YouTube Test & Compare, New Shorts Reply Feature, TikTok Trendy Beat, Twitch Hype Chat Messages

YouTube Announces Highly Requested Test & Compare Feature

You ask and you shall receive! YouTube announced its highly requested Test & Compare feature last week at Vidcon Anaheim. According to Lauren Delanis, a program manager at YouTube, “We wanted to share the testing right away, because we know this is a top requested feature, and it will help with data-driven decisions about your thumbnail strategies.”

Test & Compare enables creators to apply data and analytics in their decision-making process to produce the most engaging content possible. Creators may upload up to three thumbnails for their video of choice and select the best option according to data collected by YouTube.

YouTube has made A/B testing even easier for creators with concise test reports. Creators can view the watch time percentage for each thumbnail in their test on the report as well as the top performer or “winner” distinguished by YouTube.?

YouTube’s Test & Compare feature is currently available to a few hundred creators. Test & Compare is available to creators with access via the YouTube Studio. YouTube said it intends to release the new testing feature for all creators sometime in 2024. Be sure to subscribe to Spreading the Influence for more updates on this highly anticipated creator tool.

TikTok-Like Video Responses Coming to Shorts

In another announcement shared via Creator Insider, YouTube announced that creators may create public Shorts in response to comments on other users’ videos. In the next few weeks, YouTube will be testing this new feature with a select number of iOS and Android mobile users to explore content creation from the viewer’s end.

Creators with access to the new Shorts feature will see a “Create a Short” button, which Shorts users may already be familiar with, alongside public comments available under videos in their feed and shared from other creators. From this button, viewing creators can reply to any public comment with a Short which will be shared on their personal channel.

There are some limitations to the new comment-reply Shorts feature. Viewer-created Shorts will not be visible as a reply in the comment feed under the original video. Any Shorts made by viewers in response to a public comment will not send notifications to the creator whose video has been commented on nor the commenter.

YouTube shared that creators may not prohibit their comments sections from being featured in viewer-created Shorts unless they disable their comments entirely. Moreover, all Shorts reply rules mentioned are very similar to those for TikTok video replies on public comments for those who have yet to gain access on YouTube.

YouTube has yet to announce whether or not the new Shorts feature will be available to the public in the future. The platform has shared that a small percentage of mobile viewers across the globe have access to testing but has not disclosed a finite amount. Will Shorts adopt this popular TikTok-inspired creator feature?

TikTok Trendy Beat

TikTok users in the UK are among the first to experience Trendy Beat, TikTok’s new in-app product showcase to rival top e-commerce platforms Amazon, Shein, and Temu. The new Trendy Beat section of the popular short-form video app displays all the top and trendy products featured in recent viral videos, all of which may be purchased in-app from TikTok.

Trendy Beat is the first step in executing TikTok’s Project S, the platform’s initiative to begin selling its own products. The Financial Times reported that Project S is currently being led by Bob Kang, ByteDance’s Ecommerce Chief, and that TikTok recently began promoting Trendy Beat products over rival TikTok sellers.

ByteDance has the power to strategically leverage its knowledge of viral TikTok products to reproduce independently or acquire to sell in-app via Trendy Beat. TikTok’s ability to compete with large fast-fashion sites seems promising considering they have the ability to inject itself into the consumer supply chain all the while wooing avid users with unbeatable low pricing.

Products listed on TikTok’s Trendy Beat are sold by a Singaporean company owned by ByteDance and shipped from China. Besides Trendy Beat, TikTok Shop has taken flight in several East Asian countries and is currently gaining more traction in the United States and the UK. ByteDance may not immediately replicate the success of TikTok's sister app Douyin, but the future of ecommerce on TikTok is not something to underestimate.

Introducing Twitch Hype Chats

Hype Chat is Twitch’s latest monetization feature for streaming Partners. Twitch announced that the new method for Partners to earn on the streaming platform has been designed with safety in mind and for prolonged interaction with fans. With Hype Chat, viewers may pay between $1 and $500 USD to pin their chat messages during streams for set amounts of time so that they can stand out from the fast-paced chat.?

Twitch shared that streamers may set up tiered Hype Chat pricing based on duration, character count, and design. Streamers may set the minimum Hype Chat pricing up to $100 USD. According to Twitch, most viewers will be able to purchase Hype Chat messages directly in their own currency with no Bits required.?

Hype Chat is an additional monetization opportunity for creators and will be available alongside other existing monetization features including Bits, Subs, and Gifts. Twitch shared that Bits and Cheering will be coexisting, separate products alongside Hype Chat in-stream. Similar to Twitch’s Partner Plus program and other monetization features, streamers will receive a 70% share of the revenue from Hype Chat.

To prioritize user safety, Hype Chat has been designed with several safety features in mind, including existing chat safety conditions. All Hype Chat messages are to be scanned by AutoMod and will not be available for purchase if flagged for safety concerns. Hype Chat messages containing banned words or phrases set by Twitch and streamers will be blocked as well as messages from timed-out or banned users.

Hype Chat is currently only available for Twitch Partners but Twitch is in the process of planning for a wide-scale release. For more information on revenue splitting, safety measures, and accessibility, check out Twitch’s official blog post and Hype Chat FAQ pages.