YouTube’s “Hype” feature is now rolling out globally. This tool allows fans to help their favorite creators get discovered. The feature was first introduced at Google’s Made on YouTube event in 2024. It appears as a dedicated button located below the existing “like” button and will be available on videos from creators with fewer than 500,000 subscribers.
The global expansion makes Hype available across 39 countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, Korea, Indonesia, and India. Viewers can hype up to three videos per week for a favorite creator. Each hype gives the video points, which helps it gain traction on a new, ranked leaderboard that users can find in the YouTube Explore menu.
To ensure the system is fair, YouTube will give a bigger boost to smaller creators. This means a creator with fewer subscribers will get a larger bonus when their fans hype a video. Videos that receive this fan boost will display a special “hyped” badge. Users can also filter their YouTube Home feed to see only videos in the new “hyped” category.
YouTube will notify users when a video they hyped is getting close to the leaderboard. Dedicated fans can show their support and earn a new “hype star” badge every month. YouTube introduced Hype after observing that passionate fans want to be part of a creator’s success story. The feature also offers YouTube a new potential revenue stream, as the company plans to let fans purchase additional hypes in the future to boost videos further.
YouTube is developing new features for Hype, including leaderboards for specific interests like gaming and style. The company is also creating a way for fans to share that they have just hyped a video. Creators can track their hypes and hype points in the YouTube Studio mobile app. They can also check their video analytics for a new Hype card and recap in their weekly data stories.