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YouTube has unveiled a host of new features that could help both viewers and creators, including video hypes and Communities in channels.
The centerpiece Communities feature let fans of a given YouTube channel talk to each other, share media, and otherwise bond in a way that goes beyond comments on individual videos. It’s a rough equivalent to Discord that’s both easier to use and, unsurprisingly, keeps you in YouTube.
YouTube is already testing the chat spaces on mobile with a handful of channels. It plans to widen testing later in 2024, and will expand access in earnest starting in early 2025.
YouTube Hype, meanwhile, helps you grow small- and mid-sized channels beyond liking, sharing, and subscribing. You have three hypes per week, and these votes contribute to a leaderboard with the 100 most-hyped videos. In theory, this will drive viewers to clips that would otherwise be overshadowed.
Videos have to be available for less than seven days, and from producers with less than 500,000 subscribers. YouTube plans to eventually let people buy extra hypes that could help fund creators.
Other additions include the option to use Google’s Veo for AI-generated imagery in YouTube Shorts, such as six-second clips to fill gaps as well as animated backgrounds. A revised Inspirations tab uses AI to help you develop video ideas. YouTube also expects to expand its automatic language dubbing to “hundreds of thousands” more producers, as well as more languages, in the months ahead.
Channel owners can even help manage the flood of comments with a renamed Community tab that has AI-assisted reply suggestions meant to match your style. They can also organize videos into seasons and episodes to help TV viewers watch a steady stream of clips, while digital “gifts” will soon liven up vertical streams in the US.
The strategy behind Communities, Hype, and other features is clear: YouTube wants to find new ways for viewers to stick around and pay for channels. This could help to both sustain YouTube’s audience and improve the variety of material you can watch.
