- Here you were, minding your own business,
when behind the scenes,
stuff has been happening in the background.
And all of the sudden,
you can now make more money on YouTube
and you didn't have to do anything at all.
By now, we all know that YouTube is pretty much in the lead
when it comes to getting creators paid,
and that lead has just massively increased
in the last few weeks.
First up, let's discuss Super Thanks,
which is essentially a way to earn tips from making content.
Now previously, to get a Super anything,
you actually had to be live to earn that.
But now, you could be earning tips
on your regular videos as well, in the form of Super Thanks.
And to make sure that you have access to this feature,
you will need to be monetized.
Make your way over to the Supers tab.
And if you have access,
you should be able to toggle these on here.
It'll be really interesting to see
if this is something that takes off
with viewers across YouTube.
I personally love that this is an option,
but the incentive to actually tip somebody for a video
feels really low to me.
For example, during a livestream, if you get Super Chats,
you as the streamer have the ability
to actually thank your viewers for giving you that donation.
That personal touch is certainly lost
for a pre-recorded video.
So it'll be really interesting to see how creators find ways
to incentivize the Super Thanks option.
And as I do see people doing that,
I will definitely update you
on ways that you can benefit from this more.
Next up, though, we have gifted memberships.
Now, this one is almost exclusively catering
to livestreams on the platform.
But basically the way it works
is that viewers on your channel can now gift memberships
to other viewers who are watching your channel.
This has been a long-requested feature
from streamers all across YouTube,
and is finally coming out in beta right now.
The way YouTube has this set up is pretty interesting.
Basically, you as the viewer need to opt in
to receiving a gifted membership,
and that's on a per-channel basis.
In my opinion, this does create
a bit of extra friction for viewers,
and I am worried about that.
However, I'm sure there's a really good reason for this.
There always is behind the scenes.
And I just hope that this opt-in feature
is clearly visible to users, as it is in extra step.
Overall, though, fantastic news for channels
that livestream here on YouTube,
and that also have memberships.
Another exciting development about memberships, by the way,
is that if you're an iOS user
using the YouTube app on your phone,
you now have the join option available to you.
Previously, the membership join button
was missing for iOS users.
And if I'm not mistaken, Android users
have had this option for some time.
But now with iOS users coming into the fold,
this just automatically means more money is on the table.
If you're not using memberships by now,
this is a really good time
to get that set up on your channel
if you have access to the feature.
But let's say you don't have access to any of that,
but you are a YouTube Shorts creator.
Well, good news for you,
it just got easier to get paid doing those as well.
Last month, YouTube updated its documentation
around the Shorts Fund.
In this update, YouTube says
some creators who didn't previously qualify
may now earn bonuses under $100,
and other creators may start to see bonuses
over the previous $10,000 maximum.
I can back this up, too,
because on my personal channel
where I test out YouTube Shorts,
I actually qualified for a Shorts bonus this month
for a whopping $10.08, which no, isn't much.
But previously, I only ever got a Shorts bonus,
if I earned enough views to deserve the $100 bonus.
By the way, I've only ever gotten
two of those $100 bonuses,
and it was for roughly about half a million views
in shorts for the whole month.
The good news here, though, for people like me
is let's say in the past
there were times I almost qualified for $100,
let's say I made it to $90.
Back then, I would have just been skipped.
But now, I'll get $90.
This is just great news.
YouTube hasn't even finished figuring out
how AdSense might fit into the YouTube Shorts ecosystem,
and already they're finding more ways to pay us.
And with the bonus going over $10,000 now
for the top creators, that's massive.
And the best part about YouTube Shorts
is that you don't have to be monetized
through the YouTube Partnership Program
to qualify for these bonuses.
So all that being said,
fantastic time to be a YouTube Shorts creator.
But there's also some other factors going on
that are a little more obscure
that could also affect your bottom line in a positive way.
First, I want to bring your attention
to YouTube's new live redirect features.
If you're somebody who livestreams
and you're about to wrap up your livestream,
you can now send your viewers to another channel,
and you can have viewers sent to you
through this new live redirect option.
Now, initially setting this up will take you some time
because you need to be subscribed to channels
that you want live redirecting to you,
and your subscriptions also need to be public.
Alternatively, you can put them on an approved list,
and that way you can also receive live redirects from them.
If you have any experience over on Twitch,
you may know this as rating, and it's a fantastic way
for viewers to discover new content creators
they wouldn't have otherwise looked for.
Basically, you getting a live redirect
sent to you from another channel
means more people have just discovered you.
And when more people discover you,
those are more opportunities
for you to earn Supers and AdSense.
So again, nothing you're gonna see
a direct revenue increase from,
but if you participate in this practice,
over time it could yield you some returns.
Speaking of Twitch, by the way,
there are some rumors going around
that could actually mean really, really good things
for YouTube monetization.
You see, it's being reported
that Twitch might actually lower its revenue split
with its top tier creators.
As of right now, there are a number of creators
that are earning a 70-30 revenue split in their favor.
However, it's being said
that Twitch is considering lowering this revenue split
to an even 50-50.
Basically, if you're a Twitch streamer
and you're working your way up to the tippy top,
yeah, you'll make more money because you grew your channel.
But if this is true, now you stand to make less money
than you previously would have.
If this change goes through,
this means that more people have the incentive
to actually make YouTube their home for livestreaming.
If enough big streamers do that,
that just means more money
floating around the YouTube creator ecosystem.
We'll see how it all shakes out
in the coming weeks, I guess.
Right now it's all just rumors.
Almost everything I just said, though, doesn't apply to you
if you're somebody who's still trying
to monetize your channel in the first place, though.
And if that's the case,
then you need to watch this video next,
because it's gonna help you do just that.