YouTube has permanently canceled its annual 'Rewind' recap videos, reasoning that it is hard to concentrate an overview of all the great content that its community of creators produces each year. The company is bringing an end to a saga that lasted ten years, and ended on a sad note. The first YouTube Rewind came out in 2010 and focused on the most popular videos on the platform, notable creators, music videos, and search trends that defined the viewer sentiments. In the years to follow, Rewind videos began focusing more on its popular creator community, while also highlighting the viral trends, music, and memes that became the talk of the town.
YouTube Rewind came crashing down in 2018, resulting in the most disliked video on the platform to date. It was universally criticized as being a cringe-fest and one that alienated its core creator community in favor of big stars to appease advertising partners. Even YouTube’s chief admitted to the cringe factor. YouTube did try to turn back the clock in 2019, but it was far from recapturing the old magic. A year later, the 2020 Rewind was canceled due to the pandemic.
Now, YouTube has announced that it is giving up on Rewind for good. A piece of bittersweet news for sure, but the reason given by YouTube is a tad harder to swallow. The company says it is not feasible to summarize the diverse content that its vast community creates each year. YouTube tells TubeFilter that it is ‘passing the baton’ of making year-end compilation videos to creators, citing names with a huge subscriber base like Mr. Beast and Slayy Point that publish their own annual compendium videos. Even though YouTube is retiring its Rewind project, the company will be promoting similar year-end compilation videos by creators via its official channels.
It Is Time For YouTube Rewind To End
The reason given sounds more like YouTube is taking a route where the possibilities of a dislike storm and critical catastrophe are minimal. The company says its decision to retire Rewind has nothing to do with the debacle that happened with the 2018 edition, which appears to be a lazy clarification at best. If anything, the 2019 edition was a sign that the company wants to keep clear of any such controversy by moving to a bland data-driven top-10 format for making an overview video.
YouTube even brought back high-profile names such as PewDiePie in the 2019 version to cool down some of the scathing criticism, but with over 9.5 million dislikes on the video as of now, it was quite clear that YouTube simply can’t replicate the original formula for a hit Rewind video. The company was so pre-occupied with making a safer and less controversy-prone video, it didn’t even try some of the tight-editing formula and bold approach of past hit editions. Either way, the 2020 cancellation was a sign that YouTube is not too keen on the idea anymore, and many were likely happy with that. Now that the news is official, there is a mixed sense of nostalgia and relief on social media, but not many calls for YouTube to bring it back, further suggesting Rewind's cancelation is for the best.
Source: TubeFilter