YouTube Announces Paid Channel Memberships, Merchandise Integration

YouTube has announced at VidCon 2018 that it will be providing creators new tools that would allow them to earn more money beyond just advertising. One of the new tools is called Channel Memberships and it allows YouTube subscribers to pay a monthly fee to support their favorite YouTubers.

“With Channel Memberships, viewers pay a monthly recurring fee of $4.99 to get unique badges, new emoji, Members-only posts in the Community tab, and access to unique custom perks offered by creators, such as exclusive livestreams, extra videos, or shout-outs,” the company said on its blog.

“Channel Memberships have already been available for a select group of creators on YouTube as Sponsorships. We’ve seen a lot of creators find success with this new business model. So, we’ll soon be expanding this to eligible channels with more than 100,000 subscribers on YouTube under the new name Channel Memberships. We hope to bring it to even more creators in the coming months.”

Starting today, YouTube is also allowing creators to sell their own merchandise directly from their channel. Creators’ merchandise can be found underneath their videos. They will be able to sell t-shirts, hats, phone cases or any one of 20 different merchandise items that fits with their channel, according to TechCrunch.

YouTube is partnering with Teespring to provide creators with their own merchandise. Selling merchandise directly from channels is only available to creators that have over 10,000 subscribers and are based in the United States. YouTube says that it’s also planning to bring in more merchandise partners and creators “soon.”

“Merchandise has been a part of many creators’ businesses for a long time. We want to make it easier for more creators to sell merch directly from their channel. So we’ve built a product that allows them to do just that,” YouTube said.

These new tools are probably YouTube’s way of trying to mend the wound left by the “adpocalypse,” where some creators were demonetized for vague or unclear reasons. YouTube has changed its policy regarding ad revenue and allowed advertisers to opt out of videos they deem inappropriate. Will these new tools make it better for YouTubers to start earning more money through their channels? Only time will tell, but this looks like a good start.

Aside from Channel Memberships and merchandise integration, YouTube also announced a new feature for creators called Premieres. Premieres will allow creators to debut a pre-recorded video as a live moment. People who will watch Premieres will be able to chat with one another along with the creator. YouTube compares this new feature with watching content in theaters.

“Premieres also unlocks new revenue streams. For the first time, creators can use Super Chat on traditional YouTube uploads and take advantage of Channel Memberships perks that were previously only available on Live videos,” the company said. “Premieres are starting to roll out to creators today and will be available broadly soon. If you want to experience one for yourself, check out some upcoming premieres from creators such as Leroy Sanchez and Ari Fitz, with more Premieres coming from JacksFilms, Corridor Digital, Inanna Sarkis, and Jackson Bird soon.”