YouTubers get new ways to make money with merchandise shopping and membership features

YouTube has launched a new feature allowing vloggers to sell their merchandise directly on the site.

The video site is teaming up with merchandise platform Teespring to allow YouTubers with over 10,000 followers to design and sell their own creations directly to fans.

It is one of a raft of features announced which will help YouTube’s content creators to monetise their output.

Members with 100,000 subscribers or more will also be able to offer membership of their channel. Followers will pay $4.99 a month to access exclusive content from their most-loved personalities.

Another addition will allow creators to make a landing page on which they can hold a “premiere” for a new video, with a live chat feature alongside.

The move to allow users to buy merchandise directly on video pages hits back at Instagram which launched a way to make posts shoppable earlier this year.

Yesterday Instagram ramped up the rivalry with YouTube with the launch of its own long-form video app, IGTV.

Read more: London designers explain how Instagram has changed their industry