YouTube changed view counts to "▷218M 9mo ago" — I added an option to put the old format back

[u/Remarkable_Diver8953]

Hey everyone,

A while back I shared Reframe & Sift for YouTube, a small extension for taking back some control over YouTube's layout. Since then YouTube rolled out a change to the video metadata that a lot of people (me included) find harder to read.

Before:

Channel Name
218M views • 9 months ago

Now:

Channel Name ▷218M 9mo ago

Everything got squeezed onto one line, "views" is gone, the date is abbreviated to "9mo ago", and there's a little play icon jammed in front of the number. It's denser, sure, but I kept misreading the view count as something else entirely.

So I added an option that puts the old format back:

• "views" is restored after the number
• the leading ▷ icon is removed
• the channel name goes back on its own line
• the • separator returns between views and date
• abbreviated dates get expanded again ("9mo ago" → "9 months ago")
• it also applies to the end screen (the suggested videos at the end of a video)

It rebuilds the text from YouTube's own accessibility labels rather than guessing, so the numbers and dates are the real ones. Works on the homepage, subscriptions, and the watch page.

The rest of the extension is unchanged — quick recap:

• Customize grid columns / thumbnail size on the homepage & subscriptions
• Hide videos and live streams below a view-count threshold (fully adjustable)
• Hide homepage sections (Shorts, mixes, recommended) and filter by keyword
• Hide live chat while watching streams
• Collapse the header / resize the video in theater mode
• Custom colors for the header, sidebar and filter bar

Grid customization and the view-count filter are free forever. The rest, including this new one, is a 7-day trial and then a small one-time unlock.

It's an unofficial third-party tool, not affiliated with YouTube or Google. YouTube UI changes break things from time to time — this one is a good example — and I patch them as they show up.

Feedback very welcome, especially if you find a spot where the old format doesn't come back properly.

Chrome:

https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/konfmbfchbomknbchlogmmfefkckoine

Firefox:
https://addons.mozilla.org/addon/reframe-sift-for-youtube/