Other creators can react live to your streams, and their viewers count toward your totals
YouTube's Watch With gives eligible streams a 'React live' button and is heading next to long-form videos: here is who gets the views, who gets the money, and the setting your stream starts on.
If you go live on YouTube, another creator can react live to your stream, and your stream is opted in to that by default. Watch With puts a React live button in front of an eligible broadcast: the reacting creator runs their own commentary beside it, their viewers are added to your totals, and the reaction's ad money stays with them. 12
On September 23, 2026, YouTube said the feature is moving past livestreams: "we're taking the next step: expanding Watch With beyond livestreams to include all eligible long form videos across YouTube, with a roll out starting later this year." 3
What YouTube changed
Watch With started on big broadcasts. YouTube first piloted it for "premium tentpole streams," then began testing live reactions between creators' own livestreams earlier this year. 3 The September 3, 2026 test entry covers the stage that reaches ordinary mobile creators: eligible creators can go live and share reactions alongside other creators' live streams across YouTube. 12
The announced next stage widens the source from live streams to uploaded video. YouTube describes the end state as tapping "'React live' on any eligible long form video or livestream," and the Made on YouTube feature list describes the same feature pulling "trending long-form videos and live streams" into a broadcast "to co-create real-time reaction moments with your fans," with the note "Live globally by the end of the year." 34 YouTube has published no date and no eligibility rule for that long-form stage, so which videos qualify is still open. 34
One figure sets the scale YouTube is building for: in August 2026, an average of more than 600 million logged-in viewers watched live content each day, archives included. 3
How a reaction runs
Reacting is a mobile live-streaming format. The reacting creator opens an eligible stream in the YouTube app, closes the live chat, and picks Share, then React live; a layout preview appears before they tap Go live. 2
While the reaction is live, the phone camera locks to horizontal, and viewers see the two feeds stacked into one vertical video. 2 YouTube's audio handling switches by itself: "When you speak, your voice is amplified over the source audio. When you stop speaking, the source audio is amplified." 2 If the source stream ends or is taken down, a black box appears briefly, the source is removed, and the reacting creator's camera feed stays on its own. 2
YouTube's own tip for a reaction points at how live streams get found: "our Live discovery system prioritizes authentic, real-time, and interactive streams for viewers." The page reads that into practice by recommending the reacting creator stay visible on camera and speak, and wear headphones for the cleanest audio. 2
Does this reach your channel
- You livestream. Eligible live streams are opted in to reactions by default, and you keep your normal ad revenue and fan funding while other creators react to you. 2 You can switch reactions off before you go live. 2
- You stream from your phone, and your channel is eligible. A React live button appears in the Share panel on eligible streams, and you earn the ad revenue your own reaction stream generates, with Super Chat, Super Stickers and Jewels available on it. 12
- You upload long-form and never go live. The September 23 statement brings eligible long-form videos into scope, so this reaches last year's back catalogue as well as a live broadcast once that stage ships. 3
- You are outside the test. The Help page still reads "This feature is currently only available to a select number of creators," and a stream that has not been opted in shows no React live option at all. 2
Who earns and who is counted
The announcement used one sentence for both sides of a reaction. The split it describes looks like this.
| Reacting creator | Source creator | |
|---|---|---|
| What they are paid | The ad revenue their reaction stream generates while live, plus fan funding such as Super Chat, Super Stickers and Jewels 2 | Their normal ad revenue and fan funding from their own stream; revenue from reactions is not shared with them 1 |
| What metrics they get | Their own stream's numbers | The combined views, watch time and concurrent viewership metrics of the source stream plus every reaction stream, credited back to their content 12 |
| What control they have | Picks which eligible stream to react to; the camera cannot be switched off mid-reaction 1 | Eligible live streams are opted in by default; the creator can set the React live setting to No one before going live 2 |
| Where the setting lives | The React live entry in the Share panel of the stream being watched 2 | The pre-live settings on the phone, or Stream settings in the Live Control Room on a computer 2 |
The combined totals reach the source creator in YouTube Studio after the stream ends. 2
What the reaction leaves alone
The source stream itself. "Your source stream is unchanged," and the creator being reacted to keeps normal ad revenue and fan funding. 2
Copyright while the reaction is live. Content ID evaluates a reaction stream independently of the source, so material broadcast by the source does not produce a claim during the broadcast. Once the reaction becomes an archive, standard claims can apply, and YouTube's guidance is to avoid background music. 2
Privacy changes mid-stream. Setting a stream to Private or Unlisted while it is live does not disconnect reaction streams that are already running; the React live setting or ending the stream does that. 2
Ranking. The Watch With pages describe where reactions appear and what they pay, and they say nothing about how videos are ranked or recommended. 23
Your ordinary uploads, for now. Until the long-form stage ships, Watch With works on live streams. 3
The one action
Decide the React live setting before your next stream, because eligible live streams start opted in. 2
On the phone, tap Create, then Live, then the setting beside the stream, and change React live from Allow eligible channels to No one. On a computer, open Create, then Go live to reach the Live Control Room, and find the same toggle under the Stream tab, in Stream settings, behind Edit. 2
Left on, the feature lets other creators react to your stream, adds their viewers to your totals, and leaves your own revenue alone. 1 Switched off, no one can react, including creators whose audience might have found you through theirs. 2 Which way to set it depends on whether you want another creator's commentary running alongside your stream, so that part is yours to judge.
References
- 1YouTube Help Community: YouTube test features and experiments
support.google.com
- 2YouTube Help: React live to YouTube streams on mobile with "Watch With"
support.google.com
- 3
- 4YouTube: Made On YouTube 2026 feature list
youtube.com
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