YouTube is testing a way to automatically promote creators featured in others’ videos

YouTube is experimenting with a new feature that will automatically highlight creators appearing in a video, placing a section directly below the video with links to their channels and a button to quickly subscribe. The test is limited to Android for now but could expand over time.

9to5Google spotted mention of the experiment in a community thread Google continuously updates with ideas it’s considering. The company believes the new feature will make it easier to discover new creators and subscribe to their channels.

Automagic powers? — Google says that the new section, called “featured in this video,” will use a range of signals to determine which creators appear in a video without any manual input necessary. It remains to be seen how well this will work in practice.

As it stands right now, linking back to creators featured in a video involves simply listing them in the video’s description with a link to their channel, something that can cause descriptions to become very long and unwieldy. The prominent placement of the new section should help direct eyeballs to similar creators.

Growing an audience on YouTube — The feature aims to help creators grow their channels in an incredibly crowded field. Creators on YouTube commonly collaborate on videos as an efficient way to cross-promote and grow their respective audiences. Some of today’s most popular YouTube personalities, for instance, rose to fame after making background appearances in others’ videos.

YouTube also has a “Creator Academy” section dedicated to tips on collaborating with other creators.