YouTube Launches Text Markup Options in Video Descriptions, New Loyalty Badge Options

Here’s a relatively small, yet potentially interesting new YouTube update. YouTube is rolling out text markup options within video descriptions in the app, so you’ll soon be able to add bold, italics and strikethrough text within your video descriptions.

As you can see in this example, now, when you’re putting together your video description – for regular uploads and Shorts – you can add text formatting, using basic markup parameters, which could help to make your video descriptions stand out in-stream.

Markup text is already available within comments by using these additional operators as you enter your text:

• *bold text* → bold
• _italicized text_ → italics
• -strikethrough text- → strikethrough

And soon, you’ll be able to use the same in your video descriptions, which could be an interesting consideration to help grab attention with your content.

YouTube says that the option will be rolled out to all creators by the end of next week.

In other YouTube news, it’s also added new custom loyalty badge options for three- and four-year channel members.

Loyalty badges show up in the comment section on your YouTube clips, with creators able to upload custom loyalty badge artwork to signify their subscribers in the chat (the default badges are displayed above).

Loyalty badges are already available in increments up to two years, but now, creators will also be able to add new markers to signify longer-term channel members.

That’ll provide more options to build community engagement, and incentivize longer-term subscriptions, while it could also help to manage your channel engagement, with longer-tenured subscribers also holding a level of seniority, enabling them to wade into debates and disagreements, and influence the culture of your audience.

Neither is a major change, but both could have relative benefits, and could be worth considering in your process.