YouTube has introducing a new tool dubbed as Super Chat that lets viewers pay to pin comments during a live stream. A Super Chat is basically a highlighted message in the chat stream that stands out from the crowd and helps to attract creator’s attention. These Super Chats remain pinned to the top of chat for up to 5 hours, giving more airtime for your messages.
In order to add a Super Chat users will have to click the dollar sign in the web chat interface or Android app and pay to get their comment featured. Your Super Chat is highlighted with a color. The color of your Super Chat, the period of time it stays pinned in the ticker, and the maximum message length are determined by the amount of your purchase. At the moment, Super Chats can only be purchased in YouTube or YouTube Gaming on the web or through Android, with iOS not currently supported. The new feature is available in beta today, with the feature launching on January 31st for creators in 20 countries and viewers in more than 40 countries.
For creators, this means Super Chat does double duty: keeping their conversations and connections with (super) fans meaningful and lively while also giving creators a new way to make money.
With Super Chat debut, YouTube is shutting down Fan Funding tool that allowed viewers to make voluntary donations to directly support creators. Super Chats is an interesting feature as conversations move rapidly during live streams and your comments get easily lost in.