Set a YouTube channel trailer and featured video

Before opening Studio, your channel dashboard, prepare two recommendations. One should introduce what you publish to someone new; the other could help subscribers continue a series. Have the selected videos ready to assign to the two spots on your Home tab.

Choose a trailer for people who have not subscribed

1. Open YouTube Studio and select Customization in the left menu.
2. Select the Home tab. If it is off, turn it on to show featured channel content.
3. Under Layout, select ADD section, then Channel trailer.
4. Choose the video that previews your channel and select Publish.

The trailer gives viewers a preview of your channel so they can decide whether to subscribe. YouTube says it will not show that trailer to an individual viewer again after they have watched it.

Feature another video for returning subscribers

On the same Home tab, select ADD section, then Spotlight. Choose the video you want returning subscribers to see and select Publish. It can be a video from your channel or any other YouTube channel. A viewer who has watched the featured video will not be shown it again either.

For example, if you run a cooking channel, you could use an introduction to your recipes as the trailer and feature the first episode of a new series for subscribers. Choose each video based on what that viewer already knows about your channel.

Check the changes

After publishing your changes, return to Customization → Home tab and confirm that each section retains your chosen video. Visit the channel with an account that is not subscribed to check the trailer, and with a subscribed account to check the featured video. If that account has already watched the assigned video, it may not appear again even though it remains selected.

YouTube’s channel layout help documents the paths and behavior of both spots. The YouTube Studio app lets you turn the Home tab on or off; the steps for choosing videos are documented for Studio on the web.

To organize videos by topic, you can also create a YouTube playlist. Playlists and featured videos serve different purposes on a channel page.