YouTube launches Gift Goals feature to boost creator earnings in live streams

YouTube tests Gift Goals, letting creators earn from viewer gifts in live streams, boosting fan engagement and monetization.

YouTube is testing a new feature that enables creators to make money through gifts during their live streams, enhancing monetisation and audience engagement. This new feature, called Gift Goals, is in trials and offers creators a fresh way to generate revenue directly from their viewers during live streams.

YouTube's Gift Goals bring new ways for creators to connect with fans (Google)

By Amit Rahi

For the past seven years, I have tracked consumer tech through constant shifts in hardware, platforms, and the way people actually use devices. Covering everything from budget gear to flagship hardware, I focus on what readers need to know, not on buzzwords or launch cycle hype. My expertise spans gaming laptops and chairs, high-performance PCs, gaming monitors, printers, smartwatches, earphones, headphones, Bluetooth speakers, tablets, and more, with a particular emphasis on how these products hold up in daily use. Reviews, explainers, buying guides, and news pieces all share the same goal: giving readers enough detail to make confident decisions without wading through fluff. Away from deadlines, I spend a lot of time gaming and watching films and anime, which naturally filters back into the work. Performance, comfort, display quality, and sound are judged the way players and viewers experience them, not just by lab numbers, which keeps my coverage grounded in real scenarios rather than just benchmarks.

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This feature allows creators to set goals during live streams to engage with their audience and earn faster. Creators can also share how they plan to celebrate when the goal is met. Previously, setting goals was only available for Super Chats, but now goals can be set for gifts as well.

For those who don’t know about the gift feature, YouTube first announced it in November 2024, offering limited trials and beta access to selected creators in the United States. Now in 2025, YouTube is bringing this feature to more eligible creators.

• Gifts sent on YouTube are converted into Rubies, with each Ruby worth one cent. Creators earn $1 for every 100 Rubies received.
• Gifts can be redeemed if the creator streams in vertical format, either via YouTube’s app or supported third-party software.
• Creators can enable this feature from YouTube Studio’s Earn tab, where they must accept the Virtual Items Module for formal onboarding.

This feature replaces Super Stickers, meaning creators who enable gifts on their vertical live streams will lose access to Super Stickers. YouTube is offering a 50% bonus of up to $1,000 on gift earnings for eligible creators during the first three months.

As for viewers, they can purchase Jewels in bundles ranging from $0.99 to $49.99. The bundle can be bought once to send gifts multiple times during live streams. Users receive a set collection of animated gifts, with no customisation available.

This new monetisation system from YouTube is a direct response to TikTok’s booming gifting model, designed to capture fan engagement and creator rewards in live streams. YouTube plans to bring this feature to more regions in the coming months. It is part of YouTube’s approach to creating more engaging fan experiences.