diff --git a/youtube_dl/extractor/youtube.py b/youtube_dl/extractor/youtube.py
index f8d5cdd5d6..003aeaee6d 100644
--- a/youtube_dl/extractor/youtube.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/extractor/youtube.py
@@ -866,7 +866,7 @@ def _real_extract(self, url):
 
         m_cat_container = self._search_regex(
             r'(?s)<h4[^>]*>\s*Category\s*</h4>\s*<ul[^>]*>(.*?)</ul>',
-            video_webpage, 'categories', fatal=False)
+            video_webpage, 'categories', default=None)
         if m_cat_container:
             category = self._html_search_regex(
                 r'(?s)<a[^<]+>(.*?)</a>', m_cat_container, 'category',