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CREATOR ECONOMY

Self-Care Content Sees Sharp Decline To Start 2026

Scout Jacobs

• 1 min read
Self-Care Content Sees Sharp Decline To Start 2026
Photo by Kaylee Garrett / Unsplash

While wellness and self-care remain a common point of interest for audiences during the new year–with new beginnings and new year resolutions–wellness content has seen a drastic decline at the start of 2026 compared to the start of last year. Not only are wellness creators creating less, but signals across search and engagement suggest a softening in audience demand as well.

This delay in self-improvement content, whether broad like wellness or more specific like sleep optimization or mental health content, suggests consumer fatigue with wellness-driven narratives this year. Audiences may be seeking a more authentic form of wellness, deprioritizing “aesthetic” wellness via video content. 

According to data from Tubular Labs, the Personal Care & Health industry has been ranked #4 on YouTube’s Top Industries investing in sponsored content from January 1 to January 14 in 2025, with 901 videos uploaded and 195M views.

  • At the start of this year, from January 1 to January 14, 2026, YouTube videos sponsored by brands in the Personal Care & Health industry ranked #5 and had only 69 videos uploaded with 8M views.
    • Both content production and viewership of videos sponsored by Personal Care & Health brands declined drastically at the start of this year.
  • Wellness or “Self Care” YouTube videos saw 924k videos uploaded, 29.3B views, and 721M engagements from January 1 to January 14 of 2025.
    • In 2026, content in that same time frame saw a significant decrease, with 771k videos uploaded, 13.6B views, and 258M engagements.
  • From January 1 to January 14 of this year and last year, a significant increase in content production and engagement occurred in the latter part of the first week of January, peaking on January 8 to January 11. 

While the uptick trend of wellness content in the new year continues to be prominent, the volume of content and engagement has decreased significantly from the past year. Audiences are moving away from online wellness content, perhaps seeking more tangible solutions for their wellness and self-improvement.