YouTube started out as a video-sharing platform and quickly became a new job opportunity. Creating videos and sharing them was originally looked at as a hobby. This changed soon when creators managed to monetize their income.
When this job became relatively prominent, YouTube decided to reward creators as an incentive to keep them on the platform. One of these rewards was a YouTube Play Button. To get a play button, you need to get subscribers on YouTube. Here is everything you need to know about this award.
Table of Contents
The History of the YouTube Play Button
At the time of writing this article, you could receive five YouTube play button levels. Let’s check out each of them individually:
Silver Play Button
The first annual Creator Awards program launched in 2012, and with it came the YouTube silver play button. This award was given to channels with more than 100,000 subscribers. Although this number doesn’t seem impressive now, it was very significant at the time.
The first channel to receive the silver play button was Fred Figglehorn. This channel was created by Lucas Cruikshank and was focused on the everyday life of his comedy character Fred. Lucas was one of the first people to consider YouTube as a job.
The silver play button at the time was made of a nickel-plated cupronickel alloy and featured a glass panel with a metal framework. It has since been redesigned and now looks like this:
As of now, an estimated 150,000 channels have a silver play button. More and more channels get added to this list every day.
Gold Play Button
Only a year after the 2012 Creator Awards, the gold play button was created. YouTube subscriptions were quickly growing, and the 100,000 subscriber mark was long passed. So, in the 2013 Creator Awards, the gold button was announced.
This award was only given to creators with more than 1 million subscribers. The million subscribers mark was extremely impressive in 2013. There were an estimated 1000 channels that reached 1 million subscribers that year.
The first channel to receive a gold play button was Smosh. Ian and Anthony were the co-creators of this channel and quickly became icons in the industry. Smosh went on to gain many more subscribers and eventually met its downfall after being sold to Alloy Digital.
At the time, the YouTube gold play button had a black steel backdrop inside a window box with a golden, three-dimensional YouTube logo screwed onto it. The new design is a bit different and looks like this:
As of today, an estimated 30,000 channels have gold play buttons. This number gets added regularly as the platform continues growing.
Diamond Play Button
The platform continued to expand rapidly, and so did the reach of its creators. By 2015, more and more channels were reaching the 10 million mark, and the need for a bigger award was evident.
So, the platform announced a YouTube diamond play button. If you manage to pass 10 million subscribers, you get a diamond play button from YouTube. This number was impressive at the time and remains impressive today.
The first channel to be given a diamond play button was PewDiePie. The channel was created by Felix Kjellberg and mostly contained gaming and react content. PewDiePie was quickly followed by a channel called T-Series.
The original diamond play button has not changed much since its creation. It was and is still made of silver-plated metal inset with a large piece of crystal shaped like a play button triangle in the middle.
Today, more than 1800 channels have a diamond play button. Although more channels reach the 10 million subscribers mark even today, this is not nearly as common as the other milestones. This is partly due to the general growth of the platforms slowing down throughout the years.
Custom Play Button
As YouTube’s rapid growth started to slow down, the need for new play buttons slowed down as well. So, the next play button was announced in 2019. What sets this award apart from others is that it is custom to each channel.
The custom play button is specially designed for the channel it is being gifted to. YouTube typically tries to integrate iconic elements of your channel, such as the username, branding, and the channel’s general theme, into this award.
After a channel reaches 50 million subscribers, a custom play button will be made and given to them. To this day, not too many channels manage to pass this milestone, and it remains extremely significant.
The very first channel to receive a custom play button was T-Series. This Indian company mostly shared music videos of Bollywood and Indian artists and rose to popularity as more and more regions in India found access to YouTube. T-Series was quickly followed by PewDiePie.
More than 20 YouTube channels have a custom play button. It is still rare for channels to surpass the 50 million subscribers mark today.
Ruby Play Button
The biggest award you could get from YouTube is a ruby play button. This award is only given to channels that exceed 100 million subscribers and has only been given to 8 channels to this day.
T-Series and PewDiePie are both among the channels that have a ruby play button. 100 million subscribers is massively impressive and very rarely reached. It’s interesting to note that out of the 8 channels with a ruby play button, only two of them are individuals, with the rest being corporate channels.
How to Get a YouTube Play Button?
There are no secrets to getting a YouTube play button. All you need is a certain number of subscribers, and YouTube will automatically send you one. What you need to focus on is:
- Getting more subscribers on YouTube
- Getting more views on YouTube
- Exceeding YouTube watch time expectations
- Learning how the YouTube algorithm works
There is no magical instruction to get your YouTube subscribers to reach a certain amount. Try your best to reach the set milestones, and as soon as you pass them, wait for your play button to arrive.
Conclusion
YouTube play buttons are a symbol of the progress your channel has made throughout your career. Stick to what you enjoy and keep your audience happy, and hopefully, you’ll pass the 100,000 subscribers mark fast!
FAQs
1. How Long Does It Take to Get a Silver Play Button?
There is no one answer to this question. You can reach the 100k mark in a few weeks, a few months, or a few years. After you reach 100k subscribers and order your play button, it should reach you in under a month.
2. Is the Diamond Play Button Really Made of Diamond?
Unfortunately not. The diamond play button is made of a clear crystal, but it is not a real diamond. The main value of this plate is sentimental, as it indicates a massive achievement for your channel.
3. Is There a 1k Play Button?
Reaching 1000 subscribers is a significant milestone. However, there are no play buttons dedicated to it. The biggest reward of having 1000 subscribers is finally being able to monetize your channel.
