As previously announced by Valkyrae and Lester Chen, YouTube’s global head of gaming creators, YouTube’s Gifted Memberships Beta is rolling out today to a select group of streamers. And, thanks to an updated post, we now have more details about how the new system will work.
According to Chen, Gifted Memberships will retain YouTube’s universal 70/30 percent revenue share in favor of creators, with prices set according to the creator’s custom membership costs, and will feature a bulk purchase option of up to 20 gifted memberships.
Subscription gifting was one area that Twitch held over YouTube when it came to ways streamers could monetize their broadcasts, as it allows generous viewers to gift subscriptions, supporting their favorite streamers and providing benefits to other users in chat who were not previously subscribed.
With this feature now coming to YouTube, it is expected that average creator revenue will begin to increase for streamers on the platform as it provides another revenue model and has a built-in 70/30 percent revenue share. This addition could entice more users to make the swap to YouTube as Twitch continues to toy with changing its own revenue-sharing split, which is already sitting at a 50/50 split for most affiliates and partners, among other things.
Gifted Memberships will now be an option on select creators’ channels while they are live, with the default price set to $5. If you use custom pricing for memberships on your channel, Chen has noted that it should appear at that price point, however.
Additionally, users who want to gift memberships can choose to gift one, five, or 20 initially. More options may be added in the future.
The beta is limited, but creators who meet certain requirements can request access to the feature by filling out a specific form. Eligibility and news on future rollouts will be shared as they become available.
