Article Updated: 01 May 2020
YouTube is pushing really hard on creators to switch to its new YouTube Studio platform (formerly YouTube Creator Studio), which is still in BETA version and lacks a lot of, namely, Analytics features we can only find in Classic at the moment.
How To Permanently Switch To YouTube Creator Classic
In February, YouTube devs started auto-defaulting users to new Studio, regardless of their previous choice. For the time being, Classic is going to stay, but old platform’s days are practically numbered. How can we still switch back to good old classic version and set it to be our default – at least, while it lasts and YouTube doesn’t permanently shut it down?
We still prefer Classic over new Studio version. Force of habit is probably a dominant cause in this case, let’s admit that right now. Classic still offers a lot of features which Studio doesn’t at the moment, despite the fact that it receives constant updates with ported features and analytics charts literally on a weekly basis, getting new existing and exclusive ones like impressions and click-through rates, performance comparison between videos/channels, and easing access to others, like subscribers per each video and so on.
Still, one feature that we really miss is the x-axis time control. We still cannot select x-axis reporting interval and set it to be weekly/monthly/quarterly/yearly or pre-defined rolling range in order to more easily visualize and see cumulative growth (or regression) over time on a simplified chart. With so much data available, it is often easy to miss a forest for a single tree.
Another, relatively recent change, that is going away with Classic design is the top-left MENU button, that allowed direct access to MAIN YouTube menu (History, My Channel, Subscriptions, Trending, Premium, YouTube TV …), which now doesn’t do that any more. Instead, it does simple Collapse Menu action. Same thing happened to main YouTube page, where it collapses the menu, instead providing access to useful shortcuts.
August 2019 Instructions
(no longer working)
When you were accessing your YouTube Studio Classic URL link, it was usually looking something like this:
https://www.youtube.com/my_videos
However, now, you will be automatically redirected to new studio.youtube.com subdomain. There is still Settings menu on the left sidebar, however, there is no longer an option to switch back to Classic on a “permanent” basis. There is, however, one small trick you can still use for a while (remember, Classic is shutting down by the end of 2019):
STEP 1
After being redirected to new YouTube Studio — click on Creator Studio Classic menu item located at the left bottom sidebar (icon of a person passing through the exit door).
STEP 2
New popup window will open with a survey asking about why are you leaving new Studio. Select appropriate check-boxes or skip it entirely.
You will be redirected to a familiar URL with added parameter, similar to this:
https://www.youtube.com/my_videos?o=U&ar=1234567890
STEP 3
You will be temporarily redirected to Classic version. If you visit your old bookmarked youtube.com/my_videos link, the vicious cycle will repeat again. To prevent it, you must either create a new bookmark with above modified URL or update your old bookmark to include special URL part: ?o=U&ar=1234567890, so that it looks like example in STEP 2 above.
That ?o=U&ar=123123… part in the updated link will tell Google that you don’t like new Studio and it will instead show you the Classic one right away. For how long will this new trick work? We honestly don’t know, but probably not long enough.
Update (22/Aug/2019): link apparently expires after 24 hours, and you will be subjected to new cycle of redirect and popup survey the next day. Additionally, YouTube changes the order of URL link parameters o and ar on a random basis.
February 2019 Instructions
(no longer working)