YouTube is beginning to roll out a paid comment option called ‘Super Chat’ for those watching live streams and want to get a creator’s attention with what they have to say. Fans who want to ensure that creators who are streaming live hear their comments, they can pay for a Super Chat which will stay pinned for up to five hours. Pinned Super Chats stay up at the top of the chat roster, and are also set apart by being colored. Super Chat is being launched on a limited basis for now, with only a few prominent creators’ streams having the option available. If the initial launch goes well, the service will be expanded to creators in 20 countries and viewers in 40 countries.
Super Chat messages purchased for less than $5 will not display on the streamer’s ticker or be pinned to the top of the chat for any length of time, but they will stick out by virtue of being colored. The length of time that a chat message is pinned, what color is shown, and how many characters you can type depends on how much you’re willing to pay, from $1 all the way up to $500, where messages will be pinned for five hours. If a stream ends while you have a message pinned, you won’t get a refund, and the pinning privileges won’t transfer to another stream. Users have a daily limit of $500, so if you send one streamer a five-hour Super Chat, you won’t be able to use the feature for the rest of the day.
For the time being, Super Chat is only going to be available to a few select creators, such as iHasCupquake, Great Library, and Alex Wassabi. Purchases are supported on the Android app and on desktop browsers, but not in mobile browsers or iOS for the time being. Once a user purchases a Super Chat, two things happen; a timer appears that shows how long a message will be in the ticker, with the minimum sticky time being 2 minutes at the $5 level, and the user will get a receipt from Google via email. Google’s blog post and the FAQ about Super Chat did not disclose how much of each Super Chat purchase, if any, will go to Google rather than to the creator.