YouTube is expanding Watch With, its co-viewing feature, beyond livestreams to eligible long-form videos across the platform. Creators will be able to tap React live on an eligible video or livestream and broadcast their own reaction channel alongside it, with the rollout beginning later in 2026. The announcement came at the Made on YouTube event on September 23, 2026.

The economics are deliberately split. The reacting creator keeps the live ad revenue and fan funding earned on their own stream. The original creator gets clear attribution, added view credit in YouTube Studio, and full control over which of their videos can be reacted to. YouTube has not confirmed that the original creator receives any share of the reaction stream’s advertising or fan funding, which makes the opt-in decision a real strategic choice rather than free money.

Separately, YouTube is building creator matchmaking into Go Live Together. From early 2027, creators will be able to browse potential co-stream partners or enter a matchmaking queue that pairs them with similar creators currently streaming. A Live Showdown feature follows in 2027, letting co-hosts run friendly head-to-head matchups where viewers send chats, gifts and Super Chats to push their creator’s score forward on screen in real time.

YouTube says more than 600 million logged-in viewers watched live content, including archived livestreams, on an average day in August 2026, with over 40 percent of live watch time coming from outside the creator’s home country. The takeaway is to decide the reaction policy deliberately: enabling reactions on evergreen videos trades control for attribution and view credit, while matchmaking rewards creators who already collaborate well on camera.