Channel memberships are a fan-funding feature that lets viewers pay a monthly fee to a channel in exchange for exclusive perks such as badges, custom emoji, members-only content, and more. Unlike ad revenue, membership income is recurring and predictable, independent of how many views a channel gets in a given month.
Memberships unlock at 500 subscribers. Creators set up to 6 price tiers between $0.99 and $499.99 and keep 70% of what members pay.
Channel Memberships Definition
A channel membership is a recurring monthly subscription a viewer buys directly from a creator’s channel, granting access to perks the creator defines. It’s one of three fan-funding features on YouTube, alongside Super Chat, Super Stickers, and Super Thanks. All three also share the same 70/30 revenue split.
Eligibility Requirements (2026)
Memberships unlock at YouTube's fan-funding tier, which is the same tier that unlocks Supers.
|
Requirement |
Detail |
|
YPP membership |
Must be in the YouTube Partner Program |
|
Subscribers |
500+ |
|
Watch hours |
3,000 valid public watch hours in 12 months... |
|
...OR Shorts views |
...or 3,000,000 valid Shorts views in 90 days |
|
Age |
Channel owner must be 18+ |
|
Content |
Channel cannot be set as "Made for Kids" |
|
Standing |
No active Community Guidelines strikes |
|
Region |
Must be in an eligible country |
|
Public uploads |
3 valid public uploads in the last 90 days |
Some older sources still cite 1,000 subscribers as the requirement, but that was the threshold before YouTube introduced its two-tier Partner Program. Since that change, memberships (like the other fan-funding features) unlock at 500 subscribers, the Tier 1 threshold.
Tiers and Pricing
Creators can set up to 6 membership tiers, each with its own price and perks. YouTube's allowed range runs $0.99–$499.99 per month, though in practice most creators price tiers between $1.99 and $49.99. A few rules govern how tiers work:
- Prices are set entirely by the creator
- Higher tiers automatically include every perk from the tiers below them
- An existing tier's price can't be edited directly; the tier has to be deleted and a new one created to change it
- Displayed pricing is localized to each viewer's country or region
What Perks Can Creators Offer?
YouTube's permitted perk types include:
- Custom loyalty badges, shown in comments and live chat
- Custom emoji
- Members-only videos
- Members-only Community posts
- Members-only live streams
- Early access to public content
- Member milestone chats
- Member recognition shelves
- Gift memberships: a creator or a viewer can fund gift memberships during a live stream or Premiere; YouTube then randomly grants one month of access to eligible opted-in viewers watching at the time. Gifted memberships don't renew or auto-charge after that month.
For perk ideas that convert, see our 15 YouTube membership tips.
Not permitted: downloads of content already on YouTube, in-person 1:1 meetings, random giveaways among members, and perks aimed at children.
Revenue Share
Creators keep 70% of membership revenue after applicable taxes and fees; YouTube takes 30%. YouTube currently covers standard credit card and payment processing fees itself, rather than deducting them from the creator's 70%.
The exception is app-store purchases:
A member who subscribes through the YouTube app on iOS or Android can trigger an additional platform fee (up to 30%) from Apple or Google on top of YouTube's own cut, which can bring a creator's effective share down to roughly 49% on those specific transactions. Memberships purchased through a desktop browser aren't subject to this extra fee.
Payout happens through AdSense, folded into a channel's regular monthly payment. The 70/30 split is meaningfully better than the standard 55/45 ad revenue split, making memberships one of the higher-margin monetization options on YouTube.
How to Enable Channel Memberships
YouTube Studio → Earn → Memberships → accept the relevant module terms → set up tiers and perks → publish
Earnings are tracked at:
YouTube Studio → Analytics → Revenue → Memberships
Those are broken down by tier, member count, and monthly totals.
