Like it's always been shit, but at least it has some resemblance to the content I watch. But now I'm getting recommendations for videos with like 60-400 views from random channels of people who forget they opened up their cameras. Or sometimes it's some old lady speaking a foreign language about who knows what. Or it's some kid recording their friends during PE class. Or it's some vlog from a guy in Idaho going camping.
Dunno, but I've noticed this too, last few months. Maybe they're trying to respond to criticisms that the algorithm hurts small creators by sprinkling in random videos with low view counts?
I'll bet that it's officially this, and the engineers who worked on it think it's this, and the threshold for "small creator" just happens to be really close to whatever makes them too small for YT to have to pay out the ad revenue they make off them.
Part of me suspects that they've also considered the chance of creators getting large enough to actually put pressure on youtube. I mean there was a few "big creator quits youtube" stories recently.
Are they mostly accounts with subscribers in the hundreds? You have to have 1k+ to officially join the partner program (which is a whole process that takes a few days even when you already have your paperwork in order) before you'll see a penny of revenue.