New YouTube feature lets fans 'tip' creators during live streams
YouTube wants its creators to be able to make more money from live streams.
The video giant on Thursday unveiled a new feature called "Super Chat," which allows fans to pay to highlight their messages within the live chat stream.
The more a YouTube viewer pays, the longer their message will stay pinned. The message is also highlighted in a different color. The feature replaces YouTube's old tool called Fan Funding, a "tip jar" that gave viewers the opportunity to pay creators.
The feature underscores YouTube's efforts to boost its live offering.
At VidCon, YouTube doubled down its live efforts by finally announcing the live streaming feature for its mobile app. Since then, it's been used by a handful of top creators including The Young Turks, AIB, Platica Polinesia, SACCONEJOLY and Alex Wassabi.
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The platform has been utilizing live streaming since 2011, when millions of people around the world tuned in to watch the Royal Wedding and again in 2012 during Felix Baumgartner's supersonic freefall. But since rolling out the streaming feature on mobile, YouTube said live usage has grown overall.
Many existing live platforms — including YouNow, Kamcord and live.ly — have monetization features, such as "virtual gifts." Twitch, which wants its users to go beyond just gaming live streams, offers users the opportunity to tip live streamers with chat emotes in a feature called Cheering.
"We realized if we give creators an incentive to really invest in great, great, great content, then everyone wins," Alex Hofmann, president of musical.ly and live.ly, told Mashable last year.
YouTube's Super Chat launched in beta on Thursday, but will be available more broadly at the end of the month on Jan. 31.
Topics YouTube
Saba was a Los Angeles-based reporter who covers all things digital entertainment, including YouTube, streaming services and digital influencers. Prior to that, she spent two years at the Los Angeles Times covering entertainment for the Calendar and Company Town sections. Saba grew up in Santa Monica and graduated from Boston University with a B.S. in journalism and B.A. in political science. When not reporting, she is usually binge watching shows online or looking for new coffee shops to frequent.
