New on YouTube: Creator Collaborations Are Here
Something interesting popped up on YouTube this past week: a new kind of collaborative video. It points to a new feature that could change how creators work together, and crucially, offer a boost for discoverability – one of the biggest challenges in this industry.
For many of you, finding new audiences is a constant battle. Platforms like YouTube and TikTok are often better at recommending content from smaller channels than Twitch is. This new test might add another tool for creators to get their content seen by more people.
The Feature: What We Know So Far
We’ve seen a few examples of this feature in the wild, including videos from MrBeast and Mark Rober. What does it look like?
- Co-Creator Display: Beneath the video title, you see the main channel alongside the avatars and names of collaborators.
- Easy Discovery: Clicking on a collaborator’s name brings up a pop-up list of all involved creators, each with a subscribe button right there. This makes it simple for viewers to check out and follow new channels.
YouTube has confirmed they’re testing this:
We’re starting to test a feature that allows creators to add collaborators to a video. Adding collaborators allows content to be recommended to each of the creators’ audiences. We’re starting this test with a small group of creators at first, but we’ll keep you posted on our plans to expand it to more creators.
YouTube’s Strategic Play: Competing and Streamlining
Collaborating on YouTube has always been a bit of a pain. Creators have to figure out who uploads the video, how to share analytics, and how to make sure everyone gets credit. It often means using clunky manual steps or outside tools.
This new feature looks like YouTube’s way to:
- Keep Collabs on YouTube: Make it easier for creators to work together without leaving the platform.
- Boost Discoverability: By pushing content to every collaborator’s audience, it could really help videos get more views and, critically, help smaller channels gain exposure.
- Catch Up to Rivals: This feature is very similar to collaboration tools on Instagram and TikTok. YouTube seems to be “repackaging” a proven idea to improve its own social features.
It’ll likely work with an invite system, where creators have to accept a collaboration, giving them control.
The Creator’s Angle
Beyond making uploads simpler, the biggest question for creators is about monetization. How will YouTube track and show the success of these collaborative videos? This could be a big deal, or it could be a missed opportunity.
- Do Nothing: It’s possible that YouTube might implement this with no shared analytics or direct revenue splitting. The benefit would then simply be the increased discoverability from being tagged and having your content pushed to other audiences. While this would be easier for YouTube, creators would still need to manually sort out the rest, much like today.
- Split Evenly: Alternatively, YouTube could simplify things by automatically splitting potential revenue evenly between collaborators. For a two-person collab, this would mean a simple 50/50 split. This would save creators a lot of manual tracking and make collaborations more appealing.
- Slider Control: The most flexible option would be for the video uploader to propose a revenue split using a slider or percentage input when inviting collaborators. The collaborator would then need to agree to these terms when accepting the invitation. This gives creators more control and allows for more complex deals.
If YouTube gets the analytics right, it could give creators powerful new data to decide who to work with and how.
This collaboration feature looks like a good step for YouTube. Working with other creators is a core way to grow for many, and making it smoother helps everyone. For smaller creators, this could be a major chance to get seen. If YouTube truly pushes content to all audiences, it could be a powerful new discoverability engine.
Still, I have questions. Will this feature mainly help the biggest creators who already do big collabs? How easy will splitting monetization be? And when will it roll out to everyone else?
Pete’s Content Corner
Delve into my weekly selection of content creation highlights – handpicked videos, podcasts, and tweets that promise to captivate, educate, and entertain.
- Twitch officially rolled out Monetization for All in the US this week. Non-Affiliates can now earn Bits and subs from day one, with funds going into a ‘Spendable Balance’ usable on Twitch until payout.
- TikTok rolled out several new creator tools, boosting safety and community. Key updates include ‘Creator Care Mode’ for comments, live chat muting, and ‘Content Check Lite’ for For You Page eligibility.
- Instagram quietly updated its live streaming rules: public accounts now need at least 1,000 followers to go live. This effectively cuts off smaller creators, despite Meta claiming it’s for ‘the best experience.’
Thanks, as always, for taking the time to read Stream Report.
Pete ✌️
