YouTube has expanded its Hype feature to 39 countries, including the US, UK, India, Japan, and Korea, to help emerging creators gain visibility. Fans can hype up to three videos per week from channels with fewer than 500,000 subscribers, earning points that boost videos onto a ranked leaderboard in the Explore tab, with smaller creators getting a bigger lift.
The update introduces a dedicated hype button, badges for hyped videos, leaderboard notifications, and monthly fan recognition. Creators will see real-time hype data in YouTube Studio, with analytics recaps to track growth. Future plans include category-specific leaderboards and easier sharing tools, reinforcing YouTube’s push to give new creators a fair shot while involving fans in their success.