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YouTube Playlists: How to Create, Order and Use Them

· 7 min read · Estudio de Canales

Cover graphic for Estudio de Canales: wavy lines on a black background, with the article's headline in Spanish

YouTube playlists are collections of videos that you create and manage in YouTube Studio or from a video's page: you give them a title, a description and a visibility setting, choose how they are ordered and add videos when you upload them or afterwards. On a channel they serve to gather the episodes of a series or the videos on a topic, and they can be shown on the channel page, on the end screen, in cards and in the description.

How to create a playlist in YouTube Studio

The most complete way is from YouTube Studio, as described in YouTube's help page on playlists:

  1. Sign in to YouTube Studio and, in the top-right corner, click Create and then New playlist.
  2. Enter a title and a description for the playlist.
  3. Choose its visibility in the drop-down box.
  4. Choose how the videos will be ordered.
  5. Click Add videos and then Create.

Playlist titles have a limit of 150 characters and descriptions a limit of 5000, and neither can contain the characters “<” or “>”. There are two other, quicker routes. From a video's page: click More, Save and Create new playlist, give it a name and choose its privacy (if you set it to private, only you will be able to see it). And when uploading a video: in the upload details you can add it to one of your playlists or create one to add it to.

One limit to keep in mind: each channel can create a limited number of public playlists per day, and that limit increases if you get access to advanced features. Where everything is in the dashboard is covered in YouTube Studio: what it is and what each section is for.

How to order the videos in a playlist

The order is decided at two moments. When you create it, YouTube Studio lets you choose how the videos will be ordered. Afterwards, to change it by hand: in YouTube Studio, go to Content and, in the Playlists tab, hover over the playlist, open its menu and select Edit on YouTube. The playlist opens in a new tab and there you drag each video higher or lower.

  • Temporary change. If you drag the videos in the playlist panel that appears on the watch page, the order changes only temporarily.
  • Shorts playlists. Sorting is not available in playlists that contain only Shorts.
  • Size. Each playlist can have a maximum of 5000 videos.

Which order should you choose? It depends on how the playlist is watched. If the videos have to be watched in sequence, like a course or a story told in chapters, the first goes at the top. If each one stands on its own, it may make more sense to put at the top those that best introduce the topic.

Playlists and series: how they fit together

A series is an editorial idea: a format that repeats with different episodes. The playlist is the place on YouTube where those episodes are watched together. The practical rule is simple: one playlist per series, with the same name the series uses in titles and thumbnails, so that anyone who finishes an episode knows where the next one is.

For example, a history channel with the series “Trains of Spain” would have a playlist with that name, the episodes in the order they were published and a short description saying what the series covers and how often a new episode comes out.

Besides series, there are playlists that help people who arrive for the first time:

  • A starter playlist, with the few videos that best explain what the channel is about.
  • Playlists by topic, when videos from different series deal with the same subject.
  • Playlists by format, if the channel combines, for example, long videos and short summaries.

If you do not yet have your channel's series clear, start there: it is best to define them together with the channel bible, its topics and its style (how to do it, in the bible of a YouTube channel).

Where to show your playlists

A playlist helps more the more it is seen. YouTube offers several places to show it:

  • The channel's Home tab. You can adapt its layout with up to 12 custom sections, and a section can feature one or several playlists. The default layout already includes a section for created playlists.
  • The end screen. One of its elements shows a playlist; how to set it up is in YouTube end screens.
  • Info cards. A playlist-type card adds a link to a public YouTube playlist.
  • The description. Among YouTube's tips for descriptions is to include links to playlists of related videos.

How to tell whether a playlist works

YouTube Studio has statistics per playlist: in the Overview, Content, Audience and Revenue tabs you see aggregated data for all the videos in the playlist. What to look at in each one is covered in YouTube metrics.

Before deleting a playlist, bear in mind what happens to its data – once it is deleted, neither its URL nor its title can be viewed or searched in Analytics, and what it accumulated, such as watch time, stays in the overall reports but is no longer attributed to the playlist. It may also keep appearing in the watch history of anyone who watched it.

A note for channels with children's content: on videos marked as made for kids, the option to add to a playlist and to save to watch later is no longer available. What else changes is covered in content made for kids on YouTube.

What the Estudio de Canales does with series

The Estudio de Canales works with series, but it does not create playlists on YouTube. What it does:

  • Series per channel. Each channel has its own, with a name, concept, target length and a variation rule, so that each episode says something different. A series can be active, paused or archived.
  • Ideas and videos with their series. When you schedule an idea from a series on the calendar, the video takes the series' target length (if the series has none, the one from the bible).
  • The series reaches the script. When the script is generated with AI, the model receives the series' name, concept and variation rule, as well as the channel bible.
  • The series, in the learnings. With the channel's Google account connected, the studio compares the first-7-day figures of a series' videos with those of the rest of the channel, as long as there are at least three videos on each side.

What it does not do: it does not create playlists, does not add videos to them and does not publish to YouTube. It prepares the package so that you upload the video by hand in YouTube Studio, and it is in that upload's details that you add it to its series' playlist. If the playlist has the same name as the series, that step is immediate.

Sources consulted

Checked on 11 October 2026. We link to the original source so that you can consult the current text.

Frequently asked questions

How do you create a playlist on YouTube?

In YouTube Studio, click Create and New playlist, write the title and description, choose the visibility and the order, add the videos and click Create. You can also create one from a video's page, with More, Save and Create new playlist.

How do I change the order of the videos in a playlist?

In YouTube Studio, go to Content and, in the Playlists tab, open the playlist's menu and select Edit on YouTube; there you drag each video higher or lower. In playlists that contain only Shorts, sorting is not possible.

How many videos fit in a playlist?

Each playlist can have a maximum of 5000 videos. What has a daily limit is creating public playlists: each channel can create a limited number per day, and that limit increases with access to advanced features.

Is a series the same as a playlist?

Not exactly. The series is the editorial idea, a format that repeats with different episodes; the playlist is where YouTube shows those episodes together. The practical approach is to have one playlist per series, with the same name.

Does the Estudio de Canales create the playlists on YouTube?

No. It organises each channel's videos into series inside the studio, but it does not publish to YouTube: you create the playlists yourself in YouTube Studio, and when you upload each video you can add it to its series' playlist.

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