You've likely noticed bigger YouTube creators flaunting their Play Buttons. What exactly are they and how do you get one?

YouTube Play Buttons, also known as Creator Awards on YouTube, lets a content creator know they’ve made it big as a YouTuber. More than likely, you’ve seen these creators showing off their Play Buttons once or twice—some are plaques with the YouTube emblem on them and others are trophy-style gifts.

What exactly are YouTube Play Buttons? And what does a YouTuber have to do to earn one, or all four awards?

What Are YouTube Play Buttons?

A YouTube Play Button is an award given to a YouTuber who achieves specific milestones set by YouTube. They are physical awards that can be put on display and even shown off to the YouTube community through a video.

Not only do these awards recognize a YouTuber’s hard work and active dedication to the platform, but it also demonstrates their popularity among subscribers—because without them, a YouTuber will never be able to earn an award.

What Are the Four YouTube Play Buttons?

As of 2023, there are four tiers of awards that a YouTube channel can earn, each tougher to reach than the one before.

The four YouTube Play Buttons are as follows:

• Silver
• Gold
• Diamond
• Red Diamond

The first three awards are fairly well-known in the YouTube community. However, the Red Diamond Play Button is a rarity that has only been given out to a few YouTubers like Mr. Beast and Pewdiepie.

Each award has the same criteria to meet except for one very large difference—subscriber count.

What About the Custom Creator Award?

You may have heard of the Custom Creator Award and are wondering why that’s not on the list. In all honesty, no one is really sure.

Originally, it was an award that YouTube would custom-build to represent the YouTube channel that was receiving the award. To earn this award, the channel would have to reach 50 million subscribers. Channels such as Pewdiepie, T-Series, and BlackPink have received these Custom Creator Awards.

However, there are several channels that have reached the 50 million subscribers mark and have not received an award. At the time of writing, it would seem that it’s YouTube’s decision whether the award gets presented.

How to Earn YouTube Play Buttons

Earning a YouTube Play Button is pretty straightforward. To start off, each Play Button requires you to meet the criteria for the following.

• Active channel: Your channel’s account has to be active—in other words, you need to have uploaded a video within the last six months before applying for the award.
• No Community Guidelines violations: The channel cannot have received a Community Guidelines violation in the last 365 days. This can include things like impersonating another YouTube Channel, showing graphic content in a video or thumbnail, and spewing misinformation. The Community Guidelines are extensive and strict, so if your goal is to earn a YouTube Play Button, you should become familiar with them.
• Compliant with Terms of Service: Your channel needs to be in compliance with YouTube’s Terms of Service. This tends to be where several YouTubers get in trouble due to copyright infringement. When in doubt, try using royalty-free music, sound effects, and video clips, so you won’t have to worry about receiving a copyright violation.
• Not suspended from YPP: You cannot have been suspended from the YouTube Partner Program. This doesn’t mean that you have to be enrolled in the YouTube Partner Program. But if you have the ability to monetize your channel and earn money for all your hard work, why wouldn’t you? YouTube’s June 2023 monetization policy makes it easier for creators to access the program.
• Original content: Of course, your content has to be based on your own creativity. Having original content means that you’re not using compilations or mixes of other people's videos.

When you know you’ve met all these standards, you can focus on your subscriber count to see if you are eligible for an award. Each YouTube Play Button requires a specific number of subscribers.

• Silver Play Button: 100,000 subscribers
• Gold Play Button: 1,000,000 subscribers
• Diamond Play Button: 10,000,000 subscribers
• Red DiamondPlay Button: 100,000,000 subscribers

Once you reach the required subscriber amount, along with the above-mentioned criteria, you can apply to redeem your YouTube Play Button.

How to Redeem YouTube Play Buttons

When you’ve met the criteria, YouTube will send you a redemption code to your Google email attached to your YouTube channel. Copy and paste that code on the Creator Awards redemption website. Click Redeem Award.

From there, you’ll be prompted to enter your shipping information and exactly how you want your channel name to appear on your new YouTube Play Button. According to YouTube, it should take between two and three weeks to receive your award.

It is important to note that just because you receive the YouTube Play Button, it doesn’t mean that you can do anything you want with it outside of personal use. If you sell or give the award to anyone outside the channel, you could be liable for disciplinary actions. This can include forfeiture of the award, ineligibility for future awards, and possible cancelation of your YouTube channel.

Tips to Earn a YouTube Play Button

Earning a YouTube Play Button can be a long and exhausting process—if it was easy, everyone would have one. However, there are some tips that you can follow to help get you there.

Trying to get 100,000 subscribers is essentially the same as trying to grow your channel to 1,000 subscribers. It’s all about having attention-grabbing details, engaging with your audience, and staying consistent with your content.

Additionally, using SEO to help viewers find your YouTube videos is equally important. Viewers turn into subscribers, especially when you’re using the correct keywords and tags to show up on the right home feeds.

And lastly, patience. Remember, it’s going to take time and hard work to get there. Mr. Beast and Pewdiepie didn’t happen overnight.

Do You Have What It Takes to Get a YouTube Play Button?

Earning a YouTube Play Button is a huge accomplishment for any YouTuber. It shows the world that you hit the milestones created by the platform and that you have a channel worth following—at least 100,000 other people thought so too.

If earning a Play Button is on your bucket list, make sure to understand the eligibility requirements and keep pushing forward with your content.