Gift Membership
A YouTube gift membership lets a creator or viewer purchase the opportunity for other eligible viewers to receive one month of a channel's membership perks.
Gift memberships are commonly purchased during an eligible live stream or Premiere. YouTube distributes them to viewers who have opted in and meet the platform's eligibility rules.
What Does a Gift Membership Include?
A recipient can receive up to one month of access to the applicable channel membership perks, which may include:
- Loyalty badges
- Custom emoji
- Members-only posts
- Members-only videos or live streams
- Member chat privileges
- Other creator-provided perks included at the gifted level
The exact perks depend on the channel's membership offer. The recipient does not choose a custom perk package.
Who Can Buy Gift Memberships?
When gifting is enabled, the channel creator or eligible viewers can buy memberships during a live stream or Premiere.
The purchase flow generally involves:
- Opening an eligible live stream or Premiere.
- Opening live chat.
- Selecting Membership gifting.
- Choosing the number of memberships to gift.
- Completing the transaction.
Feature availability can depend on country, platform, account, channel eligibility, and membership status.
What Membership Level Is Gifted?
YouTube says gift memberships are offered at the closest highest membership price level available up to and including $9.99.
This means the gift does not automatically provide the channel's most expensive tier. The platform selects the applicable supported gifting level under its current pricing rules.
Who Can Receive a Gift Membership?
Under YouTube's current rules, a viewer must:
- Opt in to allow gift memberships
- Subscribe to the channel
- Have interacted with the channel recently
- Use a YouTube channel that is not a Brand Account
- Not already be an active channel member
- Be in a country, account, and platform context where gifting is available
Opting in globally makes a viewer eligible to receive gifts from channels with gifting enabled that the viewer subscribes to and has interacted with recently.
Can the Purchaser Choose the Recipient?
No. The purchaser buys a quantity of gift memberships, and YouTube distributes them among eligible opted-in viewers. The purchaser cannot normally select a specific friend, chat participant, or username.
YouTube's distribution system can consider factors such as viewer interaction and channel activity, but the platform does not provide the purchaser with a recipient list to control.
How Do Viewers Opt In?
Eligible viewers can opt in through:
- An Allow Gifts prompt in a live chat
- A pinned Membership gifting message
- Gift Settings from an eligible channel or video watch page
- A creator's dedicated allow-gifts URL
Viewers can later turn Allow gifts off to stop being eligible for gifts from any channel.
What Happens When Gifts Are Purchased?
- A countdown ticker highlights the purchase in live chat.
- YouTube distributes the memberships to eligible viewers.
- Selected recipients see a live-chat notification and receive an email.
- The recipients receive access to perks for up to one month.
- The memberships expire without an automatic recurring charge.
If the stream or chat ends before the gift announcement finishes, YouTube says the memberships will still be distributed.
Are Gift Memberships Recurring?
No. Gift memberships expire after up to one month and do not automatically convert into paid recurring memberships.
The recipient can choose to purchase a normal channel membership separately, but YouTube does not automatically bill the recipient when the gift ends.
Are Gift Memberships Refundable?
YouTube says gift memberships are non-refundable and cannot be exchanged for cash value. The purchase is considered fulfilled once YouTube distributes the first membership from the purchase to a viewer.
The purchaser should understand that:
- Recipients are selected by YouTube.
- Not every gift may be announced before the live event ends.
- The gift is not a promise that a specific person will receive access.
- Platform purchase and refund rules can vary by device and country.
What Information Is Public?
YouTube says the number of gifted memberships, the purchaser's channel name, and profile picture are visible publicly. A selected recipient's channel name can also become public.
This information may be available to the creator through the YouTube Data API, and the channel can share it with third-party services. Gift purchasers and recipients should not assume the transaction is anonymous.
How Do Creators Earn From Paid Gift Memberships?
Paid gift memberships are part of the channel memberships system. YouTube's current membership revenue guidance says creators receive 70% of membership revenue recognized by Google after local sales tax and other applicable fees are deducted. YouTube currently covers payment-processing fees such as credit-card fees.
The exact amount received from a gift purchase can vary because:
- Membership pricing varies by country and platform.
- Local sales taxes can be deducted.
- App Store or platform fees can apply.
- Currency conversion and recognized revenue can differ.
- Refunds and adjustments can affect finalized earnings.
What Are Promotional Gift Memberships?
YouTube may provide eligible creators with promotional gift memberships to distribute. Current guidance says a channel may receive them when it has a membership tier below $5.
Promotional gifts differ from purchased gifts:
| Feature | Paid Gift Membership | Promotional Gift Membership |
|---|---|---|
| Who funds it? | Creator or viewer purchase | YouTube promotional allocation |
| Creator revenue | Normal applicable membership revenue share | No creator revenue |
| Viewer charge | Purchaser pays | No charge to creator or recipient |
| Carryover | Purchased during the event | Monthly promotional gifts do not carry over |
| Current limitation | Subject to gifting availability | Not currently available to Brand Accounts |
YouTube says creators must distribute available promotional gifts before buying additional memberships to gift to viewers.
Can Creators Gift Their Own Memberships?
Yes, when the channel and account are eligible. Creators can purchase gifts during their own live streams or Premieres. Eligible creators may also receive YouTube-funded promotional gifts.
A creator buying memberships is making a real purchase unless the interface specifically identifies the gifts as promotional and no-cost.
Gift Memberships and the Commerce Product Module
Channel memberships and related gifting are fan-funding features. Creators must accept the applicable Commerce Product Module or legacy Commerce Product Addendum and meet the individual channel-membership requirements.
The module does not guarantee gifting availability on every device, country, video, or account.
Where Can Creators See Gift Analytics?
YouTube's membership analytics can show gift-membership activity. Creators can select Memberships Type to review how many memberships were gifted and redeemed during the selected period.
Creators should distinguish:
- Memberships purchased as gifts
- Memberships successfully distributed or redeemed
- Normal recurring paid memberships
- Promotional gifts that generate no revenue
Gift Memberships vs. Recurring Memberships
| Feature | Gift Membership | Recurring Channel Membership |
|---|---|---|
| Payment | Paid by another viewer, the creator, or a promotion | Paid by the member |
| Duration | Up to one month | Renews monthly until canceled or terminated |
| Recipient choice | Selected by YouTube from eligible opted-in viewers | The viewer joins directly |
| Automatic renewal | No | Yes |
Common Gift-Membership Mistakes
- Assuming the purchaser can choose a specific recipient.
- Believing all subscribers are automatically eligible.
- Forgetting viewers must opt in.
- Assuming current members can receive another gift.
- Treating gifts as recurring subscriptions.
- Assuming promotional gifts generate creator revenue.
- Expecting the gift to provide the highest channel tier.
- Assuming the purchaser and recipient remain anonymous.
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How long does a YouTube gift membership last?
It provides up to one month of access and then expires without automatically charging the recipient.
Can I gift a membership to one specific person?
No. YouTube distributes purchased gifts among eligible viewers who have opted in.
Do recipients have to subscribe?
Yes. YouTube's current eligibility rules require recipients to subscribe and have interacted with the channel recently.
Do creators earn from promotional gift memberships?
No. YouTube says promotional gifts are free to distribute and do not generate creator revenue.