YouTube introduces paid subscriptions and merchandise

[bobbyflo]

Sources: https://youtube.googleblog.com/2018/06/vidcon-2018-helping-creators-earn-more.html

https://www.theverge.com/2018/6/21/17303956/youtube-channel-memberships-patreon-features-subscriptions-vidcon-2018

 

Youtube announced at vidcon today that it's rolling out channel subscriptions for $4.99 with potential options down the line to expand price tiers. This seems to directly compete with the current feature offerings of Floatplane, allowing for exclusive videos and content to a paying subscribers and also encroaches on Patreon. Youtube also expands on its feature list with tight integrations with new forms of monetization such as teespring and super chat for pre-recorded videos. The latter feature is called "Premieres" and is basically live community viewings of a normal youtube upload. Reminds me of the bob ross twitch streams. Im sure creators are excited about the subscription options and better integrations with merch sales, but I think the Premieres feature will be the most compelling from a pure experience and dynamic with the platform perspective. One of the few things radio (internet or otherwise) and tv still hold above a platforms like spotify and netflix is that you are sharing the experience with other people. That subtle sense of belonging to something bigger than yourself I think is very powerful and greatly responsible for the rise of Twitch. And even though community viewing has been available though livestreams on youtube before, I think it is a huge step to bring it to normal videos. It makes things an 'event' again, kind of like saturday morning cartoons, or late night tv. Theres an emotional connection there that I dont think is being effectively tapped into currently on any popular platform, at least in regards to non-live streams. 

 

Relevant quotes:

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With Channel Memberships, viewers pay a monthly recurring fee of $4.99 to get unique badges, new emoji, Members-only posts in the Community tab, and access to unique custom perks offered by creators, such as exclusive livestreams, extra videos, or shout-outs.

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we’ll soon be expanding this to eligible channels with more than 100,000 subscribers on YouTube under the new name Channel Memberships. We hope to bring it to even more creators in the coming months.

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Merchandise has been a part of many creators’ businesses for a long time. We want to make it easier for more creators to sell merch directly from their channel. ..... we’ve joined forces with Teespring so creators can choose from over 20 merchandise items to customize and sell via a shelf on their channel. This will be available to all eligible U.S.-based channels with over 10,000 subscribers starting today, and we plan to bring even more merchandising partners and creators in soon.

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With Premieres, creators will be able to debut pre-recorded videos as a live moment. When creators choose to release a Premiere, we’ll automatically create a public landing page to build anticipation and hype up new content. When all fans show up to watch the premiere, they’ll be able to chat with each other (and with the creator!) in real time via live chat. It’s as if a creator’s entire community is in one theater together watching their latest upload.

 

[potoooooooo]

This is what, like the fourth time they've tried introducing paid youtube channels?

[WereCatf]

Youtube has been pushing Youtube Music and Youtube Premium real hard at me already as of late, so I'm not really surprised they're bringing in even more monetization-features. At the same time they began this pushing of those paid services, they also seem to have given lower priority to the kinds of content I've been watching and interested in and instead began to push videos at me that have a wider mass-appeal, like, you know, "TOP 10 SCARIEST CRASHES", latest pop-diva music videos, "LOOK AT HOW THE RICH PEOPLE LIVE" and the likes -- none of this have I any interest in, whatsoever, nor have I shown any interest in. Probably needless to say, but I'm not exactly delighted about this development.

[Mihle]

16 minutes ago, potoooooooo said:

This is what, like the fourth time they've tried introducing paid youtube channels?

Difference is that this time a channel can have 2 kinds of subs I believe, both free and paid, rather for it to be two different channels for each.

[Techstorm970]

The option to do paid or unpaid subscriptions is ingenious!  It offers a competitive alternative for Patreon at no apparent expense to the viewers.  Content creators will love this (probably)!  I see this as a win-win-win!

[Centurius]

The 100k subscriber requirement is kind of insane though, usually individual viewer donations is how smaller channels manage to make a profit (Patreon) whereas the larger channels benefit from ad revenue a lot more.

[Christophe Corazza]

So like Twitch...

Except anyone big enough for YouTube who wants to monetize by doing this, already sells shirts on their own.

[Christophe Corazza]

1 hour ago, bobbyflo said:

$4.99

 

Well that will add up quickly...

[cj09beira]

42 minutes ago, Techstorm970 said:

The option to do paid or unpaid subscriptions is ingenious!  It offers a competitive alternative for Patreon at no apparent expense to the viewers.  Content creators will love this (probably)!  I see this as a win-win-win!

youtube takes a much bigger part of the money though, so those using patreon have no reason to switch, 

[Froody129]

This looks like a pretty good reason to move to a different platform lol. I use YouTube because it's free and convenient. If it costs something that isn't an ad here or there I'll just find something else to do 

[AlTech]

3 hours ago, Techstorm970 said:

The option to do paid or unpaid subscriptions is ingenious!  It offers a competitive alternative for Patreon at no apparent expense to the viewers.  Content creators will love this (probably)!  I see this as a win-win-win!

YouTube has been bullying content creators to drop Patreon and so I would strongly advise against switching.

 

Patreon takes a smaller cut and also, YouTube as a platform has too much power over Creators with regard to Job security and finances. Giving YouTube more power by forcing payments through their system would just make it harder to leave YouTube for creators who are tired of YouTube.

[cj09beira]

10 minutes ago, AluminiumTech said:

YouTube has been bullying content creators to drop Patreon and so I would strongly advise against switching.

 

Patreon takes a smaller cut and also, YouTube as a platform has too much power over Creators with regard to Job security and finances. Giving YouTube more power by forcing payments through their system would just make it harder to leave YouTube for creators who are tired of YouTube.

i agree so much i had to respond just to say i agree

[Orangeator]

18 hours ago, Christophe Corazza said:

 

Well that will add up quickly...

Yeah agreed... That is too high.

[Guest]

Finally can get my Epic Meal Time merch 

[asus killer]

i will never abandon my position, internet and all in it should be FREE, want money get a job or do it on the old platforms. Apart from ads of course.

[PlayStation 2]

How about improve the bitrate and audio quality of the videos before making us pay, YouTube?

For now, this oughta do.