YouTube Super Thanks Pays 70%—But Fees Come Out Before the Split
YouTube pays creators 70% of the Super Thanks revenue recognized by Google. That does not guarantee 70% of the price shown to the viewer: applicable taxes and fees, including App Store fees on iOS, are deducted before the creator share is calculated.
The useful estimate is therefore 70% of the post-deduction amount. Multiplying the visible purchase price by 0.70 can overstate expected revenue when taxes or an applicable platform fee reduce the amount Google recognizes.
What the 70% share actually applies to
The official Super Thanks guide defines the creator share as 70% of revenue recognized by Google after taxes and fees, including applicable iOS App Store fees, are deducted. It also specifies that YouTube currently covers transaction costs such as credit-card fees.
- Start with the price paid by the viewer.
- Subtract applicable taxes that are not part of recognized revenue.
- Subtract applicable platform fees, including an iOS App Store fee when relevant.
- Apply the 70% creator share to the remaining recognized revenue.
For an estimate, the sequence is (purchase price − applicable taxes − applicable platform fees) × 70%. Do not add credit-card processing as another assumed deduction while YouTube covers that transaction cost.
Consider a purely hypothetical $10 purchase with $1 allocated to tax and a $2 applicable app-store fee. Recognized revenue would be $7, producing an estimated creator share of $4.90. These inputs illustrate the calculation rather than published tax or fee rates; the actual deductions depend on the transaction.
A Google submission to South Africa’s Competition Commission describes the Commerce Product Module as covering Super Thanks and other fan-funding products, with partners receiving 70% of net revenue. It also explains that transaction taxes such as sales tax, VAT and GST are not revenue to Google and do not enter the partner-share calculation.
Eligibility applies to both the channel and the upload
YouTube’s Super Thanks eligibility rules require a channel to meet the minimum requirements for fan-funding features, be based in an available location, and accept and follow the relevant terms, including the Commerce Product Module. A channel cannot be set as Made for Kids or have a significant number of videos that are made for kids or otherwise ineligible; some music channels, including those under an SRAV contract, are also excluded.
Channel-level access does not make every upload eligible. Super Thanks is unavailable on:
- age-restricted, private or unlisted long-form videos and Shorts;
- content made for kids;
- long-form videos or Shorts with copyright claims;
- content carrying a YouTube Giving fundraiser;
- live streams and Premieres while they are live, although archived long-form videos can become eligible afterward;
- long-form videos or Shorts with comments turned off.
If the option is missing from one upload, the channel may still retain access. The individual video or Short may fall into one of these excluded categories.
How to activate Super Thanks and find the revenue
Creators—and their multichannel networks where applicable—must accept the Commerce Product Module before earning from Super Thanks. On a computer, open YouTube Studio → Earn → Supers. The Supers tab appears only for an eligible channel; first-time users follow the displayed instructions, accept the module and then enable the Super Thanks switch.
Once enabled, Super Thanks becomes available on eligible previous and future long-form videos and Shorts. Turning off the channel-level switch removes the feature from that content, but historical earnings remain available. For a channel in a network, the network must accept the Commerce Product Module and permit the feature before the channel can activate it.
The YouTube Studio mobile app also offers activation through Earn and the Supers card. A computer is needed to turn off one Supers product individually; the mobile workflow enables the eligible Supers products together.
Revenue reporting sits in a separate part of Studio. In YouTube Analytics, use Revenue → How you make money → Supers to view the breakdown. The amount displayed to the purchaser is an input to the transaction, not a substitute for the creator’s revenue report.
Manage purchases through their highlighted comments
After buying Super Thanks, a viewer may post a distinct, customizable comment. In the Comments section of YouTube Studio or the Studio mobile app, the From Super Thanks filter isolates those comments for review.
Creators can reply to, heart or remove a Super Thanks comment. If the purchaser deletes the comment, it disappears from the creator’s Comments view. A creator can also reply with a Short, using the viewer’s comment as a sticker during the Shorts creation workflow.
These controls manage the public interaction rather than the payment calculation. Analytics provides the Supers revenue breakdown, while Comments handles moderation and replies. A broader comment-management workflow can help organize acknowledgements without exempting paid comments from normal moderation.
For forecasting, keep the displayed purchase price, recognized revenue after applicable deductions, and the creator’s 70% share as three separate figures. When a tax or app-store fee is unknown, leave it as a variable or calculate a range; the defensible shorthand is “70% after applicable taxes and fees,” not “70% of every displayed Super Thanks price.”
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