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YouTube rolls out revenue-generating features
YouTube introduced new tools to help content creators make money, including new paid subscription models, merchandising and the launch of “Premieres”.
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YouTube introduced new tools to help content creators make money, including new paid subscription models, merchandising and the launch of 'Premieres'. (Shutterstock/sutipond)
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ouTube has revealed a handful of new features aimed at helping content creators find a steady stream of revenue. Announced at the ninth annual VidCon, a YouTube convention held in Anaheim, California, these features include new paid subscription models, merchandising and the launch of “Premieres”.
While YouTube has offered paid subscription-based models on its YouTube Gaming subsidiary, now all members of the YouTube Partner Program with over 100,000 subscribers will be able to charge for exclusive content. Subscribers can pay US$4.99 a month to access the new members-only Community tab, where creators can share additional content from time to time, such as live-streams, special videos, news of upcoming events and other things.
“This toolset is fairly powerful, so we want to make sure that they don’t put products out there that they really can’t commit to,” YouTube’s director of product management, Rohit Dhawan, told TechCrunch.
“It’s kind of like a blank canvas… it’s us giving creators the tools to customize their membership offering and provide whatever perks that they feel is going to be valuable to fans,” he said.
Read also: With a billion users, Instagram takes on YouTube in video
YouTube has partnered with Teespring to allow creators to offer merchandise directly on their channels, allowing their subscribers to buy without ever leaving the site. Those with over 10,000 subscribers will now be able to utilize the tab now found directly under videos where they can offer over 20 different pieces of merchandise.
YouTube also announced a new feature called “Premieres”, where, according to a blog post, “creators will be able to debut pre-recorded videos as a live moment”. With Premieres, videos will have a live chat, the way live-streamed videos do, so that fans and content creators alike can chat. Once a Premiere is over, it’ll be uploaded to the channel, just like a regular video.
“We’re going to use our search and discovery platform to promote these,” said Kurt Wilms, the group product manager. “They’re going to appear across all the dedicated discovery portions of our site, which is awesome.”
Finally, YouTube is also jumping on the 24-hour Stories bandwagon popularized by Snapchat. In the same blog post, they announced that they have “started experimenting with our take on Stories, but designed specifically for YouTube creators—coming to all eligible creators with more than 10,000 subscribers later this year.” (sul/wng)
