At its annual ‘Made on YouTube’ event, YouTube introduced Hype, a new tool designed to help emerging creators grow their audience.

The feature allows creators with fewer than 500,000 subscribers to promote (“hype”) videos that have been released for less than seven days. Creators can be featured on a weekly leaderboard ranking the top 100 hyped videos, offering them greater exposure.

Hype is based on feedback from a global survey, where Gen Z and other viewers expressed a desire to support smaller creators. The platform has also introduced a small creator bonus, offering points for every hyped video, leveling the playing field between small and larger creators.

In addition, YouTube plans to integrate Google DeepMind’s video generation model, Veo, into YouTube Shorts, enhancing the creative possibilities for emerging creators.