YouTube has officially launched its Hype feature globally, giving users in 39 countries the ability to promote videos from smaller creators.
The feature allows users to select up to three videos per week from channels with fewer than 500,000 subscribers. These hyped videos earn points that contribute to a ranked leaderboard, which appears in YouTube’s Explore tab. Videos that are ‘hyped’ also receive a badge to highlight their boosted status.
Fans who hype content can filter their Home feed to show only hyped videos and receive notifications when a video they supported approaches the leaderboard. Frequent participants can also earn a monthly Hype Star badge as recognition of their activity.
YouTube is rolling out Hype to users around the world.
Tools for creators
Creators can track hype activity through a new Hype card, as well as a recap in the YouTube Studio mobile app. YouTube says it plans to add leaderboard categories for different niches, such as gaming and style, to expand how videos are surfaced.
The company is also testing paid hypes in Brazil and Turkey, which would allow fans to financially support creators by boosting their videos.
Hype is designed to give additional visibility to smaller channels and give fans a more direct way to support the creators they follow.
Earlier in August, YouTube broke a new streaming record by accounting for 13.4% of all streaming viewership, doubling Netflix’s in the process.
