YouTube rolls out Hype in 39 countries to boost small creators

YouTube began a global rollout Tuesday of Hype, a feature that lets viewers boost videos from smaller creators by awarding points that help them climb a new ranked leaderboard in the platform's Explore menu. The feature is now available in 39 countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia and India, YouTube said.

Hype adds a dedicated button beneath the like button that allows viewers to mark up to three videos per week as hyped. Each hype awards points to the video; creators with fewer subscribers receive larger bonuses so smaller channels gain proportionally more traction, YouTube said. Hyped videos display a visible hyped badge across the platform, users can filter their Home feed to show only hyped content, and fans who help push a video toward the leaderboard will receive notifications when it approaches a ranking position.

YouTube presented the feature at its Made on YouTube event in 2024 and tested it in markets including Brazil, Taiwan and Turkey. The company said beta tests generated more than 5 million hypes across about 50,000 channels during the first four weeks, and that users aged 18 to 24 made up more than 30 percent of...