YouTube will help Creators Sell Merchandise to Make up For Monetization Controversies

Creators on YouTube haven’t been happy with how YouTube’s been operating. Many have had their videos demonetized, resulting in lots of money lost for these creators without a solid explanation why. YouTube’s now looking to put out new ways for YouTubers to make money.

So, in the long run, what’s keeping these creators from ditching YouTube for a platform where they can make money more consistently? YouTube is looking to give creators other ways to make money on its platform. On Thursday, the company announced that it will offer established creators the option to implement five-dollar exclusive content monthly subscriptions for their fans. Through this, creators can sell merchandise directly through YouTube.

YouTube Struck a Deal with Teespring

Creators with at least 10,000 subscribers will be able to sell merchandise after YouTube made a discount deal with merch distributor Teespring. Teesprings will give creators 1 dollar off each item.

YouTubers have already been using Teesprings to sell merchandise on YouTube, but this way they’ll be able to do it through YouTube.

What’s Changing?

In the United States, YouTube will display a merchandise “shelf” below videos that are eligible. Viewers will still have to make purchases directly through Teespring, but Youtube is simply making it more accessible.

This isn’t all that’s changing though. YouTube has also acquired FameBit, which is a agency that connects creators with companies that want to sponsor content. Now, complains can display relevant products in the same shelf as YouTubers are using for their own merchandise. So, if a creator is advertising a product, that product can be feature there. This could lead to higher partnership rates.

YouTube is also rolling out a channel sponsorship service, which will allow creators to charge a 5 dollar fee for access to exclusive content. This is currently only open to channels with over 100,000 subscribers and YouTube will take 30 percent of the cut. Fans that do pay for the subscription will get perks like custom emjoi and exclusive videos.

“We’re seeing [membership perks] be lightweight content—bloopers, playing with their dog,” says Rohit Dhawan, who leads alternative monetization products at YouTube. “It’s whatever they want to come up with.”

YouTube Premieres

Finally, YouTube is additionally launching a feature called YouTube Premieres. This feature will allow creators to pre recorded videos for their live streams. YouTube premieres will come out in the newest two weeks and will be tested as a beta with a few select few YouTubers.

Sean Berry
Sean Berry
Sean Berry is Videomaker's Managing Editor.

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