After seven years, the voice and instant message platform Discord is giving users the ability to capitalize on the communities that they’ve developed through a new monetization feature.
Server subscriptions, which are different from server boosts, can come in a variety of tiers, allowing server owners the ability to distinguish supporters based on their levels of support.
Similar to Twitch, the varying levels of support cost different amounts of money, but the exact perks that certain tiers give will depend widely on the content creator. Tiers can cost from $2.99 per month to $199.99 per month depending on how creators choose to set up their servers.
Unlike some other platforms, the requirements for monetizing a Discord server are a little bit more simplistic. The owner of the server must be based in the U.S. and it must have no recent Terms of Service or Community Guideline violations. Outside of that, all server owners need to do is agree to the Monetization Terms and Server Subscriptions Policy. There aren’t any minimum server members requirements or anything to that effect.
While international users can’t use the server subscription feature, in a post to Twitter, the platform said that it is “working on options” for those outside of the U.S. looking to monetize their servers.
As far as profits are concerned, Discord is keeping things conservative. The platform said that server owners will get a 90-10 split of subscriptions “after applicable deductions.” In a post to its blog, Discord did not detail what exactly that qualifying statement includes. But if it’s anything like other platforms, Discord’s revenue share numbers would put it in the same general realm as Patreon and Fanhouse, well ahead of gaming’s livestream platforms Twitch and YouTube.
To help content creators maximize their offerings to subscribers, Discord has also announced it is giving server owners a new “Creator Portal” that includes resources intended to help users make the most out of their server subscription offerings.
Update Dec. 1 5:04pm CT: This piece has been updated to reflect the pricing options that server owners have for server subscriptions.
