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How to Create YouTube Custom Feeds After Made On 2026

Set up YouTube Custom Feeds with Gemini prompts, pin mood-based homepage tabs, and use Ask YouTube for product research in the US rollout.

September 24, 2026 Yum News

YouTube’s homepage still tries to guess what you want. After Made on YouTube 2026, you can describe the feed yourself and pin it as a tab.

On 23 September 2026, YouTube announced Custom Feeds: prompt-built homepage tabs for a mood, a routine, or a narrow interest. Gemini writes the feed from your words. The main For You row stays. You hop between tabs when the context changes.

This guide covers what Google and YouTube have confirmed, how to write a useful prompt, how Ask YouTube fits shopping research, and what is still rolling out.

What Custom Feeds actually are

A Custom Feed is a saved homepage tab. You type a description. YouTube uses Gemini to interpret it, then fills the tab with matching videos. You can keep more than one feed. Official examples from YouTube’s blog include:

“Witty podcasts for my daily 30-minute commute”
“Evening wind down with long documentaries”
“Help me discover new DIY creators”

TechCrunch, citing YouTube’s pre-brief, adds that prompts can be long. You can say what to include, what to skip, and what to rank first. Emily Moxley, VP of Product Management for Viewer AI, noted that YouTube’s library holds more than 20 billion videos. A single mixed homepage cannot hold every context you use in a day.

The default recommendation feed is not going away. Custom Feeds sit beside it so a commute playlist does not pollute a late-night documentary tab.

Person watching video on a laptop in a dim room

Availability you should expect

YouTube’s viewer blog says Custom Feeds will be available for users in the U.S. on web, mobile, and TVs soon. The official YouTube Creators roundup says feeds start rolling out on mobile and desktop later this year.

TechCrunch reports support for multiple custom feeds on web and mobile starting next month (October 2026), based on YouTube’s briefing.

Treat those three statements as a wave, not a single ship date. If you are outside the U.S., wait. If you are in the U.S. and the prompt box is missing, update the YouTube app and check web at youtube.com while signed in.

TV is in the U.S. “soon” list. Do not assume a living-room tab on day one.

How to create a Custom Feed

YouTube has not published a numbered settings path yet because the UI is still rolling out. The product shape from official posts and the Creators roundup is consistent:

Sign in on web or the mobile app in the United States once the control appears.
Open the Homepage. Look for a Custom Feeds or create-feed control near the top tabs.
Enter a conversational prompt. Write the situation, length, format, and exclusions in one paragraph.
Review the first batch. Adjust the prompt if the mix is too broad or too narrow.
Save the feed. YouTube says saved feeds update automatically with new recommendations.
Repeat for a second context (work focus vs. evening wind-down).

Pin only feeds you will open on purpose. A pile of unused tabs is another algorithm you ignore.

Write prompts that constrain the mix

Gemini will follow a vague line with a vague shelf. Borrow YouTube’s own style and add constraints.

Better commute prompt: “Video podcasts and interview clips under 25 minutes, English, no true-crime recaps, prioritize witty hosts I already watch plus two new channels a week.”

Better evening prompt: “Long documentaries and slow travel films, 40 minutes or more, low-spoiler titles, no recap channels, no Shorts.”

Better discovery prompt: “New DIY and home-repair creators with project walkthroughs, skip compilation channels and product-only hauls.”

Name formats (podcast, documentary, Shorts, live), duration, language, and the junk you do not want. TechCrunch’s write-up of the briefing says lengthy prompts are the point of a Gemini-built feed.

Revisit the prompt after a week. If the tab drifts toward clickbait, add an exclusion instead of deleting the feed.

Pair feeds with Ask YouTube while you watch

Custom Feeds pick what shows up. Ask YouTube helps while a video is already playing.

YouTube’s 23 September viewer post expands Ask YouTube as a product-research guide. You can ask questions and follow-ups on the go, or use voice on TV. For a product search, YouTube may return organized recommendations such as a comparison table with attributes and categories. After you open a review, you can keep asking about that product on the watch page.

Use this split:

Custom Feed: “phone camera comparisons from creators I trust, 2026 models only.”
Ask YouTube on a specific review: “How does this model handle low light versus last year’s flagship?”

Ask YouTube does not replace a feed. It is a side conversation on one video. Feeds are the shelf you return to.

Creators who already use Gemini inside Shorts and YouTube Create should read YouTube’s conversational editing tools for the production side of the same event.

Television and streaming remote on a coffee table

Shorts Series on TV

Made on YouTube also groups some Shorts into seasons and episodes so microdramas and series are easier to follow on TV. That is a viewing structure, not a Custom Feed. A feed can still request “serialized Shorts dramas with episode order,” but Shorts Series is the official packaging for that habit on the big screen.

Do not expect every Shorts creator to appear as a series. YouTube framed this as a TV update alongside Custom Feeds, not as a replacement for the Shorts shelf.

The official YouTube Creators roundup walks Custom Feeds at 0:22, then Shorts Series, Studio tools, and conversational editing.

Limits and good habits

Region. U.S. first. Official posts do not list a global date.

Not a replacement homepage. The main recommendation mix remains. Feeds are extra tabs.

Prompt quality. If you only type “tech,” you will get the same noisy mix you already have. Specify format, length, and exclusions.

Shopping tables are helpers. Ask YouTube’s comparison layout is a starting point. Confirm price, specs, and seller on the retailer or manufacturer page.

Privacy. You are signed in. Feed prompts describe your routines. Keep work-sensitive topics off a shared family account.

TV lag. Living-room support is listed, but mobile and web are the first places to look.

A 15-minute setup when the control appears

Update YouTube on phone and open youtube.com on desktop.
Create one time-boxed feed (commute, lunch, or wind-down) with a duration cap.
Create one topic feed with two exclusions.
Watch five items in each tab and rewrite the weaker prompt.
On the next product review you open, try one Ask YouTube follow-up instead of opening a new search tab.

Two feeds are enough. Add a third only after both of those stay useful for a week.

Conclusion

Custom Feeds give YouTube a prompt box instead of another hidden ranking tweak. You describe a commute, a documentary hour, or a DIY hunt. Gemini builds a tab. The default homepage stays for everything else.

Wait for the U.S. web and mobile wave if the control is not there yet. Write tight prompts. Use Ask YouTube on the watch page when you are comparing products. That is the whole Made on YouTube viewer kit that is worth setting up.