YouTube introduces beta membership gifting feature for creators

YouTube, which is owned by Google, launched a beta version of ‘Channel Memberships Gifting’ on Wednesday to help a limited number of producers earn extra money.

The income split for gift memberships is 70/30 (Creator/YouTube), with revenue share computed after App Store fees on iOS (if applicable) and other expenses such as sales tax. Viewers who get a gift subscription will have access to privileges including loyalty badges, bespoke emoji, and more for one month. “We’ll be actively spreading the functionality to even more creators over the coming several months,” YouTube stated in a statement.
Channel members may buy a certain number of channel memberships (5, 10, 20) in a single transaction that YouTube will “gift” to other viewers in your live broadcast via ‘Memberships Gifting.’

“Viewers who get gift memberships pay no fees, and you, as the creator, earn your standard income split from each transaction,” YouTube explained.
Purchasing gift memberships on mobile is not currently possible during the Beta.

Existing channel members can purchase gift memberships on live feeds by clicking the $ icon next to the live chat.

“Memberships are only available for purchase on desktop live streaming for viewers. We’re working on getting this to mobile devices as soon as possible, YouTube stated.

The only method to opt-in during the Beta is to select ‘Allow Gifts’ on a gift membership notification that appears in the live chat after someone has purchased gift memberships.

The YouTube function is similar to Twitch’s subscriptions, which have allowed users to purchase gift memberships for quite some time.