Discord Pilots ‘Premium Subscriptions’ To Help Creators Monetize Communities
As part of its mission to "make Discord communities more sustainable,” Discord announced it is testing a new way for creators to monetize their communities with Premium Subscriptions.
“As we’ve been chatting with more and more creators we wanted to ensure that they can not only build, but maintain and sustain these amazing communities. And we’re already seeing that members of these communities are willing to pay creators for the value that is created. That’s why we’re starting to build new tools to make this monetization process more seamless so communities can have direct ways within Discord to offer premium experiences,” Discord shared in a blog post.
Premium Subscriptions
Premium Subscriptions allow creators to place exclusive content or access behind a paywall. Within the Memberships section of their server, creators can arrange tiered perks from $2.99 to $99.99 per month and view analytics for member engagement to understand their supporters and revenue stream.
Creators will keep 90% of subscription revenue, with Discord taking the remaining 10%. Currently, Discord has not yet finalized a payment schedule but will work with creators to determine what is best for them.
Discord is currently testing Premium Subscriptions with a very limited number of creators who run communities in several different verticals. It will decide its next step based on feedback collected from participating creators and their communities in the pilot program.
A Natural Progression
Discord creators historically have offered paid content, experiences, access, and interactions via third-party apps like Patreon, YouTube, and Twitch, so adding a native subscription model is a natural progression.
In offering this functionality in-house, Discord provides creators with an alternative to third-party integrations and, in the process, offers a more seamless way for creators to paywall their content.
By removing existing barriers to subscription integrations, Premium Subscriptions may become more appealing to creators, leading them to move on from integration-based subscriptions and instead use Discord’s product.
Premium Subscriptions are a great idea for creators, as it provides an incentive for them to continue nurturing and growing their Discord communities. While money isn’t everything, some creators find monetization helpful in easing burnout.
Caution For Paywall Content
What Discord and other platforms that roll out paywall content should keep in mind is the potential negative impact that paywall content may have on the user experience for its core users.
For example, Tumblr launched a subscription feature called Post+ over the summer that generated a lot of backlash.
