YouTube is adding a new feature called Super Thanks that allows fans to easily tip their favourite video creators. Currently being tested on the platform, Super Thanks offers users the option to choose between $2 USD (KSh 200) and $50 USD (KSh 5,000) or the equivalent value in a country’s given currency, though YouTube’s paid digital goods product manager, Barbara Macdonald, told The Verge that the capability to manually input dollar amounts is “definitely something that we would be interested in looking to add in.” Purchasing one shows up the same way a comment does under a video, albeit as a colorful image and accompanied by an animated celebration message. Then, creators can respond to the tip notification the same way they do to regular comments. Over the past year, YouTube has been testing the feature under the name Viewer Applause. There are other ways for users to pay creators on YouTube too, including the option to leave tips during live streams or video premieres and channel memberships that are essentially monthly subscriptions to a creator’s content. Many creators also make money from a cut of their ad revenue. Starting today, Super Thanks functionality will expand to thousands of creators in 68 countries who are members of the YouTube Partner Program. The expansion is randomized, Macdonald told TechCrunch, but will roll out to all eligible creators in the YouTube Partner Program by the end of this year. So now, maybe instead of YouTubers ending each video with a reminder to “like, comment and subscribe,” it’ll be, “like, comment, subscribe and Super Thanks.”
