YouTube introduces new Hype feature to promote small creators

According to Statista, in 2022, 500 hours of video content were added to YouTube every minute. That means if you watched YouTube all day, every day, you’d still only be able to view 0.003% of all the new content being uploaded. Even using YouTube Multiview, you’re not going to touch the sides, and that’s before you ever get around to watching all the billions of hours of content that has already been uploaded since YouTube launched in 2005.

With so much to choose from, it’s all too easy to miss content that you would really love because you’re not even aware that it exists. Part of the problem is that YouTube is dominated by large accounts that inevitably make it to the top of search results, meaning that content from smaller creators gets pushed out of sight. It’s obviously not possible to display every new video that’s been added to YouTube, and the bigger channels are where YouTube makes the most money.

However, YouTube has announced a new feature called Hype, which aims to try to swing the balance back in the direction of smaller YouTube creators once more. It allows YouTube users to promote videos that they really love but is only available for accounts with fewer than 500,000 subscribers. Here’s how it works.

The feature is only available for new content from accounts under 500k

Hype is only available for videos that have been published less than seven days earlier and are from a creator with fewer than 500,000 subscribers. If this is the case, when you’re watching the video, and you click the Like button, you’ll see the option to Hype up this video. By clicking the button, points are awarded to the video that you’ve hyped.

Anyone can hype up any video they wish, provided that it meets the criteria of being new and from a smaller creator. All YouTube users can hype up to three times every week, but once you’ve used up your three turns, as things stand, you’ll have to wait until the following week to start hyping again.

YouTube Hype is weighted to give more focus to the smallest accounts

The fewer subscribers, the more your Hype is worth

YouTube/Pocket-lint

YouTube already has a Trending section for videos that are getting a lot of views, but the vast majority of these videos are from large accounts with millions of subscribers. It’s rare to find any content from small creators on the in the Trending section unless a video goes completely viral.

Here’s the clever part about Hype: YouTube wants to bring videos from the smallest creators to the fore, so when you Hype a video, it’s weighted based on how many subscribers a creator has. If you hype a video from a small creator, they get more points than if you hype a video from a creator that already has a bigger following. It means that even the smallest creators, who are likely to have less people viewing and hyping their videos, have a chance to achieve a good hype score.

The Hype leaderboard will show the top 100 hyped videos for the week

Popular content without a big YouTube account in sight

YouTube/Pocket-lint

Earning points for your favorite videos is all well and good, but what’s the point? Well, there will be a Hype leaderboard, showing the top 100 most hyped videos of the week.

This is where you will be able to find new content from smaller accounts which has been directly recommended by YouTube users like yourself. Videos that get high hype scores also get a new badge on their page to show that their content has been hyped up by fans.

Hype points can also help creators to see the content that is most appealing to viewers. Creators can see the content that gets hyped, and the content that doesn’t, which can help to focus the direction of future videos.

Hype is rolling out to more countries the coming months

The feature was beta tested in Turkey, Taiwan, and Brazil

Christian Wiediger / Unsplash / Pocket-lint

Although YouTube has officially announced the new Hype feature, at the time of writing it’s not available in most countries. The feature was beta tested in Turkey, Taiwan, and Brazil, and the response was good enough that YouTube has said that it plans to expand to new markets in the coming months. It may not be too long before you’re able to hype YouTube videos and give your favorite smaller creators a boost.

YouTube has also said that it will listen to feedback from users about the new Hype feature, and will continue to make updates, so if there’s something you think could be improved when Hype finally arrives in your locale, then be sure to let YouTube know.

You may be able to pay for more Hype in the future

A share of the fees would go to the creator

One update that is highly likely to occur in the future is the ability to pay a fee in order to hype more. This will let you increase the number of times that you hype from the free level of three times a week. YouTube’s blog post states that “in the future, we plan to allow fans to purchase additional hypes, unlocking another revenue stream for creators, too”.

Obviously, this would represent yet another revenue stream for YouTube, alongside big money makers such as ads and YouTube Premium subscriptions. However, in the overview of the feature for the current beta testers, it states that creators would receive 70% of the revenue from purchased hype points. It does seem a little like YouTube will be charging people for the privilege of liking content, but at least a reasonable chunk of that money will be going to the small creators that you’re hyping.

YouTube hasn’t yet made clear exactly how much it will cost to purchase Hype points beyond your free allocation, but it does run the risk of turning what is otherwise a potentially useful feature for small creators into something that it’s possible to simply pay to win. Before the ‘pay to hype’ feature is added, however, you’ll be able to promote your favorite content on a much more level playing field.