Memberships Gifting enables users to support their favorite creators by purchasing a set number of channel memberships (5, 10, or 20) in a single transaction during a live stream, which YouTube will then gift other viewers.
The new feature uses the standard 70/30 (Creator/YouTube) revenue split, where revenue share is calculated after sales tax. So by buying channel memberships, you help creators, and at the same time, you give someone a chance to get one month of free access to exclusive content.
It should be noted that not everyone is able to receive a gifted membership. As YouTube stated in a blog post, existing channel members won’t be able to get such a gift. The platform wants to “share the love with potential new channel members,” which means that it wants to give access to special content to more people and, in this way, encourage them to support their favorite creators by becoming paid members in the future.
If an existing member wants to buy gift memberships, they only need to click the “$” button next to the live chat during a live stream. When someone makes such a purchase, YouTube will display a message in the discussion that a user has bought free memberships, and the other viewers will need to click on the “Allow Gifts” button in order to opt-in.
Then, YouTube will distribute the memberships based on how much individual users have interacted with the channel. The platform explained that loyal viewers who are always watching and interacting with the content will have better chances of receiving a gift.
YouTube didn’t explain what “interacting with the content” means, but we presume that the algorithms decide based on whether a user has reacted to the uploaded videos and whether they have active participation in the comment sections and chat. The chosen ones receive a personal live chat message and an email, telling them that they have won a free membership.
The Memberships Gifting feature on YouTube is currently unavailable on the mobile versions, but this will change in the future. So, if you are an existing member who wants to support an eligible creator, you have to use the Web version of the platform.
If you are a creator who wants to enable Memberships Gifting on your channel, you will need to fill in this Google form, and YouTube will inform you if you are eligible or not.
