The Virtual Items Module is available to US creators in the YouTube Partner Program (YPP) that want to unlock Virtual Items features. Enabling Virtual Items can help you build community, engage with fans, and earn money or other benefits.
Virtual Items include these features:
- Jewels: A digital item that your fans can buy to unlock and send gifts on your vertical live streams.
- Gifts: A digital item that fans can send on vertical live streams unlocked by purchasing Jewels. Gifts appear as an overlay on top of vertical live streams and let viewers react and show appreciation in real-time. When your fans use their Jewels to send gifts, you earn Rubies.
- Rubies: A digital item that represents your earnings when your fans send gifts on your live streams. Your earnings from Rubies will be paid to you with your other YouTube Partner Program earnings.
Policies that apply to Virtual Items monetization
If you’re monetizing on YouTube with Virtual Items, your channel must comply with the Virtual Items Module, which applies to these features, and follow the YouTube channel monetization policies, which include:
- YouTube Community Guidelines
- YouTube Terms of Service
- YouTube Copyright and Fair Use Policies
- Google AdSense Program Policies
You must also continue to comply with all applicable laws, as required by YouTube’s Terms of Service. This includes whether or not you can turn on, offer, and get money from Virtual Items. Virtual Items are not crowdfunding, donation, or tipping tools.
Incentives
We may offer incentives from time to time. Check here for more info.
Termination
If your access to Virtual Items features is terminated and you want to remove any particular content made available in connection with Virtual Items, you must remove it. YouTube is not responsible for removing or otherwise limiting access to any Virtual Item Content upon termination.
Minimum requirements for Virtual Items features
You must meet these minimum requirements to be eligible for the Virtual Items program:
- Channel is in the YouTube Partner Program.
- Be at least 18 years old with a verified AdSense account or other form of age verification accepted by Google.
- Note: If you do not see the Virtual Items Module, you may need to take action to be eligible. Reference the section below on how to verify your AdSense account.
- Live in a country or region where the individual Virtual Items are available.
Verifying Your AdSense Account
If you do not have a verified AdSense account, you can reach out to Creator Support to trigger AdSense Identity Verification (IDV).
To check whether your AdSense account is verified, follow these steps:
Sign in to the AdSense account associated with your channel and select Payments then Verification check.
- If you see “Identity Verification” marked as Completed, then your AdSense account is verified.
- If you do not see “Identity Verification” listed, and you meet the minimum requirements listed above, reach out to Creator Support to trigger AdSense IDV.
Individual live stream requirements for Virtual Items
All content in live streams must adhere to our live stream policies.
Virtual Items aren't available on the following types of live streams:
- Is age-restricted or made for kids.
- Is unlisted or private.
- When live chat is turned off.
- Horizontal live streams.
- On YouTube Giving fundraisers
How revenue works for Virtual Items
Here’s how you earn revenue from Virtual Items on YouTube:
- A viewer who has purchased Jewels redeems some of their Jewels for gifts during your live stream. A viewer wants to show appreciation and interact in real-time, so they redeem some of their Jewels to send gifts during the live stream. The gifts help you engage with your fans in real-time and build excitement during the live stream.
- You earn Rubies from the gifts sent during the live stream. You can view how many estimated Rubies you earned from gifts during your live stream and when it ends. Every two Jewels redeemed for gifts will earn you one Ruby.
- The Rubies you’ve earned during the live stream represent your revenue. We will calculate your net revenue by multiplying the number of Rubies you earned by the revenue we pay per Ruby, which is $0.01.
You can view the number of Rubies you’ve earned during live streams and the associated revenue in YouTube Analytics.