Introduction to paid content

YouTube paid content is video or channel content that only paying customers can see. A paid video is a video for which users pay a rental or purchase fee to watch the video. A paid channel is a channel for which users pay a monthly or yearly subscription fee to watch its videos. As the channel owner, you define one or more offers that set the terms of the rental, purchase or subscription.

When a user rents or purchases a paid video orsubscribes to a paid channel, he or she selects an offer and goes through the standard YouTubepurchase process. The user gets access to the paid content as soon as the purchase is complete. All subscriptions include a 14-day free trial, so the user’s credit card is not charged until the end of the free trial. If the user unsubscribes during the free trial, the credit card is not charged.

Users purchase paid content on the web at youtube.com or on Android devices via the supported YouTube app, and can then view the content on various platforms and devices.

Paid content is not currently available to all content partners. To be eligible to create paid content, you must own a channel with at least 1000 subscribers and reside in one of the supported locales. More information on eligibility.

To create paid content:

1. Enable paid content for your YouTube account.
2. Upload content to your channel.
3. Create rental and/or purchase offers for the video or subscription offers for the channel.

Revenue from paid subscriptions appears in theTransactional reports section of the Content Manager. Paid channel revenue does not currently appear in YouTube Analytics.