To allow videographers to earn money while remaining on the platform, YouTube is generalizing the “Super Thanks”, which allows you to donate between €2 and €50 to your favorite creator or creator.
Like Facebook, Twitter and other Web veterans, YouTube takes inspiration from current social trends to improve its platform. His favorite model in recent years: Twitch. The service of live-streaming now owned by Amazon has given its competitors quite a few ideas when it comes to interacting with the public.
Donations of 2 to 50 €
While it is now also possible to broadcast live on YouTube, this functionality has been supplemented over time by others, all already seen elsewhere in sometimes slightly different forms, on Twitch but also on Reddit for example. After the “Super Chat”, which allowed the user to highlight his message in exchange for a small sum of money, after the “Super Sticker”, which used this principle but with digital stickers, here is the “Great Thanks”.
The principle is even simpler: when they watch a video on YouTube, subscribers can make a donation of €2 to €50 to support their favorite creators, accompanied by a personalized message. A feature that existed in beta for a year, but which will now be available in 68 countries, for all videographers participating in the YouTube Partner Program. This new possibility, since it is directly integrated into YouTube, takes a slight step ahead of Twitch, where this type of payment can only be made through third-party tools such as Streamlabs or Streamelements. Moreover, if we are to believe the press release from YouTube, this type of donation would be open to all videographers, and not only those broadcasting live.
YouTube brushes videographers the wrong way
A logical step for Google’s video platform, which has every interest in cajoling its creators a little. According to her, in December 2021, more than 5,000 channels in France generated revenue using alternative monetization solutions (excluding advertising revenue directly on YouTube, therefore), an increase of more than 20% compared to the previous year.
Logical, when we know how much most of these videographers are exhausted by the commercial practices of YouTube, which demonetizes content faster than its shadow, sometimes for no apparent reason, while multiplying advertisements and curious decisions, such as deletion counting dislikes. This extra way to make money in app should therefore be well received… provided there are no hidden defects.