YouTube wants to start conversations with Reddit-style comment threads

Over the years, YouTube‘s comment section has developed an unsavory reputation, to say the least. Now, the platform is mulling a change that could make its post-video discussions more substantial. YouTube Premium users have the chance to try out threaded comments, which resemble the multi-tiered conversations that are most closely associated with Reddit.

According to Android Police, YouTube tested a rudimentary version of its threaded comments earlier this year. The test is now expanding to Premium subscribers, who can participate in YouTube’s comment section experiment until August 14.

YouTube comments have gone through a lot of changes over the years, but some creators (and, occasionally, YouTube itself) have resolved that turning comments off is the best way to get around the stream of invective that section often contains. Not to be deterred, YouTube has recently ramped up its investment in comments. Last year, for example, it made comments more accessible for the young viewers who frequent the YouTube Kids app.

If you want to know why YouTube suddenly seems to care about comments, look no further than some of the platform’s recent features. YouTube wants creators to turn comments into Shorts

, and its Google Search-style AI overviews could theoretically become more accurate and useful if they were to pull from the sort of lucid discussion threads that can be found on Reddit.

In general, YouTube has made a push to turn channels into all-purpose community hubs that creators can use to engage their most ardent fans. Like polls and text posts, threaded comment sections promise more interaction between uploaders and the masses who consume their work.

Or maybe the rationale behind this experiment is even simpler: It could just be that YouTube, like other social platforms, sees Reddit’s model as the epitome of internet comments. Threaded posts are a feature on the decentralized X alternative Bluesky, and Meta’s Threads has adopted them as well.

If you think Reddit’s conversations could work on YouTube, and you have a Premium account, you can help the Google-owned hub gather data on its latest experimental feature. If you want to try threaded YouTube comments for yourself, youtube.com/new is the place to go.