Some users unable to switch to their brand accounts on their TV’s YouTube app

I noticed something odd happening this weekend as I tried to switch to my YouTube brand account on the YouTube app (version 2.17.006) of my Chromecast with Google TV. I got an error that stated, “This account is not supported on the YouTube on TV app at this time. To continue, sign in with a different Google Account.” I was pretty confused, as I’ve always had a brand account connected to my main Google account, and I’ve always been able to switch back and forth between them on my TV. In addition, I subscribe to different channels on each account, so I often do this.

I thought the timing suspiciously coincided with Google widely rolling out the profile switching feature, which happened to roll out to my account a few days prior, so naturally, I googled the error to see if anyone else had reported something similar.

I found a couple of threads on Reddit discussing this issue, both of which appeared around the same time as I started seeing the problem myself. One thread was specific to the LG OLED TV and another on Chromecast. However, both described the same behavior happening. From the comments on both Reddit threads, I’ve gathered that the error is triggered when switching to a brand account and that a workaround exists, which consists of:

1. Select “Switch Accounts”
2. Choose your primary Google account (not your brand account)
3. The system will go into a loop and once again offer a choice between accounts
4. Choose your brand account

However, this workaround only gets you through temporarily as the error comes back if that account is switched out at some point. This has become extremely annoying as someone who lives in a household where four different people use YouTube with their own profiles.

Since the issue affects many different Smart TV models and streaming sticks, it sounds like a YouTube app software bug. Some users have reported reaching out to chat support, but no solution was reached. I’ve gone ahead and submitted a post in the YouTube Help community in hopes that this will be addressed as soon as possible. Chime in below in the comments if you are also encountering this issue and if the workaround above is working for you. We’ll update this post as we find out more.