What is a YouTube Super Chat?

What is a YouTube Super Chat?

YouTube launched the Super Chat feature for livestream videos in January 2017. While that is many years ago, there has been recent Super Chat activity on my livestream videos. And it has garnered some questions, so I thought it was worth discussing.

This is an exciting YouTube feature that allows viewers of any YouTube livestream video to purchase a highlighted message as a way of expressing support. Creators can use YouTube Super Chat to monetize when they go live. When somebody goes to a live stream, they see a dollar bill symbol in the chat screen.

Although it is true that YouTube videos are monetized, it is only the channels who have many hundreds of thousands of subscribers whose owners are earning a lot of money.  Most YouTubers earn a very small sum of money from their work, and Super Chats (or tips) are an optional way to help support your favorite YouTube Creators and encourage them to continue to produce live videos.

Because Super Chats are only available during livestreams, YouTuber Creators often add Tip Jars as well, so that even those who watch recorded versions of videos can help optionally support their favorite channels. Making videos takes a lot of work.  Live or recorded, it is far more work than just what we see on screen.

A small tip or Super Chat is also a way to help support a channel regardless of where in the world one lives, or whether or not they make purchases.  Even $1 at a time adds up.

Here’s the Super Chat box on today’s livestream (it is a dollar bill symbol circled in red in the bottom right hand corner of this screenshot, just below where you would normally write a live chat message):

When you click on that box, you get an option to send a super sticker or highlighted message and to choose the price.  You will then be able to pay in a variety of ways.  You can send as little as $1, or as much as you’d like.

I am very grateful for any and all support provided to me from my viewers! I often praise everyone for just showing up every day. Without you joining me, the livestream show, the videos and the channel would not exist. Please remember that it is perfectly respectful and natural for me to thank someone for giving me a tip or a Super Chat. And that in no way implies that I am not grateful for anyone who does not give me a tip or Super Chat.

As always, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask me!

xoxo, Kristin