YouTube Super Thanks Tipping Feature Expands To Thousands Of Creators

Early last year, YouTube introduced a beta tipping feature called 'Applause.' The company is back with an update on this feature, as well as a massive expansion of its availability. Among other things, the company has updated the name for this tipping feature, now referring to it as Super Thanks. As with Super Chats, the new Super Thanks feature gives creators a new way to generate revenue from their videos.

YouTube creators can earn money from their viewers in the form of Super Chats given during a live stream. Not everyone is interested in holding live streams, however, and they generally represent only a small portion of a creator's YouTube channel. That's where Super Thanks comes in — it is essentially a Super Chat for videos instead of live streams.

With Super Thanks, fans can tip their favorite creators by adding some funds to a comment. Tipping a creator triggers the YouTube app to show an animated GIF of balloons thanking the viewer, plus the user's comment is made extra colorful and prominent so that the creator and others can see it.

Though Super Thanks (in the form of Applause) has been around for more than a year now, it has been limited to a relatively small number of beta testers. The feature is still in beta, but has expanded to thousands of more creators across 68 countries, YouTube has announced. The feature is accessible on both mobile and desktop.

At this time, at least, Super Thanks supports tips that range from $2 to $50 or whatever the equivalent may be in the viewer's local currency. Many creators still don't have the option of enabling Super Thanks, but if you're one of them, don't fret — YouTube says it will expand the Super Thanks tipping feature to all creators in its YouTube Partner Program sometime later this year.