YouTube is expanding its “Hype” feature to India, offering a new mechanism for viewers to boost visibility for emerging creators with 500 to 500,000 subscribers. The feature, which has completed successful beta testing in Turkey, Taiwan, and Brazil, allows viewers to support videos within seven days of publication.

The system operates on a points-based leaderboard structure, with viewers receiving three free weekly “hypes” to allocate to videos they want to promote. Videos gaining sufficient points appear on a dedicated leaderboard in the Explore section, with top performers potentially receiving promotion in the YouTube home feed.

“In just the first four weeks of our beta tests, users hyped over 5 million times across more than 50,000 unique channels,” YouTube reports in a blog post, noting that 18-24 year-olds represent over 30% of beta users.

Addressing Discovery Challenges

YouTube developed Hype after research indicated strong viewer interest in supporting smaller creators. A survey of 2,500 viewers found that over 75% of respondents—and more than 80% of Gen Z participants—expressed a desire to help small and medium-sized creators grow their channels.

The feature incorporates a weighted scoring system that automatically applies bonus points based on subscriber count. “The fewer the subscribers, the bigger the bonus, helping smaller creators get more visibility on their content,” YouTube explains.

The launch comes as recent research from Kofluence reveals 88% of Indian content creators earn less than 75% of their income from social media, with more than half making under 25% of their total earnings from digital content.

According to Boston Consulting Group, India’s creator economy is projected to exceed $100 billion by 2030, with consumer spending influenced by digital content creators expected to surpass $1 trillion. Currently, only 8-10% of India’s estimated 2-2.5 million creators effectively monetize their content.

Growth Potential

YouTube CEO Neal Mohan recently highlighted India’s significance in the global creator industry, noting the country hosts YouTube’s largest user base with over 491 million active users.

“India really is at the cusp of being a true creator nation. And I think the insight, at least for me, was the recognition that India’s creator economy is not just important for India, but will have global implications,” Mohan stated in a recent podcast appearance.

The Hype feature represents one component of YouTube’s evolving discovery strategy, which includes phasing out its unified Trending page in favor of category-specific charts while maintaining other creator discovery initiatives.

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