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YouTube is making comments more fun — and fandom more lucrative for creators
YouTube’s comments section is getting an upgrade, alongside the rollout of other community-focused features such as exclusive paid memberships, the company announced at its Made on YouTube event on Wednesday. Commenters will now be able to respond with GIFs or leave comments from their TVs, while creators will get news tools to support their fan communities, including features to personalize moderation, invite members into VIP-like areas, and give fans new ways to help them make money from their content.
Comments are still one of the main ways YouTube viewers interact with creators’ content, but they’ve often lagged behind other social networks’ commenting features. For instance, TikTok just announced that commenters can respond to videos with their voice and add polls, photo carousels, and Live Photos to their comments. Spotify lets video podcasters use polls and Q&As to engage their audiences.
YouTube is finally catching up a bit by adding support for leaving GIFs in comments and letting users comment while watching YouTube on TV. The latter works by voice, not painfully typing out “LOL” on your remote control, YouTube noted.
One of the more interesting additions is a new comment moderation tool that’s personalized to each creator’s needs. Though YouTube already offers a comment moderation filter, creators may want to tailor it more precisely, particularly on live videos, where it’s harder to keep up. For now, the company is calling this personalized moderation an “experiment” and didn’t provide specific technical details about how it works.
Other features are meant to help creators grow their fan communities — and make money from that fandom. These arrive at a time when revenue from advertising is no longer the only way creators monetize their videos.
The company said its Channel Memberships features are evolving, with the addition of paid, members-only communities, where members can share posts and start discussions with other top fans. YouTube will market these communities alongside other memberships on a new “channel memberships” page for viewers, designed to help them discover ones that match their interests.
Hype, a feature that lets fans recommend smaller creators’ videos to others and climb fan leaderboards, will gain new functionality dubbed “Hype with Jewels.” Previously, fans could only “hype” videos three times per week for free. Now they can buy Jewels, a virtual currency of sorts, to hype videos even more, helping to support creator and grow their audience. Fans motivated by clout may also appreciate that their handles will be permanently added to the video’s description.
YouTube said viewers have so far hyped more than 75 million unique videos over 1 billion times.
The company’s direct messaging feature for sharing videos with family and friends will also support group chats in the next few months. Users will be able to record quick, raw videos and share them in these conversations, too.
These community-focused features arrived alongside other creator tools, including those for A/B testing, live dubbing, AI-assisted video editing, and more.
Avonda Richard, an ardent supporter of the Nigerian Premier Football League (NPFL) based in Ogba, Lagos State, has called for the introduction of Video Assistant Referee (VAR) technology in the domestic league, insisting that Nigeria must embrace modern football technology to improve officiating and strengthen the credibility of its football competitions.
Speaking during Sports247’s Let’s The Fans Talk programme, Richard expressed concerns over the standard of refereeing in Nigerian football, acknowledging the efforts of match officials while pointing out the challenges affecting their performance, particularly inadequate training and facilities.
“To be honest, the Nigerian officiating sometimes is really, really poor. But I must also give it to them; they are trying their best,” Richard said.
He argued that some referees lack the necessary professional training and access to adequate facilities to prepare them for the demands of the game, stressing that officiating should be treated as a serious profession that requires proper development and continuous education.
Richard maintained that introducing VAR into the NPFL would help reduce officiating errors and bring Nigerian football closer to the standards of other competitive leagues.
“VAR is not a luxury because technology is taking over. So VAR is something that Nigeria needs to introduce in the Nigerian Premier League,” he stated.
Beyond the introduction of technology, Richard also called for improved television coverage of the domestic league, noting that Nigerian football deserves greater visibility and should be accessible to supporters in the same way they follow major European competitions.
“We should be having a Nigerian professional league that people can watch, just like when we watch Premier League, Italy and Germany on the screen,” he added.
He believes that increased broadcast coverage would attract more attention to the NPFL, create greater awareness among football supporters and encourage accountability within the league.
Richard’s comments highlight the growing conversation around the need for improved refereeing standards, investment in modern technology and greater visibility for Nigerian football as the NPFL continues to seek stronger recognition within African football.
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