YouTube has initiated the global rollout of its “Hype” feature, designed to allow fans to bolster the visibility of their preferred content creators. Introduced initially at Google’s Made on YouTube event in 2024, the Hype feature, represented by a dedicated button located beneath the standard “like” button, is now accessible on videos produced by creators with a subscriber base of under 500,000.
The Hype feature is currently operational in 39 countries, a list that includes the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, Korea, Indonesia, and India. This broad deployment marks a significant step in expanding the feature’s reach and impact on the YouTube ecosystem.
YouTube viewers are granted the ability to “hype” up to three distinct videos per week for each creator they support. This action contributes points to the video, which then aids in its ascent on a newly established, ranked leaderboard accessible within the Explore menu. According to YouTube, the system is engineered to provide a more substantial benefit to creators with smaller audiences. This means a creator with a fewer subscribers will receive a proportionally larger boost when their videos are hyped by fans.
Videos that have benefited from this fan support will be visibly marked with a “hyped” badge. Furthermore, users have the option to refine their Home feed to exclusively display videos categorized as “hyped.” YouTube also plans to implement a notification system. The system alerts users when a video they’ve hyped is approaching a leaderboard position. YouTube will also award badges to dedicated fans. A “hype star” badge can be earned every month, intended as a mark of recognition for consistent support.
YouTube cites the desire of passionate fans to actively participate in the success of their favorite creators as the primary motivation behind the introduction of the Hype feature. Looking ahead, the company intends to introduce the option for fans to acquire additional “hypes” for a fee, therefore helping to further increase the visibility of their favorite videos, which establishes a new revenue stream for YouTube.
In the immediate future, YouTube is actively developing hype leaderboards tailored to specific areas of interest, for example, gaming and style. They are also developing a functionality for fans to share that they have hyped a video. Creators are able to monitor their hype activity and accumulated hype points through the YouTube Studio mobile application. Additionally, they can review their video analytics for specific data via a new Hype card. The card will also provide a recap within their weekly data summaries.
