YouTube Rewind 2020: Why the annual video review isn’t happening this year
3 min readYouTube’s annual Rewind round-up has been reviewing the biggest videos, creators and trends of the year since 2010.
While 2020 has certainly been an extraordinary year for most of us, a recent statement from YouTube regarding their yearly recap suggests that they feel the same way.
The high-budget production is usually released every December, but in November the video-sharing platform announced it would not be going ahead with Rewind this year.
But, why has this happened?
Here’s everything you need to know.
What have YouTube said about the decision to cancel YouTube Rewind?
The social media platform released the following statement in November.
“Since 2010, we’ve ended the year with Rewind: a look back at the year’s most impactful creators, videos, and trends. Whether you love it – or only remember 2018 – Rewind was always meant to be a celebration of you,” it began.
“But 2020 has been been different,” it continues.
“It doesn’t feel right to carry on as if it weren’t. So, we’re taking a break from Rewind this year.”
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The statement ends by praising the YouTubers who have helped see us through a difficult year.
“We know that so much of the good that did happen in 2020 was created by all of you. You’ve found ways to lift people up, help them cope, and make them laugh.
“You made a hard year genuinely better. Thank you for making a difference,” it ends.
What has been the response?
Some YouTubers were understanding about the decision.
American vlogger Hank Green commented that the decision seemed like “the right call”, while Lele Pons, an American internet celebrity, singer and actor, with over 17 million subscribers, wrote, “You guys support us in so many ways!! We all totally understand!!”.
Others were more critical.
Todd in the Shadows, who makes humorous song reviews on the site, suggested that 2020 may have been the opportunity YouTube were looking for to cancel the controversial tradition.
“If we can still hold the Emmys we can put together a five-minute supercut of popular YouTube videos,” he wrote.
Why was the review so controversial?
Fans regularly disagree with who is and who isn’t included and left out of each video.
In both 2018 and 2019, both Rewind videos received more “thumbs down” or dislikes than likes.
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Excluding high profile YouTubers such as PewDiePie, 2018’s recap actually became the site’s least popular video ever, with 18 million down votes and only 2.9 million up votes.
The 2019 review didn’t fare much better, despite its efforts to make light of the unpopularity of the previous year’s video and is reportedly the third most disliked video on the platform.
