YouTube is expanding Sponsorships, its relatively new service that lets viewers pay creators a monthly subscription fee in exchange for exclusive perks. The program, which existed only in beta
YouTube product manager Barbara Macdonald said in a blog post Tuesday that sponsorships have been a huge boon for some of the creators who were part of the test phase:
“Rocket Beans earned 1,500 sponsors in their first day. And ONE_shot_GURL’s monthly celebratory wall of sponsors is getting so full, it’s running out of room.”
Users can sponsor a creator for $4.99 a month, and in return get custom chat badges and custom emoji as well as access to a sponsor-only chat. Creators can even give them additional perks through third-party integrations.
YouTube says you must have a “gaming” channel. The requirements for meeting that designation are not entirely clear, but it likely involves streaming games to an audience of a certain minimum size, and at a frequency that meets YouTube’s threshold requirements. You must also be over 18 years old, have more than 1,000 total subscribers, and have enabled live streaming, as well as meeting the requirements to remain monetized. YouTube can remove monetization from a channel if it violates YouTube’s terms of service
Theses sponsorships may one day also be available to all of YouTube’s creators.
