The play button plaques are YouTube's Creator Awards. They are given at subscriber milestones, and the first one arrives at 100,000 subscribers, not before.
Every level
| Award | Subscribers | Look |
|---|---|---|
| Silver Creator Award | 100,000 | Silver-coloured play button plaque |
| Gold Creator Award | 1,000,000 | Gold-coloured plaque |
| Diamond Creator Award | 10,000,000 | Crystal play button |
| Custom Creator Award | 50,000,000 | A one-off design made for the channel, often called the ruby award |
| Red Diamond Creator Award | 100,000,000 | Red crystal play button |
There is no plaque for 1,000 or 10,000 subscribers. Those milestones get a mention in YouTube Studio, not an award.
How you get one
Reaching the number is not the whole requirement. When a channel crosses a milestone, YouTube reviews it before the award is offered. The channel has to be in good standing: following the Community Guidelines, with no recent strikes and no signs of fake subscribers. Channels that grew through purchased subscribers or that break YouTube's policies are refused.
If the review passes, the award is offered through YouTube Studio, where you redeem it and enter a delivery address. It can take weeks from crossing the milestone to the plaque arriving, and longer in some countries. The exact steps are on YouTube's Creator Awards help page, which is the place to check if the offer does not appear.
Questions people ask
Can a channel get the same award twice? No. Each award is given once per channel. A creator with several channels can earn one for each channel that qualifies.
Do you need to be monetized? The award is based on subscribers and channel standing. YouTube reviews the channel either way.
Is the bronze play button real? No. Images of bronze or wooden plaques online are fan-made or third-party products, not YouTube awards.
Does YouTube send it automatically? It is offered after review. A channel that crosses the line and hears nothing should check Studio and YouTube's help page rather than wait.
How close is a channel?
YouTube shows rounded subscriber counts publicly, so a channel at 99,600 may display as 99.6K. Paste any channel into the subscriber count checker for the current figure, or add it to the growth tracker to see how fast it is climbing toward the next award. For the channels at the top of the ladder, the most subscribed channels list shows live counts.
By Nasir Uddin, founder of Passive Array. Rules and figures checked Oct 29, 2026.