YouTube Prepares to Launch ‘Jewels’ Live-Stream Gifting Process

YouTube’s preparing to launch its new “Jewels” creator donation option, which will enable viewers to purchase digital stickers that they can apply during a live stream, with a percentage of the sticker purchase price then allocated to the streamer.

As you can see in this sequence, live stream viewers will soon be able to purchase Jewels during eligible broadcasts, which they’ll then be able to use to buy animated stickers.

Which is pretty much the same as YouTube’s Super Chat sticker and comment options, though Jewels provide more flexibility in purchase.

As per YouTube:

“Gifts are engaging animations that viewers can send on your vertical live streams, showing their appreciation in real-time. Jewels enable real-time engagement through bundle purchases, removing the need to purchase more every time viewers want to express themselves in the moment and send a gift.”

So it’ll give viewers another means to show their appreciation, and donate real money to live-stream creators.

Though it gets a little confusing on the monetization aspect.

“When viewers use Jewels to send gifts, you get Rubies – which represent your earnings. 1 Ruby = 1 cent. So for every 100 Rubies you receive, you get $1!”

So there are Jewels, which viewers buy, and Rubies, which you receive. And one Ruby equals 1 cent. You with me so far? 

The more confusing aspect is that the creator cut is variable:

“The amount a user pays for Jewels varies based on the bundles that they purchase and any viewer promotions we may be running. Therefore, there isn’t a fixed effective revenue share like we have for other features like Super Chats & channel memberships that have set prices.”

So how many Rubies will you earn for each Jewel-purchased sticker applied within your stream? We don’t know, and YouTube doesn’t either, because it will all be relative to the package of Jewels that the viewer purchased at the time.

Makes sense?

Yeah, it’s not really clear, and the separation of “Jewels” and “Rubies” doesn’t make it a heap clearer. But basically, viewers will be able to make live-stream donations via a new method, and if they apply these stickers to your stream, you’ll make some amount of money for each one.

YouTube originally announced Jewels at its “Made On” event back in September, and it’s been working on the back end processes to ensure a smooth roll-out of the option.

Jewels will be restricted to U.S. channels to begin with, with all eligible creators in the U.S. who are in the YouTube Partner Program (YPP) set to get access over the next few weeks.

“This also means only U.S. viewers are currently eligible to purchase Jewels and send gifts, although all viewers will be able to see the gifts sent during the live stream. Viewers will only be able to purchase Jewels and send gifts on vertical live streams on the YouTube mobile app, but you can receive gifts if you stream vertically directly on YouTube or with third-party streaming software.”

So, more monetization options for live-streamers, in the form of digital jewels and rubies, which are each worth varying amounts.

I’m not sure how that variable aspect is going to go, and I’m not sure that there’ll be huge interest in posting animated stickers in streams. But then again, donations of this type are big on TikTok, and for some creators, this could become a valuable opportunity.