YouTube Expands Hype Creator Support Program, Adds Summer-Themed Stickers

Posted on July 15, 2025
Source: Social Media Today – Latest News by Andrew Hutchinson. Read the original article

TL;DR Summary of YouTube Expands ‘Hype’ Feature and Introduces New Summer Stickers to Boost Creator Engagement

YouTube is expanding its Hype feature to 19 new markets, allowing viewers to assign hype points to emerging creators’ videos to increase their visibility. The platform is also launching new summer-themed live stream stickers in the U.S. to enhance viewer interaction and monetization. Additionally, YouTube is replacing its traditional Trending page with category-specific charts to better reflect personalized content discovery trends. These updates aim to support smaller creators and adapt to evolving viewer engagement patterns.

Optimixed’s Overview: YouTube’s Strategic Enhancements to Elevate Emerging Creators and Viewer Interaction

Expanding the ‘Hype’ Feature to Foster Small Creator Growth

YouTube’s Hype system, designed to empower emerging channels by enabling viewers to award “hype points,” is now accessible in 19 additional markets including India, Indonesia, Mexico, and select EU countries. This feature allows viewers to upvote recent videos, which are then ranked on a leaderboard to boost exposure. Crucially, YouTube applies bonus points favoring smaller creators, helping level the playing field and enhancing discovery opportunities for less-established channels.

Introducing Summer-Themed Animated Stickers for Live Streams

To increase engagement during live streams, YouTube has released a new set of limited-time, summer-themed animated gifts such as ducklings, island motifs, sandcastles, and watermelons. These interactive gifts are currently available only to creators and viewers in the U.S., offering fresh avenues for monetization and audience connection during live content.

Revamping Content Discovery with Category-Specific Charts

  • YouTube is retiring its decade-old Trending and Trending Now pages due to declining traffic and the evolution of how viewers discover content.
  • The platform is replacing them with dynamic, category-specific charts (e.g., trending music videos, top podcasts, movie trailers) to better reflect micro trends and fandom-driven interests.
  • Personalized recommendations and community experiences are prioritized to surface content that aligns with individual viewer preferences.

Supporting Creators with New Discovery Tools

Beyond these changes, YouTube is enhancing its Creators on the Rise feature with dedicated listings and providing creators with an ‘Inspiration’ tab in YouTube Studio. This tool helps creators analyze relevant viewer trends and tailor their content strategies accordingly, fostering more impactful engagement and growth.