YouTube’s new “Super Thanks” tool will allow users to tip creators from one of four price points between $2 and $50, or whatever the regional equivalent is, The Verge reported Tuesday (July 20).
Creators will be able to respond to the tips, and the report says when a user tips, an animation will appear on the screen, and their name will appear in a “colorful comment” below the video.
Super Thanks is just the latest option for paying creators, with the platform also offering channel memberships for creators to offer monthly subscriptions, and also Super Stickers and Super Chat, allowing users to leave tips during livestreams.
Super Thanks, unlike the aforementioned options, will be able to be accessed across any eligible uploads, not only live feeds.
The feature was also tested for much of the past year under the name “Viewer Applause.” Under its official name of Super Thanks, it will now be available in 68 countries and on desktop, Android and iOS.
As for the future of the app, YouTube officials have said they’re open to debuting it with more variables of how much users will be able to pay. The Super Thanks app originally only had one donation price to select, The Verge noted, but the company added more to allow for an increased range of choices.
While YouTube does pay eligible creators, the income isn’t necessarily reliable and often shrinks when advertisers pull back from the popular video-sharing site due to various controversies, per the news outlet. By allowing viewers to pay creators, YouTube hopes to add a more reliable mode for creators to profit.
In May of this year, YouTube also introduced YouTube Shorts beta, to also help allow more short-form videos. The new feature was then available in India and the U.S.
There was also the $100 million YouTube Shorts fund, angling to benefit creators who do especially well.
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