YouTube recently rolled out a new feature, intentioned to even the playing field between big and small creators. Named ‘Hype’, this function allows viewers to hype videos they really enjoy in order to boost its performance in the algorithm.
How It Works
Let’s say you’re watching a YouTube video and you’re really enjoying what you’re watching. Maybe you find the content super value-adding and insightful, or maybe you’ve been watching this YouTuber for awhile and you really want to watch them succeed. Whatever it is, you vibe with it.
You can choose to hype their video with a button positioned below the existing ‘like’ button. Hyping a creator’s video is more powerful than liking and sharing; it boosts small creators like never before, and allows viewers to contribute to the rise of special and deserving channels.
There are a few guidelines in place with how hyping works.
1. Hyping is only available for smaller-than-500,000-subscriber channels. This is meant to advantage small creators.
2. The video has to have been out for less than 7 days.
3. Each user is limited to three hypes a week. Assuming to prevent spamming of hypes.
4. Hypes won’t influence your recommendations or search results. It’s simply a mechanism for you to show support to creators you think deserve it.
Each hype gives the video a certain number of points, inverse to the number of subscribers the channel already has. The top 100 hyped videos of the week will be placed on a country-specific leaderboard, to be refreshed weekly.
YouTube seems to have big plans for Hype. They mentioned personalising the Hype section for each individual user in the future, as well as adding filters or topic-specific Hype leaderboards.
Good News for Small Creators
It’s no secret that the growth curve on YouTube is not linear. Consistent growth and performance is the hardest to achieve for small creators, precisely because they are small.
Hype sends a message to small creators that YouTube has a place for them too, and doesn’t only care about the Mr Beasts and PewDiePies of the platform.
So many features of Hype are designed to help small creators as much as possible. From having different leaderboards for every country to the number of points given per hype, this is YouTube’s move towards a future where both large and small channels have equal growth and success opportunity.
Implications on Podcasting
While it remains to be seen how big of an impact Hype will have, or whether it will even be well-received in the first place, there’s no harm in making some predictions first.
YouTube is already leading the podcast game in multiple areas. Not only is it the overall preferred platform for podcast consumption, listeners also report that they prefer to use YouTube to discover new shows and to interact with the community.
It stands to reason that this trend will simply ramp up with the release of Hype.
Read more about YouTube's rise in the podcasting sphere here.
Invest in the smaller creators
Hype will definitely make it much easier for the average viewer to come across new shows that interest them, an aspect that YouTube is already outperforming against Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
What this means for PR agents and advertisers is that it’s time to start seriously considering the seemingly small fishes in the big pond, especially those with loyal followings.
Cultivate committed relationships with the channels that align with your target audience.
Be there to develop that connection with them and their listeners from the beginning. When they get their big break, the pay-off will be much larger.
But this can only happen if you pick the right podcasts, with the right target audience. You can’t expect a sponsor like Sephora to hit home with a show like The Joe Rogan Experience. What or who you’re promoting has to resonate with and bring value to the podcast’s listeners, and that can only be done if you know their habits, preferences, and values.
One easy way to identify podcasts with your audience is with Podseeker’s podcast database. With the ability to filter podcasts according to gender of audience, genre of podcast, and more, Podseeker allows you to find the podcast that best aligns with your target audience. You can also get in touch with the show’s team using our extensive podcast contact database that contains every show’s email and contact information needed for you to start reaching out to them.
In Conclusion
With Hype, we will begin to see the focus for advertisers and sponsors start to shift away from ‘how big is their channel?’ to ‘how dedicated is their fan base?’. It’ll be interesting to see how this initiative to prioritise quality over quantity will pan out in such a numbers-driven game.
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