Last week, YouTube announced a new feature that gives any viewer the ability to interact with creators during live streams. It’s called Super Chat, and it will help creators earn more money from live streams, as well as encourage more meaningful connections with super fans.

How It Works

Anyone watching a live stream will be able to purchase a Super Chat, which will let the viewer create a highlighted message in the live stream chat that stands out from all the other messages. Depending on how much you pay, you can customize the color of your highlighted message, how long the message stays pinned for, and the length of the message. Once you publish the Super Chat, all other viewers in the live stream will be able to see it, as well as the creator.

Impact For Creators

Super Chat will allow creators to identify and connect with their super fans more easily. It will also increase engagement and revenue made from live streams. It is currently only available to a select few channels, but YouTube is planning on launching the feature more broadly on Jan 31st. With the introduction of Super Chat, YouTube is also discontinuing the Fan Funding feature, which they launched in 2014.We’ll be interested to see how this new feature is received in the coming weeks. If you have any questions or ideas on how this feature can be implemented, please email us and let us know.