YouTube India launches 'Hype' feature to boost small creators
What's the story
YouTube has launched a new feature called "Hype" in India, aimed at helping smaller creators get discovered. The feature is specifically designed for creators with subscriber counts ranging from 500 to 500,000. With Hype, viewers can do more than just like or share content; they can actively promote a video within its first week of release.
Visibility boost
How the feature works
Every time a viewer hypes a video, it gains points. The more points a video gets, the higher it ranks on a dedicated leaderboard under YouTube's Explore tab. Viewers can hype up to three videos per week at no cost. Videos that make it to this leaderboard are more likely to be featured in YouTube's home feed and get special badges indicating their popularity among other users.
Leveling the field
YouTube adds bonus points system to level playing field
To make sure that smaller creators aren't overshadowed by those with larger followings, YouTube is also introducing a bonus point system. This means the fewer subscribers a creator has, the more bonus points they get when their video is hyped. The company says this is aimed at leveling the playing field and giving up-and-coming voices a fair shot at discovery.
International testing
Hype feature was tested in Turkey, Taiwan, Brazil
Before its launch in India, the Hype feature was tested in Turkey, Taiwan, and Brazil. The results were promising with over five million hypes recorded across more than 50,000 channels within the first four weeks of testing. Now, Indian creators from different genres such as cooking, gaming, music, and makeup have the opportunity to use this feature to connect with new audiences.