YouTube introduces a new Explore tab on Android and iOS to replace Trending, featuring destination pages and creators and music artists “on the Rise”
Ben Schoon / 9to5Google :
Context & Ripple Effects
YouTube's Trending tab has been the company's viral-video storefront since its 2015 launch as a way to catch videos "as they take off", but a single list of what everyone is watching has aged poorly next to the personalized recommendation surfaces YouTube built through the late 2010s. The new Explore tab replaces it on Android and iOS with destination pages plus a spotlight on creators and music artists "on the Rise" — a move from one mass-audience feed toward curated, topic-shaped entry points.
The naming is not a one-off: a month later YouTube Music retired its own "Hotlist" in favor of an Explore tab organized around new releases and moods-and-genres playlists, suggesting "Explore" is becoming the house brand for discovery across YouTube's apps.
First-order effects
- Mobile users lose the single Trending list and gain destination pages, while emerging creators and music artists get a dedicated "on the Rise" placement they never had under the old virality-ranked tab.
Second-order effects
- Curation shifts from raw view velocity to editorially grouped topics, pushing creators to optimize for destination-page categories rather than chasing a fleeting Trending slot — consistent with the topic-based controls YouTube gave users in its 2019 "don't recommend channel" and interest-picking update.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, YouTube's discovery layer fragments into multiple curated surfaces — homepage recommendations, Explore destinations, and app-specific tabs like Music's — rather than one shared cultural leaderboard, changing how breakout hits accumulate audience.
The trend: Video platforms are retiring single viral feeds in favor of curated, topic-based discovery surfaces that blend editorial destinations with algorithmic personalization.