Membership sites are providing creators with long needed stability

 As I scrolled through YouTube for the umpteenth time a few days ago, I noticed that yet another youtuber I watch had opened a Patreon account. It wasn’t a creator that I’m personally interested in seeing more content from but still I scrolled through the comments on their community post. In the comments, I was disappointed to see the number of so-called supporters begging for the content to be released for free.

I’m sure many of the commenters meant no harm and as many struggle to find financial stability during the pandemic, paying for yet another thing isn’t the greatness news. Still, demanding that content should be released for free is offensive to the creator.

YouTube is increasingly becoming a popular career path for many but not everyone is able to earn a living wage from the platform, even with a sizeable fanbase. Popular American youtuber David Dobrik saw his ad revenue drop from $200,000 a month to $2,000 a month after many advertisers stopped using the Google owned video platform during what is referred to as the Adpoclypse. This was part of the reason YouTube set out clearer monetisation rules in 2018 that required creators to have at least 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours of watch time before they could join the YouTube partner programme.

Although the rules about being paid are now easier to understand, the amount youtubers can earn is still not consistent. The time of year, country of the uploader, language and how family friendly the content is, are some of the few known factors that can affect someone’s ad rates. Not to mention the number of views a youtuber receives can fluctuate dramatically. It’s estimated that only ten percent of someone’s subscribers regularly return to watch their videos. I’m surprised that YouTube has been able to go on for so long with their payment rules being so secretive.

 This is a clear financial reason for creators to leave the platform for American membership service Patreon where their income is directly related to the number of patrons (paying subscribers) they have.

Among the financial benefits of having your content behind a pay wall, it also lessens the chance of creators being subject to hate comments or abusive trolls. Only the people who are genuinely interested in supporting and watching a creator’s content will pay a fee to see it. Commentary youtuber As Told By Kenya wrote in her Patreon description that she wants to build a family with her supporters, ‘people who love and support. Good, bad, and ugly’. In this safe space she has been able to be vulnerable with followers, discussing her ADHD and difficulty making friends amongst her opinions on pop culture.

With every new platform a content creator starts they often struggle to maintain the size of the fanbase on each one, with Patreon this seems to be somewhat of a benefit. Due to the small size of Patreon fanbases, at least initially, creators are able to directly and easily interact with their supporters. They can even have a direct impact on the content produced, which is often offered as a membership perk. This means content creators are able to make things that they know their audience will enjoy.

As I watch more creators attempt to transfer their supporters to membership platforms, I applaud those that are building platforms on OnlyFans from zero. OnlyFans is the UK answer to Patreon which has risen in popularity and controversy because it allows creators to upload sexually explicit content. Getting people to view a creator they don’t know on a free site like YouTube is already difficult. Starting out with pay per view content and making a living off it must be an uphill battle especially since there is no real search engine function on the membership site.

I understand the cries of fans when yet another creator they love puts their content behind a paywall, but the upset people have is better directed at sites which doesn't allow them to earn what they deserve.