YouTube Rewind is gone for good, 2018 video definitely not to blame

YouTube’s end-of-year Rewind series has been around for years now, and people generally looked forward to it until the cringeworthy 2018 video debuted. The company would follow up with the 2019 Rewind (which was negatively received too), but it chose to skip a Rewind video last year due to the pandemic.

Now, the video platform has told Tube Filter (h/t: The Next Web) that it’s killing off the official Rewind video series for good. Thought that the reception to the 2018 or 2019 videos had a role to play in the company’s decision? Well, YouTube insists that its platform is simply too big to encapsulate in a brief video compilation.

“This decision is because the format of Rewind is very, very limited and can’t properly capture the breadth of the community,” the company noted in a comment below the 2018 Rewind video. But it also told Tube Filter that it would be informally handing off Rewind duties to the community.

“Since Rewind started in 2011, we have seen creators from MrBeast [54 million views], elrubiusOMG, and Slayy Point, to so many more, create their own end-of-year videos, uniquely capturing the year from each of their perspectives,” YouTube told the outlet.

“It’ll continue to be inspiring to see the myriad of ways the most creative content producers in the world — our YouTube creators — encapsulate the end of year in their video recaps, as YouTube retires its own Rewind video.”

Of course, we can’t help but feel that YouTube would’ve continued its Rewind series if the last couple of entries were positively received as well. In any event, the company will apparently continue to offer end-of-year trends lists, and it’s also teased a “global, end-of-year interactive experience” instead.