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Angelo Mariano

Rediscovering ‘Watch Later’: YouTube’s Hidden Playlist

TIMELINE

Jun - Apr 2025

PLATFORM

Responsive Website

MY ROLE

Product Designer

BACKGROUND

Redesigning YouTube’s Most Overlooked Feature

Reimagining Watch Later to align with user needs

YouTube’s watch later feature is meant to save videos for later viewing. A simple idea, but one that often fails.

In reality, most playlists are rarely revisited, piling up with hundreds—sometimes thousands—of unwatched videos

A few things to think about

Why & where does this feature fall short despite being designed for convenience?

What are the consequences that emerge when this feature isn’t used as intended?

Users are accidently building massive video libraries

Online discussions reveals the same pain point over and over: users mentioning their Watch-Later lists 300, 600 even 1,000+ videos deep. Users aren’t saving a few videos, they’re accidently building a massive library.

My favorite pastime is saving YouTube videos to 'Watch Later' and then not watching them later

I add videos and forget to return to the videos. It’s a never ending cycle.

I instantly forget about the saved videos, I have over 1,840 unwatched videos.

SOLUTION HIGHLIGHT

The approach focused on creating discovery mechanisms that naturally guide users to their next video while staying true to YouTube's core user experience.

Gently rediscover your saved videos on the YouTube homescreen

Resurface saved content easily allowing users to return and watch the videos they’ve saved

View Your Watch Later on a more personal level

Allows users to find their saved videos by category

PROBLEM

Let’s take a deeper dive at some of the data

KEY INSIGHTS

Three main recurring problems users are struggling with highlights the gap between user expectations and the feature's current state.

64%

of people reported they had 100+ videos in their Watch Later playlist

51%

mentioned they never went back to watch the videos that they have saved

43%

mentioned half of their Watch Later is older than 90 days

It’s not the users fault, YouTube fails to guide and remind users to return back to their saved videos.

KEY INSIGHTS

Three main recurring problems users are struggling with highlights the gap between user expectations and the feature's current state.

64%

of people reported they had 100+ videos in their Watch Later playlist

51%

mentioned they never went back to watch the videos that they have saved

43%

mentioned half of their Watch Later is older than 90 days

It’s not the users fault, YouTube fails to guide and remind users to return back to their saved videos.

KEY INSIGHTS

Three main recurring problems users are struggling with highlights the gap between user expectations and the feature's current state.

64%

of people reported they had 100+ videos in their Watch Later playlist

51%

mentioned they never went back to watch the videos that they have saved

43%

mentioned half of their Watch Later is older than 90 days

It’s not the users fault, YouTube fails to guide and remind users to return back to their saved videos.

UNDERSTANDING USER BEHAVIORS

There are unseen consequences that users have to endure.

Due to YouTube failing to remind users to come back to their watch later, negative behaviors start occur putting more stress upon the user creating “behavior traps”that turns good intentions into missed opportunities.

Due to YouTube failing to remind users to come back to their watch later, negative behaviors start occur putting more stress upon the user creating “behavior traps” that turns good intentions into missed opportunities.

USER BEHAVIORS

Users need a way to avoid these behavioral traps.

Intention-Action Gap:

The intended user behavior doesn't match actual user behavior.

Cue-Dependency

Without an external reminder, people simply forget the list exists

Intention-Action Gap:

The intended user behavior doesn't match actual user behavior.

Cue-Dependency

Without an external reminder, people simply forget the list exists

Choice Overload

Choice overload is a phenomena stating our tendency to have difficulty making a choice if presented with numerous options

Users → Intent & Forget

USER BEHAVIORS

Users need a way to avoid these behavioral traps.

Intention-Action Gap:

The intended user behavior doesn't match actual user behavior.

Intention-Action Gap:

The intended user behavior doesn't match actual user behavior.

Intention-Action Gap:

The intended user behavior doesn't match actual user behavior.

Cue-Dependency

Without an external reminder, people simply forget the list exists

Choice Overload

Choice overload is a phenomena stating our tendency to have difficulty making a choice if presented with numerous options

Users → Intent & Forget

THE IMPACTS

Users aren’t the only ones who are impacted.

When users forget to return to their Watch-Later library, every part of YouTube’s ecosystem suffers — the platform, the creators, and the viewers who save them.

FOCUS AREAS

Viewing the problems in real time

Let’s take a closer look at the problems that the user’s face that weakens Watch-Later’s usefulness and convenience—and see them play out on the screen.

CURRENT WATCH LATER LANDSCAPE

Users lack efficient control over their saved videos. With no straightforward way to filter, find, clean, or resume content, Watch Later becomes difficult to navigate and frustrating to use.

HOW MIGHT WE

With all of this in mind, how might we transform the Watch Later feature from a digital graveyard into a manageable space that helps users rediscover their saved videos?

GUIDING THE REDESIGN

Deciding the design goals

To translate my research findings into actionable work, I defined three specific design goals to help guide every decision and measure success

YouTube’s watch later feature is meant to save videos for later viewing. A simple idea, but one that often fails.

In reality, most playlists are rarely revisited, piling up with hundreds—sometimes thousands—of unwatched videos

A few guiding questions

Help shrink the action intention gap between saving and watching, so the list stays manageable

Help shrink the action intention gap between saving and watching, so the list stays manageable

Help shrink the action intention gap between saving and watching, so the list stays manageable

Guide users rediscover—and actually watch—the saved videos

Guide users rediscover—and actually watch—the saved videos

Guide users rediscover—and actually watch—the saved videos

Make saved videos easy to scan and act on.

Make saved videos easy to scan and act on.

Make saved videos easy to scan and act on.

Thinking in Reverse

Before any further, I wanted establish a set of principles that I could reference throughout the design process to align with my main objectives.

The set of guiding principles

Inaccessibility → Discoverability

Fragmentation → Integration

Confusion → Consistency

Inefficiency → Productivity

EXPLORATIONS

The ideas that missed the mark

I experimented with several concepts to help users rediscover their Watch Later playlist. These early ideas fell short because they didn’t feel natural to YouTube’s experience or align with how users actually navigate YouTube.

EXPLORATION #1

This overlay would pop up once a user tries to add a video to their watch later

Friendly Nudging

Subtle rediscovery

Native feel

Nudging users to watch when they save a video feels counterintuitive.

Users may ignore the nudge, as their intent is to save, not watch, in that moment.

EXPLORATION #2

This overlay would pop up after their current YouTube Video ends

Low effort rediscovery

Gentle Nudge

Surfaces when users are already
looking for their next video

Fights with YouTube’s recommendation system

Competes with Up Next