Due to the enormous effort expended by the creators, increasing saturation in the digital ad market and growing awareness of better revenue models, creators start to find value in running their membership businesses and content platforms to see new revenue streams in addition to ad share now.
Patreon and Youtube Channel Memberships are two striking examples. In this article, we are going to introduce and compare them in the following aspects:
- What are Patreon and Youtube Channel Memberships? Why not both?
- Eligibility – Higher Threshold for Youtube
- Convenience - Start Convenience for Youtube and Similar Membership Systems
- Pricing – Set Your Own Price on Both Platforms
- Payment schedule and methods - More Payment Options on Patreon
- Revenue sharing – Youtube Takes a Bigger Cut!!
- Content delivery – Greater Freedom on Patreon
Patreon | Youtube Channel Memberships | |
Introduction | Paid membership platform for creators to share their content |
Free Youtube channels; Viewers can join as member to enjoy member-only videos, emojis and other special perks |
Eligibility |
No restriction |
More than 1000 subscribers |
Convenience |
Start a creator page on Patreon + Supporters can subscribe your patreon page and become a patron |
Starting convenience: no need to open a separate Patreon account, simply activate the channel membership on Youtube |
Pricing | Up to you | Up to you (usually ranging from USD0.99 and USD100 per month) |
Payment method |
How: Through Stripe, PayPal or Payonner When: Monthly basis, manually withdraw your balance or Patreon automatic withdrawal on 5th of the month |
How: Through Youtubers’ Adsense account When: Monthly basis, typically 10th – 14th day of month |
Revenue sharing | Patreon takes 5-12% cut | Youtube takes 30% cut |
Content delivery | Slightly more freedom in content delivery | Slightly stricter in content delivery |
What are Patreon and Youtube Channel Memberships? Why not both?
Patreon: Patreon is an American membership platform in 2013 that provides business tools for content creators such as Youtube videographers, webcomic artists and writers etc. to run a subscription service. Basically, it allows creators to monetize their work and develop a recurring income stream.
Youtube: In 2018, Youtube introduced channel memberships, merchandise and premieres. Similar to Patreon, these are ways for members to gain access to members-only posts in the Community tab. In addition, members are able to purchase public badges and emojis, as well as other channel-specific perks that may change over time.
Prudent creators tend to diversify their revenue streams by building a presence at more of these platforms, in order to achieve greater income stability. Yet, the trade off is less effort focused on getting to the top, in other words, the subscribers are more scattered. It is relatively more difficult for them to get the top clicks or accumulate the top number of fans on one single platform.
Eligibility – Higher Threshold for Youtube
Youtube: Creators will need to have 1000 subscribers or more, be over 18 and be members of the Youtube Partner Program.
Patreon: There are no restriction on number of subscribers to open a Patreon subscription service.
Convenience - Starting Convenience for Youtube and Similar Membership Systems
Youtube: Your subscribers can simply stay on the Youtube channel and pay creators for exclusive video content. Creators can develop membership programme with up to five different membership levels. Some of the key features are:
- Each level has to have 1–5 perks
- Members at higher levels are automatically eligible for perks that you offer at lower levels.
- Creators can decide how these benefits are organized (For example, you might decide level one members get loyalty badges that display when they leave a comment; and level two members get access to your live streams. You can add or remove a membership level at any time.)
- However, when a level is removed, all recurring payments by members in that tier will be cancelled. You can set different prices for each level and offer different perks at each price (this will be discussed below).
Become a Youtube channel member
Patreon: Creators have to open a separate account and post their videos on Private feed. Notifications will delivered to members via emal or the Patreon App. Similar to Youtube, you can create as many membership tiers as you’d like, with different benefits at each tier. This way you can give your fans options, such as a variety of price points and benefits, so you can build a creator page that appeals to all your fans.
Pricing – Set Your Own Price on Both Platforms
Youtube: There are a variety of pricing options. Creators are free to dictate the value of their content by setting different fee levels, ranging from USD0.99 and USD100 per month. After adjusting for currency rates, the same money range applies to other countries where Channel Memberships are available.
To see all the pricing options, click here.
Example on Youtube
Patreon: It is also up to each creator how much they want to charge their members, and how many membership tiers they want to offer and what perks they want to offer with a membership subscription. The most common base tier price is about $5; but there are no set rules and the range is wide.
Example on Patreon
Payment Schedule and Methods - More Payment Options on Patreon
Youtube: Unless the Youtubers are a part of a multi-channel network (MCN), all payments are issued through their AdSense account once the earnings have been finalized. To get their payments, Youtubers need to sign into their AdSense account and make sure they have resolved all payment holds. YouTube pays monthly, typically between the 10th and 14th day of the month.
Patreon: There are three methods you can use to get paid by Patreon - direct deposit via Stripe, PayPal, and Payoneer.
Stripe | Send money to your checking account |
PayPal | Transfer the money to your bank. Alternatively, you can apply for a PayPal debit or credit card and use that to withdraw money at ATMs or make purchases online or at stores. |
Payonner | Creators who live outside the United States: you can use Payoneer. It allows you to transfer money to your bank or use a Payoneer card to access your cash. |
You can manually withdraw your balance or have Patreon done an automatic withdrawal on the 5th of the month. Deposits typically arrive within 1-5 business days, depending on your payout method.
Revenue Sharing – Youtube Takes a Bigger Cut!!
For both platforms, it is completely free to start off an account. However, both take up a certain percentage of monthly income creators earn.
Patreon | Youtube |
|
|
Different plans on patreon
Content Delivery: Greater Freedom on Patreon
Traditional platforms like Youtube usually contains stricter content guidelines and policy. For paid membership platforms like Patreon, creators usually enjoy more freedom on paid membership platforms. Yet, there are still restrictions in terms of content delivery.
Youtube
Allowed
|
Not allowed
|
Patreon
Allowed
|
Not allowed
|
Full community guidelines of Patreon: here
Full community guidelines of Youtube: here
Conclusion
In short, these memberships are a great way for creators to supplement their income, and keep doing what they do best: creating. While creators likely appreciate support in any form it comes in, there’s probably a better way to financially support your favorite creators.
All in all, Patreon seems a better option than Youtube, simply because members can donate to them directly and they’ll receive a higher percent of the donation from members. However, if you already had a very established YouTube channel and you do not want to spend extra time to manage an additional platform, YouTube channel membership would be a viable option for you to gain a relatively more stable income other than AdSense.
---
Ever thought of building your own website with Patreon features?
If you need your first 10 supporters, it's wise to get listed on big platforms like Patreon.
But if you already had a group of supporters or fans and would like to build your own website with Patreon features like charging subscription fee by tiers and publishing member-only content, you can consider using our product RakoSell as well.
RakoSell is a commission free tool that allows you to sell memberships by tiers and sell digital products in one-off basis, with identity tracking watermark feature to prevent viewers from leaking your content.
Start your free trial here now, no credit card required!