Play 1
Watch the origin channels, not the reactors
Add the news, drama, or creator channels you react to. Your threshold is “this is already a story.”
10,000 views in 3 hours on the three sources you cover.
Reaction and news
React before the topic is everywhere.
Reaction, commentary, and news channels win on speed. Watch the sources you already quote. When their upload spikes, you still have the same day to film the take.
The cost of missing it
If you see it on the homepage, you are already late.
News and reaction windows collapse in hours. A digest at 9pm is a tombstone. You need the moment the source video itself started running.
01
The first commentary videos take the search and suggested slots.
02
Refreshing source channels by hand does not survive a recording day.
03
A spike on the original is a better cue than a trending tab full of copies.
Practical plays
Three ways to turn a spike into work.
Each play starts with channels you already know, then a threshold, then a hit in the dashboard — webhook if you want one.
Play 2
Same-day desk, one webhook
Discord or Slack in the studio. Title plus URL. Host records while the comments are still forming.
Hit at 11:10. Upload your take before dinner.
Play 3
Tighter windows for news, looser for essays
Breaking sources get a 1–2 hour window. Slower commentary channels can sit on 8–12 hours.
Two watches on the same UC id with different windows if you need both.
On autopilot
Add the channels. Get the spike.
You name the sources. We tell you when their new upload is already a story.
01
Add the channels.
Paste a URL, @handle, or UC id. No YouTube API key. You pick the list — we do not search the whole site.
02
Set the view line.
Example: 3,000 views in the first hour. One condition per watch. That is what “a spike” means here.
03
We watch new uploads.
The tracker polls those channels. Several people watching the same UC id share the YouTube request.
04
You get a signed POST.
HMAC, retries, delivery log. Point it at Discord, n8n, or your own bot.
Questions about reaction and news.
It alerts you when a channel you watch crosses your view line. That is how news and reaction desks catch a topic early — from the source video, not from a site-wide trend list.
No. A hit is views versus the window you set. You open the video yourself if you want the angle.
Only as often as watched channels actually clear the line. Raise the threshold if the desk is too loud.
More use cases
Same product. Different desk.
Strategy
Know the hour a rival video takes off.
Watch the channels you already compete with. When a new upload crosses your threshold, you get the ping — not a digest tomorrow.
DesksCopy the idea while it’s still in the first hour.
A threshold hit is a topic that already proved demand. Intercept it before the niche is flooded.
FacelessGet pinged when a format in your niche starts printing.
Compilation, narration, stock — the channels on your list are the research. A spike is the format to clone this week.
Start watching
Film the take while the source video is still climbing. Start watching.
Watch a YouTube channel and set a view threshold. 3 channels for 7 days. No credit card.