YouTube is experimenting with a new way to increase livestream engagement: a gamified engagement leaderboard. This feature displays a ranking of the most engaged viewers during live streams, showing who is interacting the most through comments, Super Chats, Super Stickers, and gifts.
As explained by YouTube, “Viewers earn points for engaging with streams and will see a crown icon at the top of the chat with the points they’ve earned.” When they click the crown icon, they can view the leaderboard to see the top 50 most-engaged viewers on that channel.
The top three viewers will even earn a badge next to their name, potentially grabbing the creator’s attention during the stream.
This feature taps into the competitive spirit of livestream audiences, particularly in gaming, where such ranking systems already thrive.
The leaderboard aims to boost interactions and promote purchases of YouTube’s paid features, benefitting both creators and the platform itself.
While the ranking system may seem somewhat superficial, it is likely to drive more engagement, especially among users seeking recognition from streamers.
YouTube is currently testing this with a small group, and viewers can opt out of appearing on the leaderboard if they prefer.