Monetising my YouTube channel with Patreon or YouTube membership

I often think about using Patreon or YouTube membership to provide an income stream from my YouTube channel. I have looked into both to see which is better, more advisable and what are the differences.

It would be a big step for me, however, to put some sort of barrier or friction around my YouTube channel. I have not yet decided it is the best thing to do and I have a block around that decision.

Since 2010 or 2011 when I uploaded my first video I have always made the videos completely accessible for free. And the benefit, of course, is the generation of clients.

That has been the raison d’etre of my video making activities.

I will probably look at this question again before the year is out, but I need to consider what benefits would accrue to those who were prepared to pay to ‘support’ my channel.

For now, I will kick the can down the road and leave everything as it has been for in excess of 10 years.