YouTube has announced the arrival of a new feature that will allow viewers to pay to stand out in the comments section of during a live video stream for up to five hours.
This feature is 'Super Chat', an avenue for YouTube content creators and fans to improve connection while also allowing content creators to make money on the side. YouTube, which has just launched support for 4k livestreaming has done so because it realized that there was a greater revenue in live streams.
According to the YouTube blog, Super Chat is still in beta mode with a few YouTube creators, such as iHasCupquake, who currently has over 2 billion views and around 5 million subscribers. Other YouTube creators include Great Library (buzzbean11) and Alex Wassabi. The money making chat will soon be available for content creators in 20 countries and viewers in more than 40 countries on January 31, 2017.
In 2014, YouTube went live with the Fan Funding monetary option which allowed viewers to support YouTube creators by directly paying them. The Fan Funding feature, however, will soon reach an end on February 28, as it never apparently received widespread usage.
With this new feature, YouTube might attract more people to create their own YouTube channels. Just make sure you don't follow the path of popular Indian content poster Verma, also known by his YouTube channel name 'The Crazy Summit', who posts prank videos showing him randomly kissing girls then run away.
According to the Hindustan Times, the content creator and his associate, Kadyan (with his own YouTube channel DC Prank), were charged of molestation and distribution of obscene material. A case was filed against the 21-year-old Sumit Verma under Section 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) of IPC and Section 67 (punishment for publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form) of IT Act.
