The Memberships Case: From $50 to a Full-Blown Revenue Stream

You’ve probably asked yourself more than once: "Is YouTube Membership even worth it?" Spoiler — it absolutely is. But only if you do it right.

We’ve worked with channels across almost every niche, and we’ve seen creators turn on the Memberships feature and wait… and wait… and nothing really happens. Maybe a few fans join. Maybe it brings in $30–50 a month. But that’s nowhere near life-changing.

We know — because that’s exactly what happened with one of our partners in the Health & Sport niche.

They turned the feature on in August 2019. For five years, it was just... there. Barely promoted. No strategy behind it. And because of that, it brought in an average of $50/month.

But the potential was sitting on the table the whole time. It just needed to be activated properly. That’s when we started working with them on a new strategy.

What Changed in 2024?

By March 2024, the channel had built an active global audience — people aged 18–45 with real spending power. Our team started working with the creators on a complete relaunch of their Memberships setup. We focused on: value, relevance, and visibility.

That resulted in Memberships bringing in almost 80% of their total revenue. Here is what has been done.

First, the perks had to make sense for the kind of audience they had. These were people following fitness advice and training routines. So we helped the creators put together exclusive bonuses that were 100% aligned with what the audience already cared about.

No generic “thank you” videos. We’re talking:

• Extended, sponsor-only workout videos packed with extra tips, techniques, and routines you wouldn’t find in regular uploads.
• Access to live chats and Q&As where viewers could actually talk to their favorite creators, ask questions, and get personalized training advice.
• A private sponsor-only chat where fans could interact with each other and the channel team, share their progress, and build that sense of community.

That last one — community — was huge. Sponsorships work best when members feel like insiders, not just viewers who paid for a bonus. When the interaction feels personal, they stick around longer and look forward to what’s coming next.

But Bonuses Alone Won’t Sell It

We helped the team roll out ongoing, low-key but persistent promotion across the channel. Here’s what that looked like:

• The JOIN button was added to the video end screens.
• Each new bonus was highlighted in the Community tab, so viewers saw what they were missing if they weren’t subscribed.
• Video descriptions were updated — the sponsorship link wasn’t optional anymore.
• New members got recognized in streams and shout-outs (another small reminder that the Sponsorship feature was alive and active).

You can’t promote once and call it a day. People are busy. They miss posts. You’ve got to make joining feel natural — like something they’d want to do anyway, because it’s tied to a value they already care about.

So, What Happened?

The results were better than anyone expected.

Six months after relaunching Memberships the right way, this Health & Sport channel saw a 16x increase in monthly income from that feature alone. The number of active sponsors grew by 9x.

Sponsorships now account for almost 80% of their total revenue. That’s 4x more than they make from views.

And it’s about predictable, stable income. Something creators can build around. YouTube ad revenue is always going to fluctuate. Memberships don’t. If your perks are strong and your promotion is steady, your income becomes way less dependent on the algorithm or the next upload.

What This Means for You

If your audience shows up regularly and trusts your content, Memberships can be your most reliable income stream. But only if you treat it like a real part of your monetization strategy.

Just turning it on won’t do anything. You’ve got to build it out properly:

• Know what your audience wants.
• Offer perks they’ll actually care about.
• Promote it like it’s a core part of your channel.

We’ve helped hundreds of creators get this right. And if you’re ready to make Memberships work like they should, we’ll help you build a plan tailored to your channel, your niche, and your audience.

You don’t need to guess. You just need a real setup.

Let’s build it. Reach out to us at AIR Media-Tech — we’ve got your back.