YouTube offers memberships to your subscribers for a monthly fee, which allows you to offer them exclusive perks such as emojis and badges, community posts, and more! You can also create Members Only videos and Live Streams! You can check if you meet YouTube's requirements for channel memberships here!
How to Create a Members Only Stream in StreamYard
- First, head to StreamYard and click + Create then click Live stream.
- Select your YouTube channel from the list of available destinations, or connect a new YouTube channel by clicking the plus icon.
- Enter your title and description and set the privacy to Unlisted or Public. We recommend choosing Unlisted so no one will see your stream until you change this to Members in the next step.
- Head to your YouTube Live Dashboard.
- Click the calendar icon on the left-hand side, this will display your upcoming streams.
- On your upcoming stream, it should list the visibility to whichever option you selected in StreamYard (Unlisted or Public). Change the visibility on your live stream to Members Only.
And that's it! The upcoming stream should now be appearing as a Members Only on your channel! No other steps are needed, you can go live from StreamYard like normal.
Setting your YouTube Live Chat to Members Only
During public live streams, you can set your chat to members-only. All viewers will still be able to see the chat, but only members will be able to participate.
- Head to your YouTube Live Dashboard.
- Click on the live stream you would like to edit.
- Click the Edit button on the right-hand side.
- Under Customization, change the Participant setting to your desired option.
- Save your changes!
A viewer count will not be available when streaming to a members-only stream on YouTube.