YouTube

YouTube begins testing time-linked comments on videos

Damien Wilde | Apr 30 2021 - 3:05 am PT

The latest YouTube experiment looks to be trialling time-linked comments that will appear at the exact time you’re watching a video.

If this sounds familiar, it’s very similar to how comments already appear on some other services like Soundcloud or even when chats appear in YouTube livestream replays. These time-linked comments are only available for a small group of YouTube users — we have not been blessed with the option on any of our accounts.

Should you be selected, tapping the comment sort button will bring up a new “Time Beta” option that will show the aforementioned time-specific quips within a YouTube video. This could help prevent spoilers in certain content, or could have the completely opposite effect with more comment spam than currently litters the video streaming platform.

[April 29, 2021] Testing new timed comments: We’re currently testing a new feature that allows you to view comments timed to the exact moment you’re watching in a video. This experiment is available on some videos to a small group of people and we’ll consider rolling this out more broadly based on feedback. To see if you’re part of the experiment, go to the comments section on iOS or Android, and tap the Sort button to select “Timed Beta”.

As with just about any and every YouTube experiment, there is no rhyme or reason to what features get tossed and what ends up being adopted more widely. Time-linked comments sure would be an interesting addition to YouTube wholesale, but we guess those lucky enough to see the beta feature will have to let us know how it works in practice.