Retro TV
2,700 real clips from the 80s, 90s and 2000s — commercials, theme songs, cartoons, trailers, #1 music videos and the first viral YouTube videos. Every channel runs on a schedule, so if a friend tunes in at the same moment, you're watching the same thing.
Keyboard: ↑/↓ channel · ←/→ volume · P power · S skip. Clips are YouTube videos uploaded by fans and rights holders; tap the YouTube logo in the player to see the original.
How the channels work
Each channel is a playlist built from clips that aired in that decade. Instead of starting at the top every time you visit, the TV works out where the channel would be right now if it had been broadcasting nonstop since we switched it on — just like real television. Flip away and flip back, and the show has moved on without you.
The 2000s get an extra channel, Early YouTube: the viral videos from 2005 to 2009 — "Me at the zoo", "Evolution of Dance", "Charlie bit my finger" — the uploads that made YouTube part of everyday life.
Commercial channels play spots from every year of the decade. Theme-song channels mix sitcom and cartoon openings. The music channel plays the official videos of songs that hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 that decade.
Spot a clip that won't play? Some uploads get removed over time; we check every clip regularly and swap out the dead ones.