Create shows from your videos

When you create a show, you can organize your videos into seasons and episodes. You can also add metadata like descriptions and artwork for the show.

Shows may be eligible to appear in search as well as under "Recommended shows" and "Continue watching."

Understand shows on YouTube

A show is a collection of high-quality episodes with a clear connection across episodes. Here are some common characteristics of shows and best practices to follow:

• Consistent story or topic: Feature the same characters or hosts, tell one long story, or talk about a similar topic in each video.
• Consistent look or feel: Use the same intro, same style of thumbnails, and same video format.
• High-quality video and sound: Filming and editing videos well helps viewers know that your show is worth their time. Videos with no visuals likely won’t be considered a show.

Create a show

You can add show features on an existing playlist or create a new show.

Your show can be either non-serial or serial.

• Non-serial (most common): Episodes can be watched in any order and are listed newest to oldest.
  • Non-serial is automatically selected when converting a playlist to a show.
• Serial: Episodes are intended to be watched in sequential order and are listed oldest to newest.

To enable show features on an existing playlist:

1. Sign in to YouTube Studio.
2. From the left menu, select Content.
3. Click Playlists.
4. Hover over the playlist and click Options .
5. Click Add show features.
   • To remove show features for a playlist, click Remove show features.

Note: By default, all videos from the selected playlist are added as episodes to 'Season 1' of your show. If you manually set the order of videos in your playlist, episode numbers are assigned based on your specified order. If not, episode numbers are assigned based on oldest to newest order by published date.

To create a new show:

1. Sign in to YouTube Studio.
2. In the top-right corner, click Create New show.
3. Set your show’s details.
4. Click Done.

Note: You must set a season number when you add videos to a show.

Add artwork

To make sure your show’s artwork is clear, especially on larger screens, we recommend a minimum resolution of 1080p but encourage 4K. The maximum file size you can upload is 10 MB.

You can upload three different types of artwork for your show:

• Texted poster art: We recommend uploading this artwork. This artwork should include your show’s stylized title or logo along with the poster art. It will appear on browse surfaces across YouTube.
  • Aspect ratio: 16:9
  • Resolution: 3840x2160 pixels or a minimum of 1080x1920 pixels
  • Format: JPG or PNG
• Backdrop: This artwork is optional. It should include your show’s poster art, but should not include the embedded show title or logo.
  • Aspect ratio: 16:9
  • Resolution: 3840x2160 pixels or a minimum of 1080x1920 pixels
  • Format: JPG or PNG
• Title treatment: This artwork is optional. It should include your show’s title or logo on a transparent background. It will appear on top of the backdrop on show pages.
  • Aspect ratio: 9:5
  • Resolution: 1130x628 pixels or a minimum of 565x314 pixels
  • Format: PNG

Add episodes

To add episodes to your show:

1. Sign in to YouTube Studio.
2. From the left menu, select Content.
3. Click Shows.
4. Click Add content to add existing videos or playlists from your channel.
   • Note: Episode numbers are automatically assigned by publish date.

Edit episode order

When you set a playlist as a show, YouTube orders videos by publish date. If you manually set the order of videos in your playlist, episode numbers are assigned based on your specified order.

To edit your show’s episode or season number:

1. Sign in to YouTube Studio.
2. From the left menu, select Content.
3. Click Shows.
4. Hover over the show you want to edit, then click Episodes.
5. Find the episode you want to edit.
6. Hover over the season or episode number, then click the downward arrow to edit.

Note: Editing or deleting an episode's number or season will automatically update the episode numbers assigned to other episodes.