YouTube Premium Users May Soon Get Free Channel Membership
YouTube is the largest video streaming platform for independent creators, it has many features. YouTube is also known for testing new features to give more power to the creators. In an attempt to do so, YouTube has introduced the channel membership option. This option allows users to support their favorite creators monetarily by joining a special member-only club. Channel membership tiers generally start with $5, and for depending on the tier, members can receive many exclusive perks. Perks such as exclusive videos, live chat, live streaming, community posts, and special custom badges.
While channel membership is to help creators, YouTube premium membership is for users. YouTube premium users can avail a host of features. As a premium member, you can access YouTube ad-free, background playbacks for videos and music, offline download and many premium contents. YouTube seems to test a new feature to integrate both the YouTube premium and channel membership by allowing premium users to get one channel membership each month.
The news first came into light when a user by the name “Oscar 2753” posted a query on the YouTube support page. According to that user, when he/she logged into YouTube, he/she a small window saying that he/she has a free channel membership worth $5.
“SO when I logged in on YouTube, a small window said I have a free channel membership I can join (worth $5) but when I choose one of my subscriptions, it still wants me to pay. So what was this? A lie, bugg or will it not charge me when I click Pay and enter my digits for my card?
Picture says:
Choose a channel this month.
One free channel membership (worth up to $5)”
So far only a handful of people have reported that they saw the prompt and even then they could not avail the free perk. According to people on the YouTube support thread, while browsing YouTube, they were taken to a page where they were asked to “Choose 1 channel this month” followed by a list of all the subscribed channels that offer channel membership.
Many people on the same thread confirmed that they saw the prompt but when they attempted to get the said subscription, they were asked to pay for the channel membership fee. Even though this feature is not available for now, it is a signal that YouTube is indeed working on this idea.
YouTube is trying hard to boost its premium subscription user base, and this feature seems to be a step towards the same goal. What do you think of this new feature? Do you think you will get a premium membership if you can support your favorite creator at no additional cost? I can see this plan working for YouTube.
