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YouTube is putting the spotlight on smaller creators in a very real way. The company has announced that Hype, a feature built to help fans push up-and-coming channels, is now live in 39 countries, including the UK, India, the US, Japan and Korea.

Hype first appeared in testing last year, and the concept is deliberately simple. If a creator has fewer than half a million subscribers, fans can “hype” their videos in the first seven days after they are posted.

Each person gets three free hypes a week, and every hype adds points that move the video up a regional leaderboard in the Explore tab. Those videos then have a much better chance of being discovered by new audiences. To give the smallest voices an even fairer shot, YouTube applies a small creator bonus, which makes hypes for tiny channels carry extra weight.

As YouTube put it in its launch note: “We created Hype to give fans a unique way to help their favourite emerging creators get noticed, because we know how hard it can be for smaller channels to break through.”

More ways to take part

The global rollout comes with a set of new features to make supporting creators both easier and more rewarding. A Hype button now appears directly under eligible videos, so it only takes one tap to show your support. Popular content will carry a visible “hyped” badge, and if you prefer to see what’s trending in your community, you can even filter your feed to show hyped videos first.

Fans who hype regularly won’t go unnoticed either. YouTube is introducing a Hype Star badge, awarded monthly to its most consistent supporters. On the other side of the screen, creators will now see exactly how their fans are backing them. New analytics in the YouTube Studio app display hype points and weekly performance, helping them track momentum.

What’s still to come

YouTube says this is only the beginning. In the coming months, the platform plans to roll out category-specific leaderboards, so that creators working in areas such as gaming, style or education can compete within their niches rather than against the entire platform. Fans will also gain the option to share videos they hype, giving smaller channels another chance to be noticed outside of the Explore tab.

For viewers, these changes make it easier to champion hidden gems and actively take part in building a creator’s journey. For creators, especially those just starting out, it means a new, fairer route to discovery.

Hype turns the simple act of watching into something more powerful. It reminds us that fans can be the difference between a video that disappears quietly and one that takes off. And for YouTube, it is another step towards making its vast community feel more connected, and more in control, of the stories it sees.