Gift channel memberships on YouTube

Gift memberships let the creator or viewers buy the opportunity for others to access the perks of a channel membership for one month. Viewers must opt-in and subscribe to the channel to be eligible for gifted memberships. Once you opt-in, you’re eligible to receive gift memberships from any channel with gifting enabled that you are subscribed to and have interacted with recently.

Note: If you’ve opted-in to allow gift memberships from a specific channel in the past, you may need to opt-in globally to be eligible for gift memberships on other channels.

How to buy and get Gift Memberships

Gift a membership

Gift memberships are offered at the closest highest price level available up to and including $5. To gift a membership, you have to watch a live stream or Premiere on a channel with gift memberships turned on. If gift memberships are available for the channel, you can gift memberships to others during the live stream or Premiere:

Sign in to YouTube on the Android app.
Go to the eligible channel that you want to gift memberships on.
Join the channel’s live stream or Premiere.
Within the Live chat, tap .
Tap Membership gifting .
Select the number of viewers that you want to gift memberships.
Complete the transaction.

Once you gift memberships, a countdown ticker will highlight your purchase in live chat for a limited amount of time. The amount of time depends on your purchase amount. The creator may end the live chat or live stream before your gift is announced, but it will still be distributed.

Note: The number of gifted memberships, your channel name, and your profile picture are visible to the public. This info may also be available to the channel through our YouTube Data API Service and the channel may share this info with third-party services. Your purchase is considered fulfilled once YouTube gifts the first membership to a viewer.

Opt-in or out of gift memberships

To opt in for gifted memberships, you must be signed in with a YouTube channel that isn’t a Brand Account. Check if you’re on a Brand Account. Right now, channel members aren’t eligible to receive gifted memberships.

Opt-in through live chat

Go to an eligible channel’s live stream or Premiere.
Within the Live chat:
- Select ALLOW GIFTS, or
- Select the pinned Membership gifting .
Confirm you’d like to opt in by turning on the “Allow gifts” switch.

Opt-in through a channel or watch page

Go to an eligible channel's page or the watch page of a video.
Tap JOIN More ”Gift Settings.”
Confirm you’d like to opt in by turning on the “Allow gifts” switch.

Note: If you’re selected for a gift membership, your channel name is visible to the public. This info may also be available to the channel through our YouTube Data API Service and the channel may share this info with third-party services.

Opt-out of gift memberships

To opt-out of receiving gift memberships from any channel:

Open “Gift Settings” by tapping JOIN on any channel or watch page with memberships turned on.
Toggle “Allow gifts” off. You will no longer be eligible to get gifted memberships from any channel.

Get a memberships gift

When a creator or viewer gifts memberships to others, it’s announced in the live chat. If you’ve been selected for a 1-month membership, a notification will surface in the live chat and we’ll send you an email notification.

Gift memberships are non-refundable and cannot be exchanged for cash value. All gift memberships give up to 1 month of access to channel membership perks and expire thereafter.

To view your membership benefits and access perks:

Select the ‘Memberships’ tab on the channel that you have become a member of, OR
Select SEE PERKS on any video page of that channel.

Gift memberships are non-recurring and you will not be charged after it ends. If you wish to end your membership early, contact support. You will lose access to the membership benefits.

Was this helpful?

How can we improve it?