CommentDraw

How It Works

Easily pick winners for your giveaways using our step-by-step process.

Key takeaways

Running a YouTube giveaway draw takes four steps: paste the video URL, set your filters, start the draw, and announce the winner. The whole process takes under five minutes and needs nothing but a public YouTube video with comments enabled — no account, no installation, no cost.

  • Set filters before drawing and publish them in your video description; an unannounced filter is the most common cause of disputes.
  • Approve any comments held for review in Creator Studio first — the public API cannot see them, so they are not in the entry pool.
  • Record continuously from before the picker opens until the winner is read; a cut in between destroys the proof of fairness.
  • Draw backups in the same run, then screenshot the result or create a share link — nothing is stored by default.
  • Announce in a pinned comment on the original video and reply directly to the winning comment.
1

Enter Video URL

Copy and paste the URL of your YouTube video to start fetching comments.

2

Set Filters

Set filters like keywords, minimum likes, and unique users to refine your participant list.

3

Start the Draw

Click the 'Start Draw' button to pick winners randomly.

4

Announce Winners

View the winners and backups in an animated interface.

Every Filter, Explained

Filters decide who ends up in the entry pool, so each one is effectively a rule of your giveaway. Set them before you draw, and publish them in your video description so nobody is surprised by an exclusion.

Keyword filter

Keeps only comments containing a word or phrase you specify. Turn on exact matching to require the precise capitalisation and spelling, or leave it off to accept any variation.

Use it when: You asked entrants to comment a specific word, hashtag, or answer, and you want to exclude people who commented something unrelated.

Watch out for: Exact matching removes misspellings, different capitalisation, and translated versions of your keyword. On an international audience this can quietly exclude a large group, so prefer loose matching unless you have a reason not to.

Unique users only

Limits every account to a single entry, keeping that person's most-liked comment and discarding the rest.

Use it when: You promised one entry per person. This is the fairest default for almost every giveaway and the filter most creators should leave on.

Watch out for: It shrinks the pool noticeably on videos where enthusiastic viewers commented several times. That drop is expected and is not a malfunction.

Minimum likes

Excludes comments below the like count you set.

Use it when: You want to reward comments the community actually engaged with, or you need a rough filter against low-effort spam entries.

Watch out for: Most comments on most videos have zero likes, so even a threshold of one can remove the overwhelming majority of entries. Check the resulting pool size before you draw.

Number of winners and backups

Sets how many names are drawn. Winners and backups are drawn together, without replacement, so nobody can occupy two slots.

Use it when: Always draw at least two backups. A meaningful share of winners never respond to the announcement.

Watch out for: Backups only protect you if they were drawn in the same run as the winner. Drawing a replacement afterwards looks like a second, unexplained draw.

When Something Looks Wrong

These four cover almost every problem creators report. Work through them in order before assuming the tool is broken.

The comment count is lower than the number on my video

Expected in almost every case. YouTube's count includes replies, which are not entries, plus comments held in your moderation queue that the public API cannot see. Your active filters reduce it further. Approve any held comments in Creator Studio, then reload before drawing.

No comments load at all

Comments are disabled on the video, the video is private or unlisted, or the URL points to a channel or playlist rather than a single video. Open the link in a new tab and confirm you can see comments while logged out.

Loading stops partway through a very large video

Comments are read up to the first 1,000 returned. On videos above that, the pool is a subset. State this in your rules before entries open so nobody discovers it after the draw.

A specific person says their comment was missing

Check three things in order: was their comment a reply rather than a top-level comment, was it held for review, and did it fail one of your filters. One of those three explains nearly every case, and each has a factual answer you can give publicly.

Before You Go Live: A Checklist

Running through this once takes a few minutes and prevents the disputes that are impossible to fix after the fact.

  1. 1Publish the rules in the video description and the pinned comment before entries open — entry action, deadline with time zone, number of winners, eligibility, and which countries you can ship to.
  2. 2State the filters you will apply. An unannounced filter applied during the draw is the most common reason viewers cry foul.
  3. 3Add the disclaimer that the giveaway is not sponsored by, endorsed by, or affiliated with YouTube.
  4. 4Approve legitimate comments sitting in your held-for-review queue in Creator Studio. Do this before the draw, never after.
  5. 5Start recording before you open the picker, and do not cut between loading the comments and revealing the winner.
  6. 6Read the qualifying entry count out loud so viewers can see how many entries the filters produced.
  7. 7Draw winners and backups together in one action.
  8. 8Screenshot the result or use "Share link" before closing the page — draws are not stored by default and cannot be recovered without a share link.
  9. 9Announce in a pinned comment on the original video, and reply directly to the winning comment.
  10. 10State the deadline for the winner to respond, and confirm publicly that you will never ask for payment or account credentials.

Frequently Asked Questions

How can I filter YouTube comments based on keywords?

To filter YouTube comments based on keywords, enter your desired keyword in the filter field. Use the exact match option for precise results. This tool makes filtering easy for any YouTube giveaway.

What does 'unique users only' mean in a YouTube comment picker?

In a YouTube comment picker, this option ensures only one comment per user is included, prioritizing the one with the most likes. This feature is perfect for fair YouTube giveaways.

Can I set a minimum like count for YouTube comments?

Yes, you can set a minimum like count to include only highly engaged comments for your YouTube giveaway.

How can I select multiple winners and backups for a YouTube giveaway?

Enter the number of winners and backup winners you'd like to select. The tool will randomly pick winners for your YouTube comment giveaway, ensuring a fair draw.