Fill Me In

YouTube finally cancels its infamous YouTube Rewind for 2020.

What is YouTube Rewind?

YouTube rewind is a video series created by YouTube where an overview and recap of each year’s viral videos, events, trends and music are produced. The first video appeared in 2010. However, the Rewind segment has faced backlash ever since it was kickstarted.

Although YouTube has taken different approaches in trying to make the video more appealing, it still consistently receives negative feedback from the community.

Why are they cancelling it?

In a statement, the company has acknowledged, “2020 has been different”, adding that “it doesn’t feel right to carry on as if it weren’t”.

Their decision was faced with supportive and negative sentiments with some creators like JerryRigEverything saying that there are “plenty of things to be positive about”.

YouTube Rewind 2018: Everyone Controls Rewind

YouTube’s 2018 “Rewind,” a mash-up of the biggest trends on the site was the most disliked video ever. It amounted up to 10 million dislikes, beating Justin Bieber’s 2010 song “Baby” with 9.8 million dislikes.

YouTube Rewind 2018 was heavily criticised by critics, Youtubers, and viewers alike who openly called the video the worst video to date.

The video featured trends such as K-Pop and mukbang along with features of celebrities like Will Smith, John Oliver, and Trevor Noah.

Critics called out the video as obscure and lacking tributes to deaths such as Stephen Hawking and Avicii. It also included unpopular and outdated trends and failed to include many prominent YouTube stars such as Shane Dawson. Another point of contention was the lack of coverage of big events such as the Logan Paul and KSI fight.

However, it was not all that bad. The animated sequences in the video were praised and Will Smith’s appearance became an Internet Meme.

Prioritising advertiser content

PewDiePie, the star with the most subscribers, accused the video of prioritising advertiser content rather than focusing on viewers and popular cultural moments.

Marque Brownlee, one of the YouTubers featured in the video said that Rewind was stuck between trying to appeal advertises but at the same time, also wanting to make everyone happy.

A YouTube spokesperson said that the team was “pleased” with the performance of the clip. He emphasised further claiming that the goal for the Rewind video was ultimately to get the community to engage with the video, including liking and disliking the video.

At the end of the day, the video had over 100 million views and that was deemed successful for the team.

YouTube Rewind 2019: For The Record

In 2019, YouTube attempted to redeem itself after 2018 Rewind. However, despite its attempts, the community was quick to roast the video with people calling it low budget.

After the uproar that the previous year’s Rewind caused, YouTube tried to take into account the feedback from 2018 and compiled the platform’s biggest moments including the biggest creators and trends in 2019 but that itself wasn’t enough.

People called out the video for being “lazy” and “boring”. It also received a significantly higher amount of dislikes than likes.

The community voiced their displeasure and shared that they felt let down by the video, which seemed to not have the same amount of production work and effort behind its past videos.

While 2018’s Rewind lacked popular figures such as BTS and PewDiePie, 2019’s Rewind did feature them, but only as numbers.

What next for Rewind?

When the Rewind first started in 2010, the community was engaged and was pleased with the video. However, the video stopped doing justice in 2016, where they started to get more dislikes. The fans started feeling disconnected from the video, which led to tremendous hate and dislikes.

In the statement made by YouTube on Twitter, the company said, “We know that so much of the good that did happen in 2020 was created by all of you.”

The statement continued with “You’ve found ways to lift people up, help them cope and make them laugh. You made a hard year genuinely better.” indicating their reason for cancelling 2020’s edition.

Some creators have said that they will make their own versions of Rewind this year while others celebrated the news.

It is uncertain whether YouTube would resume Rewind next year.

Join the conversations on THG’s Facebook and Instagram, and get the latest updates via Telegram.