How to activate subscriptions on YouTube

Since joining YouTube, your profile and your video-making skills have improved a lot. Your content has a regular cadence and each of your videos is filled with comments where subscribers discuss or criticize how you present your ideas on screen. But as you know, all this comes at a price, and maintaining the same level of consistency and quality in your content takes time and money, which you have wisely invested in buying new equipment dedicated to the production of your videos. For this reason, you are looking for a new way to make money on YouTube.

The size of your channel does not yet allow you to get in touch with important brands for the creation of sponsorship videos, so you are looking for an alternative solution to support your channel. In this regard, watching a video of your foreign “colleague”, you noticed that towards the end of his video the latter invites users to become members of a particular club by clicking on a button that says Subscribe. Intrigued, delve further into the topic and discover that for some time YouTube has integrated a system that allows users subscribed to a channel to support content creators through a small monthly transaction, in exchange for special bonuses and exclusive content.

It seems like the right solution for you; however, after several unsuccessful attempts, you still haven’t figured out how to activate subscriptions on YouTube. That’s the way it is, am I right? So no problem: in the next few minutes I will explain to you what and how to activate this particular function on your channel and allow your followers to support you financially. Then, if you are interested in it, I will also tell you how you, as a follower, can subscribe to the channel of a creator you appreciate. Ready to get started? Very well, you will find everything explained below!

Index

• General information
• How to activate subscriptions on your YouTube channel
  • From PC
  • From smartphones and tablets
• How to subscribe to a YouTube channel
  • From PC
  • From smartphones and tablets

General information

Before I show you how to activate YouTube subscriptions, let me dig deeper and give you more information on how it works and what requirements you will need to meet to be eligible and able to use this feature.

First of all, subscriptions on YouTube, like other platforms dedicated to content creators, such as Twitch, allow you to support your favorite YouTubers by paying a small amount of money each month. Once this agreement has been signed between the user and the author, the latter will offer in exchange, as a thank you for the support received, some Perks, or advantages that vary according to the selected bonus category: the higher the category, more benefits will be offered to the viewer. An example of these advantages is the ability to use special emojis within live broadcasts, or view special content available only to channel subscribers.

Obviously, this feature is not made available to everyone from the beginning and even before you can get your hands on the option, there are several requirements that your channel will have to meet and without which you will never be able to activate subscriptions on YouTube.

First of all, you will need to make sure that the option is available and active in your country of origin, which you can check by visiting the appropriate page in Google’s customer support. Once this is done, you will need to make sure your channel has at least 1,000 subscribers, 4000 monthly views, and is registered within the YouTube Partner Program. To verify this requirement, you will need to log into the dashboard YouTube Studio dedicated to monetization. If you have reached the required statistics, you will be able to start Application Request to the Partnership program, consisting of three phases, which will be listed on the page.

In the first phase, you will have to accept the terms and conditions of use by clicking on the Accept button once you will be presented with the document related to them. Once this is done, you will be asked to create and link a Google Adsense account, dedicated to managing the revenues obtained through the videos. The signup process requires not only to click on the Sign up for Google Adsense button, but it will also need your YouTube channel password to authorize and confirm everything.

Once the first two steps have been completed, the platform will carry out an automatic review of your request. If the request is accepted, you will automatically receive an email confirming the successful application of the YouTube Partner Program.

In case you have not yet reached the statistics necessary to participate in the program, you will be greeted by two counters that will show the progress achieved by your channel, inviting you to further engage in creating content and finding new subscribers.

Next, you will need to confirm that you are 18 or older. To obtain confirmation of your age, you will need to connect to the privacy page of your Google account. From there, click on Personal Information and then on Birthday. Once you have identified the date to be changed, click on Change and, once the procedure is complete, click on Update to confirm.

Last but not least, it is necessary (if not essential) that your channel does not have unsuitable videos within it, whether they are music videos subject to copyright complaints, not sponsored or deemed offensive or related to a more childish audience. To check for these irregularities, connect again to the YouTube Studio dashboard and click on the Content item. Within this page, all the videos uploaded to your channel are listed, marked not only by their name, upload date, visibility status and count of views, likes and comments but also by an entry called Restrictionswhich has the task of notifying the presence of content that does not comply with copyright standards and YouTube guidelines. By placing the mouse in the column dedicated to restrictions, you will be shown a quick overview of the measures taken by the platform, also offering you the possibility to expand the information by clicking on the View Details item.

Once you have met all the requirements I have listed for you, congratulations! You are ready to activate subscriptions within your YouTube channel, as explained below.

How to activate subscriptions on your YouTube channel

You’re finally there! You have met all the necessary requirements and are ready to activate subscriptions on your YouTube channel. I anticipate that the operation can be performed in complete tranquility on a PC through the YouTube Studio page, the platform dedicated
to the management and analysis of the statistics, contents and monetization options of your channel. On smartphones and tablets, however, the situation will be a little more cumbersome, but we will get there.

From PC

First of all, make sure you are logged into YouTube and selected the appropriate channel by clicking on your avatar icon, top right, and then, if you need to change channels, on the Change account option. Now, click again on your avatar icon but this time select the YouTube Studio item (easily identifiable thanks to the gear icon) in the menu that opens.

In this way, you will enter the YouTube Studio home, characterized by its dashboard. Within this page, you can manage the most common actions for your channel, such as uploading a video, viewing a brief summary of the last month’s statistics, getting new updates from the site staff or viewing the most recent comments and subscriptions.

Now, select the Monetization item from the left menu and you will be able to manage not only the monetization of the channel but also the options related to subscriptions.

Once inside the monetization section, select the Subscriptions tab, where you will be greeted by a short introductory video that will show you the main features of the function. To start the procedure necessary to activate the subscriptions, you will have to click on the Start button that will appear in the Step 1 section.

The first phase focuses on creating at least three subscription levels. After choosing a name and a price for each of these levels (which can be between 3.99 and 99.99 euros), click on the Select benefit item to indicate the type of benefit you will provide to subscribers. When you are satisfied with the changes, click on the Next button to continue and start the next step.

Once the offers for your audience have been assigned, it’s time to create special badges and emojis, able to identify and reward the users who have contributed most to the growth of the channel. To upload your images, click on the item dedicated to badges or emojis and then on Select Image.

Before proceeding, please note that YouTube will accept images as small as 32 × 32 pixels. As for the formats, however, the system supports GIF, PNG and JPEG files with a maximum weight of 1MB. Also, in case you are unable to create your own custom badges, you can click on Use YouTube generic badges to automatically set pre-loaded badges from the platform. Once you are happy with your changes, click Save to proceed.

Once you have reached the third step, you will have to think of a way to communicate the opening of monthly subscriptions to your writings. To do this, YouTube offers you the creation and subsequent upload of an introductory video in which you will have to explain the features of this function in just over two minutes: what is a subscription, what you offer to your subscribers, list the benefits and prices of this possibility and so on.

Remember, however, that to be valid, the video must not be intended for children, must address a generic subject, you must not use copyrighted material and must be publicly visible. You will also need to upload a subsequent ad video where you will notify your followers of the actual opening of the service. Once uploaded, select the videos you deem appropriate at this stage by clicking on the Select Video button and then on Next, to move on to the final stage of the procedure.

In the last step, YouTube asks you to organize a series of welcome posts in advance for all users who will start subscribing to your channel. In this way you can not only keep your users updated on the production of your content but also create a discussion place where your fans will interact with each other.

To create this post, all you have to do is click the Create post button in the Community tab, thus opening the section of the same name. Once you have written your welcome post, select the All channel subscribers option to make that post visible to subscribers only and complete
the operation by clicking on Publish.

Once you have completed all four steps, click on the Start button to finish activating your subscription.

Once the monthly subscription has been activated and therefore the possibility of earning money thanks to the contributions of the subscribers, the recorded earnings will be deposited into the Google Adsense account indicated during the activation phase of the subscriptions.

If you haven’t done so yet, log into your Adsense profile and click on the Payments option, then on Manage payment methods and finally on Add payment method. Once you have set up your bank account details, click on Set as the main payment method and then on the Save button to complete the procedure and have a dedicated account for payments.

In this way, each month the earnings obtained through the subscriptions will be automatically paid into your account, as long as you reach the minimum threshold of 70 euros. Obviously, depending on the country of residence, any applicable taxes will be applied. If you are interested in the subject and would like to learn more, I refer you to my guide on how to make money with Adsense.

From smartphones and tablets

As previously mentioned, unlike the PC platform, activating YouTube subscriptions on smartphones and tablets is not an equally simple process. While the YouTube Studio app is available on both Android and iOS / iPadOS,
monetization options can not be changed in either version.

At the moment, in fact, to activate the function using the main portable platforms it is necessary to connect to the main page of YouTube Studio from your browser, thus repeating the same steps described above for the PC.

I recommend, even if apparently more comfortable to use, avoid the use of any third-party applications or sites (i.e. not connected to the official Google platforms) that could allow you an easier activation of mobile subscriptions, as they could use your sensitive data without your permission.

How to subscribe to a YouTube channel

In the previous lines I showed you how to activate subscriptions for your YouTube channel, but what should you do instead? If you are looking for a way to subscribe to another YouTube channel, read on: everything is explained below.

From PC

Subscribing to a YouTube channel from a PC is very simple and not at all different from any rental or purchase within the other services managed by Google, such as the Android Google Play Store.

Once you have reached the channel you want to subscribe to, click on the Subscribe button to bring up the screen dedicated to selecting the level and price of your contribution. Then confirm the operation by clicking on the Subscribe button again. Once this is done, the screen will invite you to select a payment method or to add a new one by choosing whether to use your Google Play credit, your PayPal account or your credit card. Finally, click on the Buy button to complete the operation.

Once the procedure is completed, the system will automatically renew subsequent payments every month starting from the day of the first payment. If you want to terminate your subscription to a channel, all you have to do is connect to the page dedicated to YouTube subscriptions, select the Manage Subscription item and click on the Deactivate option. You will then be asked to select a reason behind the cancellation, and then confirm everything by clicking on the Yes, cancel the item.

From smartphones and tablets

Unlike activating subscriptions, subscribing to a channel on YouTube from smartphones and tablets is as simple as it is identical to the procedure on a PC. Provided, of course, that you have installed the YouTube application for Android or iOS / iPadOS on your device.

Once you have found and opened the channel you want to subscribe to, press the Subscribe button and then select the level you want to subscribe to. Once this is done you will be transported to the payment, where on Android you can use your Google Play Store credit, your PayPal account or your credit card to complete the purchase, while on iOS / iPadOS you will go through the subscription system of App Store.

To cancel or suspend a subscription, instead, go to the main screen of the application and press the icon of your profile to open the menu dedicated to the account settings. Once this is done, click on Purchases and subscriptions, in order to access the section dedicated to the management of payments. Then locate the subscription you wish to cancel or suspend and click on Deactivate. Give a reason behind the cancellation and finally finish the operation by clicking on Yes, cancel. On iOS / iPadOS you can see your subscriptions by going to the Settings menu > [your name]> Subscriptions