YouTube Gifts expands
YouTube confirmed it is broadening its livestream 'Gifts' monetization feature to users outside the U.S., allowing more viewers to donate during streams. Industry coverage framed the rollout as an expansion of live‑stream revenue options for creators globally. (cgmagonline.com)
YouTube has widened its live-stream gifting system beyond the United States, letting eligible creators in seven more countries turn on Gifts. (support.google.com) YouTube’s Help Center now lists Australia, Canada, Indonesia, New Zealand, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and the United States as countries where creators can enable Gifts. The feature sits in YouTube Studio’s Earn tab for eligible channels. (support.google.com 1) (support.google.com 2) Gifts work through a virtual currency called Jewels: viewers buy Jewels, send animated gifts during eligible live streams, and creators receive Rubies that count toward earnings. YouTube says those earnings are paid with other YouTube Partner Program revenue. (support.google.com 1) (support.google.com 2) The rollout also shows YouTube broadening where the feature works inside live video. YouTube’s current Help pages say Gifts can appear on eligible vertical and horizontal live streams, a change from the company’s September 2024 product announcement that introduced Jewels and gifts for vertical live streams. (support.google.com) (blog.youtube) That puts YouTube deeper into the same kind of fan-spending model already common across live creator platforms, where small purchases during a stream become a direct revenue line for creators. YouTube has been adding those tools as it tries to make live video a bigger business for channels beyond ads alone. (blog.youtube 1) (blog.youtube 2) The company first said on November 13, 2024 that eligible United States creators would begin seeing the option to turn on Gifts, with a wider United States rollout over the following weeks. The latest country list marks the clearest expansion of creator eligibility since that launch. (support.google.com) (support.google.com) Not every stream qualifies. YouTube says Gifts are unavailable on age-restricted, unlisted, private, made-for-kids, and YouTube Giving fundraiser streams, and they also do not work when live chat or comments are turned off. (support.google.com) Creators still have to clear YouTube’s monetization gates before they can use the feature. The company says channels must be in the YouTube Partner Program, the creator must be at least 18, and the account must have verified AdSense identity checks in a country or region where the virtual item is available. (support.google.com) For creators outside the United States, the update is less about a new animation on screen than a new button in the business model. More viewers can now pay during the live moment itself, which is exactly where YouTube has been building its next set of creator revenue tools. (support.google.com) (blog.youtube)
