YouTube's Inspiration tab is going away. Here's how to find video ideas now

Published October 25, 2026 · Sources checked October 25, 2026

If you opened YouTube Studio and couldn't find Get Inspired at the bottom of the Content page, you're not imagining it. YouTube's Help Center says: “Starting August 2026, we are gradually deprecating the Inspiration tab. For brainstorming content ideas, use Ask Studio in YouTube Studio.” (YouTube Help)

Because it's a gradual rollout, some channels lose it earlier than others.

What replaces it: Ask Studio

YouTube describes Ask Studio as “an AI creative partner built directly into YouTube Studio to help you brainstorm video ideas, get channel insights, and analyze your performance.” (YouTube Help)

• Where: the Ask Studio button in the top corner of YouTube Studio. It's also on the Analytics page.
• Devices: computer web browsers only.
• Who can't use it: Official Artist Channels, Made for Kids channels and creators under 18.
• Saving: when a suggestion is worth keeping, save it as an Idea card.
• History: conversations are deleted automatically after 30 days, so save anything you want to keep.

Where your saved Inspiration ideas went

Ideas saved in Ask Studio or the Inspiration tab live in YouTube Studio → Content → Saved Ideas, and YouTube says they're kept permanently by default until you delete them. If you saved ideas in previous versions of Inspiration, you can export them with Google Takeout.

Ask Studio prompts worth trying

Our suggestions, not YouTube's:

• “Summarize the comments on my last 5 videos and list the questions viewers keep asking.”
• “Which of my videos from the last 90 days kept viewers watching longest, and what do they have in common?”
• “Give me 10 video ideas that build on [video title], with a different angle for each.”

Specific prompts work best. YouTube's own guidance is to “be specific with your questions.”

The gap: your channel isn't your whole niche

Ask Studio's FAQ says it “works with your YouTube Studio channel and only uses data from your channel and audience.” That's useful for doubling down on what already works for you. It's less useful when your channel is new, or when the best ideas are outside what you've already made. (That's our view.)

So look outward too. The manual method, in short (the full version with a worked example is in our guide on how to find YouTube video ideas):

1. List 5–10 channels your audience also watches: direct competitors plus one or two bigger channels next to your niche. Our free YouTube competitor analysis template gives you one row per channel.
2. Sort each channel's videos by Popular and note the ones that clearly beat that channel's usual view count (outliers). An outlier on a small channel tells you more than a hit on a huge one. The outlier score calculator does the maths.
3. Write down the format, not the title. “I tried X for 30 days”, “beginner vs. pro”, “the mistake everyone makes with Y”. Formats travel, titles don't.
4. Borrow formats from other niches (niche transfer). A structure that works in fitness can work for cooking or finance.
5. Check demand with YouTube search autocomplete, your comments and the Trends tab in YouTube Analytics, which flags content gaps (see our content gap guide). Then pick the idea where you can add something new.

For a faceless-friendly list of starting ideas, see Elevate's guide to YouTube video ideas that get views.

The faster way: let a tool read the top channels for you

Steps 1–4 take hours per niche. IdeaPhantom automates them. You pick the channels you want to learn from, and it analyses what's working on them. In under a minute it returns 10–25 original ideas with titles, hooks and descriptions. Niche transfer mode lets you analyse channels in one niche and generate ideas for another. Use it alongside Ask Studio: one looks at your channel, the other at everyone else's. Want to start free? Try our in-browser YouTube video ideas generator.

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