An antidote to the adpocalypse perhaps?
YouTube announced at VidCon that it would be adding new ways to the platform for creators to earn money. Introducing additional monetization options was necessary after massive revenue losses experienced by many creators all over the platform due to the so called “adpocalypse”.
Channel Memberships
This feature was long awaited and finally made its’ way to YouTube. Viewers can now pay $4.99 to their favorite creators as a membership fee for additional perks. These perks might include exclusive content, chat benefits, emojis, badges and more. Currently there’s only one option for a membership fee, which is $4.99, but it’s expected that YouTube will be adding a few more in the near future. If you’re a creator on YouTube, you can enable the membership feature when you surpass 100.000 subscribers.
All about that merch baby
Since the adpocalypse, merchandize was the main source of income for many creators. YouTube seems to have understood this need and has now introduced a way to embed your merchandize on to the platform. More specifically, you can display your custom merch right below your video. Creators with at least 10,000 subscribers can use the feature and create up to 20 items. Creators with 100,000 or more subscribers can work directly with Teespring to handle all their merchandize.
YouTube aims to further improve how creators monetize their content on the platform in the near future. What’s left now is for the users to decide whether they are going to support their favorite creators or stick to watching their content for free.