YouTube introduces new Hype feature to help small creators grow
That makes it very hard to become a well-established YouTube creator with millions of subscribers and even more millions of views per video. Thankfully, YouTube is trying to elevate some of the some of the content smaller creators publish on its platform.
Hype is a brand-new feature that’s meant to help emerging YouTube channels grow by connecting them with new audiences. Hype can be used by fans on videos that have been out for less than 7 days. It’s also important to note that only videos published by creators who have under 500,000 subscribers can be hyped.
The more hype a video gets, the higher it climbs on a new YouTube leaderboard with the top 100 hyped videos from the week. According to YouTube, anybody can hype up to three times per week
YouTube’s new Hype feature | Image credit: YouTube
In the future, YouTube will allow fans to purchase additional hypes, thus unlocking another revenue stream for creators. The streaming service assured fans that hyping videos will not influence their YouTube recommendations and search results, which makes sense.
The new Hyper feature has been specifically designed for fans, but it will benefit creators. For example, when viewers hype a creator’s videos, the creator will earn points to help them make it into a weekly leaderboard just for their country, potentially gaining new followers.
On top of that, YouTube says that it has “small creator bonus” built in, or a point multiplier to channels with fewer subscribers, just to make sure that everyone has a fair shot at the spotlight.
According to YouTube, in the first four weeks of beta tests in Turkey, Taiwan, and Brazil, users hyped over 5 million times across more than 50,000 unique channels. The streaming service also revealed that the largest age group hyping videos in the beta is 18 to 24-year-olds, making up over 30 percent of all beta testers.
It’s unclear when exactly the new feature will be available to everyone, but YouTube says that it plans to expand to new markets based on what it learned from its beta tests in those three countries.