YouTube is strengthening its comments function and expanding creator fan-monetisation tools such as paid member communities. TechCrunch reported on Tuesday that YouTube unveiled GIF comments, TV voice comments and members-only communities at its Made on YouTube event held the same day.

Users will be able to reply to comments with GIFs and leave comments while watching YouTube on TVs. TV comments will be written by voice rather than remote-control input.

Comment management features for creators will also change. YouTube is testing a personalised comment management feature that can be adjusted more finely to each creator’s needs, separate from existing comment filters. TechCrunch reported that it targets environments where comments appear quickly, such as live videos, but the detailed operating method was not disclosed.

Channel memberships will also be expanded. With the addition of members-only communities, members will be able to share posts and discuss with other core fans. YouTube plans to surface these communities on a new Channel Memberships page so viewers can find memberships that match their interests.

It is also expanding features that link fan participation to revenue. Hype with Jewels will be added to the Hype feature, which lets users recommend small creators’ videos to other users and raise fan leaderboards. Users previously could hype for free up to three times a week, but they will be able to buy a type of virtual currency called Jewels to hype more. YouTube said hypes have been made more than 1 billion times across more than 75 million unique videos so far. Fan account names will be permanently added to video descriptions.

Direct messages for video sharing will support group chats in the coming months. Users will also be able to record short videos directly in the conversation and share them. YouTube unveiled these features along with other creator tools such as A/B testing, live dubbing and AI-assisted video editing.