14 DAY TRIAL // For the past few months, YouTube has been “threatening” us all with the implementation of a new feature that will make using donation services to help fund content creators on the site not necessary.
The ability to send donations to YouTube channel owners has been announced a few months back, but it’s been missing so far.
Android Police, however, noticed that the fan funding feature is now available in the US, Australia, Japan, and Mexico. Inside YouTube.com or the mobile apps the service launched, when you check out channels that have the feature turned on, you’ll notice a pop up letting you know that you can support that particular user.
Interestingly, there’s no mention of the word “donation” since this is what this is, but rather we see YouTube focusing on “Support” instead. Once the button is pressed in the original pop up, a larger one will appear to help you tip your favorite channels. You can pick between $1 (€0.76) and $5 (€3.8) or type in your desired amount in a separate field.
It’s also possible to attach a personal comment to the donation if you really want to tell the owner of the channel something you like about them and the content they create, or whatever else.
The tip jar isn’t going to fix all the issues that users have, but it’s going to make life easier for them. Those that have a close relationship with fans, such as aspiring singers, make-up artists or crafts experts, for instance, will be able to ask their fans for donations and they’ll be able to get money in an easier manner.
Perhaps this will even bring more money to them compared to, let’s say, Patreon, which is a solution used by many channel owners and that’s because people wouldn’t need to leave YouTube to help out.
Google is taking a bit of the donations, just as you’d expect. The company’s cut is 5 percent and a small fee. In the US, the fee is of $0.21 (€0.16), which means that if you donate $10 (€7.61), the artist will get $9.29 (€7.07) out of the sum.
The idea YouTube presented a while back has been rather well received by content creators on the site, especially since they hadn’t exactly been pleased with a bunch of changes the company forced in the past couple of years. While the fan support system won’t make everything better, it’s a start.
