YouTube Hype
YouTube Hype ("Hype") is an official YouTube discovery feature that lets viewers give a limited number of free "hype points" to recent videos from smaller creators. Videos that collect the most points climb a country-specific Hype leaderboard, giving up-and-coming channels a shot at visibility they wouldn't otherwise get through normal browse features or suggested videos.
YouTube announced Hype on September 18, 2024, at its "Made on YouTube" event, beta-tested it in Brazil, Taiwan, and Turkey, and expanded it in stages through 2025 — reaching 39 countries as of YouTube's August 2025 update. It remains active as of this writing, though YouTube has not published a public country-count update since then.
How Hype Works
- A creator uploads a long-form video. For the first 7 days after publishing, eligible viewers see the option to hype it. Shorts, live streams while live, and Premieres while live are not eligible.
- Fans hype it. Each hype gives the video points. YouTube automatically applies a bonus multiplier based on the creator's subscriber count — the fewer subscribers a channel has, the bigger the bonus per hype.
- Points accumulate toward a weekly, country-specific leaderboard. The top hyped videos surface under Explore > Hype, can be filtered by topic, and display a "Hyped" badge and leaderboard rank for 7 days.
Hyping a video does not change how YouTube's recommendation or search algorithms treat it — YouTube has stated explicitly that Hype sits outside the normal ranking signals and is purely a separate, opt-in discovery surface.
Hype Points and the "Small Creator Bonus"
YouTube weights hype points so that smaller channels get disproportionately more value from each hype. In YouTube's own published example:
- A hype on a video from a 500-subscriber channel is worth 7,500 points.
- A hype on a video from a 500,000-subscriber channel is worth 50 points.
That's a roughly 150x difference, intended to keep the leaderboard from simply favoring whichever eligible channel already has the most subscribers.
Eligibility: Viewer Side vs. Creator Side
| Viewer (the one hyping) | Creator (the one being hyped) | |
|---|---|---|
| Core requirement | Logged into YouTube, in an eligible country, on a current app version | Channel enrolled in the YouTube Partner Program |
| Subscriber count | No requirement | Between 500 and 500,000 subscribers |
| Frequency/limit | Up to 3 free hypes per week, resetting Monday 12:00 a.m. local time | N/A — auto-enrolled by default |
| Content restrictions | Can't hype own videos; brand accounts can't hype as viewers | Video must be long-form, ≤7 days old, not age-restricted, not made for kids, not unlisted/private, no Content ID claims, not linked to a YouTube Giving fundraiser |
| Paid option | Can buy extra hypes with Jewels in Japan, Korea, and Taiwan | Handle can appear in a video-description "recognition" section when hyped with Jewels (JP/KR/TW only) |
| Opt-out | N/A | Can disable via YouTube Studio > Settings > Channel > Advanced settings > "Let viewers hype my content" |
| Visibility | Can earn a monthly "Hype Star" badge for a channel; can auto-post to their Posts/Community tab after hyping | Can't see who hyped, but can see point totals and a hype analytics card/weekly recap in Studio |
The Hype Leaderboard
The leaderboard (Explore > Hype) shows up to the top 100 hyped videos per country each week, filterable by topic to show up to the top 50 per category. It is not personalized and not global — every viewer in a given country sees the same ranked list, refreshed every few minutes. You can't view another country's leaderboard, and you can't hype your own videos to try to game your way onto it.
Country Availability
As of YouTube's last public update (August 2025) and confirmed directly on YouTube's Help Center, Hype is available in 39 countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Is Hype a Monetization Feature?
Mostly, no — for the vast majority of eligible countries, Hype is a free, discovery-only mechanic with no direct payout to creators. The exception is Japan, Korea, and Taiwan, where viewers can spend Jewels (a paid virtual currency) to hype a video, and YouTube has said it plans to expand paid hyping further as a new potential revenue stream for creators. Outside of that, Hype's value to a creator is indirect: more views, more unique viewers discovering the channel, and leaderboard/badge visibility rather than direct ad revenue.
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Does hyping a video help it get recommended to more people through the algorithm?
No. YouTube has stated that hyping does not influence recommendations or search results. It only affects a video's standing on the separate Hype leaderboard and its eligibility for Hype-related badges.
Can any small channel receive Hype, even without many subscribers?
No. The channel must be enrolled in the YouTube Partner Program and have between 500 and 500,000 subscribers. A brand-new channel with fewer than 500 subscribers isn't eligible yet, even if it's technically "small."
How many times can I hype the same video?
A viewer can hype up to 3 times per week total, and can put all three on the same video or split them across up to three different eligible videos.
Can creators turn Hype off?
Yes. Channels are opted in by default, but creators can disable it from YouTube Studio under Settings > Channel > Advanced settings by unchecking "Let viewers hype my content."