How Discord Has Unlocked Doors to a New Level of Community and Belonging Among YouTube Creators and Fans

“There is no power for change greater than a community discovering what it cares about.” – Margaret J. Wheatley

Discord was initially launched as a social community and messaging platform for gamers, but it quickly became one of this decade’s most popular destinations for Fans and enthusiasts of all stripes to connect with others of their ilk.

Discord was launched by game developer Jason Citron to provide his team with a way to chat with each other during gameplay. When his game failed, the chat feature lived on, giving gamers a way to communicate while in play, strategize, or just chat about gaming when not playing.

The Discord community quickly grew to include users with interests outside the gaming community to get together and discuss niche topics. Sports, music, crypto, homework; you name it — if you are interested in something or want to network with like-minded people, you can probably find a Discord server dedicated to it.

With that in mind, it stands to reason that Creators and brands have also jumped on the bandwagon, using Discord as an unpaid alternative to engage with audiences around the globe.

Discord’s Meteoric Rise

In the wake of the pandemic, the demand and desire for entertainment exploded. Discord saw its user base double and revenue triple during this time. Since it’s ad-free, users loved it because they were not constantly dodging pitches or wading through other people’s bread-baking experiments to find relevant content.

But how in the marketing-obsessed world does Discord make money without ads?

While Discord is free to use, users can upgrade to a paid subscription to enable higher file-sharing limits, server boosts, and other neato features if it suits their needs.

Being able to share media-rich files and videos is a great advantage for Creators who want to offer unbridled content to their Fans without worrying about bandwidth limits or having to navigate other restrictions.

Creators can also establish their own paid subscription servers, helping them monetize their audience much more efficiently than would be possible otherwise.

From a fan standpoint, the ad-free model is attractive. They are on Discord because they can get what they want without friction. On the other side of the screen, it’s a massive advantage for Creators because their audience is already looking for them.

In the end, Discord is effective because it gives all stakeholders what they want. It’s fast and easy to sign up, it’s free (for the most part), and it’s got none of what we hate about mainstream socials. Much like its original intent as a gaming chat platform, it fulfills a need, respects its users, and doesn’t ask much of them in return.

As of January 2023, Discord has 150 million active monthly users, but the total number is more than 350 million. And while gaming still dominates the user population, over 80% of Discord users access the platform for reasons other than gaming.

Discord vs. YouTube

One of Discord’s differentiators is its high server limits. It supports up to 500 simultaneous channels per user, offers free live streaming, video calls, screen sharing, and configurable bots, and delivers it all in an ultra-low latency environment. These capabilities are super attractive to YouTubers, especially when trying to build or grow their following.

YouTube is great for many things, but it falls short as a stand-alone social network. Ads aside, you can’t live chat on YouTube (unless you’re live streaming), watch videos, or play games in real-time with other users. But for all the things YouTube doesn’t do, Discord fills the gaps.

As of October 2022, Discord now officially integrates with YouTube. Not only is this great for Creators, but it’s also huge for Fans and other users. Now, for a small subscription fee of $2.99 per month (known as Nitro Basic), Discord users can watch YouTube videos or play games with friends in sync.

For Creators, mainstream social networks like Facebook, IG, and Twitter aren’t the best way to connect with an audience anymore. All these platforms limit what can be accomplished by Creators, such as restricting video length, file size, etc. Plus, users have been slowly losing interest in mainstream socials because of relentless ads, retargeting, scams, and noisy feeds that hold little relevance to their preferences.

Discord provides users with an alternative that speaks to their true intent. So while it’s not really a matter of YouTube vs. Discord, the two together are a force to be reckoned with. YouTube will still be the go-to for entertainment, information, and distraction, but with Discord, Fans can narrow their scope and connect directly with the Creators in a more meaningful and personal way.

How YouTubers are Using Discord to Deliver Value and Engage with Their Fans

As the lines between Fans and Creators continue to blur, both factions are getting closer to what they want.

Fans want access. They like to know their favorite artists are real people that care about who’s watching, listening, and engaging with them. They also crave genuine connections with relatable others, as evidenced by the growing popularity of chat apps like WhatsApp and Messenger over the social platforms themselves.

Creators want to connect with their audience. They like to understand who their Fans are, where they come from, and what their interests are. Knowing this, they can hone their content with the audience in mind.

It’s a time-honored equation — when you give people what they want, they will keep coming back for more.

Discord also speaks to the souls of the Creators themselves. Art should suffer no limits, and artists should not be restricted by technological limitations or paid gatekeepers whose curation capabilities are probably no better than your next-door neighbor’s.

On Discord, Creators can create, build, and engage with their communities, feed off the exchanges, and use that to fuel their work. Discord is so much more than just a platform to store and distribute content; it’s become a bona fide ecosystem that enables Creators to showcase their work, collaborate with other artists, connect directly with their Fans, and share ideas in multiple dimensions.

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