YouTube (NASDAQ: GOOGL) is giving its content creators a much needed olive branch; providing them with two new ways to make money from the platform. Yesterday the company announced two new YouTube features which will surely excite some of its content creators. 

The announcement comes just one day after Instagram revealed it’s similar YouTube service.

New YouTube Features:

The two new YouTube features allow creators the ability to sell merchandise alongside their videos and also to sell paid memberships which would give subscribers access to exclusive content. These services provide a significant means of potential revenue and now content makers are no longer completely reliant on the current advertising revenue model to make money.

The paid memberships will cost $4.99 USD (YouTube will take 30% of this) and beta-testing on some accounts has already shown very real results; Lucas the Spider—a YouTube channel that has published 10 videos featuring an animated arachnid—has earned over $1 million in less than a month.

Why is it an olive branch though? Well, in recent years, YouTube began clamping down on some of its biggest channels that were found to be running advertisements from major companies. The clampdown included implementing tighter policies on advertising and bringing in more moderators. Unfortunately, unintended results of these new policies meant many creators had their videos “demonetized” meaning they could no longer receive ad revenue. This affected some smaller creators too and caused quite a bit of controversy – sometimes ad revenue was revoked altogether often for unexplained and unfair reasons. 

TeeSpring and FameBit

Merchandise will appear on a “shelf”, which sits just below the video. So now the channel will become a virtual “store” if you will. YouTube has cut a deal with Teespring who will provide the clothing. Alongside that, any creator with a FameBit partnership (a YouTube acquired agency that connects video creators with company sponsors) can now display relevant products that they may be pushing on behalf of their sponsor.

These products can be displayed for direct purchase on the shopping self below. Imagine the potential here for beauty vloggers who many be featuring a certain lipstick in their video which is then available for direct sale below.

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The catch though is that this option is only available for accounts with over 10,000 subscribers and so it won’t suit every content creator, but at least the option is there for major players who have long been earning their bread and butter from YouTube. The paid subscription is only available for accounts which have over 100,000 subscribers already. 

So as potentially great as these new features are, I still have a ways to go before I can take advantage of them on my channel!

Featured Image: DepositPhotos.com/agencyby