YouTube introduces new monetization methods for its creators

Two years after creators expressed concerns over being properly compensated, YouTube is finally rolling out new alternative payment methods including a $4.99 channel membership and features similar to Twitch's subscription service including special emojis and subscriber badges. 

As reported by Polygon, YouTube creators who have more than 100,000 subscribers and belong to YouTube’s Partner Program can charge a monthly recurring fee of $4.99 that gives viewers the ability to display tier badges. 

This new channel subscription alternative is in response to demonetization concerns YouTube creators brought up a few years ago in regards to securing revenue.

 Rohit Dhawan, YouTube’s senior director of product management at YouTube, noted that this change has been in the works specifically to address monetization issues.

“I’ve been working on it for a long time,” Dhawan explained to Polygon. “We’ve been testing these features and they’ve reached a certain level of success, so it’s very much inspired by the fact that it was just a great opportunity to help creators make more money.”

YouTube will get a portion of the $4.99 subscription fee, gleaning 30 percent of revenue while leaving the remaining 70 percent to its creators. For comparison, Twitch streamers earn 50 percent from their $4.99 subscription fee.

According to YouTube's website, creators will receive 70 percent of sponsorship revenue after local sales tax is deducted, with all transaction costs (including credit card fees) being covered by YouTube.