their own dates and the facts they are cited for. Search-tool note: WebSearch returned its weekly-quota error this run, so candidates came from the skill's fallback path (TechCrunch's AI category listing plus the blog.youtube sitemap); every candidate was then read in full. Numbers carry holders: 'over 20 billion videos' is Moxley's quote per TechCrunch; the rollout hedges ('soon' official / 'starting next month' per TechCrunch quoting the company) are kept as hedges, never dates. The Gemini attribution and the 'build your own algorithm' framing stay with TechCrunch; the official post names neither.

“YouTube is about to let you type your own recommendation feed into a prompt box — and per TechCrunch it runs on Google's Gemini.”

Angle

Frame it as 'the feed you can describe' — a distribution explainer in three beats. Beat one, the mechanic: a viewer types what they want (a mood, a routine, an interest), YouTube builds a dedicated feed tab from that prompt, and multiple feeds can be saved — the official framing is curating your own front page. Beat two, the two timelines: the official post says U.S. users, on web, mobile, and TVs, soon; TechCrunch's rendering says web and mobile, starting next month — never fuse them, and note the new feeds do not replace the main feed. Beat three, the context: feed-building has swept smaller platforms (Bluesky, Threads, Instagram, X, Spotify, per TechCrunch) and now lands on YouTube — and per TechCrunch the feature leverages Google's Gemini model, an attribution that stays with the outlet.

Format

Short talking-head video

Demo idea

A mock prompt box on screen where you type the official post's own example — 'evening wind down with long documentaries' — and the feed tab appears on a mock homepage; label the example 'verbatim from YouTube's announcement'. Second card: a two-column timeline — left 'Official: U.S. users, web/mobile/TVs, soon', right 'Per TechCrunch: web and mobile, starting next month' — closing on 'two renderings, one unlaunched feature: nothing is live yet'.

Platform notes

The 'build your own algorithm' phrasing is TechCrunch's headline — the official wording is 'Curate your own front page'; if you use the algorithm frame, attribute it and add that the feature curates recommendation feeds from a prompt rather than opening up the recommendation system itself. Every Gemini mention carries 'per TechCrunch' — the official post read this run does not name the model. The 20-billion-videos figure is Emily Moxley's quote per TechCrunch, never a fresh stat in your own voice. Rollout: name which timeline you cite — official (U.S., web/mobile/TVs, soon) or TechCrunch (web and mobile, starting next month, per the company) — never fuse them, and 'soon'/'next month' never become dates. Per TechCrunch the new feeds do not replace the main feed. Nothing is live as of this card's publish date (Thursday, September 24) about Wednesday's announcement — no present-tense 'you can now'. If you mention Ask YouTube shopping, present it as a separate capability from the same official post.

Usable claims

At its Made on YouTube event, YouTube announced Custom Feeds on Wednesday, September 23, 2026 (calendar-verified). Per YouTube: "Curate your own front page with Custom Feeds, a new feature that lets you create a dedicated tab for specific moods, routines or your latest interests, easily accessible from the Homepage." Per YouTube, viewers can craft and save multiple feeds tuned to their interests, and: "Custom feeds will be available for users in the U.S. on web, mobile, and TVs soon." Per TechCrunch, custom feeds are a feature "that allows you to describe, in your own words, the kinds of videos you'd like YouTube to recommend to you." The outlet adds: "The prompt-based feature leverages Google's Gemini AI model to build the feed around your request, and the resulting feed is then pinned to the top of your YouTube home page in its own tab." Per TechCrunch: "Support for creating multiple custom feeds will roll out across YouTube on web and mobile, starting next month, the company said." And per TechCrunch, the new feeds "will not replace YouTube's main feed, which features all your recommendations." Emily Moxley, VP of Product Management for Viewer AI, said in a pre-brief with reporters ahead of the event, per TechCrunch: "One of the amazing things about being on YouTube is that the world is always at your fingertips," and "There's over 20 billion videos in the YouTube corpus, so you're always one search away from a treasure trove of topics." The same official post also launches new Ask YouTube shopping capabilities. Per YouTube: "We're launching new capabilities to Ask YouTube to make your shopping journey easier." And per YouTube, when searching for reviews of a specific product "you may receive organized video recommendations, such as a comparison table that includes product attributes and categories based on your preferences."

Evidence pipeline

From the news

Breakdown

One feature, three layers that flat versions blur. Layer one, the mechanic: per YouTube, Custom Feeds lets you 'create a dedicated tab for specific moods, routines or your latest interests, easily accessible from the Homepage' — curation from a prompt, not access to the recommendation system itself; per TechCrunch the resulting feed is 'pinned to the top of your YouTube home page in its own tab' and 'will not replace YouTube's main feed'. Layer two, the two timelines: the official post says 'available for users in the U.S. on web, mobile, and TVs soon'; TechCrunch says 'roll out across YouTube on web and mobile, starting next month, the company said' — one carries the U.S. scope and TVs, the other drops both and names a month; quoting either, name the outlet. Layer three, the model: 'leverages Google's Gemini AI model' is TechCrunch's sentence — the official post read this run names no model, so every 'runs on Gemini' statement carries 'per TechCrunch'. Layer four, the framing: 'build your own algorithm' is the outlet's headline; the official wording is 'Curate your own front page' — the algorithm frame travels with its attribution. Layer five, the numbers: 'over 20 billion videos in the YouTube corpus' is Emily Moxley's quote per TechCrunch. Editor's rules: timelines stay per-outlet, the model stays attributed, the frame stays attributed, and nothing is live yet — the card publishes the day after the announcement.

Sources

Risks

Before publishing, re-check each layer: which rollout rendering you are quoting (official U.S./web/mobile/TVs/soon vs TechCrunch web-and-mobile/next month) and keep the attribution on it; frame the feature as feed curation from a prompt, not reprogramming the recommendation system, and keep the main-feed point if you use the comparison; attach 'per TechCrunch' to every Gemini mention and to the 20-billion figure (Moxley's quote); keep the announcement date (Wednesday, September 23) and your publish date straight — no present-tense availability; and if you mention Ask YouTube shopping, present it as a separate capability from the same post. If your script compresses any of these, cut the detail rather than round it.

Demo ideas

Mock prompt-box demo: typing YouTube's own example ('evening wind down with long documentaries') and a custom feed tab appearing on the homepage, badged 'verbatim from the official announcement'
Two-column rollout card: 'Official: U.S. users, web/mobile/TVs, soon' vs 'Per TechCrunch: web and mobile, starting next month', closing on 'two renderings, one unlaunched feature'