Dedication on YouTube gets rewarded when the creator reaches certain milestones. So, what are those rewards, how do you get them and what changes after you get one? Let’s find out.
At first glance, YouTube’s Play Button is a shiny plaque celebrating subscriber milestones:
- Silver at 100K
- Gold at 1M
- Diamond at 10M
- Red Diamond at 100M.
But it’s much more than that. Sure, it does celebrate your accomplishments as a creator, but it also opens up new opportunities for growth.
The First Level: Silver
The first special reward from YouTube you can get is Silver Play Button that can be achieved after reaching the goal of 100,000 subscribers. This milestone is a crucial step for growing your YouTube channel.
However, YouTube doesn’t just hand out the reward after the threshold has been reached. Here’s how you claim your just award:
- The first thing that you need to do after reaching the needed goal is to check whether you’re eligible to receive it. Things like whether your channel adheres to YouTube’s community guidelines.
- Secondly, you need to make sure that your channel is verified. That includes doing all the necessary steps to confirm your identity beforehand.
- Thirdly, you must follow the further instructions from YouTube to finally receive your reward. YouTube will send you an email with instructions if you’re eligible, which will include a unique code to claim the button.
If all of it sounds complicated, don’t be discouraged. You can always reach out to get professional help and guidance through every step of the process.
What Changes?
Unpacking and showing off your new shiny award on stream or in the video will not give you a sudden revenue spike or immediately push you into trending, unfortunately. Hitting 100K is like getting your foot in the door of a much bigger room.
What truly changes:
- Brands stop treating you like a micro-influencer. You’re now on their radar, and your offers start looking very different.
- Audience expectations change. At 10K, your community might’ve forgiven casual uploads or B-grade edits. At 100K, not so much. They expect consistency, polish, and structure.
- YouTube starts watching your content differently. Community Guidelines enforcement can get stricter when your visibility grows.
- Faster ranking in search for new uploads.
Can You Buy the Award?
The short answer to that is a no. These awards were not meant to go for sale. YouTube Play Buttons are earned by working hard every single day. They aren’t for sale to third parties, nor are they available for purchase (unless a creator decides to sell it, but then it would serve no purpose for your channel, since the buttons are named).
Moreover, if you find a way to buy this special reward, you might face some issues, since if YouTube finds out, they might ban your YouTube or Google account among other things.
Next Milestone: Gold
This one’s actually a step up from the Silver Button. It takes a million subs to get it. A few years ago, that felt massive. Not much has changed since then. Out of hundreds of millions of channels, only tens of thousands have a Gold Button. Still, it’s one of those milestones that hits different. Real, earned, and worth chasing.
What changes when you reach that milestone? Well, the more people watch your channel and are subscribed to it, the more monetization opportunities open before you, better ads, and so on.
Want to reach a million faster?
Reach out to the professionals and we will help you promote and grow your channel more efficiently, and spread your content on 100+ platforms!
Diamond Doesn’t Mean Done: The Reality at 10M+
Diamond Reward is a bit trickier to get, because to be eligible for receiving it you need to first accumulate 10 million subscribers. That might sound like an insane amount and there are far fewer channels who reached that goal, but if you partner up with professionals, the journey can be much smoother.
Moreover, the Diamond Play Button is often portrayed as the finish line. In practice, it’s a point of even further development.
At that level, your channel becomes an extremely valuable asset with high market value. Your channel will gain even more prestigious opportunities, that’s true, but at that level you might face some issues. Here’s what creators at that level grapple with:
- Team scaling decisions. At this point in your career, you will need a team to rely on, because a large channel (at some point) might become too much to manage alone. There will be a lot of little things to worry about and the reliable team will make your work easier.
- Platform dependency. If at this point you remain YouTube-only, you’re missing out! Spreading your content on different platforms is essential for growth. Diamond creators need off-platform monetization: products, courses, events, licensing, merch.
The ‘Final’ Level: Ruby Play Button
This is considered the most significant YouTube reward, since only a handful of creators have reached it so far. To receive it, you need to have 100 million subscribers. Ruby (or Red Diamond) Play Button is usually custom made because of how few channels have reached it.
Here are three of them:
PewDiePie
The first individual creator to ever receive the Ruby Play Button. His mix of gaming, commentary, and internet culture became a template for the creator economy.
Kids Diana Show
One of the biggest kids’ channels on the planet. Their strategy blends multilingual content, global syndication, and smart channel automation.
MrBeast
Not just a creator, but a full-blown media brand. He redefined YouTube content with high-budget challenges, philanthropy, and expansion into products and platforms beyond YouTube.
Behind the Curtain: Possible Trouble
Let’s pull back the curtain a bit. Remember that YouTube doesn’t just ship out buttons automatically. You need to request it manually, and your channel goes through a review process.
We’ve seen Play Button awards denied or delayed due to:
- Copyright issues
- Inconsistent branding
- Violations in older videos (yes, your past can catch up to you)
This is why we audit channels even before they hit 100K: to make sure when the moment comes, there’s no friction with YouTube’s review team. If you’re on the verge, don’t wait to clean up your house. YouTube won’t hand you the keys if the place looks sketchy.
Whatever comes next, remember: you earned your button. Now earn what comes next. Let’s make sure your next chapter is bigger and sharper than the last.
