YouTube wants to make its TV app look more like Netflix

The redesign may not be popular with YouTube's many users

By Joe Allen Published March 3, 2025

YouTube

YouTube is planning a major redesign that will make their TV app resemble Netflix. According to a new report in The Information, the redesign is expected in the next few months, and will apparently display paid content from various streaming services on the homepage.

YouTube currently allows you to scroll through content from Paramount Plus, Max, and Crunchyroll, and as is the case with Amazon Prime Video, you can even subscribe to these streaming services through the app. If you subscribe that way, YouTube of course gets a cut of your subscription, making everyone a winner.

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You can currently only access that streaming content through the Movies and TV tab, which makes it more difficult to find. This redesign will bring that content onto the homepage, and hopefully make it easier to locate as a result.

The change will also give creators the chance to display their videos in seasons, the way that they do on their channels, and will start previewing shows automatically when you hover over them the way that Netflix does.

“The vision is that when you come to our [TV] app and you’re looking for a show, it’ll just blend away whether that show is from a Primetime Channel or that show is from a creator,” Kurt Wilms, YouTube’s senior director of product management, told The Information.

YouTube has made some notable tweaks to its app in recent years, and this latest tweak seems designed to encourage user behavior that we already know is quite common. TV is now the most common place for people to watch YouTube.

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Joe Allen is a freelance culture writer based in upstate New York. His work has been published in The Washington Post, The…

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