Would you pay $5 a month to watch your favorite YouTube channels?

[Crown]

• YouTube launched a slew of new features to help account holders earn money
• At its annual VidCon conference, the firm launched 'Premieres', 'Channel Memberships' and new merchandise features, many of which have launched
• With new memberships, YouTubers can charge users $5 a month for content
• Premieres will create a landing page to promote videos where users can chat

It's about to get a lot easier for YouTube creators to make money off of their videos.

YouTube is expanding a feature called Channel Memberships, where users pay a monthly subscription fee of $5 to get access to unique badges and custom emoji, as well as perks laid out by YouTube creators, like live streams, videos and shoutouts.

Previously, Memberships were restricted to gaming accounts, but now YouTube is expanding it so that channels with 100,000 or more subscribers can take part too, according to the firm.

The feature is similar to those available on streaming site Twitch and Patreon, a membership platform that lets users donate to creators.

YouTube unveiled the new Channel Memberships tool, among a slew of other new features, at its annual VidCon conference, which is hosted at the Anaheim Convention Center in California.

'The number of creators earning five figures a year is up by 35 percent and the number of creators earning six figures is up by 40 percent,' Niel Mohan, YouTube's chief product officer, said in a blog post.

'As in previous years, the vast majority of the revenue is coming from our advertising partners'

'We’ll continue investing here, but we also want to think beyond ads. Creators should have as many ways and opportunities to make money as possible,' he added.

YouTubers can also display merchandise from related brands underneath their videos so that if they show off a particular item, viewers can see how much it costs and buy it.

For the full article, click here - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5875395/YouTube-announces-paid-memberships-bid-help-creators-earn-money.html


Source from YouTube's official blog: https://youtube.googleblog.com/2018/06/vidcon-2018-helping-creators-earn-more.html


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Thoughts? Anyone going to try this?

 

[Conso1727]

They are really pushing new ways to make money, isn't it? For the amount of content I watch I can easily live without paywalled content, not to mention that at this point I might as well do the same thing through Patreon.

 

[OrbitGuy]

The main thing I've been waiting for are memberships, but it looks like I'll have to keep waiting until they lower the requirements more. I'm a gaming channel but I don't really enjoy live streaming, so I haven't been able to provide a reason for people to "sponsor", hoping this will give me more options when it does release.

Premieres sound like they could be good, it would be a lot of fun to watch a video with my subscribers right after I publish it and get to chat with them, however I wonder how this would impact the number of comments on those videos. I think if one used this though, they would have to have public release schedules in order maximize the effect and get the most people to watch together. That's not something I currently do so it would require some changes.

The merchandise area looks great but is it only for teespring? There is such a large variety of sites people use, I have mine set up through redbubble, that I hope it's compatible with more of them.

Overall I think it's very good that they are providing more options to monetize different types of content, but I think how they implement them is going to be key to whether they are accepted by the average viewer.

 

[videoeditgr]

Internet culture was and still remain free.
NOT pirated. Yes products and services and copyright MUST be payed.
If one want to get payed for creating something this is ok.
But trying to ask blood donation from a mosquito makes no sense.
I would gladly patreon or donate to an After Effects hard work and deep knowledge guy that made a tutorial,
it is not that older that people used to buy templates, masterclasses etc. but not through Youtube.
It is not their work to push "creators" as they like to name their partners to do more and more in "pay" mode under the "free" label.
perhaps I am wrong.

'The number of creators earning five figures a year is up by 35 percent and the number of creators earning six figures is up by 40 percent,' Niel Mohan, YouTube's chief product officer, said in a blog post.

It is remarkable how a "product officer" speaks nonsense.
I can also claim five figures per year, before taxes, insurance, everyday transportation and medical care and without dealing with (personal) hardware costs.
A lie is nothing but half truth they say.

:/

 

[Courtney Candice]

I personally won’t be paying for it maybe if I was I younger and didn’t have to worry about work college and keeping up with my own channel then yeah maybe. I think it a good option for other content creators to earn more money since alot of YouTubers rely on ads to pay their bills.

 

[UhoohExtra]

no

 

[Scootakip [Lana]]

Depends how much of the money goes to the content creator

 

[EVO]

There are 1 or 2 channels that I have been watching for years that produce daily content. I wouldnt mind paying $5 a month to these guys to help towards bigger/better content.
Also as a channel over 100k I guess I will get the same feature? Cant see me with too many 'members' but I wouldnt say no either.

 

[xingcat]

I think it's an interesting proposition, but it undercuts what YouTube is about. To me, finding new things on YouTube is fun and easy because it's all laid out there for free, and channels were making their money from the volume of material available and for advertisers to get a lot of eyeballs on their ads from the browsing nature of the site.

How many creators are each viewer expected to subscribe to in order to see their content? How many viewers will you lose by paywalling your content behind a $5 subscription? Will advertisers continue to want to pay YouTube anything if it becomes a mostly-subscription service? Will viewers expect all content to become ad-free?

It's sounding more and more desperate, in terms of what the platform is trying to show as an advantage, whereas it used to be fairly straightforward.

 

[EVO]

paywalling your content behind a $5 subscription?

I didnt think you had to be a paid subscriber to view the content? Its more of a 'tip' to the creator no?