YouTube Gives New Diamond Play Button To Channels With 10 Million Subscribers

YouTube has a new way to officially recognize content creators who’ve reached the incredibly impressive nine-figure subscriber count. At VidCon on July 23, 2015, Google’s online video site revealed its new Diamond YouTube Play Button for channels that have crossed the milestone of ten million subscribers.

YouTube’s VP of Product Management Matthew Glotzbach took to the industry stage at the end of YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki‘s closing keynote. Glotzbach explained how YouTube previously created Silver and Gold Play Buttons (the Silver one is given out at 100,000 subscribers and channels receive the Gold one at one million subs). At that time, his team hadn’t quite foreseen the need for a physical representation of YouTube success beyond those numbers. But now, Glotzbach noted over 35 different YouTube channels have ten million subscribers or more and it was time to call them out with a shiny object. Hence, the Diamond Play Button was born, and Glotzbach had Wojcicki unveiled it on stage in all its sparkly glory.

Glotzbach then asked all ten-million-subscriber creators who were present at the event to come on stage to be presented with their awards. Spinnin’ Records, Benny and Rafi Fine of the Fine Bros. and React channels, Peter Shukoff and Lloyd Ahlquist of Epic Rap Battles of History, and Ian Hecox and Anthony Padilla of Smosh, all took home a Diamond Play Button (and nearly all of them commented on its hefty weight).

With the way the online video industry is going, we wouldn’t be surprised if a few years down the road at another Vidcon, YouTube reveals an award for creators with 100 million subscribers (PewDiePie’s at least 38% of the way there).