• YouTube is testing a feature allowing users to filter homepage videos by colour for a more visually coordinated experience.
  • This experimental function, currently available to some mobile users, presents colour-coordinated results as a new feed option.
  • While the purpose behind the feature remains unclear, it could serve as a marketing tactic or a means of collecting data on user colour preferences.

YouTube is testing a new feature that allows users to filter videos on the homepage by colour, creating a visually more coordinated and pleasant browsing experience. Users on the YouTube mobile app reported seeing a new prompt window, asking if they are ‘eager for new things,’ and providing options to create video sources based on red, blue, or green.

The feature is still in experiment

This is an experimental feature and has not been widely rolled out. YouTube spokesperson Allison Toh confirmed to The Verge that currently ‘some users on Android and iOS mobile devices’ can use the feature. However, the company has not explained why this feature is being developed or provided a timetable for when (or if) it will be widely available.

Selecting colour filters does not replace existing homepage content. Instead, the colour-coordinated results appear as a new feed option at the top of the YouTube app. How these videos are filtered out is not entirely clear. It seems to be based on the most prominent colour in the thumbnail, but it could also involve analysing the entire video to detect if that colour predominates throughout. Regardless, the feature appears to be purely an aesthetic choice, as there is no other way to relate the filtered results by theme or content.

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A data collection strategy

While categorising videos by colour may be an unusual approach, colour harmony is a marketing strategy seen in many industries. Companies on Instagram, especially in the fashion and beauty sectors, often coordinate their posts to ensure their main messages flow smoothly from one colour theme to the next. The cosmetics company ColourPop is a good example. A widely cited study from the University of Winnipeg found that up to 90% of our assessment of products is based solely on colour.

Users on the Lemmy website also suggest that this could be a data collection strategy to monitor the frequency of YouTube users using specific colours. Nevertheless, for those who like to fully customise applications based on aesthetics and ambience, this is a nice option.