YouTube’s Gifting Membership Goes Live Today in Beta Version

YouTube is testing gifting memberships, accessible for a limited number of channels starting Wednesday. YouTube memberships are similar to Twitch subscriptions in that they allow viewers to express financial support for producers. Also, gaining access to perks such as personalized emojis. For a long time, Twitch members have purchased gift subscriptions, but you haven’t been able to purchase gift memberships for other YouTube channel viewers.

Gifting Membership in Beta

The membership giving beta will be available to a “limited group of creators” at first before being expanded to more “over the coming several months.” Channels interested in experimenting with the functionality can do so by filling out this Google Form. You must first be authorized to enable memberships with their own set of prerequisites. To begin, gifting will only be accessible to viewers using a desktop browser window; purchasing gift memberships on mobile will be available after the feature is fully launched.

Viewers will also need to opt-in to acquire free channel memberships (which could be a way to minimize harassment, like the changes YouTube made to its version of raids). Gifted memberships will show up in the chat. And you’ll have to click a link and then a toggle to accept them. This screenshot, obtained from a YouTube GIF, gives you a sense of what the experience is like: 

“With Memberships Gifting,” YouTube explains, “your channel members can buy a specified number of channel memberships [5, 10, 20] in a single purchase, which YouTube will ‘give’ to other viewers in your live stream.” “Viewers who get a gifted membership get a month of accessibility to your channel’s membership benefits, such as loyalty badges, unique emoji, and more.” Viewers who receive gift memberships are not charged, and you receive your standard income share from each transaction as the author.”

YouTube has Achieved More than This

Gifted subscriptions are the newest YouTube versions of significant Twitch features. They were added to better compete with Amazon’s popular streaming service. But YouTube hasn’t only competed on features; it’s also lured some big Twitch stars to stream exclusively on its platform. Such as DrLupo, TimTheTatman, Ludwig, and, in a contract announced just last week, Sykkuno.

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