YouTube - joining a channel membership

[cbsc]

Our Maths Department want to join a particular YouTube channel membership, which is a paid-for monthly subscription.

 

When you browse to the YouTube channel using a personal Google account (or without being signed in at all), you are presented with the "subscribe" and "join" buttons (top right).

 

However when you browse to the same YouTube channel when signed in with a Google Workspace for Education account, only the "subscribe" button is present and the "join" button is missing.

 

An example YouTube channel is below:

 

https://www.youtube.com/@BicenMaths

 

This happens with any account from our Google domain, including admin accounts. These accounts are designated as being over the age of 18.

 

I have contacted both Google Workspace support and YouTube support, and neither have offered any useful advice.

 

I can't find any settings that would be causing this, and am wondering whether this is due to a limitation with Educational accounts.

 

I would appreciate any advice!

Edited October 16, 2023 by cbsc

[fiza]

I have never paid for any youtube content so not sure if this relates but have you marked your Google OUs as containing under 18 year olds and over 18 year old users? It may be a restriction of an OU that is marked as containing under 18yr old users.

 

edit: Just reread your post so ignore this!

[mavhc]

Historically paid google accounts have had way less access to features than free ones

[Roberto]

Is it worth asking the people who run the channel, if they have a contact you can message? Schools are presumably part of their target audience so they may have thought about this. Or will have another route you can take to get access to the material.

[cbsc]

Thank you all for the suggestions.

 

I have indeed contacted the person running the YouTube channel and await their response.

 

Could I ask whether everyone else encounters the same issue (the "join" button is unavailable) if you browse to https://www.youtube.com/@BicenMaths when signed in with a Google Workspace for Education account? I just want to check it's not an issue only affecting our domain.

 

We want to avoid using a separate Google account (out of Google domain) if possible, especially as the account will have the school's credit card associated with it (to pay for the subscription).

Edited October 16, 2023 by cbsc

[fiza]

I can confirm that the join button is missing when signed in with our Google Workspace for Education accounts.

If I open a guest window I can then see the join button.

[GrumbleDook]

IIRC, you can set paid channels to restrict membership from particular account types. I've done similar in the past (to prevent schools signing up for something) but that was some time ago.