YouTube Channel Memberships: Everything You Need to Know

If you have been searching for a long time about the most important information on YouTube channel membership, look no more!

Because you are right where you wanted to be.

Yes, this article is for you, and we are here to help you; to guide you about every single step you need to know about these memberships.

So, without any further delay, let’s get down to our agenda:

What Are YouTube Channel Memberships?

YouTube channel memberships is a YouTube feature that allows you to add paid memberships to your channel. It means that now subscribers can become “members” of your paid membership to get exclusive content, perks or anything else you’d want. 

Moreover, they allow your most die-hard and passionate subscribers to pay a monthly fee to access extra benefits, exclusive content, and support you as a creator.

Which we know that they would be willing to do so glad when they know it connects them more with their most loving influencer.

And this works because of these reasons

  • They like you as a creator.
  • They want to support your work.
  • They see their monthly payment as a sort of donation to you.

These members also get a number of perks and benefits like:

  • Custom emojis; to add more fun parts.
  • Badges; to make them feel special.
  • Members-only community posts.
  • Exclusive live streams.
  • Live chat access, which is perfect for community building.
  • Bonus content, where the feel of exclusivity really kicks in.

And a few more perks like these which will be beneficial and attractive for them can be offered, by you (as an influencer).

While you can offer benefits that make your members feel special, the following members-only-benefits are not allowed under such YouTube policies and terms:

  • Downloads of content (including music) available on YouTube, WOW!
  • In-person 1:1 meetings
  • Anything that one or some (but not all) of your members are chosen to get at random including, but not limited to:
  • Contests
  • Lotteries
  • Sweepstakes
  • Perks that are marketed, directed or targeted, to children, or that may be attractive to, or inappropriate for, children.
  • Perks that encourage children to ask their parents to join your channel membership.

YouTube Channel Memberships Eligibility

There are certain rules which one grand platform always has to follow to make itself genuine, valid, and outstanding. Thus, YouTube also has a few eligibility criteria for its members to meet to have this membership.

Hence, you must meet minimum requirements to be considered for the channel memberships on YouTube. That is why it is quite important to keep in mind that meeting the following criteria does not mean that, automatically, you will get channel memberships. 

What Are The Minimum Requirements To Be Eligible For YouTube Channel Memberships?

  • Your channel must have more than 1,000 subscribers.
  • Your channel should be in the YouTube Partner Program.
  • You must be over 18 years old.
  • You should also be in one of the available locations.
  • Your channel has to have a Community tab.
  • Your channel’s niche should not be related to kids and so videos are not set as made for kids.
  • Your channel does not have a significant number of ineligible videos.
  • Videos set as made for kids, or videos with music claims are considered ineligible.
  • You (and your MCN) have agreed to and are complying with YouTube’s terms and policies (including the relevant Commerce Product Addendum).

Do not worry about cramming these criteria because we are always here to guide you and are just one click away from you.

And if you have not reached the point of membership yet, we believe that you would soon reach here, you must be only a few videos and a few subscribers away.

YouTube Channel Membership Levels

This membership has quite a few different levels with various kinds of perks connected to each of them.

Let us discuss them in a bit detail, so you will know more about them: 

So, your membership program can have up to 5 different membership levels. 

And the most important things for you to know are:

  • Each level has to have 1-5 different perks related to them, which sounds so interesting.
  • Members at higher levels are automatically eligible for perks that you are offering at lower levels.
  • You can also add or remove a membership level at any time. However, keep this also in mind, whenever a level is removed all recurring payments by members in that tier will be canceled.
  • You can set different prices for each level and offer different perks at each price (price points may vary per country).

Simple!

How To Activate YouTube Channel Membership Feature

We think that you would agree with us on this point that once you are finally ready to create your channel on YouTube, it means you are ready to set your career for ultimate success and your recognition.

You are a brand yourself on YouTube and the ‘Name’ of your channel becomes your first recognition and representation.

Ergo, we believe that when you are ready to make more money with Channel Memberships, turning on the feature is easy. 

So, here’s a quick, step-by-step guide for you, on how to do that:

  • Go to the YouTube Studio.
  • Navigate to the left menu and click ‘Monetization’.
  • Next, you’ll see the ‘Channel Monetization’ page. Go to the uppermost menu and click ‘Memberships’.
  • Find the ‘Set-Up Your Memberships Offer’ panel, click ‘Start’, and follow the instructions.

The whole process is quite easy and we have explained everything for you, so when we say you are ready it means you REALLY ARE READY! Just a few clicks and you have your memberships, just believe in yourself.

YouTube Membership Badges Size

The YouTube membership badges come in three different sizes: small, medium, and large. Here are a few details about YouTube membership badges:

  • The minimum image size for upload is 32px X 32px.
  • The image formats should be JPEG, or PNG files
  • Badges will appear as 14px x 14px in comments and the Community tab, and 16px x 16px in live chat.

To upload your own YouTube membership badge, visit the account settings page and select “Edit Profile.” Then, click on the “Badges” tab and follow the instructions.

What Perks Can You Offer To Your Channel Members?

Membership’s perks and benefits for paying a YouTube channel’s membership fee may vary from channel to channel, which means it depends on your channel type or the niche you are following for your videos.

Though, many offer some common benefits, which are:

  • Member-exclusive posts: Many channels write special posts for their members, which they do deserve because of their help. They appear within the Community tab on a channel’s page and will be on your main feed. These posts are viewable by paid members merely, they also provide insight into the production of your videos or the personal life as the YouTuber.
  • Loyalty badges: These small images (which look like significant badges) appear next to the YouTube username when writing a comment or participating in a live chat. So badges can help you stand out from the crowd and they certainly are a way to promote the channel.
  • Exclusive emoji: You should know that some YouTube channels offer members special emoji that they can use on the YouTube app and website. Just as loyalty badges, these usually feature unique artwork that cannot be found anywhere else and may incorporate people or phrases known to a specific YouTube channel’s audience. For example, the Philip DeFranco channel frequently uses the word “wow” in its YouTube video titles, so one of its emoji is a stylized graphic of the word. These special YouTube emojis are essentially the same as Twitch emotes.
  • Live chat access: It sounds so attractive and interesting to even imagine that you can live chat with your most favorite and loved YouTuber. And it is also perfect for community building.
  • Bonus content: This is one of those times where the feel of exclusivity really kicks in, nothing else can make you feel better about being part of a huge team that is led by your dreamed YouTube influencer.

Does It Cost Money To Become A Member Of A YouTube Channel?

Yes, once you turn ON YouTube Channel Memberships feature every subscriber that wants to be a part of your membership will need to pay a subscription fee (set by you).

YouTube Channel Memberships work by giving subscribers a choice of “tiers” they can join. The higher the tier, the more they pay and the better perks they receive.

These tiers just work as the levels so we can easily say that the higher the level, the better their benefits would be.

It is not complicated and you should not worry about reading and going through new terms, trust us because, after all, we are here to guide you in every way to make your channel and your brand most successful.

So, the prices you can set for tiers are pre-determined and pre-decided by YouTube, which must be between $1 to $49.99. 

There should also be a clear difference between what you offer for $1 and $40, which is The-Main-Point in the variation of prices.

And keep in mind that while memberships are free to use, there is a cost which is; YouTube will take a 30% share of your profits. 

So, let us suppose that one of your membership tiers costs $4.99 and when you reach 100 members that will be around $500 in revenue. 

From that revenue; you get $350 and YouTube gets $150.

Which is apparently a really BIG chunk of money!

The noteworthy point here is that it goes up the more you earn.

Because once you reach your 1000 subscribers mark, you will be sending YouTube $1500 a month. 

That extra income could be better spent reinvesting in your business or treating yourself for all your hard work, fair enough! Right?

Remember: where there is business, there is revenue too.

So just plan your success accordingly because we believe in you.

There is another good news which is; YouTube has also partnered with a custom merchandise company called ‘Teespring’.

It is for the purpose to let creators sell their own merchandise directly through the platform.

Because previously, channels would have to include a link to an external provider to ask subscribers to buy merchandise, so it has done its users a good deed.

 But, YouTube said this feature would only be available to U.S.-based creators with more than 10,000 subscribers.

Are YouTube Channel Memberships Suitable for Me?

Do we know that by now, you must be asking this question to yourself if the YouTube channel memberships would be suitable for you?

It is actually nothing to worry about because YouTube Channel Memberships are for such creators who want to focus on creating content and earning money, without worrying about running a business and do you think you are one of these people? If yes! Then this is for you.

Also, you can use YouTube Channel Memberships with your existing sponsored content and advertising revenues without drastically adding to your workload. 

All you have to create are some custom emojis and upload occasional bonus content, which is interesting and worthy of your time.

And as we already mentioned at the beginning of our article, this membership works because your customer’s mindset is support-oriented which directly meanings that they love you as a creator and that is the basic reason they would want to support your work, obviously, they want to see more of your work and it is dreamy for them to be included and be a part of your success.

And they will most likely see their monthly payment as a sort of donation to your work and really help your success.

And just for the sake of argument, we know, with most of the things, there are also drawbacks and to use YouTube Channel Memberships you will have to surrender a significant part of your income – say 30%.

And YouTube also has a habit of changing pricing structures whenever they feel like it. Demonetization is a real threat and YouTube Channel Memberships are not immune to that. And when the structure changes this can make you feel like; you don’t control the growth of your income.

Though, not to forget against these cons, there are many pros too.

We really hope we prove to be helpful in your journey of success and if you ever feel confused about any query related to YouTube please visit our blog, as we have put various important information for you to know.

Thank you!

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