There’s more than one way to make money from your content. But smart content creators know where to focus their energy. They know that the best kind of money to make is the kind that comes in on the regular.
If you’re searching for ways to make money consistently as a content creator, you’ve probably come across video memberships.
At a glance, building your own video membership might sound a crazy amount of work.
But there’s so much more to gain by opening your eyes to the possibilities.
As a video membership content creator, you have complete creative control. No demonetization, no platform risks. Just the freedom to create and connect with your audience.
You’re also able to build a real, strong, and engaged community. You have direct access to members and can start marketing your brand and content on your own terms.
Sounds exciting? Read on. This is your walk-through of video memberships – and a step-by-step guide on how to launch one.
In a Nutshell 🌰
- Video memberships can create a predictable revenue stream.
- You get to create on your own terms, without ad or algorithm constraints.
- Build a loyal audience of engaged fans with exclusive perks and behind-the-scenes access.
- Leverage additional revenue streams as your membership community grows and evolves.
Keep reading for the full scoop!
Contents
What Is a Video Membership Business?
A video membership model is a subscription-based system where content creators offer exclusive video content to paying members.
Your audience pays a recurring fee in exchange for premium content, behind-the-scenes insights, and other exclusive perks that deepen their connection with you.
Unlike traditional monetization methods – such as ad revenue and sponsorships, which can be unpredictable and heavily influenced by platform policies – video memberships provide a fairly direct revenue stream.
The Shift from Traditional Ad Revenue to Memberships
For years, creators relied on ad revenue as a primary income source on YouTube (we’re including both YouTube ads and sponsored content here). It seems like an easy way to make money online from your content.
In theory, all you need is a channel and a niche that people flock towards. Eventually, with consistent effort, and thousands of views and thousands of hours of watch time, your channel will start to make some money.
But monetizing your content with ads isn’t that simple. There’s more working against you than you might know, and here’s why:
- Platform dependency: Ad revenue is largely controlled by the platform, like YouTube. Any algorithm or policy change can have a dramatic impact on your earnings. Algorithm updates affect how and if your videos are found in search, whether they appear as trending content, and all of this influences how many views your videos receive. Fewer views result in fewer ad placements and less ad revenue.
- Unstable income: Ad revenue will vary each month, making long-term planning difficult. Advertisers spend according to budget and other internal factors, like stock availability. If fewer advertisers are spending on ads, you’re less likely to have ads shown during your videos.
- Demonetization risks: Content that touches on sensitive topics may face demonetization, reducing revenue and limiting creative expression. YouTube can ban your channel or choose not to monetize a video if it feels your content is inappropriate. And these policies can change without notice.
- Saturation: As more creators join the platform, competition for ad dollars intensifies, reducing the average income.
Should you give up entirely on ads and sponsorship deals? No.
If there’s an opportunity to grow your brand and business, take it. The smartest moves you can make as a creator are those that place you in the best possible position to reach your goals.
Diversifying your income, though, is one of the smartest decisions you can make. And creating a video membership is a big step in that direction.
Why Video Memberships are a Smart Move for Creators
What can you expect from creating your video membership? More than you might imagine. It’s a pillar of the sustainable, rewarding creator business you dream of.
Financial Stability and Predictability
One of the most significant benefits of video memberships is the potential for a steady, predictable income. Unlike ad revenue, which can fluctuate wildly due to external factors, memberships offer recurring, stable revenue.
Your business becomes one supported by regular subscriptions, whether they’re paid monthly, quarterly, or annually. You have the freedom to think about more than how you’re going to pay the bills at the end of the month.
With a steady income, you can channel energy into better content and serving your community.
Creative Control and Independence
With a membership model, you’re less beholden to the whims of advertising algorithms and sponsors’ demands.
This newfound creative freedom lets you experiment with new formats, tackle niche topics, and produce content that truly resonates with your core audience.
When you aren’t driven by the need to generate clickbait or sensational content, you can focus on quality and authenticity, and enjoy the process more.
Community Building and Engagement
Memberships also help you build a dedicated community around your brand. It’s like having a band of superfans cheering you on at every turn.
By offering exclusive behind-the-scenes footage, early access to videos, or interactive live sessions, you create a direct line of communication with your supporters – and encourage interaction between them, too.
You can create a close-knit community. Your members become more engaged and invested in your success, providing valuable feedback that can help shape your future content.
Long-Term Business Scalability
Video memberships are not a short-term revenue fix, but offer long-term business potential.
As your membership base grows, you open doors to additional monetization opportunities such as merchandise sales, exclusive events, or even collaborative projects with other creators. All that is much harder to do without such an invested audience.
What Types of Content Are Suited for Memberships?
Not all content is created equal when driving subscriptions and maintaining engagement. Audiences willing to pay subscriptions expect content that offers depth and quality.
Let’s look at some content types that work exceptionally well in a membership business.
Exclusive Behind-the-Scenes Content
Offering a glimpse into your creative process is a powerful draw for your most devoted fans. This might include studio tours, equipment setups, or day-in-the-life videos that provide a more intimate look at how you create your content.
Let’s look at an example: Abundance Plus is the community for all things homesteading. Members have access to behind-the-scenes footage, like this video that shows the farm-to-market journey.
In-Depth Tutorials and Masterclasses
For many audiences, educational content is one of the most compelling reasons to subscribe. Detailed tutorials or masterclasses help position you as an authority in your niche and offer tangible value beyond surface-level content.
Let’s have another example: Fittest Core is a mother-daughter fitness membership filled with tutorials. Members can access several programs with complete exercise walk-throughs.
Early Access and Premium Releases
Giving members the privilege of premium-only content or accessing new videos before they go public is a tried-and-tested way to encourage subscriptions. Early access and exclusivity make members feel like insiders.
In 2017, Matt Allen, a veteran independent insurance adjuster, wanted to turn his YouTube channel into a more sustainable income stream. He started AdjusterTV+, a place where anyone who wanted to learn the ins and outs of the industry could do so.
Today, Matt makes bank with premium content, like advanced skills and certification training, that isn’t available anywhere but on his video membership site.
Interactive Q&A Sessions and Live Streams
Real-time interaction can elevate the value of your membership. Live Q&A sessions, interactive workshops, or exclusive live streams allow members to connect with you directly.
They can ask questions and participate in discussions that make them feel like an integral part of your community.
Let’s take an example that’s particular relevant for video creators: Filmmaking has many moving parts, and access to some of the world’s best filmmakers can help lessen the learning curve. To empower its members, Filmmakers Academy hosts regular office hours with industry experts who share their experiences and knowledge.
Niche Content and Special Interests
Audiences aren’t uniform. Tailoring content to specific interests or niche topics can attract a dedicated subset of your audience.
You could share advanced editing techniques, deep dives into industry trends, or content focused on a particular hobby.
The fitness industry, for example, is much broader – and more individualized – than most realize. Coaches often use a specialized health and wellness membership package to cater to their audience. Workouts need to be tailored to specific body types and the stages they are in.
And that’s why Brooke Cates created Studio Bloom, a video membership exclusively for expecting and new moms. Studio Bloom is filled with everything members need to get in shape and maintain their health as they transition into and enjoy motherhood.
How to Start a Video Membership in 5 Steps
If you’re ready to make the jump, here’s a step-by-step guide to launching your video membership program.
Find Your Audience
Before you launch a video membership, you need to know your audience. Audience research can be conducted in two ways. You can:
- Use existing data gathered from various platforms where your audience spends time
- Engage directly with your audience and ask them questions to figure out what they want
Using Existing Audience Information
There’s a world of data about your audience available at your fingertips – but you have to collect and analyze it.
In your YouTube channel account, look at:
- Demographics (age, gender, location, …)
- Content engagement rates (views, likes, comments), and watch time across videos
The same goes for pretty much any platform where you post your video content, whether that’s TikTok or Instagram.
From your website analytics software, look for visitor behavioral signals such as:
- Session duration to tell how long people spend on your site
- Bounce rate to indicate which content doesn’t get a lot of attention or interest
- Which content pages get the most views
On social media accounts, check for content that piques your audience’s interest, like:
- Posts that generate lots of engagement (likes, shares, comments, and reposts)
- Peak activity times
- Demographic data (age, gender, location)
Digging into these metrics will help you figure out who you’re creating for and what they want more.
Engaging your audience
If you have the bandwidth to get answers directly from your audience, here are three good ways to do so: surveys, polls and live sessions.
Online Surveys and Social Media Polls
Create surveys using tools like Google Forms, SurveyMonkey, Typeform, or forms.app to ask your audience about their preferences. Ask a few short questions such as:
- What type of exclusive content would you value most? (e.g., behind-the-scenes, tutorials, live Q&As)
- How much would you be willing to pay for exclusive content?
- What topics or formats would you like to see more of?
Live Q&A Sessions
Host live sessions on YouTube or social media platforms where you can interact with your audience in real time. Ask them about their content preferences and what they’d expect from a membership program.
With data and insights collected, you might feel a little overwhelmed. Truth is, you could use it in several ways, but what it all comes down to is answering a pair of very basic questions:
- Who are the people I will create content for?
- What types of content do they enjoy watching?
Next up: Let’s see about where to set up shop.
Choose the Right Platform
There are different kinds of platforms you could use for your video membership. You may have seen names like Kajabi and Teachable crop up, or even OnlyFans. They all work and have their pros and cons.
But there’s also a world of Teachable and Kajabi alternatives packed with amazing features that make starting and running a video membership easy.
What, then, should you look for in a video membership platform? Here’s what we think are the 11 key aspects of selling memberships, delivering your content, building relationships with your audience, and more:
- More monetization options: Selling subscriptions is just one way to make money from your video content. The best platforms also offer pay-per-view content, and allow you to sell other digital and physical products too.
- Streamlined payments: Paying has to be as simple as possible. And with a global audience, details like accepting payments in different currencies, and low transaction fees matter. How smoothly you get paid is important, too.
- Reliable content delivery: Nobody enjoys waiting for videos to buffer. Pick a video membership platform with a strong and reliable content delivery network to cater to a global audience.
- Build a community: Community-based businesses are long-lasting businesses. Your platform of choice should include community features that let you and your subscribers engage with each other.
- Market to your audience: It’s one thing to have an audience. It’s another to be able to promote your content to them directly. Top-tier video platforms come with different marketing tools, like built-in email marketing or push notifications for apps.
- Easily integrate apps: Integrations allow different services to speak to each other, making it easier for you to deliver the best content and service to your community. Find a platform that offers the right integrations, giving you the option to connect tools you need.
- Mobile and TV apps: Reaching your audience where they are is easier than ever. Pick a platform that lets you make your own white-labeled app to stream content to users, no matter what device they use.
- Analytics: The better platforms tell you what’s working and what isn’t. They offer analytics on everything from content performance to revenue stats and figures in reports you can easily understand.
- User-friendly design: Your membership platform should be intuitive and easy to use for you and your members. Well-developed platforms come with beautiful and functional user interfaces and are customizable.
- Accessible customer support: Building something new is always easier when support is available to help you along the way. Look for a brand that has a customer service team, provides end-user support too, and has a dedicated success team.
- The ability to scale: If you’re in the business of creating content, the sky is the limit. Your platform should be able to grow with you, scaling with your audience and business growth.
Price Your Video Membership
Pricing is a major part of building video monetization strategies. Finding the right price for your video membership is about striking the delicate balance between the perceived value of your content and what people are willing to pay.
Having performed your audience research, you should have a good idea of what your market will want from your video membership service.
If pricing hasn’t come up, doing a competitor analysis is a great idea. All you need to do is find brands doing what you want to do.
Collect a list of at least five video memberships that cater to a similar audience. These can be direct or indirect competitors. List their pricing and find the average price point.
A Word on Membership Tiers
Competitors may have more than one plan, and that’s a good tactic. Offering different tiers or membership plans allows you to cater to unique types of customers in your audience.
Generally, cheaper plans will include “basic content access”, whereas higher-tier plans could include exclusive content, access to an interactive session with you, and more.
Incentives and Discounts
Not everyone who comes across your membership will be ready to commit to it just yet. Some people in your target audience may need to see whether it’s worthwhile. Special offers, like trials, discounts, and bundle deals help motivate these undecided patrons.
Here’s an effective example: MeansTV is an entertainment streaming platform offering a curated selection of film & TV content. As a “by the people, for the people” niche service, they focus on engagement, retention, and close personal connections.
To grow its user base, MeansTV has a 7-day free trial that’s prominently displayed on its home page.
Plan and Schedule Your Content
Compared to public platforms, a major difference with owning a video membership service is that you have more control over what you create and when you publish content.
There’s no pressure to chase algorithm spikes, so you can build a complete content library of your very best stuff.
Nevertheless, there are things you can do to keep audience engagement up.
As you build your content library, here are a few pro tips to help you deliver high-quality content with ease:
- Build a content calendar: Plan your content in advance for a steady flow of material for your members. A well-structured calendar helps manage production timelines and reduces last-minute rushes.
- Build a content library: Launching a new video membership with little content to show will make it harder to sell. Before you go live, build a library with enough content to keep your audience engaged for a few hours. To keep the effort down, you can repurpose old content and have it spruced up by professional video editors. You can even – very carefully – cover gaps with AI tools such as AI video generators.
- Balancing free vs. exclusive content: Decide which content remains free and what is reserved for members. This balance is crucial in attracting new viewers while rewarding your loyal audience. Your free content should feel like a steal, and your exclusive content should deliver 10x the value.
- Embrace feedback loops: Actively ask for feedback from your members. Run regular surveys or discussion forums to gather insights into what works and what needs improvement. You’ll have access to analytics from your platform, but they only ever offer numbers. Speaking to your audience helps you figure out why the numbers are what they are.
Market Your Membership Program
Launching a membership program is just the first step. Marketing it effectively and consistently is the essential next step for long-term success.
You can break your marketing into two broad stages: pre-launch and post-launch. Here are tips for both.
Pre-launch Marketing Ideas
Pre-launch, your goal is to get as much attention as possible from as many sources as possible.
- Create anticipation: Position your membership program launch as a must-see event by using countdowns and teaser content on your home page and social platforms.
- Cross-promote: Use as many platforms as possible. That includes partnerships that help you promote your launch through social media channels and email newsletters.
- Spend a little: If you have a budget for ads, run some on platforms your audience frequents. While organic content is free, reaching your target audience takes longer than paying to get in front of them immediately.
- Use engagement and special offer tactics: Use limited-time offers, exclusive previews, or member-only contests to incentivize sign-ups and juice engagement levels.
Post-launch Marketing Strategy
Post-launch, your object is to build a strong brand. Thankfully, much of the work you’ve done pre-launch can be leveraged.
- Develop your direct marketing: Build a newsletter to promote new content to subscribers to keep them engaged, and promote offers to people on your free plan.
- Keep a consistent social media presence: Use your content planning and scheduling skills to create a calendar with social media content to promote your brand.
- Engage your community: Participate in conversations with your community wherever they are talking about your content. Engagement pulls people towards your brand, especially when they can connect with the person behind the brand.
- Run sign-up promotions: Use free trials, discounts, and exclusive offers to attract the group of people on the verge of committing to your video membership.
- Use paid ads: Ad campaigns can attract a larger audience. The more you run, the more you’ll learn about what deals and offers people respond to. Use these insights to produce more compelling offers and ads.
Pulling these ideas together to build your video membership might feel like a slog. But if you’ve spent time creating content, you can see that these steps create a system. You might be doing a lot of this already – and you can easily outsource much of it, too.
By running through these steps, you can create a business that offers you far more flexibility than traditional ad-based video content models.
What, though, happens when you run into challenges, which you inevitably will?
Challenges of Video Memberships and How to Overcome Them
While video memberships have serious benefits, the model is not without its challenges. Here are some common issues and strategies to address them:
Convincing a Hesitant Audience to Commit
One of the biggest hurdles is convincing your audience that your exclusive content is worth the subscription fee. To overcome this, you’ll have to apply several tactics.
- Demonstrate value: Most people aren’t immediately saying “no” to your offer because they don’t want it. Often, they don’t understand what it includes. So, highlight what members can expect by providing free samples or behind-the-scenes teasers. This make it easier for people who are hesitant to invest to cross the line.
- Build trust: Some buyers don’t have enough information about you and your brand to make a decision. Showing up regularly with marketing and promotional content makes it easier for those who aren’t ready to learn more about your offer. Take time to engage with your audience and address their questions and concerns transparently.
- Showcase testimonials: Social proof is a powerful conversion tool. Use success stories and positive feedback from early adopters to validate the value of your membership. Position them on your home page, sign-up pages – everywhere prospective members are. The more proof they have that becoming a member is a good idea, the more likely they are to commit.
Content Burnout and Production Demands
Tasty Edit’s in-depth research report shows that an astonishing 79% of creators have experienced burnout. As scary as that sounds, without the right systems and habits in place, anyone can fall prey to exhaustion.
Here’s how to get and stay ahead of creator burnout, and still produce your best work:
- Plan ahead: Create a complete system for producing content, including standard operating procedures to quickly complete repetitive work, and use content calendars to plan and batch-produce material.
- Block time: Working a few extra hours each week isn’t a bad thing. But working overtime every day, every week, every month isn’t healthy. Block time off in your calendar. If you must, identify days when you know you are most productive and use them for longer shifts to get more done.
- Outsource: If possible, delegate time-consuming tasks such as editing or social media management.
- Collaborate: Consider partnerships with other creators to share the workload and get fresh perspectives.
- Schedule rest: Like work time, you must have rest time. Add it to your schedule and observe it religiously. Use off-time especially to connect with the people in your life. Take short and longer breaks to rest and reset, so you can come back ready to deliver great work.
Platform Limitations and Technical Issues
Technical glitches and platform limitations can affect the user experience. They can also directly affect your membership’s ability to deliver content. And as far as content goes, video is especially demanding.
- Have backups: No online system is free from minor glitches, major malfunctions, or cyberattacks. To keep the impact on your video membership low, ensure you always have backups of all content and customer data so you can quickly recover.
- Pay attention to updates: Platforms run updates regularly to keep their systems functional and secure. Keep an eye out for notices because they can affect any projects you might be working on – and your members’ experience.
- Create a direct line to support: Establish clear communication channels for members to report issues and receive prompt assistance. At least list an email address people can use. If possible, use online chat tools for quick responses.
Managing Negative Feedback and Membership Churn
Not every member will be satisfied.
Some will cancel their subscriptions, and that’s okay. Knowing your ideal customer and what they want is, at best, an approximation of what a large audience wants. You can never cater to everyone’s needs.
But what you can do is respond to feedback or quitting in productive ways, and here’s how:
- Welcome constructive criticism: View negative feedback as an opportunity to improve your offerings. Even when the tone is unkind, try to look past the words and seek out areas for improvement. Remember, it’s not about you, it’s about the content. Nevertheless: If it’s very stressful, outsource it!
- Prepare retention strategies: People leave for different reasons. They may well stay if you make them an offer they can’t refuse. So, engage with members regularly and offer exclusive incentives to retain them.
- Adapt quickly: The digital world changes fast. If you’re not paying attention, you can get left behind. Be prepared to adjust your content strategy based on evolving member needs and market trends. Running an online business means being agile.
Future Trends and Predictions for Video Memberships
Lastly, as we look at 2025 and beyond, several trends are likely to shape the future of video memberships. Many of them bode well for creators, and we’ve put together some stats to prove it.
Evolving Consumer Behaviors Drive Market Growth
Viewers all over the globe increasingly favor on-demand, premium content. And that means the market for memberships is set to grow:
- Strong viewership: An estimated 245.3 million people (72.2% of the population) in the US will watch OTT video services at least once per month. (Insider Intelligence)
- A global market: Worldwide OTT User penetration is expected to grow to 60.1% by 2029. (Statista)
- Increased willingness to pay: Consumers are warming to exclusive digital experiences. Revenue from global subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) is growing 7% every year. (Statista)
Tech Innovations Abound
- Artificial Intelligence: AI tools can help personalize content recommendations and manage community interactions.
- Virtual and Augmented Reality: While an emerging technology, VR and AR may enable creators to offer immersive experiences, increasing the value of memberships.
- Enhanced analytics: Improved data analytics will allow creators to understand their audience better, optimize content strategies, and forecast trends.
The Bottom Line:
Build Your Video Membership
Starting a video membership changes the way you deliver content. It’s a move away from an unpredictable traditional ad-based monetization to a more linear, predictable way of earning.
You also get more freedom to create what you want and aren’t held hostage by policy or algorithm updates. And with the right video platform, you can build an engaged community of members who love your work.
Video Membership FAQs
A video membership model allows creators to earn recurring revenue directly from their most dedicated audience members through subscription fees. Memberships are often tiered.
Unlike traditional monetization methods, such as ad revenue and sponsorships, memberships offer a more predictable income stream. Memberships not only provide financial stability but also build a tighter, engaged community through exclusive content, early access to videos, live Q&A sessions, community interaction, and more.
- SVOD stands for Subscription Video On Demand. People who join SVOD memberships pay to access videos whenever they want.
- TVOD stands for Transaction Video On Demand. Unlike SVOD, people can rent or own videos without paying a recurring membership fee.
- AVOD stands for Advertising Video On Demand, also called Ad-based Video On Demand. This model allows viewers to watch content for free while the content provider earns revenue through advertisements that play before, during, or after the video.
You can create a video membership site using the following steps:
- Choose the right video membership platform
- Upload and organize your video content
- Create Home, About, Video Library, and Contact pages
- Set up your community area
- Add marketing tools through integrations or use built-in software
- Test your content and links to ensure videos play and links work as intended
- Launch your site
