In 2010, YouTube launched a program dubbed YouTube Rewind, a year-end roundup video of handpicked content considered to be the most trending in the previous 12 months. YouTube Rewind was consistently fairly successful, and the videos often reached or surpassed 100 million views. Over the years, YouTube Rewind evolved into elaborate collaborations with some of the platform’s most popular influencers. A number of content creators also began releasing their own Rewind videos, many of them mocking or parodying YouTube’s version.
But that all changed in 2018, when that year's YouTube Rewind video earned the distinction of being the most disliked video in YouTube history and even the children of the company’s CEO called it “cringey.” YouTube was accused of catering to media and advertisers and not truly showcasing the best content of the year. So in 2019, the compilation video presented the platform's most liked content, using data aggregated throughout the year. YouTube also released a list of the featured videos, divided into categories such as Most Viewed Games, Most Liked Beauty Videos, and Most Viewed Creators.
Today, on the 10th anniversary of YouTube Rewind, a spokesperson for the platform confirmed that it is shelving the annual feature for good. Instead, YouTube will leave the year-end rewind videos for creators to make, “uniquely capturing the year from their perspectives.” YouTube will promote this new era of rewind videos, but will not sponsor or fund them. Instead, the spokesperson revealed that YouTube will continue releasing an annual list following the 2019 format, thereby avoiding any direct negative blowback about the content or the way it is put together.
In 2020, YouTube Rewind was cancelled, with YouTube citing the then current global situation as the reason. In a November 2020 statement, the company clarified that “2020 has been different. And it doesn’t feel right to carry on as if it weren’t.” This didn’t come as a complete surprise to many people because 2020 was indeed a year of upheaval and cancellations, but it was expected that YouTube Rewind would return in 2021 along with everything else.
YouTube has not completely stepped away from annual celebrations of the content created on the platform. The spokesperson hinted at a year-end interactive experience, though they didn’t go into further details. The YouTube Streamy Awards — which is held annually to recognize the best in online videos, including acting, directing, writing, and producing — will also continue. The first Streamy Awards was held in 2009, and the show usually takes place at the end of the year sometime between October and mid-December.
Sources: Tubefilter, Twitter