YouTube adds GIF comments, paid communities and new creator tools

YouTube is expanding its comments and community features with GIF replies, voice comments on TVs and new tools for creators. The company announced the changes at its Made on YouTube event on Wednesday.

Viewers will be able to reply with GIFs and leave comments while watching YouTube on a TV using voice input. YouTube is also testing personalized moderation, which creators can tailor to their needs. The company called the feature an experiment and did not provide specific technical details.

Channel Memberships will add paid, members-only communities where subscribers can share posts and start discussions. YouTube will list these communities on a new “channel memberships” page to help viewers discover them.

Hype, which lets fans recommend smaller creators’ videos and appear on fan leaderboards, is gaining “Hype with Jewels.” Fans previously could hype videos three times per week for free. They can now buy Jewels, a virtual currency, to hype videos more often. YouTube said viewers have hyped more than 75 million unique videos over 1 billion times, and fan handles will be added permanently to video descriptions.

YouTube also said group chats for sharing videos will arrive in the next few months. The broader rollout includes tools for A/B testing, live dubbing and AI-assisted video editing.