YouTube now lets you pay $4.99 per month to support your favorite creators

Enlarge (credit: Valentina Palladino)

At this year's VidCon festival, YouTube debuted new ways for creators to make money on its platform. Most YouTube creators make a profit through ad revenue, but they'll now have Channel Memberships and Merchandise features to bolster their income-if they pass specific subscriber thresholds.

Channel Memberships is a rebrand of Subscriptions, a feature that had been tested out by select creators for a while. Channel Memberships allow viewers to pay $4.99 per month to support each of their favorite creators. In return, those members get special badges and emoji, members-only posts in the Community tab, and unique perks offered by creators themselves such as exclusive livestreams, extra videos, and more. Not all creators can make use of Channel Memberships-only those with over 100,000 subscribers can.

Merchandise is exactly what it sounds like-merchandise that creators can customize and feature on a digital "shelf" on their YouTube channel. The company partnered with Teespring to bring over 20 pieces of merchandise that US-based creators can make their own and sell to their viewers. The threshold for Merchandise is lower than that of Channel Memberships, as those with over 10,000 subscribers can design and sell their own shirts and other items.

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