606 lines
16 KiB
Markdown
606 lines
16 KiB
Markdown
# A/B-Tests
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When YouTube introduces a new feature, it does so gradually. When a user creates a new
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session, YouTube decided randomly which new features should be enabled.
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YouTube sessions are identified by the visitor data cookie. This cookie is sent with
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every API request using the `context.client.visitor_data` JSON parameter. It is also
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returned in the `responseContext.visitorData` response parameter and stored as the
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`__SECURE-YEC` cookie.
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By sending the same visitor data cookie, A/B tests can be reproduced, which is important
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for testing alternative YouTube clients.
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This page lists all A/B tests that were encountered while maintaining the RustyPipe
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client.
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**Impact rating:**
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The impact ratings shows how much effort it takes to adapt alternative YouTube clients
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to the new feature.
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- 🟢 **Low** Minor incompatibility (e.g. parameter name change)
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- 🟡 **Medium** Extensive changes to the response data model OR removal of parameters
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- 🔴 **High** Changes to the functionality of YouTube that will require API changes for
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alternative clients
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**Status:**
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- Experimental (<3%)
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- Common (>3%)
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- Frequent (>40%)
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- Stabilized (100%)
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If you want to check how often these A/B tests occur, you can use the `codegen` tool
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with the following command: `rustypipe-codegen ab-test <id>`.
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## [1] Attributed text description
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- **Encountered on:** 24.09.2022
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- **Impact:** 🟡 Medium
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- **Endpoint:** next (video details)
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- **Status:** Stabilized
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YouTube shows internal links (channels, videos, playlists) in the video description as
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buttons with the YouTube icon. To accomplish this, they completely changed the
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underlying data model.
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The new format uses a string with the entire plaintext content along with a list of
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`"commandRuns"` which include the link data and the position of the links within the
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text.
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Note that the position and length parameter refer to the number of UTF-16 characters. If
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you are implementing this in a language which does not use UTF-16 as its internal string
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representation, you have to iterate over the unicode codepoints and keep track of the
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UTF-16 index seperately.
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**OLD**
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```json
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{
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"videoSecondaryInfoRenderer": {
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"description": {
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"runs": [
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{
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"text": "🎧Listen and download aespa's debut single \"Black Mamba\": "
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},
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{
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"navigationEndpoint": {
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"commandMetadata": {
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"webCommandMetadata": {
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"rootVe": 83769,
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"url": "https://www.youtube.com/redirect?...",
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"webPageType": "WEB_PAGE_TYPE_UNKNOWN"
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}
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},
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"urlEndpoint": {
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"nofollow": true,
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"target": "TARGET_NEW_WINDOW",
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"url": "https://www.youtube.com/redirect?..."
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}
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},
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"text": "https://smarturl.it/aespa_BlackMamba"
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}
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]
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}
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}
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}
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```
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**NEW**
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```json
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{
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"videoSecondaryInfoRenderer": {
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"attributedDescription": {
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"content": "🎧Listen and download aespa's debut single \"Black Mamba\": https://smarturl.it/aespa_BlackMamba\n🐍The Debut Stage...",
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"commandRuns": [
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{
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"startIndex": 58,
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"length": 36,
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"onTap": {
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"innertubeCommand": {
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"commandMetadata": {
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"webCommandMetadata": {
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"url": "https://www.youtube.com/redirect?...",
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"webPageType": "WEB_PAGE_TYPE_UNKNOWN",
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"rootVe": 83769
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}
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},
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"urlEndpoint": {
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"url": "https://www.youtube.com/redirect?...",
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"target": "TARGET_NEW_WINDOW",
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"nofollow": true
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}
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}
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}
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}
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]
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}
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}
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}
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```
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## [2] 3-tab channel layout
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- **Announced:** 15.09.2022, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czIyqEC4V-s
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- **Encountered on:** 11.10.2022
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- **Impact:** 🔴 High
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- **Endpoint:** browse (channel videos)
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- **Status:** Stabilized
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YouTube changed their channel page layout, putting livestreams and short videos into
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separate tabs.
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Fetching the videos page now only returns a subset of a channel's videos. To get all
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videos from a channel, you would have to run up to 3 queries.
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Even though it has its disadvantages, the RSS feed is now probably the best way for
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keeping track of a channel's new uploads.
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Additionally the channel tab response model was slightly changed, now using a
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`"RichGridRenderer"`. Short videos also have their own data models
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(`"reelItemRenderer"`).
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**RichGrid**
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```json
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{
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"tabRenderer": {
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"content": {
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"richGridRenderer": {
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"contents": [
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{
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"richItemRenderer": {
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"content": {
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"videoRenderer": {}
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}
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}
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}
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]
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}
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}
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}
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}
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```
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**Short video**
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```json
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{
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"reelItemRenderer": {
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"accessibility": {
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"accessibilityData": {
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"label": "being smart was my personality trait - 56 seconds - play video"
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}
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},
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"headline": {
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"simpleText": "being smart was my personality trait"
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},
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"navigationEndpoint": {
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"clickTrackingParams": "CLcCEIf2BBgAIhMImuP85t-D-wIVd-sRCB2r6gl7",
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"commandMetadata": {
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"webCommandMetadata": {
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"rootVe": 37414,
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"url": "/shorts/glyJWxp7a5g",
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"webPageType": "WEB_PAGE_TYPE_SHORTS"
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}
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},
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"reelWatchEndpoint": {
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"overlay": {
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"reelPlayerOverlayRenderer": {
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"reelPlayerHeaderSupportedRenderers": {
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"reelPlayerHeaderRenderer": {
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"timestampText": {
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"simpleText": "2 days ago"
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}
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}
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}
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}
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}
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}
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},
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"thumbnail": {
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"thumbnails": [
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{
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"height": 720,
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"url": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/glyJWxp7a5g/hq720_2.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEdCJUDENAFSFXyq4qpAw8IARUAAIhCcAHAAQbQAQE=&rs=AOn4CLCUzo9AlrNh4n4cZfTOB8_Gf5aAkw",
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"width": 405
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}
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]
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},
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"videoId": "glyJWxp7a5g",
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"viewCountText": {
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"simpleText": "593K views"
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}
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}
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}
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```
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## [3] Channel handles in search results
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- **Encountered on:** 20.11.2022
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- **Impact:** 🟡 Medium
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- **Endpoint:** search
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- **Status:** Stabilized
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Instead of subscriber count / video count, a channel item from the search result now
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displays the channel handle and the subscriber count. The video count was removed.
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The implementation looks pretty quick and dirty, as they did not even bother to rename
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their response parameters. So this might change again in the future.
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Note that channels without handles still use the old data model, even on the same page.
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**OLD**
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```json
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{
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"subscriberCountText": {
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"accessibility": {
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"accessibilityData": {
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"label": "2.92 million subscribers"
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}
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},
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"simpleText": "2.92M subscribers"
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},
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"videoCountText": {
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"runs": [
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{
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"text": "219"
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},
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{
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"text": " videos"
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}
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]
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}
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}
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```
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**NEW**
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```json
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{
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"videoCountText": {
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"accessibility": {
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"accessibilityData": {
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"label": "4.03 million subscribers"
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}
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},
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"simpleText": "4.03M subscribers"
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},
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"subscriberCountText": {
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"simpleText": "@MusicTravelLove"
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}
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}
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```
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## [4] Video tab on the Trending page
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- **Encountered on:** 1.04.2023
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- **Impact:** 🟢 Low
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- **Endpoint:** browse (trending videos)
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- **Status:** Discontinued
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YouTube moved the list of trending videos from the main _trending_ page to a separate
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tab (Videos).
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The video tab is fetched with the params `4gIOGgxtb3N0X3BvcHVsYXI%3D`.
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This new tab contains two shelves (video lists), the first one labeled "Trending videos"
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which contains the regular trends and the second one named "Recently trending".
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The data model for the video shelves did not change.
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**OLD**
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**NEW**
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## [5] Page header renderer on the Trending page
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- **Encountered on:** 1.05.2023
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- **Impact:** 🟢 Low
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- **Endpoint:** browse (trending videos)
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- **Status:** Frequent (99%)
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YouTube changed the header renderer type on the trending page to a `pageHeaderRenderer`.
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**OLD**
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```json
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{
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"c4TabbedHeaderRenderer": {
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"avatar": {
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"thumbnails": [
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{
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"height": 100,
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"url": "https://www.youtube.com/img/trending/avatar/trending_avatar.png",
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"width": 100
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}
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]
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},
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"title": "Trending",
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"trackingParams": "CBAQ8DsiEwiXi_iUht76AhVM6hEIHfgTB2g="
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}
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}
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```
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**NEW**
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```json
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{
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"pageHeaderRenderer": {
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"pageTitle": "Trending",
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"content": {
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"pageHeaderViewModel": {
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"title": {
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"dynamicTextViewModel": { "text": { "content": "Trending" } }
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},
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"image": {
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"contentPreviewImageViewModel": {
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"image": {
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"sources": [
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{
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"url": "https://www.youtube.com/img/trending/avatar/trending.png",
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"width": 100,
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"height": 100
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}
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]
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},
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"style": "CONTENT_PREVIEW_IMAGE_STYLE_CIRCLE"
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}
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}
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}
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}
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}
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}
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```
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## [6] New Music Discography page
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- **Encountered on:** 13.05.2023
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- **Impact:** 🟡 Medium
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- **Endpoint:** browse (music artist)
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- **Status:** Stabilized
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YouTube merged the 2 sections for singles and albums on artist pages together. Now there
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is only a _Top Releases_ section.
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YouTube also changed the way the full discography page is fetched, surprisingly making
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it easier for alternative clients. The discography page now has its own content ID in
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the format of `MPAD<channel id>` (Music Page Artist Discography). This page can be
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fetched with a regular browse request without requiring parameters to be parsed or a
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visitor data cookie to be set, as it was the case with the old system.
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**OLD**
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**NEW**
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## [7] Short timeago format
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- **Encountered on:** 28.05.2023
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- **Impact:** 🟢 Low
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- **Status:** Discontinued
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YouTube changed their date format from the long format (_21 hours ago_, _3 days ago_) to
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a short format (_21h ago_, _3d ago_).
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## [8] Track playback count in search results and artist views
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- **Encountered on:** 29.06.2023
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- **Impact:** 🟡 Medium
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- **Status:** Stabilized
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YouTube added the track playback count to search results and top artist tracks. In
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exchange, they removed the "Song" type identifier from search results.
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## [9] Playlists for Shorts
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- **Encountered on:** 26.06.2023
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- **Impact:** 🟡 Medium
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- **Endpoint:** browse (playlist)
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- **Status:** Stabilized
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Original issue: https://github.com/TeamNewPipe/NewPipeExtractor/issues/10774
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YouTube added a filter system for playlists, allowing users to only see shorts/full
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videos.
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When shorts filter is enabled or when there are only shorts in a playlist, YouTube
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return shorts UI elements instead of standard video ones, the ones that are also used
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for shorts shelves in searches and suggestions and shorts in the corresponding channel
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tab.
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Since the reel items dont include upload date information you can circumvent this new UI
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by using the mobile client. But that may change in the future.
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## [10] Channel About modal
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- **Encountered on:** 03.11.2023
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- **Impact:** 🟡 Medium
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- **Endpoint:** browse (channel info)
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- **Status:** Stabilized
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YouTube replaced the _About_ channel tab with a modal. This changes the way additional
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channel metadata has to be fetched.
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The new modal uses a continuation request with a token which can be easily generated.
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Attempts to fetch the old about tab with the A/B test enabled will lead to a redirect to
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the main tab.
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## [11] Like-Button viewmodel
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- **Encountered on:** 03.11.2023
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- **Impact:** 🟢 Low
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- **Endpoint:** next
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- **Status:** Stabilized
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YouTube introduced an updated data model for the like/dislike buttons. The new model
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looks needlessly complex but contains the same parsing-relevant data as the old model
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(accessibility text to get like count).
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```json
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{
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"segmentedLikeDislikeButtonViewModel": {
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"likeButtonViewModel": {
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"likeButtonViewModel": {
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"toggleButtonViewModel": {
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"toggleButtonViewModel": {
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"defaultButtonViewModel": {
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"buttonViewModel": {
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"iconName": "LIKE",
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"title": "4.2M",
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"accessibilityText": "like this video along with 4,209,059 other people"
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}
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}
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}
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}
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}
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}
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}
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}
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```
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## [12] New channel page header
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- **Encountered on:** 29.01.2024
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- **Impact:** 🟢 Low
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- **Endpoint:** browse
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- **Status:** Experimental (<1%)
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YouTube introduced a new data model for channel headers, based on a
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`"pageHeaderRenderer"`. The new model comes with more needless complexity that needs to
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be accomodated. There are also no mobile/TV header images available any more.
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```json
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{
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"pageHeaderViewModel": {
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"title": {
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"dynamicTextViewModel": {
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"text": {
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"content": "Doobydobap",
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"attachmentRuns": [
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{
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"startIndex": 10,
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"length": 0,
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"element": {
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"type": {
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"imageType": {
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"image": {
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"sources": [
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{
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"clientResource": {
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"imageName": "CHECK_CIRCLE_FILLED"
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},
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"width": 14,
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"height": 14
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}
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]
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}
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}
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}
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}
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}
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]
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}
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}
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},
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"image": {
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"decoratedAvatarViewModel": {
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"avatar": {
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"avatarViewModel": {
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"image": {
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"sources": [
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{
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"url": "https://yt3.googleusercontent.com/dm5Aq93xvVJz0NoVO88ieBkDXmuShCujGPlZ7qETMEPTrXvPUCFI3-BB6Xs_P-r6Uk3mnBy9zA=s72-c-k-c0x00ffffff-no-rj",
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"width": 72,
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"height": 72
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}
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]
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}
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}
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}
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}
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},
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"metadata": {
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"contentMetadataViewModel": {
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"metadataRows": [
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{
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"metadataParts": [
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{
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"text": {
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"content": "@Doobydobap"
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}
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},
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{
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"text": {
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"content": "3.74M subscribers"
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}
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},
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{
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"text": {
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"content": "345 videos",
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"styleRuns": [
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{
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"startIndex": 0,
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"length": 10
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}
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]
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}
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}
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]
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}
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]
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}
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},
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"banner": {
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"imageBannerViewModel": {
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"image": {
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"sources": [
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{
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"url": "https://yt3.googleusercontent.com/BvnAqgiursrXpmS9AgDLtkOSTQfOG_Dqn0KzY5hcwO9XrHTEQTVgaflI913f9KRp7d0U2qBp=w1060-fcrop64=1,00005a57ffffa5a8-k-c0xffffffff-no-nd-rj",
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"width": 1060,
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"height": 175
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}
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]
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}
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}
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}
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}
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}
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```
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## [13] Music album/playlist 2-column layout
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- **Encountered on:** 29.02.2024
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- **Impact:** 🟢 Low
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- **Endpoint:** browse
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- **Status:** Common (6%)
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YouTube Music updated the layout of album and playlist pages. The new layout shows
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the cover on the left side of the playlist content.
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